I just received a media advisory from James Oberg, a contributor to Astronomy and noted space historian. And I learned something new — something historic. Something I’m a little embarrassed I didn’t know. It appears that many video producers continue to misrepresent Neil Armstrong’s comments the day he stepped onto the Moon (that's Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin pictured at right). Oberg explains it best: The National Geographic Channel is running...

NASA just announced a contest for students to name the Mars Science Laboratory rover that is scheduled for launch in 2009. In cooperation with Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures’ movie WALL·E , NASA is inviting students ages 5 to 18 who attend school in the United States to submit essays explaining the reasoning behind their suggested name for this car-sized rover. Essays must be turned in by January 25, 2009, and NASA will announce the winning name...

Today’s the big day of Endeavour’s STS-126 mission (assuming the weather holds up), and I must admit that I’m pretty excited. I’m not sure why, but I’ve always been fascinated with space travel, specifically the launches. I never actually wanted to be an astronaut (too afraid of flying and not much of a risk taker), so I live vicariously through the men and women who do have the opportunity to be blasted off into space. I can’t even imagine how thrilling...

OK, I admit it: I’m a Marsaholic. We’ve been following the mission and writing about it for the magazine. You’ve probably seen the various headlines: Phoenix lands safely; Phoenix confirms water in martian soil; Phoenix detects perchlorate chemicals in martian soil; and, finally, Phoenix runs low on power and shuts down . So what’s this all going to come to? When I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s, dreams of future Mars exploration inspired and...

The November 10 issue of Time featured an article titled, “ The 50 best inventions of the year .” Among the top 50 are four astronomy-related inventions — three even made the top 10. At 18 is the Mars Science Laboratory (pictured at right). Set to launch in the fall of 2009, the robotic explorer will possibly determine if Mars was ever able to support microbial life. Number nine, the Orbital Internet, is new to me. Scientists are working on a connection...

India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar probe will fire a rocket Saturday, November 8, to insert itself into orbit. As I sat down to prepare a magazine news article about the mission earlier this week, I found myself lacking a decent piece of space art of the probe. A web search led me not to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), which lofted the craft, but to a talented space enthusiast in England named Doug Ellison . He kindly provided the image of...

Earlier today, planetary scientists discussed preliminary findings from the MESSENGER spacecraft’s second flyby of Mercury. The October 6 encounter revealed about 30 percent of the planet previously unseen by spacecraft — an area larger than South America. MIT researcher Maria Zuber spoke about results from the laser altimeter used to measure topography. Her biggest surprise: The thin strip of area surveyed seen during the January flyby. Brian Anderson...

India’s lunar probe Chandrayaan-1 finally blasted off last night. Make that one more space-faring nation on its way back to the Moon. One of Astronomy magazine’s columnists, James Oberg, sent the information below out to the various media interests he writes for and agreed to let me share it with you. In case you don’t know who Jim Oberg is, he is one of the world's leading popularizers and interpreters of space exploration. His classic Red Star...

Astronomy magazine Senior Editor Michael Bakich spoke with a reporter from TechNewsWorld about the upcoming Mercury flyby. Read Michael's comments and learn more about the flyby in "NASA Craft to Make Second, Closer Swing Past Mercury" . We've put together a nice package that includes a preview of the flyby, various news from MESSENGER's mission so far, a blog wrap-up, and podcasts: MESSENGER's second Mercury flyby .

NASA head Michael Griffin has made some public comments recently expressing concern that retiring the shuttle program in 2010 will leave us utterly dependent on a foreign power (Russia) for access to the International Space Station. See Astronomy magazine's Executive Editor Dick McNally’s comments on the subject August 15, a week after Russia invaded Georgia, touching off a diplomatic feud with the United States, "Russia, Georgia, and the...