SPACE.com - When a shock wave from a solar storm hits the Earth's protective magnetic bubble, it creates highly energetic particles dubbed "killer electrons" that can be dangerous to satellites.

Southern Yemeni protesters raise their automatic rifles in the air during a demonstration in the Radfan district north of the Red Sea port of Aden, 2009. Yemeni authorities have seized the transmission gear of Arab satellite news channels over their coverage of deadly unrest in the south of the country.(AFP/File/Khaled Fazaa)AFP - Yemeni authorities have seized the transmission gear of Arab satellite news channels over their coverage of deadly unrest in the south of the country.


A group of US lawmakers Thursday urged the US administration to save NASA's Constellation project aimed at returning Americans to the moon in the next generation of space travel.(AFP/File/Manan Vatsyayana)AFP - A group of US lawmakers Thursday urged the US administration to save NASA's Constellation project aimed at returning Americans to the moon in the next generation of space travel.


SPACE.com - MUNICH, Germany - The International Space Station (ISS) partners have begun reviewing their on-board hardware with the goal of certifying it for use until 2028 even as they seek ways to reduce the annual operating costs of the orbital complex, the partners said in a joint statement Thursday.

In the grasp of the Canadarm2, the cupola was relocated from the forward port to the Earth-facing port of the International Space Station's newly installed Tranquility node in this NASA image obtained in February 2010. The consortium of agencies building the ISS wants to see if the orbital outpost can operate until 2028, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday.(AFP/NASA/File)AFP - The consortium of agencies building the International Space Station (ISS) wants to see if the orbital outpost can operate until 2028, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday.


Former shuttle astronaut Sally Ride (R) is congratulated by former Apollo 13 Commander James Lovell (L) after being inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, Florida on June 21, 2003 file photo. REUTERS/Charles W. LuzierReuters - 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.

The Falcon 9 vehicle undergoes final integration in the hangar at the SpaceX launch site in Cape Canaveral, in an undated photo. The vehicle's nine Merlin 1C engines are at far left, and second stage is at far right. REUTERS/SpaceX/HandoutReuters - 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.


The US space shuttle fleet can continue flying beyond NASA's September 30 deadline if the money is made available to keep it going, according to Space Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon (pictured in 2006).(AFP/Getty Images/File/Dave Einsel)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.