SpaceX to send first paying tourists around moon next year

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - SpaceX plans to launch two paying passengers on a tourist trip around the moon next year using a spaceship under development for NASA astronauts and a heavy-lift rocket yet to be flown, the launch company announced on Monday.

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Trump asks NASA to explore putting crew on rocket's debut flight

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The Trump administration has directed NASA to study whether it is feasible to fly astronauts on the debut flight of the agency’s heavy-lift rocket, a mission currently planned to be unmanned and targeted to launch in late 2018, officials said on Friday.

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Israel's Spacecom begins operating Amos-7 satellite

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's Space Communications has begun operating a new communications satellite, Amos-7, it said on Monday, a major milestone after it lost two satellites in the past two years.

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SpaceX cargo ship reaches space station after GPS glitch delay

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A SpaceX cargo ship reached the International Space Station on Thursday, delivering science experiments, food and supplies to astronauts a day later than planned due to a GPS data glitch.

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Scientists turn to Chile's Atacama desert to study life on Mars

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Astrobiologists seeking to understand where life might be found on Mars, and what form it might take, are finding that the Atacama desert in Chile, the driest in the world, may hold some important clues.

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GPS glitch delays SpaceX cargo ship docking at space station

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - SpaceX called off the docking of a Dragon cargo ship at the International Space Station on Wednesday due to a problem with the capsule’s GPS navigation system, the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration said.

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Wild boars roam Czech forests - and some of them are radioactive

PRAGUE (Reuters) - The Czech Republic has an unusual problem this winter with its wild boar meat, a local delicacy. The boars are radioactive.

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Astronomers find seven Earth-size planets where life may be possible

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Astronomers have found a nearby solar system with seven Earth-sized planets, three of which circle their parent star at the right distance for liquid surface water, raising the prospect of life, research published on Wednesday showed.

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'Alarming' superbugs a risk to people, animals and food, EU warns

LONDON (Reuters) - Superbug bacteria found in people, animals and food across the European Union pose an "alarming" threat to public and animal health having evolved to resist widely used antibiotics, disease and safety experts warned on Wednesday.

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Indian sungazers keep up family tradition for four generations

KODAIKANAL, India (Reuters) - In the early morning darkness, Devendran P. walks up a hill to a solar observatory in India's southern hill town of Kodaikanal, trudging the same path his father and grandfather walked in a century-old family tradition of studying the sun.

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SpaceX launches rocket from historic NASA pad in Florida

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A SpaceX Falcon rocket blasted off on Sunday from a Florida launch pad once used to send NASA astronauts to the moon, a step forward for billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk and his company's goal of ferrying astronauts to the International Space Station.

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Russian space craft lifts off for international space station

ALMATY (Reuters) - A Russian Progress cargo space craft blasted off for the International Space Station from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, the first such mission since a failed launch in December.

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UK government to set out powers paving way for first space satellite launch

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will set out powers this week which would allow the launch of space satellites from the country for the first time, the government said on Monday.

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Historic Cape Canaveral launchpad returns to action with SpaceX

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - The seaside Florida launchpad from which astronauts once blasted off for the moon comes back to life this weekend thanks to the commercial space venture founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk.

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Dwarf planet Ceres boasts organic compounds, raising prospect of life

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - A NASA spacecraft has detected carbon-based materials, similar to what may have been the building blocks for life on Earth, on the Texas-sized dwarf planet Ceres that orbits between Mars and Jupiter in the main asteroid belt, scientists said on Thursday.

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Unearthed essay on alien life reveals Churchill the scientist

LONDON (Reuters) - A newly unearthed essay by Winston Churchill shows Britain's wartime leader was uncannily prescient about the possibility of alien life on planets orbiting stars other than the Sun.

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Fossils show quick rebound of life after ancient mass extinction

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fossils including sharks, sea reptiles and squid-like creatures dug up in Idaho reveal a marine ecosystem thriving relatively soon after Earth's worst mass extinction, contradicting the long-held notion life was slow to recover from the calamity.

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Fossil shows pregnant momma sea monster with developing embryo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An extraordinary fossil unearthed in southwestern China shows a pregnant long-necked marine reptile that lived millions of years before the dinosaurs with its developing embryo, indicating this creature gave birth to live babies rather than laying eggs.

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India launches record 104 satellites at one go

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India successfully launched 104 satellites in a single mission on Wednesday, setting what its space agency says is a world record of launching the most satellites at one go.

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U.S. experts soften on DNA editing of human eggs, sperm, embryos

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Powerful gene editing tools may one day be used on human embryos, eggs and sperm to remove genes that cause inherited diseases, according to a report by U.S. scientists and ethicists released on Tuesday.

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China's plans launch of first cargo spacecraft in April

BEIJING (Reuters) - China plans to launch its first cargo spacecraft in April, state media reported on Tuesday, taking a step towards its goal of establishing a permanently manned space station by 2022.

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Genetic study may make ancient Inca's quinoa a grain of the future

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Quinoa, the sacred "mother grain" of the ancient Inca civilization suppressed by Spanish conquistadors, could become an increasingly important food source in the future thanks to genetic secrets revealed in a new study.

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Exclusive: SpaceX to hit fastest launch pace with new Florida site - executive

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - Space Exploration Technologies Corp, better known as SpaceX, plans to launch its Falcon 9 rockets every two to three weeks, its fastest rate since starting launches in 2010, once a new launch pad is put into service in Florida next week, the company's president told Reuters on Monday.

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Swedish statistician and "edutainer" Hans Rosling dies

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish academic Hans Rosling, a doctor and statistician who captured a worldwide audience with his witty style and original thinking on topics like population growth and development, has died at the age of 68.

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Exclusive: Boeing's space taxis to use more than 600 3D-printed parts

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Boeing Co has hired a small company to make about 600 3D-printed parts for its Starliner space taxis, meaning key components in the United States manned space program are being built with additive manufacturing.

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Scientists find crop-destroying caterpillar spreading rapidly in Africa

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists tracking a crop-destroying caterpillar known as armyworm say it is now spreading rapidly across mainland Africa and could reach tropical Asia and the Mediterranean in the next few years, threatening agricultural trade.

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SpaceX says fix underway for rocket turbine wheel cracking

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - SpaceX's final version of the Falcon 9 rocket, which Elon Musk aims to launch before the end of the year, will fix a potential problem with cracks in its turbopumps, the company said on Thursday. Its statement followed a report that the U.S. Government Accountability Office will flag turbine wheel cracks in the rocket's turbopumps as a safety issue. NASA, the U.S. space agency, and the Air Force are among SpaceX's customers.

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Paralyzed patients communicate thoughts via brain-computer interface

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have developed a brain-computer interface that reads the brain's blood oxygen levels and enables communication by deciphering the thoughts of patients who are totally paralyzed and unable to talk.

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