70 breathtaking wonders of space flight, alien discovery, and our universe

Unless the warp drive is invented in the next 50 years or so, it's not likely any of us will be traveling through space. But we at least can take a few minutes to check out the wonders our universe shows us. 

For even more astonishing things modern society has brought to us, check out weird science, crazy luxuries, and seriously strange transportation.

Table of contents

• Future of space flight
• The space shuttle program and past space exploration
• Aliens
• Our universe
• Space apps and gadgets

First commercially developed spaceship blasts off flawlessly The first commercially developed spaceship has successfully launched into orbit. SpaceX's launch of the Dragon cargo craft is a crucial milestone for the future of space exploration in the United States. As it stands, the U.S. must buy... Read more.
China successfully launches unmanned flight to space station At the end of September 2011, China joined the United States and Russia and became the third country to successfully launch a space station into orbit. The launch marks the country's most impressive entry into the space race thus far, and proves... Read More.		With the Space Shuttle program over, NASA hitches a ride with Virgin Galactic Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic — one of the first commercial space flight companies in the world — has scored a deal with the pioneers of space travel, NASA... Read More.
A massive solar storm could keep us grounded on Earth for a decade Given the right conditions, a space storm has the potential of keeping us on the Earth for a very long time... Read more.		NASA's new rocket will take humans further than ever before NASA's space shuttles may officially be museum pieces now, but the agency isn't about to fade into obscurity. NASA has plans for a new rocket... Read more.
Amazon CEO's spacecraft fails test flight, destroyed mid-air The internet made a lot of people rich, and the wealthy tend to pour their money into larger-than-life projects that sometimes go beyond the earth's atmosphere. Facebook investor and PayPal founder... Read more.		Really need to get away? Book a room at this Russian space hotel Tired of terrestrial getaways? You're in luck. Space tourism isn't a new notion, but one Russian aerospace firm has plans to open a luxe hotel among the stars. The company, Orbital Technologies, would... Read more.
SpaceX Dragon experimental spacecraft to drop by the ISS this November After the bittersweet retirement of NASA's fleet of space shuttles, private spacecraft manufacturers sure aren't wasting any time. On November 30, Elon Musk's SpaceX will send the Dragon space pod to... Read more.		International Space Station will crash into watery Pacific grave in 2020 While NASA's fleet of retired space shuttles have distinguished earthbound retirement plans, history's largest space station will instead go out in a blaze of glory — literally. The International... Read more.
10 airships of the present day and near future Our skies and beyond could soon be populated by new kinds of airships, the silent, futuristic vessels that float through the skies of alternate histories and ecotopias... Read more.		Futuristic Skylon space plane gets closer to takeoff There's a lot of debate happening in scientific circles about what might fill the space travel void left by the Space Shuttle. SpaceX's Falcon Heavy and Virgin Galactic's... Read more.
