Space

A rocket that blasted off from French Guiana successfully placed two communications satellites into orbit Saturday, launch firm Arianespace said.

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

 On Aug. 16, 1963, NASA’s M2-F1 aircraft prototype made its first glide flight. 

An Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket carrying will launch three satellites, including a space tug, into orbit today, Aug. 15, and you can watch it live online here at 6:04 p.m. EDT (2204 GMT). Weather is now GO for launch.

A new space tug, only the second-ever to extend the life of older satellites, launched into orbit Saturday on a European rocket after weeks of delays due to weather and rocket checks. 

Canada’s last intact ice shelf has collapsed, the red supergiant star Betelgeuse had a ”cough” and the Perseid meteor shower lit up the skies in Earth’s Northern Hemisphere. These are some of the top stories this week from Space.com. 

Climate change continues causing the disappearance of ice caps, scientists study penguin colonies using satellite poop-stain imagery and a NASA spacecraft hovers over asteroid Bennu. These are just some of the top photos this week from Space.com. 

Officials at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico still don’t know what caused a cable failure that severely damaged the facility’s iconic radio telescope this week, forcing it to shut down temporarily. 

Move over astronaut ice cream: a retired science teacher’s new recipe is ready to heat up the world of freeze-dried space food.

A federal criminal probe is looking into allegations of misconduct by a former NASA official who abruptly resigned from his position at the agency in May, The Wall Street Journal reports. Prosecutors are investigating if the official illegally disclosed information to Boeing about how to compete to build NASA’s new […]