Kepler, 2009-2013

The most important spacecraft since the Hubble Space Telescope has been felled by a couple of reaction wheels that stubbornly held to their predicted useful lives, NASA reports. If distant planets and their stars were this obvious, Kepler wouldn't have needed remotely the same pointing accuracy. Something about Kepler, despite its stubborn refusal to return pretty pictures…

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Monster in the drink

A video grab of the Dragon capsule approaching the International Space Station on Oct. 10. The capsule splashed down off the California coast on Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012. (Courtesy NASA/SpaceX) As I write this, SpaceX's Dragon space capsule is on a boat, having splashed down 250 miles off the California coast on Sunday. Monsters loom off…

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Splitting hairs: SpaceX and the ISS

Great news from SpaceX today: Their dragon capsule has linked up with the International Space Station. From the news release I got emailed to me a bit ago: Dragon Becomes First Commercial Spacecraft to Attach to the Space Station Today, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) made history when its Dragon spacecraft became the first commercial vehicle in history…

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