A rocket scientist weighs in on the movie "Gravity"
Bobak Ferdowsi is best known as mohawk sporting flight director on the Mars mission. He joined the AC360 Later panel to talk about whether the new movie "Gravity" is true to life.
Neil Armstrong's famous quote analyzed
When astronaut Neil Armstrong uttered what became one of the best-known - and most debated - quotes in all of history, he actually might have said it exactly the way he meant to, not the way people heard it.
After Armstrong lowered his left foot from the landing craft to the surface of the moon, people watching around the world heard him call it "one small step for man."
Both he and NASA initially insisted that he said "one small step for a man," and now a new and novel study on the much-analyzed quote backs him up
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Video: Buzz Aldrin reflects on Sputnik
CNN's Soledad O'Brien talks to Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin about what the "Sputnik moment" meant to him.
iReport Gallery: A northern lights show
The spectacular northern lights in Norway. Otto Lennart Motzke, 42, of Oslo, Norway took this photo Wednesday night at about 2am at Ingerstrand Bad, a public bath in Oslo.
Here are more photos of the northern lights submitted to iReport.
Taken by Wictor Madsen in Grimstad, Norway.
Stephen Hawking: Aliens may exist and could be dangerous
So, the world's most famous astrophysicist has some advice about whether we should or shouldn't try to make contact with creatures from outer space:
Don't do it, Stephen Hawking advises.
It would be much better for humans to keep a low profile, he says. There's a good chance we don't want aliens to come calling, Hawking says, because they very likely wouldn't be the cuddly, ET types we hope for.
What if there's somebody else out there?
Jill Tarter
Special to CNN
At this moment we have reached a major turning point for both science and the public at large. The SETI Institute is now offering the world the first taste of raw SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) data collected by the Allen Telescope Array in California. With this we move closer to fulfilling the institute's mission, which is to search for our beginnings and our place among the stars
Throughout the institute's 25-year history (we are a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to scientific research, education and public outreach), we have analyzed these raw data with custom algorithms operating on semi-custom hardware. Now we are transitioning to readily available hardware and servers because technology has caught up to us - hooray!
With fat days over, NASA must innovate
Michio Kaku
Special to CNN
In a long-awaited speech Thursday in Florida, President Obama will boldly go where no president has gone before, laying out an entirely new vision for the U.S. space program. The firestorm of controversy has already begun
For more than 50 years, presidents have pushed for government rockets to send astronauts to space, the moon and possibly Mars.
But now a new paradigm is being proposed. The moon program is off the table, and Mars is only a distant possibility. NASA is essentially getting out of the astronaut business, letting the Russians and private enterprise take over. The glory days of NASA, some say, are over.
A childhood memory, discovered 40 years later
Octavia Nasr | BIO
AC360° Contributor
CNN Senior Editor, Mideast Affairs
From my childhood I carry a memory. It has no specific date nor factual details, but it has strong emotions. It is a memory of a yearning and undeniable desire to go to the moon.
Over the years, my mom must have told the story about a hundred times and I probably told it about a dozen times. My sisters heard it over and over and delighted at making fun of my excitement and my deep belief in what was to most a sure improbability.
‘“Sign me up to go to the moon” were your exact words,’ my mom says.
I remember her trying to reason with me that maybe I should finish school first and then go to the moon. I insisted on signing up. I was convinced there was a “list” somewhere and that my name had to be added to it before it was too late. When my incessant demand was coupled with tears, we agreed that she’d get me a toy rocket so I could practice riding to the moon.
I remember that my mom took me to the only toy shop in our town, but it was closed for the weekend. I looked and looked through the window and saw nothing that resembled a rocket and was very concerned. Luckily, when we went back during the week, they had one. I don’t remember the inscription on it but I do remember there was a USA flag painted on the side. My mom bought it (thank you mom) and I played with that rocket for a long time and built many dreams upon it.
Many memories jam my head right now, mostly war-related. I link them back to which school grade I was in, which teacher I had, who was my best friend, who hurt me and who saved me. So many memories from a busy life loaded with events and images that I shared with my generation but events to which no child should be exposed.
A photo with some spark
Check out this photograph we couldn't help but post.
Space Shuttle Discovery rolls out to launch pad 39-A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, August 4, 2009. It is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station no earlier than August 25th. (Photo by Matt Stroshane/Getty Images.)
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Gumby celebrates Isha Sesay's birthday
Anderson Cooper's birthday surprise
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