SpaceX says accident probe will not slow space taxi effort

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - SpaceX on Thursday said efforts to develop and certify a space taxi for NASA are not being slowed by an investigation into a launch pad fire that destroyed its rocket and a $200 million Israeli communications satellite.

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Technical problems delay launch of crew to space station: agencies

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Technical problems have prompted Russia's space agency to postpone the launch of its next manned Soyuz spaceship to the International Space Station (ISS) which was scheduled for Sept. 23, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday.

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China launches second experimental space lab module

BEIJING (Reuters) - China launched its second experimental space laboratory on Thursday, part of a broader plan to have a permanent manned space station in service around 2022.

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Scientists decipher color of 'super cute' bristly dinosaur

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists guided by small structures preserved in fossilized skin have deciphered the color and camouflage pattern of a little dinosaur with a parrot-like beak and bristles on its tail that roamed thick forests in China about 120 million years ago.

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Possible air pollution link to Alzheimer's

A possible causal link between air pollution and Alzheimer's disease has been suggested by scientists after they conducted detailed studies of brain tissue, in a joint British-Mexican project.

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China to launch second space lab module, another manned mission

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will launch its second experimental space laboratory late on Thursday and another manned space mission next month, the government said, part of a broader plan to have a permanent manned space station in service around 2022.

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Asterias stem cell therapy shows promise in spinal cord paralysis: U.S. study

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An experimental stem cell therapy developed by Asterias Biotherapeutics restored some movement to patients paralyzed by recent spinal cord injuries, according to interim data from a small study being presented on Wednesday.

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Jeff Bezos unveils new rocket to compete with SpaceX

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Jeff Bezos on Monday unveiled a heavy-lift reusable rocket expected to compete against Elon Musk’s SpaceX and other companies for commercial satellite launches before the end of the decade.

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Floating farm could grow food on empty cargo ships

About 90 percent of the world's goods are carried by sea, with more than 70 percent in shipping containers carrying everything from TVs to sportswear from Asia to the rest of the world. But the global imbalance in trade means most of these containers are empty on the return journey.

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Elon Musk calls SpaceX blast a ‘most difficult, complex failure’

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - SpaceX founder and chief Elon Musk said on Friday he was unsure why one of the company’s Falcon rockets burst into flames on its Florida launch pad last week, destroying both the rocket and an Israeli communications satellite it was due to lift into orbit.

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NASA probe blasts off on quest to collect asteroid samples

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - An Atlas 5 rocket blasted off from Florida on Thursday carrying a robot space probe on NASA's first quest to collect samples from an asteroid and return them to Earth in hopes of learning more about the origins of life.

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Meteorite whizzes past Cyprus and explodes, lighting up night sky

ATHENS (Reuters) - A suspected meteorite did a close fly-by over Cyprus early on Friday, sending people into consternation over a blitz of bright lights which appeared in the night sky coupled with large bangs.

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ULA chief says recovery from space launch accident typically 9-12 months

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - If history is any guide, Elon Musk's SpaceX could be grounded for nine to 12 months while it investigates the cause of last week's launch pad accident and makes any repairs, according to the chief executive of SpaceX's primary U.S. competitor on Thursday.

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NASA asteroid probe may find clues to origins of life on Earth

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A U.S. space probe was cleared for launch on Thursday to collect and return samples from an asteroid in hopes of learning more about the origins of life on Earth and perhaps elsewhere in the solar system, NASA said on Tuesday.

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Tall tale: study reveals that giraffes are four species, not one

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Genetic research on the world's tallest land animal has found that there are four distinct species of giraffe, not just one as long believed, with two of them at alarmingly low population levels.

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Some like it hot: scientists drill off Japan for sizzling life

OSLO (Reuters) - Scientists will start drilling off Japan this month to seek the hottest place where life can survive in a hellish uncharted realm deep below the seabed.

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Scientists find deadly scrub typhus bacteria in South America

LONDON (Reuters) - Scrub typhus, a deadly disease common in southeast Asia and spread by microscopic biting mites known as chiggers, has now taken hold in a part of South America and may have become endemic there, scientists said on Wednesday.

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U.S.-Russian crew lands in Kazakhstan after 172 days in space

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A U.S. astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts wrapped up a 172-day mission aboard the International Space Station with a parachute descent and landing at dawn on the steppes of Kazakhstan, a NASA TV broadcast showed.

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Spacecom CEO wants 'several safe flights' before using SpaceX again

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The chief executive of Israeli satellite operator Space Communication Ltd said on Tuesday he wants to see "several safe flights" from SpaceX before using Elon Musk's space firm again to launch one of his company's satellites.

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Tiny 'fitbits' to keep tabs on the body from within

BERKELEY, Calif. (Reuters) - Scientists are developing dust-sized wireless sensors implanted inside the body to track neural activity in real-time, offering a potential new way to monitor or treat a range of conditions including epilepsy and control next-generation prosthetics.

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SpaceX to shift Florida launches to new pad after explosion

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - SpaceX said on Friday it would shift Florida flights to a nearly completed second site after damage to its launch pad on Thursday from the explosion of a rocket belonging to the space services company run by Elon Musk.

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Rosetta's missing Philae probe found in dark crack on comet

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - High-resolution cameras on the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft have found space probe Philae, which landed on a comet nearly two years ago only to lose power because its solar-driven batteries were in the shade.

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Dogs use same parts of brain to process speech as humans, Hungarian study says

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - "Super, well done," her trainer says, and Maya, a Hungarian golden retriever, happily holds up her left paw, responding to the praise.

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U.S. astronauts perform tasks during space walk outside station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Two U.S. astronauts went for a spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Thursday to pack up a spare cooling radiator and install a high-definition television camera outside the orbiting laboratory, a NASA TV broadcast showed.

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Oldest fossils found in Greenland, from time Earth was like Mars

OSLO (Reuters) - The earliest fossil evidence of life on Earth has been found in rocks 3.7 billion years old in Greenland, raising chances of life on Mars aeons ago when both planets were similarly desolate, scientists said on Wednesday.

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