The idea, known as Project M, is almost a guerrilla effort within NASA, cooked up a year ago by Stephen J. Altemus, the chief engineer at Johnson…

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It’s the first humanoid robot ever bound for space, a $2.5 million mechanical and electrical marvel that NASA hopes one day will assist flesh-and-bone astronauts in orbit.

Imagine, its creators say, a future where Robonaut could take over space station cleaning duties; spend hours outside in the extreme heat and cold, patiently holding tools for spacewalking astronauts; and handle emergencies like toxic leaks or fires.

Why, Robonaut’s descendants could even scout out asteroids, Mars and other worlds in the decades ahead, paving the way for humans.

The adventure begins Wednesday afternoon, with the planned final launch of Discovery and Robonaut’s six human crewmates. Mission managers gave the green light Monday for the new launch date; shuttle gas leaks had to be repaired before the countdown could begin and forced a two-day delay.

"While it might be just a single step for this robot, it’s really a giant leap forward for tinmankind," said Rob Ambrose, acting chief of Johnson Space Center’s automation, robotics and simulation division in Houston.

For now, R2 – a collaboration between NASA and General Motors – exists only from the waist up. It measures 3 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 330 pounds. Each arm is 2 feet 8 inches long.

via Robot’s space debut ‘giant leap for tinmankind’.

The past few weeks have been a flurry of activity for the Google Lunar X PRIZE. With all of the recent activity, and with the competition just having celebrated its third “birthday,” now seems like a good time for an update…

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Suddenly, the idea of sending humans on one-way flights to colonize other planets is getting a public airing…

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Click here to access my earlier Oct. 21st post on this subject.

“New Mexico is not only helping to launch the commercial spaceflight industry, but we are launching new jobs and opportunities for the people of southern N.M.,” Gov. Richardson said in a press release…

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If NASA ever gets a clear directive for interplanetary exploration, a new Hundred-Year Starship could be their version of the Mayflower. And like the first pilgrims, Martian explorers might set sail with the knowledge they would never return home.NASA and DARPA have joined forces to build something called a Hundred-Year Starship, according to the director of NASA’s Ames Research Center. Simon “Pete” Worden said NASA contributed $100,000 to the project and DARPA kicked in $1 million.

via NASA and DARPA Plan ‘Hundred-Year Starship’ To Bring Humans to Other Worlds And Leave Them There Forever | Popular Science.

Dirk Schulze-Makuch, a Washington State University associate professor, who, with colleague Paul Davies, a physicist and cosmologist from Arizona State University, argues for precisely such a one-way manned mission to Mars…

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Any volunteers?

“You heard it here,” said Worden at “Long Conversation,” a Long Now Foundation event in San Francisco…

“The human space program is now really aimed at settling other worlds,” he explained…

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Embryonic stem cells behave very differently outside the pull of Earth’s gravity, researchers suggest.

These findings warn that procreation in space may be fraught with peril. However, further research could help unlock ways to combat the negative effects that weightlessness has on people of all ages.

The microgravity that astronauts experience orbiting Earth on the space shuttle or International Space Station can ravage their bodies on lengthy missions, atrophying muscles, weakening bones and causing irregular heartbeats. To advance longer and farther into space, researchers want to curtail these risks.

via SPACE.com — Embryonic Idea: Human Procreation in Space Would Be Perilous.

Virgin Galactic conducted the first piloted gliding flight of its commercial sub-orbital spaceship, the VSS Enterprise, Sunday, releasing the winged rocketplane from the WhiteKnightTwo mothership at an altitude of 45,000 feet above the Mojave Desert.

via Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | Commercial rocketplane takes first gliding flight test.

A looming traffic jam in space has caused NASA to push back the planned launch date for the final voyage of the space shuttle Endeavour by one day.

Endeavour is now slated to lift off toward the International Space Station Feb. 27, 2011 – a day later than previously planned – to allow another spaceship time to arrive at the orbiting laboratory. The fuel tank for Endeavour’s last flight arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida last month.

The slight flight delay for Endeavour will clear the way for the European Space Agency to launch an unmanned cargo ship – the Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 – toward the station. That launch, originally planned for December, is now tapped for Feb. 15, with docking at the orbital outpost slated for Feb. 26. Endeavour would then launch the next day and, if all goes as planned, arrive at the station on Feb. 28.

via SPACE.com — Space Traffic Jam Delays Final Shuttle Endeavour Launch a Day.

It was once a pursuit reserved for astronauts and top-secret government officials.

But now backyard inventors are hoping to land their own weird and wonderful spacecrafts on the moon after Google launched a £20million competition.

Nasa had previously estimated that such voyages would cost more than £1billion – with some skeptics suggesting that it is almost impossible to even fly to the moon.

via GOOGLE LUNAR X PRIZE: £20m competition to fly to the moon | Mail Online.

The House of Representatives voted late Wednesday to accept the Senate’s version of NASA’s $19 billion fiscal 2011 budget proposal, which would provide money for an additional shuttle flight, kick-start development of a new heavy-lift booster for deep space exploration, and fund the development of commercial manned spacecraft for trips to and from low-Earth orbit.

With no amendments allowed, the vote was 304 in favor and 118 against.

"This is a great night for our nation’s space program," Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, said in a statement. "This bill is a blueprint for how we will proceed for the next three years and will allow NASA to begin planning for an extra shuttle flight. Now we have to make sure the agency gets the funding necessary to get the job done."

via All Systems Go for NASA’s $19 Billion Budget – Tech Talk – CBS News.

When astronomers discovered the first planet orbiting a distant star back in 1995, it took most of their colleagues completely by surprise. The detection, by European observers Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz, was…

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As Congress adjourns there’s still plenty left for them to argue about, but NASA’s mission going forward isn’t one of them. The House of Representatives passed a NASA authorization bill late last night, outlining the budget – $19 billion in 2011 and $58 billion through 2013 – and goals for the space agency going forward. On deck: increased commercial space investment, a new heavy-lift rocket, and a focus on future deep space missions to an asteroid or even Mars.

via Congress Passes NASA Bill: New Heavy-Lift Rocket, More Commercial Spaceflight, and a Mandate for Mars | Popular Science.