CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s experimental helicopter Ingenuity rose into the thin air above the dusty red surface of Mars on Monday, achieving the first powered flight by an aircraft on another planet. The triumph was hailed as a Wright brothers moment. The mini 4-pound (1.8-kilogram) copter even carried a...
Mars Drops Uncle Ben’s, Reveals New Name for Rice Brand
NEW YORK — The Uncle Ben's rice brand is getting a new name: Ben's Original. Parent firm Mars Inc. unveiled the change Wednesday for the 70-year-old brand, the latest company to drop a logo criticized as a racial stereotype. Packaging with the new name will hit stores next year. “We...
2020's Final Mars Mission Poised for Blastoff From Florida
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The summer’s third and final mission to Mars — featuring NASA's most elaborate life-hunting rover — is on the verge of liftoff, with the launch is scheduled for Thursday at 4:50 a.m. The rover Perseverance will follow China’s rover-orbiter combo and a United Arab Emirates orbiter,...
China Launches Ambitious Attempt to Land Rover on Mars
BEIJING — China launched its most ambitious Mars mission yet on Thursday in a bold attempt to join the United States in successfully landing a spacecraft on the red planet. Engines blazing orange, a Long March-5 rocket took off under clear skies from Hainan Island, south of China's mainland, as...
Look Out, Mars: Here We Come With a Fleet of Spacecraft
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Mars is about to be invaded by planet Earth — big time. Three countries — the United States, China and the United Arab Emirates — are sending unmanned spacecraft to the red planet in quick succession beginning this week, in the most sweeping effort yet to...
Mars Lander Confirms Quakes, Even Aftershocks on Red Planet
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's newest Mars lander has confirmed that quakes and even aftershocks are regularly jolting the red planet. Scientists reported Monday that the seismometer from the InSight spacecraft has detected scores of marsquakes. A series of research papers focus on the 174 marsquakes noted through last September....
Rolling Stones Get Name on Martian Rock That Rolled
PASADENA — There is now a "Rolling Stones Rock" on Mars, and it's giving Mick, Keith and the boys some serious satisfaction. NASA named a little stone for the legendary rockers after its InSight robotic lander captured it rolling across the surface of Mars last year, and the new moniker...
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...
‘Flawless’: NASA Craft Lands on Mars After Perilous Journey
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A NASA spacecraft designed to drill down into Mars' interior landed on the planet Monday after a perilous, supersonic plunge through its red skies, setting off jubilation among scientists who had waited in white-knuckle suspense for confirmation to arrive across 100 million miles of space. Flight...
US Planted Flag on the Moon. Does This Mean We Own It?
Most likely, this is the best-known picture of a flag ever taken: Buzz Aldrin standing next to the first U.S. flag planted on the Moon. For those who knew their world history, it also rang some alarm bells. Only less than a century ago, back on Earth, planting a national...