The man at the controls of the space shuttle Discovery when it deployed the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 now appears poised to steer NASA into its post-shuttle orbit. Former astronaut and retired Marine general Charles Bolden Jr. is President Obama’s likely nominee to head the space agency; the two are expected to meet at the White House May 19 for a formal interview.
Tag Archives: space
Upgraded Hubble flies solo again
The Hubble Space Telescope was released into orbit Tuesday. Space shuttle Atlantis crew member Megan McArthur used the shuttle’s robotic arm to release the telescope at 8:57 a.m
Yusuf, formerly Cat Stevens, brings good vibes
It was the hottest ticket in town. Colin Farrell was there. So were Michelle Branch, Josh Groban and Chris Isaak — the latter accompanied by his manager’s dog, Rodney.
‘Angels & Demons’ summons a $48 million bow
Ron Howard’s "Angels & Demons" soared to a $48 million opening this weekend, narrowly edging out a stellar $43 million second-week performance by "Star Trek," according to estimates by Hollywood.com Box Office. While hardly miraculous, Angels’ solid bow is the second-best opening of Tom Hanks’ career, behind “The Da Vinci Code’s” $77.1 million debut in 2006. Despite receiving better reviews than its predecessor, ‘Angels’ was widely expected to fly lower than ‘Da Vinci’ on account of the cooled-off controversy over the religious subject matter in Dan Brown’s novels
Shuttle crew prepares for first spacewalk to repair Hubble
The space shuttle Atlantis crew on Thursday prepared to embark on the first of five spacewalks during its 11-day mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope. After a two-day chase, the shuttle Wednesday captured the telescope with its robotic arm 350 miles above Earth and pulled it into Atlantis’ cargo bay for service
NASA astronaut first to ‘tweet’ from space
It’s not quite the achievement of a lunar landing, but astronaut Mike Massimino made Twitter history with a 139-character post to the micro-blogging site — the first person to do so from space. “From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!” he wrote at 4:30 p.m.
The Scene: ‘Trek’ actors dive onto Vulcan
Acclaimed filmmaker J.J. Abrams was presented with a specific challenge when he agreed to direct this summer’s highly anticipated prequel to the phenomenally successful sci-fi franchise, "Star Trek." He had to figure out a way to include action that would please a modern audience and utilize current movie-making techniques — while still having everything ring true with characters that fans know extremely well. He answers this call throughout his film
Mars lander sends photos from Red Planet’s arctic
NASA’s Mars Phoenix Lander began sending photos of the planet’s surface on the first day of its three-month mission "to taste and sniff the northern polar site’s soil and ice," the space agency said. The first pictures, which the lander began taking shortly after touching down near Mars’ north pole — the end of a 422 million-mile trek — showed a pattern of brown polygons as far as the camera could see
In Hong Kong, Even the Dead Wait in Line
In Hong Kong, it can be hard just finding somewhere to sit down.
Unlikely diva’s talent wows global audience
In the space of a few minutes and a few notes unemployed Scottish charity worker Susan Boyle won over 3,000 fans. In the space of a few days and YouTube she has grabbed the attention of millions. And she also reportedly has A-list fans like Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher