“Spaceflight” on The Daily Caller

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)

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)

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)

Hours after Super Bowl fireworks lit up Miami, the Florida night sky was again ablaze as the space shuttle Endeavour lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in the shuttle program’s last, scheduled night launch. (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)