'Perseverance will get you anywhere': After 300-million-mile journey, NASA's Mars rover shares Twitter updates
"I'm safe on Mars" isn't a tweet you see every day.
It's the update provided by the Twitter account for NASA's Perseverance rover (@NASAPersevere) after it successfully landed Thursday on the Red Planet. The tweet went out to a rapidly-growing audience of more than 1.2 million followers, with promises of more to come in the future.
The tweet, which gathered more than 480,000 likes as of Thursday night, punctuated a 300-million-mile voyage and coincided with the rover's 3:55 p.m. EST landing. "Perseverance will get you anywhere," indeed.
NASA sees “reasonable chance” of first SLS launch this year
WASHINGTON — NASA remains cautiously optimistic that the first launch of the Space Launch System rocket can take place before the end of the year despite having to perform a second hotfire test of the rocket’s core stage.
NOAA expands purchase of commercial radio occultation data for weather models
SAN FRANCISCO – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced plans Feb. 19 to dramatically expand the number of daily radio occultation soundings it acquires from commercial satellites operated by GeoOptics and Spire Global.
After an extensive pilot program, NOAA awarded two-year indefinite delivery-indefinite quantity contracts in November to GeoOptics and Spire Global with a combined ceiling of $23 million.
Space Force sounds like a joke thanks to pop culture—that could be a problem for an important military branch
The U.S. Space Force has a serious role to play in the modern world. Its stated mission is to train and equip personnel to defend U.S. interests in space. Given the increasing military and economic importance of space, the USSF is likely to grow in importance.
But a quick internet search shows that for most people, the Space Force is more a meme than a military branch. It has been the subject of jokes on "Saturday Night Live," and Netflix was working on a comedy show before the service was officially formed.
Pentagon inspector general to investigate decision to move U.S. Space Command to Alabama
WASHINGTON — The Defense Department’s inspector general will begin a probe into how the Air Force decided U.S. Space Command should move its headquarters from Colorado to Alabama.
“We plan to begin the subject evaluation in February 2021,” Assistant Inspector General Randolph Stone, said in a memo Feb.
Mars landing team 'awestruck' by photo of descending rover
The world got its first close-up look at a Mars landing on Friday, as NASA released a stunning picture of its newest rover being lowered onto the dusty red surface.
The photo was released less than 24 hours after the Perseverance rover successfully touched down near an ancient river delta, where it will search for signs of ancient life and set aside the most promising rock samples for return to Earth in a decade.
NASA equipped the spacecraft with a record 25 cameras and two microphones, many of which were turned on during Thursday's descent.
The rover is shown in extraordinary detail just 6 1/2 feet (2 meters) off the ground, being lowered by cables attached to an overhead sky crane, the red dust kicked up by rocket engines.
Northrop Grumman launches Cygnus cargo spacecraft to space station
WASHINGTON — A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket launched a Cygnus spacecraft carrying supplies and experiments for the International Space Station Feb. 20.
The Antares 230+ rocket lifted off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia at 12:36 p.m.
America has sent five rovers to Mars—when will humans follow?
With its impeccable landing on Thursday, NASA's Perseverance became the fifth rover to reach Mars—so when can we finally expect the long-held goal of a crewed expedition to materialize?
NASA's current Artemis program is billed as a "Moon to Mars" mission, and acting administrator Steve Jurczyk has reiterated his aspiration of "the mid-to-end of the 2030s" for American boots on the Red Planet.
But while the trip is technologically almost within grasp, experts say it's probably still decades out because of funding uncertainties.
NASA, Boeing update Starliner orbital flight test date
NASA and Boeing now are targeting no earlier than Friday, April 2, for launch of the agency's Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 to the International Space Station.
As preparations continue for the second uncrewed flight test, teams remain focused on the safety and quality of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft and successful launch of the end-to-end test to prove the system is ready to begin flyin Northrop Grumman ready for next ISS supply run
Northrop Grumman is set to launch the company's 15th resupply mission (NG-15) to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Resupply Service-2 contract. The NG-15 mission's Cygnus spacecraft will launch aboard the company's Antares rocket with nearly 8,000 pounds of scientific research, supplies and hardware for the crew aboard the station.
Liftoff of the Antares rocket is sch 
