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Meet NASA's Space Launch System, 50 Years In The Making

Combining 50 years of innovation into one vehicle, NASA's unveiling its next big rocket--the Space Launch System.READ»

SpaceX, Blue Origin, And The Race To Control The Commercial Space Industry

Facing unexpected pressure and the yawning void of the post-Shuttle era, the commercial space race has huge challenges ahead. In the wake of Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin test failure, we look at the future of the industry. READ»

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The Skylon: Britain's Bad-Ass Rocketplane And Possible Shuttle Successor

As NASA settles for a tried and trusted solution, Britain's plans for a next-gen Space Shuttle inch forward with the Skylon: A black, future-tech spaceplane that absolutely looks the part.READ»

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NASA's Space Shuttle Successor And The "Man In The Tin Can" Solution

NASA's revealed plans for manned human spaceflight, centering on the four-seat, conical Orion capsule. READ»

Space Shuttle Endeavour: Made Of Spare Parts

OV-105, as Space Shuttle Endeavour is designated by NASA, is due to fly into space for the final time soon. Here's everything you need to know about this remarkable machine, which was put together from spare parts.READ»

China Gears Up for Lunar Space Race With World's Biggest Rocket Factory

China's aggressive move suggests a shift in global space politics and the emergence of a whole new space race between Western private space companies and Eastern state-run ones.READ»

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iFive: Twitter Not for Sale, Schoolboy Credit Fraud, EU Raids ebook Publishers, China eBook Piracy, Russian Rocket Woes

iFive is here to help jump-start your Thursday with a quick glance at the early innovation news:READ»

Commercial Space Business May Be the Answer for Russia

Yuri Gagarin is probably spinning in his grave faster than he ever spun in orbit: Russia's deputy prime-minister has denounced his nation's space agency for being "childish." Is it time for a U.S.-style commercial space industry in Russia?READ»

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NASA's Re-Launch: Old Tech is New Again, With an Eye on Private Space Travel Biz

The Shuttle and the Ares I rocket are in the mix, as NASA looks to salvage once-ditched ideas.READ»

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NASA Explains the Space Shuttle-Based Big Rocket It Can't Quite Afford

NASA has this week submitted its first proposal for the heavy-lift rocket it'll build to succeed the Space Shuttle. Among the science and political constraints, it sounds extremely sensible, with one hitch: NASA says it can't afford it.READ»

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NASA Launches Solar Sail Satellite, Hints at Future for Space Debris

NASA just successfully launched a solar-sail satellite from another experimental micro-satellite. It will demonstrate how it can take itself out of the space debris equation--by burning itself up.READ»

Google's Web for the Poor Satellite Gets Billions in Funding

Google backs some projects that may may make you blink, they're so odd--one of them is nevertheless so promising it's earned $1.18 billion in funding: It's a satellite network to bring Internet to the world's poor.READ»

Space Debris? Russia's Got It Covered

Russia announced it will be investing $2 billion in a program to capture some of the thousands of pieces of dangerous debris that threaten the future of space technology. How might it work?READ»

Virgin's VSS Enterprise Glides, Moves One Bold Step Closer to Space [Video]

Another starship Enterprise just undertook a bold new mission: This time it's Virgin Galactic's premier space vehicle, which has flown its first manned glide flight. It's another successful step on the road to tourists in space.READ»

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Government Wants Astronauts on Commercial Rides, Orders NASA's New Big Rocket Too

The Science and Technology Chairman written has just written $1.2 billion for commercial rockets for astronauts into a new version of NASA's next funding bill. A new giant Shuttle-derived rocket is also ordered, to be ready within six years.READ»

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NASA Cash Rockets Two X-Prize Space Teams Into the Void (in a Good Way)

NASA's about to fork over nearly half a million dollars to Armadillo and Masten under its Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research Program to help these new commercial companies reach the edge of space.READ»

NASA Finds Cash to Fund Fast, Clever, Unusual Tech For Future Space, Air Missions

NASA's revealed three projects that give us insight into some of its future plans: The watchwords are innovative, fast, new. Is NASA trying to shed its lumbering institutional ways?READ»

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Exciting Commercial Space Units to Watch: SpaceX and Copenhagen Suborbital

As SpaceX completes safety tests on its potential human space capsule, and a European outfit preps its innovative rocket for a test launch, it's obvious that some of the most exciting space news at the moment is coming from folks other than NASA.READ»

The Most Beautiful Way to Clean Up Space Junk: A Giant GOLD Balloon

Space junk is a growing problem, and it's getting worse every single minute, with no consensus on how best to clean it up. Now there's at least a solution that's beautiful: The GOLD balloon.READ»