Japan’s Hayabusa space probe, which visited an asteroid and scooped up sample material may not make it back to earth.
Launched in May 2003, the spacecraft uses some amazing experimental ion thrusters, which have been failing one by one. It is now down to a single thruster which is in questionable shape. Whether or not it [...]

With Ares/Orion and NASA’s Constellation program apparently on the ropes, that raises a question. Who will be the next person to approach the moon? And when?
There are a number of possibilities. For example, China is methodically expanding it’s manned space flight capabilities. And they’ve announced plans to get people to the moon. But they’ve had [...]

JAXA, the Japanese Space Agency, has announced September 11 as the launch date for its test fight of a cargo system for re-supplying the International Space Station.
Presumably, the launch date was determined by orbital mechanics, and is not related to the terrorist attack of 2001.
In any case, it looks like Japan is joining a growing [...]

For the third time in the last few weeks, the International Space Station avoided a collision with debris. This time, the ISS was slowed down and moved to a slightly lower orbit.
Without this maneuver, the ISS might have been damaged by a 4-inch piece from an old Chinese satellite.
The flight director for the current mission [...]

Kaguya, the Japanese lunar probe (known in English as “Selene”) took some incredible photos. They’re high resolution images of a solar eclipse.
But it’s not the moon that’s blocking out the view of the sun; it’s US…the Earth!
Three satellites, one mission
Selene consists of a parent satellite and two smallar probes that are in polar orbits around [...]

Okay. It’s not scientifically or historically accurate…but it’s fun!

The Japanese are excited about their next woman astronaut to fly. Naoko Yamazaki, who has a 6 year old daughter, will be the second female Japanese astronaut to fly. She’s set to be aboard the shuttle Atlantis in February 2010.
I remember the previous one. As it happens, I was in Japan at the time.
The astronaut, [...]

India recently launched its first lunar mission, but the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has even bigger plans: to launch astronauts into space by 2012. And to put an astronaut on the moon by 2020. That’s according to a recent article in India’s Economic Times.
Space seems to be getting crowded with the United States, Russia, [...]