Astronauts Paid Tribute to Space Shuttle Atlantis

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About 26 hours left before the end of the last mission of the Space Shuttle Atlantis, the astronauts paid tribute to the space shuttle.

After several decades of service, the space shuttle will be finally put down to retirement. The ship already spent 300 days in orbit and has already traveled 120 million miles.

Only two missions are left for NASA's space shuttle program. This is in accordance to the directive by the White House to end the long running space program.

For the full story, see the article below.

Space shuttle Atlantis on last leg of last mission - Yahoo! News

Space Shuttle Atlantis' last flight to be on May 14

Image via Wikipedia

Space Shuttle Atlantis will have its final space mission on May 14. This was the decision of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) top officials.

Atlantis will be flying to the International Space Station (ISS) to be bring new supplies.

Atlantis together with Discovery and Endeavour space shuttles will retire this year.

For the full story see the news below.

NASA picks May 14 launch for Atlantis' last flight - Yahoo! News

NASA to Partner with Commercial Firms in Developing Space Technology

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Consistent with the goal of President Barack Obama to further the commercialization of human space flight, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has selected several commercial companies to help them develop space flight technology.

NASA awarded a total of $50 Million through funded agreements to the following companies.

Blue Origin of Kent, Washington

The Boeing Company of Houston

Paragon Space Development Corporation of Tucson, Arizona

Sierra Nevada Corporation of Louisville, Colorado

United Launch Alliance of Centennial, Colorado

Will this further boost the technological capability of humans to fly to space? Or will this be the final demise to the decreasing popularity of space programs?

The full story is available in the link below.

http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=a&id=9111

Soviet Rover Lunokhod 1 Reflector Redsicovered

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The long lost moon rover Lunokhod-I launched by USSR on November 17, 1970 was found by a team of American physicists after 40 years of search.The reflector was found using a high-resolution camera on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO).

The finding of the Lunokhod-I reflector will greatly help scientist in verifying the deviation in the orbit of the moon as predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity.

Read the full article plus the actual photos of LRO in the link below.

SPACE.com -- Lost Soviet Reflecting Device Rediscovered on the Moon

NASA - Space Shuttle Discovery Returns

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Space shuttle Discovery has safely returned to Earth after its 15-day, 6 million-mile journey to the International Space Station.

This latest mission made history of most women in space, four.

Discovery is one of the oldest space shuttle that is still being used by NASA. This recent mission will be its second to the last. After it's last mission scheduled this September, it will be off to its retirement.

See the article on NASA website below.

NASA - Space Shuttle

Moon vets say Obama's NASA cuts would ground U.S. - USATODAY.com

Obama's plans for NASA was criticized by veteran astronauts including the legendary Neil Armstrong.

The return to the moon project codenamed Project Constellation is going to be cancelled.

See the original article below.

Moon vets say Obama's NASA cuts would ground U.S. - USATODAY.com