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NASA's four-member SpaceX Crew-2 mission is targeting a return to Earth on Monday, November 8. The splashdown is expected to be off the coast of Florida, USA. The Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Endeavour, was earlier scheduled to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) on November 7. However, mission teams delayed the return due to bad weather near the splashdown region. NASA's press release read, “Mission teams decided to postpone the Sunday, November 7, undocking following a planned weather review showing high…

A SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts back to Earth after a busy six months on the International Space Station landed Monday off the coast of Florida, a NASA live broadcast showed.Slowed by the Earth's atmosphere, as well as four huge parachutes, the Dragon capsule was able to withstand the dizzying descent thanks to its heat shield.It landed in the Gulf of Mexico at 10:33 pm US Eastern Time (09:03am IST Tuesday), marking the end of the "Crew-2" mission.A boat will retrieve the capsule, and the astronauts on board…

NASA has shared an image of a nebula captured by its Hubble Space Telescope that looks like a deep tunnel in space. The nebula is formed by a dying star, named HD 44179, which has been shedding its outer layers for about 14,000 years. The star is similar to the Sun, but it is dying and emanating gas and other material, which gives it a very distinctive shape. The star is surrounded by an extraordinary structure known as the Red Rectangle — a moniker ascribed to it because of its shape and apparent colour when seen from…

Four astronauts, three from NASA and one from the European Space Agency, arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday and docked their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule with the orbiting laboratory to begin a six-month science mission.The rendezvous came about 21 hours after the team and its capsule were launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday night, following a string of weather delays that postponed the liftoff for a week and a half.The docking…

The United States said on Friday it would resume flights to the International Space Station with Russia, despite its attempts to isolate Moscow over the invasion of Ukraine."To ensure continued safe operations of the International Space Station, protect the lives of astronauts and ensure continuous the US's presence in space, NASA will resume integrated crews on US crew spacecraft and the Russian Soyuz," space agency NASA said in a statement.NASA said that astronaut Frank Rubio would fly with two Russian cosmonauts on a…

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Russia's Roscosmos plan to launch their joint Mars rover mission in 2022. It was earlier planned to take off in 2020, but got delayed for several reasons. The main cause behind the delay is that the journey from Earth to Mars is only attempted when the planets are favourably aligned. As the agencies are again gearing up for the launch of the ExoMars "Rosalind Franklin" vehicle, the ESA has shared an Instagram post explaining the incredible features of the cameras aboard it and how they…

NASA is gearing up for the launch of its most ambitious space telescope or probe ever launched later this month. In that effort, it said engineers working on the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope have successfully completed the delicate operation to load the fuel it will use to propel itself while in space. The engineers are now preparing to place the folded instrument inside the top of a rocket, expected to blast off later this month to place the telescope into orbit.The Webb telescope is a project undertaken…

Mars' huge canyon system, Valles Marineris, may hold hidden water beneath the surface, according to a new study. The European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos' collbaorative ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) discovered large volumes of water in the canyon's heart. By monitoring the hydrogen concentration in the uppermost metre of the Red Planet's soil, TGO's FREND (Fine Resolution Epithermal Neutron Detector) has been probing these discoveries. This is due to the fact that hydrogen is a key indicator of water concentration.…

The quest for life on planets other than ours has long held the attention of scientists. But most of their efforts have been unable to conclusively say if life really exists beyond Earth. From Moon to Mars, scientists have launched many probes and missions to uncover the mysteries. Venus, one of the most inhospitable planets in the solar system, too, has intrigued them. Venus has an atmosphere filled with carbon dioxide and a surface hot enough to melt lead, which makes it near-impossible to protect life as we know…

Life in space is intriguing, much more to those with an interest in astronomy. There are several questions. For instance, how do astronauts keep their cool, what do they do to entertain themselves, or maintain their mental and physical health. European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer shared two videos which give a sneak peek into life aboard the International Space Station (ISS). In one of them, he shows what astronauts do to strengthen their muscle mass and bone density in the weightless environment. And in…