Virgin Galactic captures SpaceShipTwo's first reentry test on video As NASA's shuttle program reaches the end of its life, the focus is now on private sector to provide us with a glimpse into the galaxy. Virgin Galactic, one branch of the massive conglomerate headed by Sir Richard Branson, has taken us one... Read more.		Spiders will be the newest astronauts aboard the ISS It's not just humans aboard the ISS — astronauts have brought some eight-legged friends along with them, including an assortment of golden orb spiders and fruit flies.... Read more.
Virgin Galactic posts job listing for commercial space astronauts Virgin Galactic, a company that intends to offer commercial spaceflights to the paying public, is hiring three real-life astronauts, according to a job listing on the company's website. It's possible that... Read more.		New Virgin commercial spaceship sweeps over San Francisco Following a sweeping fly-by of the San Francisco bay, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo became the first spacecraft ever to make a landing at a commercial airport. The flight would have been impressive observed from the ground, but entrepreneur... Read more.
New SpaceX rocket poised to put payload, people into orbit The commercial spaceflight pioneers at Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX for short) are working on a massive new addition to the company's rocket lineup. Named Falcon Heavy, the craft will stand... Read more.		Cancelled NASA rockets could power new space taxis NASA's cancelled rockets might be getting a new lease on life, if a Minnesota-based aerospace company has its way. Alliant Techsystems of Minneapolis is proposing repurposing NASA's Ares I rockets for... Read more.
Curacao's $9,500 space flights to take off in 2014 Within the next few years, we'll see numerous space tourism projects take off. In Russia, a company plans to open up a space hotel service that sends you on a two-day trip aboard a Soyuz rocket. The Caribbean island Curacao, on the other... Read more.		Spaceship factory now under construction in the Mojave Desert It's no secret that we all wanted to be astronauts growing up. But if making it as the next Buzz Aldrin isn't exactly realistic, building spaceships for a living isn't too far off from living the... Read more.
NASA unveils new plan to hire space taxis for rides to the ISS Private companies are already planning to send spacecraft to the International Space Station, but NASA is well aware that American astronauts can't keep hitching a ride on Russian spacecraft for the... Read more.		Astronauts play zero gravity tricks aboard the ISS Thanks to years of fascinating videos from NASA, we know quite a bit about life aboard the International Space Station. We've seen the crew conduct experiments, makes repairs, and play with robots, but actually living aboard the massive... Read More.
The world's first commercial spaceport is almost ready for space tourists With construction of his commercial spaceport complete, billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson christened his futuristic travel hub — in style, of course. The space pioneer... Read More.		World's biggest new telescope will be 3,000 little telescopes, spanning a whole continent In February 2012, construction will commence on the most powerful new telescope in the world. Like other massive, sky-scanning undertakings of its kind, the telescope — a project named... Read more.
Astronauts ready to end 520-day fake mission to Mars For the past 18 months, a crew of six men in Moscow have been simulating what it would be like to embark on a real-life mission to Mars. The experiment — called Mars500 — was designed to see how a manned spaceship crew would fare... Read More.

