SPACE

Commodity OnlineMUMBAI: Do you know that the famous space shuttle US Columbia was constructed using 40 kilograms of gold?

Countdown began on Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida toward Tuesday's launch of the Space Endeavour, less than three weeks after the last shuttle flight.

NASA released new images Wednesday of the moon's south pole region, a potential landing spot for humans or robotic lunar missions, demonstrating the surface is rockier than previously thought and has peaks as high as 2.5 miles along with deep craters.

The Japanese Internet Satellite that was launched on Saturday successfully reached the orbit, beginning a mission for a space-based infrastructure that will help remote corners of Far East and Southeast Asia to have access to information via the internet.

Four people including a former Boeing engineer and US Defense Department weapons expert were held on Monday on suspicion of stealing Space Shuttle secrets and spying for China.

The new European Columbus science module was removed from the Atlantis space shuttle and attached to the International Space Station.

The Atlantis space shuttle, which was launched yesterday, continued to sail smoothly as it headed towards the International Space Station for the long-awaited delivery of a European laboratory.

Atlantis space shuttle was launched on Thursday from its seaside Florida launch pad, at about 2:45 p.m., making the mission successful after a two failed attempts last year in December and uncertainty of the weather before the launch that would have halted the mission for the third time.

The Atlantis space shuttle is set for launching later today after NASA announced it had finished all the preparations for the mission to deliver Europe's first permanent space laboratory to the International Space Station.

NASA officials decided on Friday to delay the launch of the shuttle Atlantis yet again until Sunday as they continue to fix faulty fuel sensors.

Crew members aboard the International Space Station on Monday used a robotic crane to reposition the space shuttle's docking port, a key step toward preparing the complex for the arrival of Europe's science laboratory next month.

China launched its first moon orbiter on Wednesday accompanied by a blaze of live-to-air patriotic propaganda celebrating the country's space ambitions and technological prowess.

Scientists observe how water makes its way to newly forming planets.

The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour returned to its Florida home port on Tuesday, touching down safely at the Kennedy Space Center following a hectic but successful 13-day mission to the International Space Station.

'Galactic Suite,' the first hotel planned in space, expects to open for business in 2012 and would allow guests to travel around the world in 80 minutes.