Elevator To Space
I can almost here it now: Elevator door opens... "What floor sir?" "Space Station Please." "Yes sir." Sound ridiculous? Well, yeah, it is actually. But, the idea of an elevator to space may be a reality sooner than you might think. The 2009 Space Elevator games are under way, and there have already been some interesting developments. For those of you not familiar the the competition, NASA has put up a $2 million prize for anyone who can construct a prototype elevator capable of taking a heavy payload up one kil

Lunar Landers Take Flight
After a suspenseful race to the finish, NASA handed out a $1 million prize to Masten Space Systems. The company, based in California, participated in the Northrup Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. The Armadillo team out of Texas earned the $500,000 second place prize. Each team that competed had to design, build and fly a module from one landing pad to another, and then return. They only had 135 minutes to complete the tasks, and were judged based on the precision and accuracy of their landings. The Masten t

Scientists Detect Most Distance Object Ever Seen
Only 630 million years after the creation of the Universe a super-massive star exploded in a violent supernova. The energy from this explosion has been traveling across the Universe ever since, more than 13 billion years. This event marks the most distance object ever observed. These types of events, known as a gamma-ray burst or GRB, typically occur at least twice a week on average. However, this is the oldest event ever recorded, besting the previous mark by 150 million years. GRBs are important to understanding the Universe as they allow us to "see" events that occured bi

Latest iPhone App From NASA
Love space and astronomy? Have an iPhone (I wish)? Well the ultimate geek tool is now available -- a new iPhone app that will allow you to keep up on all things NASA anywhere, anytime! The new free application, developed by NASA themselves, has four functions: Missions, Videos, Images, and Updates. The video and image functions will give you access to NASAs vast archive of, well, images and videos. The mission function gives you access to information about any of NASA

Ares 1-X Test Launch A Success
A prototype of NASA's new rocket, the Ares 1-X, took its first test flight this morning. After being delayed for more than 24 hours due to weather concerns, the launch went as smoothly as could be expected. The flight was designed to test new design and technology features for future NASA rockets. During the two and a half minutes before burn out -- when the rocket engine shuts off -- the Ares 1-X performed several trajectory maneuvers