30 years of NASA's shuttle program In 2011, NASA celebrated the 30th anniversary of the space shuttle program with a documentary on the history of the program narrated by William Shatner... Read more.
Final space shuttle launch commemorated in Carl Sagan remix video Reid Gower is a space aficionado who has taken it upon himself to provide gratis promotional work for NASA and the final launch of the space shuttle... Read more.		Chunk of Space Shuttle Columbia found in dried-up Texas lake In 2003, the United States' space program was rocked by the Columbia disaster, which claimed the lives of seven astronauts. It was a tragic day for the United States and millions... Read more.
Space Shuttle Atlantis returns to Kennedy Space Center A chapter in United States history closed as the Space Shuttle Atlantis touched down for the final time. The return flight was successful, with excellent weather easing the crew's return... Read more.		Space Shuttle Endeavour turns squid into astronauts for the first time After its first launch attempt was met with a disappointing delay, Space Shuttle Endeavour finally took its crew of six astronauts skyward. Among its passengers, the shuttle also carried a squid... Read more.
Watch Space Shuttle Discovery's final launch Check out this video from the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery on its final mission to the International Space Station to deliver supplies and allow the crew to perform maintenance... Read more.		Space shuttle Discovery's final flight cleared for Thursday, robot in tow Robots have traveled along with the Space Shuttle Discovery on its final launch. Robotnaut 2 will go through a battery of tests once it is unpacked, which may be up to... Read more.
First-ever space iPhone set to blast off with Atlantis Over the years, NASA has sent some odd things into space. In fact, when Endeavour blasted off on its final mission in May, it was carrying a small shipment of spidernauts and an astro-squid. On the... Read more.		Cucumbers: A new space delicacy Japanese astronaut Satoshi Furukawa of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency headed up to the international space station for five and a half months. While there, he'll be conducting a... Read more.
5 fun photos tweeted by astronauts If you're feeling a bit too down to Earth this Friday, why not spend some time hanging out (virtually) with astronauts? A number of the NASA crew are active on Twitter (NASA keeps a handy list for... Read more.		6 of the best home movies... in space Launching your own short-term space satellite is now pretty easy — you just need a weather balloon and a hardy mobile camera for documentation. Here's a terrific set of videos showing the successful flights.... Read more.
6 timeless photos that chronicle the first manned spaceflight In 1961, the first manned spaceflight took off from a launch pad in Russia and carried cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on a 108-minute trip around the Earth. The mission, called Vostok 1, put the... Read more.		Watch NASA workers form a giant human spaceship To honor the Space Shuttle program's 30-year tenure, NASA decided to take to the sky... for an aerial photo op, that is. In the video above, you can watch thousands of NASA employees standing side by side... Read more.
Science Corner: Humanity marks its 50th year of manned spaceflight Since the beginning of time, humanity has had a fascination with the stars. Looking up to the night's sky, our ancestors of 100,000 years ago wondered what the tiny dots of light were; today, we still... Read more.		Discovery crew gets a Star Trek wake-up call from Captain Kirk During a 3:23 a.m. wake-up call, the crew of the Discovery's final mission was treated to the voice of Captain Kirk. NASA coordinated with Star Trek icon William Shatner to record a custom greeting for the crew of the mission... Read more.
Video shows the life of Discovery's solid rocket boosters Taken from the final flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery, this video shows the life of the booster rockets that propel the shuttle into space... Read more.		Watch Discovery's final launch from a plane's-eye view Seen from the window of a commercial airliner, NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery is shown blasting off for the last time... Read more.
Challenger disaster's 25th anniversary honored by NASA In 2011, NASA helped honor the 25th anniversary for the Challenger disaster with a speech from a woman widowed by the disaster. When all 7 crew members died in the accident, the entire nation... Read more.		NASA celebrates 10 years of humans living in space The International Space Station has been inhabited for 10 years now, and NASA is quite happy to celebrate... Read more.
Science Corner: Photos from the final mission of the Space Shuttle Endeavour At 2:34 a.m. EDT on June 1, 2011, the space shuttle Endeavour landed safely at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida (pictured above). It was the 25th mission for the craft and the final time the shuttle will... Read more.		Science Corner: Photos and video from the Space Shuttle Endeavour launch Pictured above is the view of the Space Shuttle Endeavour on the morning of Monday, May 16, 2011. After a delay in the launch due to faulty wiring, the shuttle successfully lifted off at 8:56 a.m.... Read more.
Science Corner: Celebrating 50 years of American spaceflight For 15 minutes on May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard, Jr., became the first American to leave the Earth. This event was a key point in NASA's development of the space program that would... Read more.

