White House pulls nomination for Trump’s pick to lead NASA

The White House is pulling the nomination for billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, President Trump’s pick to lead NASA, just days before a Senate confirmation vote was set to take place.  “After a thorough review of prior associations, I am hereby withdrawing the nomination of Jared Isaacman to head NASA,” Mr. Trump wrote in a Truth…

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The northern lights could be visible in some U.S. states tonight. Here’s where to see the auroras.

The northern lights may be visible in parts of the U.S. tonight following weekend solar storms, forecasters said. The sun burped out a huge burst of energy called a coronal mass ejection last week, prompting space weather forecasters to issue a rare, severe solar storm alert on Sunday. Another one headed toward Earth on Monday…

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Fluke discovery at planetarium leads to revelation about mysterious cosmic cloud: “It’s kind of a freak accident”

Scientists have unlocked one of the solar system’s many secrets from an unexpected source: a planetarium show. At the American Museum of Natural History last fall, experts were hard at work preparing “Encounters in the Milky Way,” a deep dive into our home galaxy shaped by the movements of stars and other celestial objects. They…

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Massive planet discovered orbiting tiny star, leaving scientists stumped

Astronomers announced Wednesday they have discovered a massive planet orbiting a tiny star, a bizarre pairing that has stumped scientists. Most of the stars across the Milky Way are small red dwarfs like TOI-6894, which has only 20% the mass of our sun. It had not been thought possible that such puny, weak stars could…

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In second straight failure, Japanese probe makes mission-ending “hard” landing on the moon

Four-and-a-half months after launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket, a privately-built Japanese lander attempted to touch down on the moon Thursday, but telemetry indicated a higher-than-expected descent velocity moments before communications were lost. The data suggested a mission-ending crash landing. “Based on the currently available data, the Mission Control Center has been able to confirm…

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Mars volcano twice as big as Earth’s tallest one seen poking through clouds in first-of-its-kind image

A dazzling image taken by NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter shows an unprecedented view of a 12-mile-high volcano poking through clouds at dawn on the Red Planet. Arsia Mons, which dwarfs Earth’s tallest volcanoes, and its two neighboring volcanoes are often surrounded by water ice clouds, especially in the early morning. The image released Friday…

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Pentagon, NASA push SpaceX competitors to speed up work amid Trump-Musk feud, report says

Pentagon, NASA push SpaceX competitors to speed up work amid Trump-Musk feud, report says – CBS News Watch CBS News Even as Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched a radio satellite into orbit on Saturday, the Pentagon and NASA are pushing his competitors to speed up the development of their own spacecraft, according to the Washington Post….

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NASA delays commercial crew launch to assess space station air leak

Concern about a small but persistent air leak in a Russian compartment of the International Space Station has prompted NASA and Axiom Space to indefinitely delay this week’s launch of a commercial flight to the orbiting outpost, officials said Thursday. The privately-financed Axiom-4 crew — commander Peggy Whitson, Indian pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, Polish researcher Sławosz…

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NASA delays commercial crew launch to assess space station air leak

Concern about a small but persistent air leak in a Russian compartment of the International Space Station has prompted NASA and Axiom Space to indefinitely delay this week’s launch of a commercial flight to the orbiting outpost, officials said Thursday. The privately-financed Axiom-4 crew — commander Peggy Whitson, Indian pilot Shubhanshu Shukla, Polish researcher Sławosz…

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NASA evaluating data indicating air leaks aboard space station have been sealed off

NASA is evaluating apparently successful efforts by Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station to seal up small-but-persistent air leaks in a vestibule leading to an aft docking port, the U.S. space agency said Saturday. Pending additional analysis to verify the initial results, NASA said in a blog post the delayed launch of the privately-funded…

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