“International Space Station” on The Daily Caller

When Discovery’s six astronauts take the final space shuttle ride to orbit in September, there’ll be one more rider sitting in the back of the bus: Robonaut 2, the semi-humanoid robot created by NASA and GM. (more)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – President Barack Obama travels to Florida on Thursday to sell his vision of a reoriented U.S. space exploration program that could spell job losses in this state as well as Texas and Alabama. (more)

When America’s space shuttle program ends in September, the U.S. will be completely dependent on Russian rockets for launching men and women into space — and bringing them back. But what will happen to America’s astronauts if relations between the U.S. and Russia sour? (more)

Astronauts moved a cargo module the size of a mini bus the short distance from space shuttle Discovery’s payload bay to the International Space Station’s (ISS) Harmony node Thursday morning, setting the stage for a carefully choreographed ballet to begin transferring tons of supplies and equipment to and from and the orbiting laboratory (more)

The space shuttle Discovery is on its way to the International Space Station following a successful liftoff early Monday from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center. (more)

A Russian Soyuz space capsule carrying a U.S. astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut from the International Space Station landed safely in Kazakhstan on Thursday. (more)

The White House is launching a political counterattack to fend off escalating congressional criticism of its proposals to outsource U.S. manned space missions to private industry. (more)

U.S. space shuttle Endeavor arrived back on earth after a two-week mission to install the 16-ton “Tranquility” node and its attendant cupola on the International Space Station, which will give the facility’s crew more docking space for vehicles. The cupola includes windows for a sweeping view of earth, the better for crew to manipulate a robotic arm used to help dock craft heading for the station. Endeavor’s was one of the few remaining missions before NASA plans on mothballing its shuttles by the end of the year. (more)

A moon rock that was retrieved from the lunar surface by Apollo 11 crewmembers and later carried to the top of Everest by a mountaineering astronaut is back in outer space, thanks to the shuttle Endeavour. (more)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — In a highly anticipated grand finale to their mission, astronauts opened the shutters on the International Space Station’s new observation deck Wednesday and were humbled by “absolutely spectacular” views of Earth from inside the elaborate atrium of windows. (more)

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong, stepping onto the lunar surface, spoke the now iconic words, “That’s one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind.” Most Americans born subsequent to that seminal day are not able to appreciate the national pride and world approval shown then for a truly landmark achievement of humankind. And now, 40 years later, these new generations of Americans might just witness the death of America’s human space program. (more)

Astronauts did some rearranging at the International Space Station for the second night in a row Monday, moving an old docking adapter into a new position. (more)

JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Texas — The shuttle Endeavour docked with the International Space Station late Tuesday in a picture-perfect rendezvous that included spectacular views of the shuttle against the blue-and-white backdrop of Earth. (more)

“We choose not to go to the moon. We choose not to go to the moon in the foreseeable future and not to do the other things, not because they are hard, but because they are expensive, because that goal will serve only to waste our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are unwilling to pay for, one we are unwilling to continue, and one which we intend to abandon…” (more)

The space shuttle Endeavour lifted off from Kennedy Space Center early Monday on a two-week mission to the international space station. (more)

UPDATE: CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — There won’t be a space shuttle launch today thanks to a cloud cover that moved in and wouldn’t go away. NASA says it will try again tomorrow to send Endeavour aloft with the last big parts of the international space station. (more)

Last October, NASA received a committee report that called existing planning “unsustainable.” The agency couldn’t even budget the money to deorbit the International Space Station as planned in 2016—itself a waste of the construction costs—and the vehicles needed for its planned return to the moon wouldn’t be ready by the 2030s… “if ever,” in the committee’s words. (more)

You really can’t escape Twitter. Even in space. (more)