NASA wants you to help in the search for life on Mars Despite sending robots to cruise around on the surface of Mars and deploying satellites to take high-resolution pictures of its surface, NASA still knows relatively little about the planet. To help dive... Read more.
NASA says we might all be aliens Whether or not you believe in life outside of our solar system, the fact that we are all here means that the stuff we're made of must have come from somewhere. After studying meteorites and discovering... Read more.		Life on Mars might be local Scientists at MIT will be taking a new approach to the search for intelligent life. Predicated on the fact that Mars and the Earth, given their relative proximity, have traded estimated billions of... Read more.
NASA announcement reveals new life made of arsenic The big news from NASA's press event left the gate a little early this morning, but it's every bit as exciting as we'd hoped. We may not have found a new life form on another planet, but better yet... Read more.		SETI to resume hunt for extraterrestrial life following successful fundraiser In April 2011, the future was looking dim for the SETI Institute's search for signs of extraterrestrial life, but a successful fundraiser means that some of its most key space-scanning equipment is back in... Read more.
NASA using lasers to get out of the dial-up era of deep-space communication NASA announced a new satellite that will dramatically increase the transmission speeds of images and information to and from space. Using the existing communications array that relies on radio signals,... Read more.

NASA discovers first known planet that orbits two stars NASA's Kepler space telescope has confirmed the existence of a space oddity that previously existed only in legend (and theory): a planet that orbits two stars rather than one. The unique system, known as... Read more.
Astronomers spot 16 super-Earths among stash of 50 new planets If you're not impressed by planets made of diamond and stars cooler than the human body, maybe the newest landmark space find will strike your fancy. Astronomers have just discovered a stash of more... Read more.		Feast your eyes on these jaw-dropping space images taken by amateur astronomers Images of the heavens and outer space are always a sight to behold, whether they're taken by a NASA orbiter or by photographers on Earth. There's an astronomy photographer in everyone who's ever been... Read more.
When Stars Explode: How to spot a supernova in action Watching a supernova explode is a rare thing and shouldn't be missed.  Since astronomers caught this dramatic celestial event within hours of its explosion, the research community is pointing its telescopes toward... Read more.		Newly discovered planet may be the most Earth-like yet In the vast reaches of space, planets that can support life appear to be few and far between. The list of requirements for an orb to be livable is long and complex, but astronomers are zeroing in on... Read more.
Diamond planet discovery is an astronomer's gem Diamonds are rare on Earth, but diamonds in space? Those are rarer yet. Astronomers have discovered a planet that's far smaller than Jupiter but has roughly the same mass, thanks to its super-dense... Read more.		NASA spots chilled-out stars cooler than the human body When you think of stars, you probably imagine massive, burning balls of fire much like our sun, but there are stars out there in space that you could actually stand on and not be burned to a crisp... Read more.
9 breathtaking NASA images of space Few things are more awe-insipiring than looking at the amazing images produced from our exploration of space... Read more.		Jaw-dropping Milky Way panoramic photo lets you enjoy a full 360-degree view Over a year ago, 28-year-old hobbyist astrophotographer Nick Risinger quit his job and set out to make a photo unlike any other. His mission? To create a true 360-degree photo of the entire night sky... Read more.
7 stellar sights from the Hubble Space Telescope Launched on April 24, 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has just celebrated its 21st year in operation. Above, you can see the telescope reflected in the helmet of astronaut John Grunsfeld during... Read more.		NASA announcement details Hubble discovery of oldest galaxy ever seen The universe was only a youthful 500 million years old when newly discovered galaxy UDFj-39546824 started emitting the light that eventually reached the Hubble telescope. NASA astronomers report that... Read more.

iPad App Review: Get your daily dose of the cosmos with the Astronomy Picture of the Day Here at Tecca, we love learning more about science and the universe. Thankfully, the folks over at NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) website have teamed up with app developer Concentric Sky to... Read more.
NASA astronaut makes first-ever Foursquare check-in from space Mission Commander Douglas Wheelock unlocked a very unique Foursquare badge today: a newly created "NASA Explorer" badge created in partnership with the space agency. Wheelock's check-in from the... Read more.		Tech for Parents: Astronomy resources for family fun Getting your kids interested in astronomy used to mean buying an expensive telescope and heading out to a mountaintop on a cloudless night. Though that still is a great way to go, there are now... Read more.
Starry nights for your bedroom There are those of us who, upon moving into a new house or apartment, immediately put glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling. You know who you are; there's no denying it. Lying there in those few... Read more.		5 popular gadgets Star Trek predicted Sure, it sounds hokey sometimes, but the Star Trek TV series birthed the ideas of many of today's big technologies, including some of the most popular gadgets in the world. In fact, one of the world's... Read more.
Solar Walk takes a stroll through the galactic neighborhood Science and technology often go hand in hand, and the iPad is no exception. It presents a unique way to engage both young and old, giving us all new opportunities to learn. One app that takes advantage... Read more.		8 awesome apps for the science major As a science major, you often get flooded with terms, concepts, equations, and formulas to understand and memorize. No tool other than your own brain can ultimately do the job for you, but there exist... Read more.

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