Artifact from Apollo 11...

discovered in 14,000 ft of water in the Atlantic Ocean by the guy that founded Amazon.com: Bezos Expeditions F-1 Engine Recovery.  Pretty cool, especially if they can raise them intact.

Here's a previous post showing the last Saturn V rocket on display at the Kennedy Space Center that I toured last April.

Mars Science Laboratory...

adjusts its trajectory and tests instruments as it passes the midpoint on its nine month voyage to the red planet.  The Curiosity rover is scheduled to land in Gale crater in August and, so far, everything appears nominal for the mission.

Is it snowing microbes...

on Enceladus?

Riding the booster...

First human footprints...

on another world seen in a high resolution image of the Apollo 11 landing site, captured by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft.  Cool.

RELATED:  I remember watching this mission's moon walk when I was a kid.

The serpent dust devil...

of Mars, captured in action by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (click to enlarge):

the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Source: redOrbit (http://s.tt/16Jan)

Read more about this serendipitous image here.

Saturn's largest moon...

seen in unprecedented detail.

What's going on...

with NASA?

• NASA Laptop Stolen With Command Codes That Control Space Station
• Chinese hackers took over NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab

Unbelievable.

50 years ago today...

the first orbital flight by an American astronaut was achieved: John Glenn, First American in Orbit.  Sadly, at present, we have no capability as a nation whatsoever for human spaceflight.

Highest resolution image...

of Earth ever compiled, using the VIIRS instrument aboard NASA's most recently launched Earth-observing satellite - Suomi NPP - has just been released:

You can access other resolutions of this fantastic image at this link for free download.  The original 8,000 x 8,000 pixel image is stunning to say the least, but it is an enormous file.

A profound moment in history...

for all of humanity: What Apollo 11 Astronauts Did Right Before Neil Armstrong Set Foot on the Moon.

I remember watching this historic moment at the age of 12, and I credit it as one of the reasons that I pursued science in my education and career.  Sadly, nothing quite this motivational involving human exploration of the unknown exists these days.  Yeah, robot geologists crawling around on Mars is pretty cool, but it isn't the same as a rock-hammer-wielding astronaut/geologist being there.

Opportunity rover settles in for winter...

on the edge of Endeavour Crater: 'Greeley Haven' Is Winter Workplace for Mars Rover.  While it will continue to make science observations at its parked position during the next several months, let's hope this amazing robot geologist survives the frigid conditions and continues its explorations the following Martian spring.

A wet world...

not far from Earth.

A last look...

inside space shuttle Atlantis.

Battle of fire and ice...

and the icy comet Lovejoy wins! Here's the video of the rapidly moving comet being slingshot through the Sun's corona:



Quite extraordinary, and you may want to replay it multiple times.  Here are more details of this amazing encounter.

Jupiter's moon Europa...

is target for possible NASA lander.  Why?  "Europa, I think, is the premier place to go for extant life" said one scientist.

But apparently NASA didn't get the message about not landing there.

Gypsum veins discovered on Mars...

by Opportunity rover: NASA Mars Rover Finds Mineral Vein Deposited By Water.  This removes any and all doubt that water flowed through fractures in the past on Mars.  Be sure to check out the related images at the link.

This morning begins...

with a successful launch of the Mars Science Laboratory (also known as the Curiosity rover).  The Atlas 5 rocket performed flawlessly and the upper Centaur stage is now accelerating the spacecraft to a point over the Indian Ocean where it will leave Earth orbit and head to Mars.  Landing on the red planet will occur in nine months time, in August 2012.

Godspeed, Curiosity.

UPDATE:  Here's a video of today's launch.

Mars-bound Atlas 5 rocket...

is rolled out to Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 pad for launch tomorrow morning at 7:02 am PST, successfully completing the first third-of-a-mile of the spacecraft's 354-million-mile voyage (click to enlarge):

There's a 70% chance of favorable weather at the time of lift-off.   Get mission updates here, and watch the launch on NASA-TV.

Photo credit: NASA-KSC.

Liftoff rescheduled...

for the Atlas 5 rocket carrying the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover from Friday to Saturday, 7:02 a.m. PST.  A swap out of a battery for the rocket's launch safety system is the reason for the one-day delay.

Here's the Mission Status Center to keep up with launch preparations, and a related previous post.

Fingers crossed.