In a bid to fly astronauts commercially from the United States by 2017, NASA has awarded contracts worth $6.8 billion to private aerospace companies SpaceX and Boeing. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden announced the winners during a news conference at Kennedy Space Center in Florida after weeks of anticipation.“We’re one step closer to launching our astronauts on U.S. soil in American spacecraft,” Bolden said during the conference. Since retiring its space shuttles in 2011, NASA has relied on costly Russian Soyuz...

Forget the repairman– astronauts aboard the International Space Station will soon be able to make their own spare parts using a 3-D printer. NASA expects to put the first printer of its kind into orbit in a matter of hours. Made by northern California company Made in Space, the 3-D printer will be sent up along with some 5,000 pounds of cargo inside the SpaceX Dragon capsule. It was supposed to launch Saturday morning, but rainy weather forced the delay...

San Francisco Surface temperatures of the nearby Pacific Ocean remain chilly year round - in the mid-50s. In contrast, the California landmass is often much warmer. Onshore flow sets up, and as air moves over the Pacific toward land, water vapor within it cools, condenses, and forms a dense deck of fog. (NASA/Windows on Earth) It's not always the clear days that give us the best images of Earth from the International Space Station. Sometimes, the cloudy days can be...

A Neptune-size planet with a clear atmosphere is shown crossing in front of its star in this artist's depiction. (NASA/JPL-Caltech) Astronomers have made a huge discovery– a planet, outside our solar system that has clear skies and water vapor. The planet is called HAT-P-11b, and it is located 120 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus, according to NASA. It was discovered by astronomers using three NASA space telescopes: Hubble, Spitzer and Kepler, the report added. "This discovery is a significant...

India's space program has officially entered rarified air. The newcomer to the space race successfully placed a satellite into Mars' orbit Wednesday, and scientists referred to the final stage of the mission as "flawless," according to the Associated Press. "We have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise and innovation," Prime Minister Narendra Modisaid in a live broadcast from theIndian Space and Research Organization's research center in Bangalore, the AP also reported. (PHOTOS: This Project Lets Us See Weather From...

India's mission to Mars now has photo evidence. The newcomer to the space race successfully placed a satellite into Mars' orbit Wednesday, and scientists referred to the final stage of the mission as "flawless," according to the Associated Press. "We have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise and innovation," Prime Minister Narendra Modisaid in a live broadcast from theIndian Space and Research Organization's research center in Bangalore, the AP also reported. (PHOTOS: This Project Lets Us See Weather From...

A crew of U.S. and Russian astronauts blasted off to the International Space Station aboard a Russian rocket launched from a facility in Kazakhstan, the Associated Press reports. The Russian Soyuz launched at 2:25 a.m. Friday local time carryingthe first Russian woman to serve on the ISS, one Russian and one American astronaut. The craft docked at the orbiting space outpost at 10:11 p.m. EDT, according to a NASA twitter post. NASA’s Barry Wilmore and Russians Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena...

A crew of U.S. and Russian astronauts successfully docked with the International Space Station early Friday morning after launching from a facility in Kazakhstan. The Russian Soyuz launched at 2:25 a.m. Friday local time carryingthe first female Russian cosmonaut to serve on the ISS, one Russian man and one American astronaut. It docked about six hours later. NASA’s Barry Wilmore and Russians Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova are set to serve a six-month stint at the station. They'll join three...

Satellite View of Fall Colors NASA’s Terra satellite captured this view of fall colors around the Great Lakes on Sept. 26, 2014. (Jeff Schmaltz at NASA GSFC) Of all the leaf peepers among us, the folks at NASA win. They have the best views and can take them all in at once. These photos, taken by satellite last week. show the bands of reds and oranges around the Great Lakes. (MORE: When Will Leaves Hit Peak Color In Your Area?)...

The second total lunar eclipse of the year is coming, and there's a good chance you'll be able to see it– if the weather cooperates. It's expected to peak before dawn on Wednesday, Oct. 8, and will be visible from almost everywhere in North America, Sky and Telescope reports. (MORE: 2014-15 Winter Storm Names Released) (SkyandTelescope.com Photo) "It promises to be a stunning sight, even from the most light polluted cities,"said NASA eclipse expert Fred Espenak in a Red Orbit...

(Mike Malaska, NASA ) NASA just served up a cool reminder of mankind's space accomplishments in the past few decades, and it's only going to get more impressive in the next month. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory compiled a convenient look at some of the highlights of space exploration over the last four decades in a photo compilation that shows the surfaces of various planets, moons and other extraterrestrial objects. The photo (above) shows the differences between various surfaces across the...

Last seen from Earth back in the spring of 1986, Halley's Comet "returns" later this month —or least parts of it will. The comet, whose orbit in the solar system brings it past our planet about every 75 to 76 years, leaves a trail of dust and debris behind that forms a meteor shower over our skies twice each year. Those particles pose no danger to anyone on Earth —though they're made from ice and rock vaporized by the intense...