Space

See Six Wildfires Burning In Colorado And New Mexico From Space

Jim Hill — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 14:12:36 +0000

The southwest is dry and faces another long wildfire season. That's a reality demonstrated by this satellite photo posted by NASA Tuesday.

Justin Bieber Aims For Outer Space

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 11:22:00 +0000

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Good morning, I'm Linda Wertheimer.

He has performed around the world for millions of screaming fans. Now, Justin Bieber is taking his talents off the planet. Bieber put a quarter-million dollar deposit on a seat on Virgin Galactic's spaceship. The singer wants to shoot a music video in space.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield already did that last month, singing David Bowie's "Space Oddity" on board the International Space Station.

It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Justin Bieber Destined For Outer Space

Scott Neuman — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 21:56:00 +0000

Singer Justin Bieber is the latest celebrity to score a booking on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, destined for its first suborbital test flight sometime this year.

The Bieb and manager Scooter Braun join the likes of Ashton Kutcher, Leonardo DiCaprio and Angelina Jolie on the elite passenger list of those willing and able to pay $250,000 for a seat on Richard Branson's commercial space-flight venture.

Sir Richard tweeted the news Thursday:

Bieber's suggestion of a music video in space is novel, but not entirely original.

Huge Asteroid Makes Its Closest Pass To Earth Today

Bill Chappell — Fri, 31 May 2013 14:08:00 +0000

An asteroid nine times the size of a cruise ship is dropping by Earth on Friday, and it's not coming alone. Asteroid 1998 QE2 will be about 3.6 million miles from our planet at its closest approach.

Headed To Mars? Watch Out For Cosmic Rays

Thu, 30 May 2013 20:00:00 +0000

There was great fanfare when the Mars Science Laboratory launched in November 2011, and again when its precious cargo — NASA's Mars rover Curiosity — touched down on the red planet in August 2012.

The eight months in between had drama of their own. Curiosity was constantly bombarded with radiation as it traveled through space — high-energy protons thrown out by the sun, and galactic cosmic rays slicing through the solar system from distant supernovas.

Here on Earth, the magnetic field and atmosphere shield us from most of this radiation.