Space, Astronomy, Astronaut, NASA News from Kepea

Reuters - American physicist Sally Ride achieved lasting fame in June 1983 when she became the first American woman to travel in space as a crew member of the Space Shuttle Challenger.

SPACE.com - WASHINGTON – Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) aborted the Falcon 9 medium-class rocket's first static fire test March 9 just as the vehicle's nine main-stage engines were about to ignite for a planned 3.5-second burn.

Reuters - Space Exploration Technologies aborted a test firing of its Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday, in what was to be a key milestone in its quest to fly cargo -- and eventually astronauts -- to the International Space Station.

AFP - The US space shuttle fleet can continue flying beyond NASA's September 30 deadline if the money is made available to keep it going, a US space agency official told reporters Tuesday.

SPACE.com - After a decade of mystery, astronomers have now shown that a pair of white dwarf stars spin around each other in just 5.4 minutes, making them the fastest-orbiting and tightest binary star system ever found, the researchers claim.

Reuters - Space Exploration Technologies fired up the engines of its debut Falcon 9 rocket on Tuesday, a key milestone in its quest to fly cargo -- and eventually astronauts -- to the International Space Station.

AP - With space shuttle retirement just months away, a senior NASA manager said Tuesday it wouldn't be hard to add more flights, provided the nation is willing to keep paying $200 million a month.

SPACE.com - WASHINGTON – The chief of NASA's space shuttle program said Tuesday that the agency could technically continue to fly its three aging orbiters beyond their planned 2010 retirement if ordered to do so by President Barack Obama and lawmakers. All it would take would be the extra funding needed to pay for it.

The Christian Science Monitor - Pushback on President Obama's plans for NASA's human spaceflight program is moving out of testy congressional hearings and into Capitol Hill's legislative inbox.

SPACE.com - The International Space Station program has won a prestigious aviation award — the 2009 Collier Trophy — in recognition of its strides in advancing aeronautics.