CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden, who circled the moon alone in 1971 while his two crewmates test-drove the first lunar rover, died Wednesday at age 88. Worden died in his sleep at a rehab center in Houston following treatment for an infection, said friend and colleague...
'Black in Space' Looks at Final Frontier of Civil Rights
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In 1959, Ronald Erwin McNair walked into a South Carolina library. The 9-year-old aspiring astronaut wanted to check out a calculus book, but a librarian threatened to call the police if he didn't leave. McNair was black. Years later, McNair was selected to become only the second...
Space-Baked Cookies, 'Mighty' Mice Back on Earth via SpaceX
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The first batch of space-baked cookies is back on Earth, along with muscle-bound “mighty” mice and other space station experiments. SpaceX provided the ride home Tuesday, a month after its Dragon capsule arrived at the International Space Station. The capsule parachuted into the Pacific, returning 3,800...
Boeing Capsule Goes Off Course, Won’t Dock at Space Station
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Boeing's new Starliner capsule went off course Friday during its first test flight, spoiling a crucial dress rehearsal for launching astronauts next year. The capsule will stay in orbit for a few days but won't dock with the International Space Station as planned. It will return...
3-2-1-Cookoff! Astronauts to Bake Cookies With New Test Oven
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Forget reheated, freeze-dried space grub. Astronauts are about to get a new test oven for baking chocolate chip cookies from scratch. The next delivery of supplies for the International Space Station — scheduled for liftoff this weekend — includes the Zero G Oven. Chocolate chip cookie...
First All-Female Spacewalking Team Makes History
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The world's first all-female spacewalking team made history high above Earth on Friday, replacing a broken part of the International Space Station's power grid. As NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir completed the job with wrenches, screwdrivers and power-grip tools, it marked the first time...
Rediscovering America: A Quiz on the Space Race
July 20 marks the 50th anniversary of U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin’s historic Apollo 11 walk on the moon. “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind,” Armstrong famously said, as an estimated 530 million viewers worldwide watched on their televisions. The landmark...
Here's a Fact: We Went to the Moon in 1969
NEW YORK — Fifty years after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon, some people insist it never happened and was all a big hoax by the U.S. government. The suspicions arose even as the lunar landing was taking place in 1969, said Roger Launius, NASA's former chief...
Before Apollo 11 Moon Landing, Astronauts Practiced in Arizona
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin knew they would be the first to walk on the moon, they took crash courses in geology at the Grand Canyon and a nearby impact crater that is the most well-preserved on Earth. Northern Arizona has had deep ties to the...
Poll: Scanning for Asteroids More Urgent Than a Trip to Mars
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Americans prefer a space program that focuses on potential asteroid impacts, scientific research and using robots to explore the cosmos over sending humans back to the moon or on to Mars, a poll shows. The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, released...