Space travel proves how far we have come as a planet and how far we can go. We can do anything we set our minds to.

Human space flight is a very honorable thing for human history, because of all the human developments from millions years ago until today. I think it is a great thing to explore the universe, because we need to keep explore that way we can improve our technology better. However, human should also learn from the exploration in the universe, that how valuable is one Earth, people should protect them and keep this planet as long as possible, instead of destroy it.

Hello everybody. I am Eric from the USA and personally I think that the universe is very interesting. The advancements that we have been able to achieve in the past 20 years is nothing short of outstanding. The rover that was sent to Mars is a huge accomplishment for the US as well as the rest of the world because it means that we are beginning to understand life beyond planet earth. Who knows, maybe one of these experiments may lead to the discovery of something extraordinary, like extra-terrestrial life.

Hi! I’m Mandy Chan from Taipei, Taiwan. I was watching the news on Curiosity on Mars, and our solar system has always fascinated me. The improvement of human technology allows us to send robot or cosmonaut to the empty space. The first human spaceflight was directed by the Soviet Union on April 12, 1961. This was a new milestone for human beings. Nowadays, space travel becomes very popular because of danger caused by global warming. Different countries began to compete with each other by sending astronauts into space. They felt the threat of the nature slowly destroying our planet, and hoping to find a new world. So you can say that space travel gives people hope, strength and faith. On this deteriorating Earth, people eagerly wanting to find a place that human generation can survive. Knowing that our planet is dying, exploring the unknown space gives us a chance. So space travel is a good influence to this rotten society.

SpaceX’s historic space station mission delayed again:

The private spaceflight company SpaceX was targeting the launch for Monday, May 7, but now will likely shift to a later date, possibly May 10. The unmanned Dragon spacecraft is due to lift off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/05/03/spacex-says-delay-likely-for-1st-private-launch-to-space-station/

Astronauts’ eyeballs deformed by long missions in space, study finds:

They were alerted to the issue when astronauts who had flown on the space shuttle and International Space Station reported changes to their eyesight, with some seeing worse and others better than they had before.

Brain scans revealed that seven of the 27 astronauts had a flattening of the back of one or both eyes. By making the eyeball shorter, this made the astronauts more long-sighted, which in some cases had the effect of reducing or correcting their short-sightedness.

This could impact the nascent space tourism industry.

Virgin readies space ship test flight:

Virgin Galactic, an offshoot of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, expects to test-fly its first spaceship beyond the Earth’s atmosphere this year, with commercial suborbital passenger service to follow in 2013 or 2014, company officials said.

Nearly 500 customers have signed up for rides on SpaceShipTwo, a six-passenger, two-pilot spaceship being built and tested by Scaled Composites, an aerospace company founded by aircraft designer Burt Rutan and now owned by Northrop Grumman.

http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Virgin-readies-space-ship-test-flight-20120228

China’s next space mission to be manned, will attempt to dock with space station module:

The Shenzhou 9 spacecraft will be launched aboard its Long March 2F rocket sometime between June and August. The astronauts will manually dock with the Tiangong 1 module that was launched last year and conduct scientific experiments while aboard, Xinhua said. It didn’t say how long the mission was supposed to last.

China completed its first such space rendezvous last year when the unmanned Shenzhou 8 docked with the Tiangong 1 by remote control. That was considered something of a breakthrough since early U.S. astronauts did so manually.

International Space Station experiment explores fire in micro-gravity:

http://www.geek.com/articles/geek-pick/international-space-station-experiment-explores-fire-in-micro-gravity-2012025/

Say what you will about the International Space Station (ISS), but it seems like it’s being put to good use. One of the currently running experiments is taking a look at how fire burns in micro-gravity, and how to create extinguishing substances to create a safer environment for future space voyages.

Stephen Colbert Makes a PSA for NASA reminding us that space research provides extensive benefits to our daily lives!