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Meet our bloggers...CEO, Bill Nye, Emily Lakdawalla, Bruce Betts, Mat Kaplan, Casey Dreier, and a host of expert and entertaining voices from throughout our vast space community.

Browse Recent Blog Posts

Reconstructing What Happened at Sea, as Dragon Arrives at Station

Posted by Jason Davis on 2015/01/12 12:13 CST | 1 comment

Following a routine two-day voyage, SpaceX's Dragon capsule pulled in to port at the International Space Station. Meanwhile, tweets from CEO Elon Musk give clues on what happened at sea.

Tracking a Ghost Mission 238 Million Km Away

Posted by Daniel Scuka on 2015/01/10 09:14 CST | 2 comments

Daniel Scuka describes the impending demise of the Venus Express spacecraft.

Dragon Reaches Orbit, but Falcon Stage Crashes on Recovery Ship

Posted by Jason Davis on 2015/01/10 05:00 CST | 6 comments

SpaceX’s ambitious attempt to land the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on an autonomous ocean platform was "close, but no cigar."

Planetary Society staff and volunteers, August 2014

Getting to know the Planetary Society staff

Posted by Jennifer Vaughn on 2015/01/09 12:03 CST | 1 comment

Working for The Planetary Society is an extraordinary job—we deal with extraordinary subject matter, we have an extraordinary mission, we work with extraordinary people, and we work for our extraordinary members and supporters. Jennifer Vaughn introduces some of the new staff here.

NASA Completes First Test Firing of SLS Core Stage Engine (Updated)

Posted by Jason Davis on 2015/01/09 11:59 CST

NASA completed a 500-second test firing of the RS-25 engine, which will power the core stage of the Space Launch System.

$A fractured reality tale$

Mars Exploration Rovers Update: Opportunity Closes in on 11th Anniversary and We Look Back on 2014

Posted by A.J.S. Rayl on 2015/01/07 06:14 CST | 2 comments

With a wonder year of discoveries, historic feats, and bummers in the rear view mirror – and plenty of mettle to continue exploring – Opportunity ended 2014 quietly working in a temporary back-up mode, as her colleagues on Earth ramped up for the mission's marathon adventure to come in 2015.

Center for Solar System Studies Meade 0.36-meter telescope

2007 Shoemaker Grant Still Yielding Asteroid Science

Posted by Bruce Betts on 2015/01/06 05:15 CST

Telescope purchased in 2007 with the support of a Shoemaker grant is still in service and has worked on over 100 near-Earth asteroids over its 8 years of operation.

M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy, in ultraviolet, from the lunar surface

Short updates on Akatsuki and Chang'e missions

Posted by Emily Lakdawalla on 2015/01/06 02:50 CST | 1 comment

A few recent newspaper articles provide some updates on the status of Japan's Venus mission, Akatsuki, and the service module of China's Chang'e 5 test vehicle, Xiaofei. In brief: Akatsuki still plans to attempt to enter orbit in December of this year, while Chang'e 5 T1 is headed to lunar orbit. Meanwhile, the Chang'e 3 mission has released an interesting image of M101, the Pinwheel Galaxy.

Stand for Space! Join me in D.C. in February to Blitz Congress

Posted by Casey Dreier on 2015/01/05 07:34 CST | 3 comments

Put your passion for space exploration to work. Come with me to D.C. in February and join space advocates from around the country as we descend on Capitol Hill.

SpaceX Set to Retry Cargo Run, Rocket Stage Landing (Updated)

Posted by Jason Davis on 2015/01/05 05:14 CST | 3 comments

SpaceX will attempt to launch a Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station and land a used Falcon 9 rocket stage on an uncrewed spaceport in the Atlantic Ocean.