NASA spacecraft zooms above surface of Mercury

Oct. 6, 2008

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A car-sized NASA spacecraft zoomed above the surface of Mercury on Monday, viewing rocky terrain never before seen up close on our solar system's sun-baked innermost planet, scientists said.

Spacecraft transmits new data on Mercury

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29 (UPI) -- A U.S. spacecraft has, for the second time this year, transmitted data about previously unseen areas of Mercury.

NASA returns to the moon -- sort of

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Two U.S. space agency lunar mapping instruments will be aboard Chandrayaan-1 during India's maiden moon voyage.

IBEX begins its outer solar system mission

GREENBELT, Md., Oct. 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency's Interstellar Boundary Explorer spacecraft was successfully launched from near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

NASA to Webcast IBEX spacecraft launch

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it plans to Webcast the launch of its IBEX spacecraft from the U.S. Army's test site at Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

NASA: Ready to explore outer solar system

WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- The first U.S. spacecraft designed to explore the extreme outer solar system is ready for launch.

Spacecraft finds strange object in space

PARIS, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency says the COROT spacecraft has discovered a massive planet-sized object that's unlike anything previously spotted.

Messenger spacecraft returns to Mercury

WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says its Messenger spacecraft will make the second of three flybys of Mercury next week to collect more science data.

Kepler spacecraft passes temperature test

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says the Kepler spacecraft, scheduled to be launched next year, has survived a thermal vacuum test.

NASA TV to show ISS cargo ship arrival

HOUSTON, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- An unpiloted Russian resupply spacecraft will arrive at the International Space Station next week and the U.S. space agency plans to televise the event live.

Film created to protect small spacecraft

LAKEWOOD, N.J., Sept. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they have developed a thin film designed to protect small spacecraft from temperature extremes, corrosion and micrometeor impacts.

NASA renames observatory for Fermi

WASHINGTON, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it has renamed its newest spacecraft -- the Gamma-Ray Large Area Space Telescope, or GLAST -- in honor of Enrico Fermi.

NASA tests moon imaging spacecraft

GREENBELT, Md., July 31 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it has completed the initial environmental testing of its lunar reconnaissance orbiter.

NASA reveals new discoveries about Mercury

GREENBELT, Md., July 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it has determined Mercury's smooth plains were produced by volcanoes and its magnetic field is produced in the planet's core.

NASA creates Web site for Ares test flight

WASHINGTON, July 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it has created a Web site dedicated to the development of the Ares rocket and the Orion crew capsule.

NASA begins new type of astronomy

BERKELEY, Calif., July 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says its Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories, or STEREO, have detected particles from the edge of the solar system.