A prototype module for a private space station has passed an orbital milestone after completing its 10,000th trip around the Earth.

The crew of the space shuttle Discovery successfully completed a dress rehearsal today for their upcoming launch. They capped off their practice run at Cape Canaveral with a simulated countdown to liftoff at 11:00 a.m. ET.

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere you only need to look overhead and toward the north where you will find the seven bright stars that comprise the famous Big Dipper.

Data-recovery specialist Jon Edwards may have set a new standard: He found information on a melted disk drive that fell from the sky when space shuttle Columbia disintegrated in 2003.

An Israeli teenager covers herself with a national flag during celebrations marking Israel's 60th Independence Day in Tel Aviv. via The New Zealand Herald

Canada confirmed Friday its decision to block a foreign takeover of the space and satellite division of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates, the country's leading space technology firm.

Industry Minister Jim Prentice first turned down the $1.3 billion takeover bid last month for Vancouver-based MDA's space division by Alliant Techsystems Inc., a U.S.-based munitions and rocket component maker.

Alliant Techsystems had 30 days to appeal the decision and the deadline passed Thursday.

It is the first time Canada has rejected a foreign takeover outright in the 19 years since the Canada Investment Act took effect in 1989. Read more

When six astronauts share a 15 cubic meters spacecraft for weeks, how is it possible to avoid to be bothered by your fellows sweating and breathing? I've already written about staying clean in space , but NASA ... via Emerging Technology Trends

"Throughout its history, NASA has sought to explore the most compelling questions about mankind, Earth, and the worlds that await our discovery"

NASA is collaborating with Intell and SGI to create one of the world's fastest supercomputers whose power will be measured in petaflops. via Universe Today

"NASA cannot do both the end of the space-shuttle program and the start of the new Constellation program without additional money"

John Glenn, even today, still looks like the ex-Marine who was the first American to orbit the Earth. via El Sentinel

The STS-124 crew members arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida this afternoon for the terminal countdown demonstration test. Flying in T-38 training jets, the astronauts touched down on the Shuttle Landing Facility on a warm, clear Central Florida afternoon. During this three-day prelaunch training event, crew members will try on for their orange launch and entry suits, practice an emergency escape from the launch pad, and complete a fully suited dress rehearsal of their upcoming launch aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. STS-124 Crew Arrives for Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test

ESA's orbiting X-ray observatory XMM-Newton has been used by a team of international astronomers to uncover part of the missing matter in the Universe. 10 years ago, scientists predicted that about half of the missing 'ordinary' or normal matter made of atoms exists in the form of low-density gas, filling vast spaces between galaxies. - European Space AgencyXMM-Newton Finds Part of the Universe's Missing Matter

FE-2 Reisman worked in the JLP (JEM Logistics Module Pressurized Section), setting up two A31p laptops and configuring them as SSCs (Station Support Computers) for use in the JEM (Japanese Experiment Module) 'Kibo', arriving with STS-124/Discovery on June 2. 05/06/08: International Space Station On-Orbit Status Report

Garrett Reisman took more detailed measurements and photographs of the 'divot' discovered earlier on the Node-1 hatch seal for ground analysis. At ~11:15am, Reisman conducted a 30-min 'handover' teleconference with Gregory Chamitoff, his planned successor as FE-2. 05/05/08: International Space Station On-Orbit Status Report