Marcia Dunn
The Associated Press
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Past articles by Marcia:
Space telescopes capture asteroid slam with striking clarity
The world now has stunning new photos of this week’s asteroid strike, the first planetary defense test of its kind.NASA on Thursday released pictures of the dra → Read More
Neptune and rings shine in photos from new space telescope
NASA released new glamour shots of Neptune on Wednesday taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. → Read More
NASA to launch 2 more choppers to Mars to help return rocks
NASA is launching two more mini helicopters to Mars in its effort to return Martian rocks and soil samples to Earth. → Read More
NASA's dress rehearsal for moon rocket delayed after hazard discovered
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA's latest attempt to fuel its huge moon rocket for a countdown test was thwarted Thursday by a hazardous hydrogen leak, the latest in a series of vexing equipment trouble. The launch team had just begun loading fuel into the core stage of the rocket when the leak cropped up. This was NASA's third shot at a dress rehearsal, a required step ahead of a test flight to… → Read More
NASA: Webb telescope launch delayed by communication problem
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Next week’s launch of NASA’s new space telescope is delayed for at least two days because of a communication problem between the observatory and the rocket. Liftoff of the James Webb Space Telescope is now targeted for no earlier than Dec. 24. NASA announced the latest delay for the $10 billion telescope late Tuesday. More information will be available later this… → Read More
High wind delays Michael Strahan's space trip with 5 others
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — TV celebrity and former football great Michael Strahan is going to have to wait another few days before rocketing into space. Strahan was supposed to blast off Thursday from West Texas with five others for the 10-minute flight. But on Wednesday, Jeff Bezos' space travel company, Blue Origin, bumped the launch to Saturday because of high wind. Strahan is a co-host of… → Read More
Space junk forces spacewalk delay, too risky for astronauts
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA called off a spacewalk Tuesday because of menacing space junk that could puncture an astronaut's suit or damage the International Space Station. Two U. S. astronauts were set to replace a bad antenna outside of the space station. But late Monday night, Mission Control learned that a piece of orbiting debris might come dangerously close. There wasn’t enough time… → Read More
SpaceX delivers new crew of 4 to station, 'glorious sight'
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A SpaceX capsule carrying four astronauts pulled up Thursday at the International Space Station, their new home until spring. It took 21 hours for the flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to the glittering outpost. The one German and three U. S. astronauts said it was an emotional moment when they first spotted the space station 20 miles (30 kilometers) distant —… → Read More
SpaceX aims for night crew launch; ailing astronaut now OK
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX counted down Wednesday toward a nighttime launch of four astronauts who have been grounded for nearly two weeks by weather and medical delays. The Falcon rocket was poised to blast off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center a few hours after sunset. That would put the one German and three U. S. astronauts at the International Space Station by Thursday night to begin… → Read More
NASA bumps astronaut moon landing to 2025 at earliest
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA is delaying putting astronauts back on the moon until 2025 at the earliest, missing the deadline set by the Trump administration. The space agency had been aiming for 2024 for the first moon landing by astronauts in a half-century. In announcing the delay Tuesday, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Congress did not provide enough money to develop a landing… → Read More
NASA blames Mars rover sampling fiasco on bad, powdery rock
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA is blaming unusually soft rock for last week’s sampling fiasco on Mars. The Perseverance rover came up empty after attempting to collect its first core sample on the red planet for eventual return to Earth. Data beamed back last Friday showed that the rover drilled to the proper depth of nearly 3 inches (8 centimeters), and pictures of the borehole looked good.… → Read More
Bad offshore weather delays SpaceX crew launch until Friday
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX on Wednesday bumped its next astronaut launch by a day because of dangerously high waves and wind offshore. Liftoff is now scheduled an hour before sunrise Friday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, when better weather is expected. The SpaceX Dragon capsule has the ability to abort the launch all the way to orbit in case of an emergency. → Read More
SpaceX, NASA give 'go' for astronaut launch, 3rd for Dragon
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX is gearing up for its third astronaut launch in under a year, after getting the green light from NASA a week ahead of next Thursday’s planned flight. Managers from NASA and Elon Musk’s space company Thursday cleared the Falcon rocket and Dragon capsule for a dawn liftoff with a crew of four to the International Space Station. They will spend six months at the… → Read More
Two space fans get seats on billionaire's private flight
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A billionaire's private SpaceX flight filled its two remaining seats Tuesday with a scientist-teacher and a data engineer whose college friend actually won a spot but gave him the prize. The new passengers: Sian Proctor, a community college educator in Tempe, Arizona, and Chris Sembroski, a former Air Force missileman from Everett, Washington. They will join flight… → Read More
US astronaut launching next month may spend year in space
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA may soon chalk up another one-year space mission thanks to an out-of-this-world Russian movie-making deal. Astronaut Mark Vande Hei learned just last week that he'll launch April 9 on a Russian rocket to the International Space Station. The former station resident suspected that might happen and had been training just in case. → Read More
'3rd time's a charm': SpaceX Starship nails landing in test
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — SpaceX's futuristic Starship finally aced a touchdown Wednesday after two previous tries ended in massive fireballs. The full-scale prototype soared more than 6 miles (10 kilometers) after lifting off from the southern tip of Texas. It descended horizontally over the Gulf of Mexico and then flipped upright just in time to land. → Read More
SpaceX guiding NASA astronauts to 1st splashdown in 45 years
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The first astronauts to ride a SpaceX capsule into orbit headed toward a retro-style splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday afternoon to close out a two-month test flight. It will mark the first splashdown in 45 years for NASA astronauts and the first return in the gulf. Unlike Florida’s Atlantic coast, already feeling the effects of Tropical Storm Isaias, the… → Read More
Neptune's newest, tiniest moon likely fragment of bigger one
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Neptune's newest and tiniest moon is probably an ancient piece of a much larger moon orbiting unusually close. In the journal Nature on Wednesday, California astronomers shine a light on the 21-mile-diameter (34-kilometer-diameter) moon Hippocamp, named after the mythological sea horse. The SETI Institute's Mark Showalter discovered Neptune's 14th moon in 2013, using… → Read More
NASA spacecraft opens new year 4 billion miles from Earth
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft has survived the most distant exploration of another world, a tiny, icy object 4 billion miles away that looks to be shaped like a peanut or bowling pin. Word of success came 10 hours after the middle-of-the-night encounter, once flight controllers in Maryland received word from the spacecraft late Tuesday morning. → Read More
NASA's Parker spacecraft makes 1st close approach to sun
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA spacecraft has made its first close approach to the sun, just 2 1/2 months after liftoff. The Parker Solar Probe flew within 15 million miles (24 million kilometers) of the sun's surface Monday night. Its speed topped 213,000 mph (342,000 kph) relative to the sun, as it penetrated the outer solar atmosphere, or corona. No spacecraft has ever gotten so close to… → Read More