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Science & Technology

The Orion test capsule, bottom left, and a Minotaur 4 booster rocket, center, fall to the Earth, Tuesday, July 2, 2019, as NASA conducted a full-stress launch abort test in Cape Canaveral, Fla., for the capsule designed to carry astronauts to the moon The capsule was empty for the morning demo, which officials said appeared to be successful.

NASA launches Orion crew capsule to test abort system

The Orion test capsule, bottom left, and a Minotaur 4 booster rocket, center, fall to the Earth, Tuesday, July 2, 2019, as NASA conducted a full-stress launch abort test in Cape Canaveral, Fla., for the capsule designed to carry astronauts to the moon The capsule was empty for the morning demo, which officials said appeared to be successful.

July 2, 2019, 9:50am Life

NASA conducted a full-stress launch abort test Tuesday for the Orion capsules designed to carry astronauts to the moon. Read story

Today’s solar eclipse will be tough to see

July 2, 2019, 6:02am Life

It’s been nearly two years since the “Great American Eclipse.” Millions crammed into a 70-mile-wide path of totality stretching from coast to coast, where the moon blotted out the sun to usher in a spontaneous nightfall. It was a planetary cavalcade unlike anything most had seen. Read story

Alon Gorodetsky, University of California Irvine associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and Erica Leung, a UCI graduate student in that department, have invented a new material that can trap or release heat as desired.

Engineer weaves octopus’s skill into new material

Alon Gorodetsky, University of California Irvine associate professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, and Erica Leung, a UCI graduate student in that department, have invented a new material that can trap or release heat as desired.

July 2, 2019, 6:00am Life

Engineer Alon Gorodetsky remembers the precise moment he decided to drop everything and start studying cephalopods. This class of sea animals includes squid, cuttlefish and octopuses. Read story

‘Michael Jackson drug’ still prompts curiosity from patients

July 2, 2019, 6:00am Life

It remains the most widely used anesthetic in U.S. hospitals, but many patients still remember propofol as the drug that killed Michael Jackson. Read story

This January 2017 photo provided by Ted Scambos shows sea ice on the ocean surrounding Antarctica during an expedition to the Ross Sea. Ice in the ocean off the southern continent steadily increased from 1979 and hit a record high in 2014. But three years later, the annual average extent of Antarctic sea ice hit its lowest mark, wiping out three-and-a-half decades of gains, and then some, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, July 1, 2019.

Floating Antarctic ice goes from record high to record lows

This January 2017 photo provided by Ted Scambos shows sea ice on the ocean surrounding Antarctica during an expedition to the Ross Sea. Ice in the ocean off the southern continent steadily increased from 1979 and hit a record high in 2014. But three years later, the annual average extent of Antarctic sea ice hit its lowest mark, wiping out three-and-a-half decades of gains, and then some, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday, July 1, 2019.

July 1, 2019, 1:46pm Life

The amount of ice circling Antarctica is suddenly plunging from a record high to record lows, baffling scientists. Read story

Gene Kranz, aerospace engineer, fighter pilot, an Apollo-era flight director and later director of NASA flight operations, sits at the console where he worked during the Gemini and Apollo missions at the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. “The impact is incredible,” Kranz, 85, said. With all the vacated seats, the room reminded him of a shift change when flight controllers would hit the restroom.

Restored Mission Control comes alive 50 years after Apollo

Gene Kranz, aerospace engineer, fighter pilot, an Apollo-era flight director and later director of NASA flight operations, sits at the console where he worked during the Gemini and Apollo missions at the NASA Johnson Space Center Monday, June 17, 2019, in Houston. “The impact is incredible,” Kranz, 85, said. With all the vacated seats, the room reminded him of a shift change when flight controllers would hit the restroom.

June 28, 2019, 4:31pm Nation & World

Gone is the haze of cigarette, cigar and pipe smoke. Gone are the coffee, soda and pizza stains. With only a few exceptions, NASA’s Apollo-era Mission Control has been restored to the way it looked 50 years ago when two men landed on the moon. Read story

Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. walks near the Lunar Module during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity July 20, 1969, on the moon.

50 years later, TV still enamored of Apollo 11

Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. walks near the Lunar Module during the Apollo 11 extravehicular activity July 20, 1969, on the moon.

June 28, 2019, 6:03am Entertainment

Retired astronaut Wally Schirra spoke for the world with his commentary for CBS News during the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20, 1969: “Thank you, television, for letting us watch this one.” Read story

A SpaceX Falcon heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., early Tuesday, June 25, 2019. The Falcon rocket has a payload military and scientific research satellites.

SpaceX launches hefty rocket with 24 satellites

A SpaceX Falcon heavy rocket lifts off from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., early Tuesday, June 25, 2019. The Falcon rocket has a payload military and scientific research satellites.

June 25, 2019, 8:42am Life

SpaceX launched its heftiest rocket with 24 research satellites Tuesday, a middle-of-the-night rideshare featuring a deep space atomic clock, solar sail, a clean and green rocket fuel testbed, and even human ashes. Read story

FILE - In this image provided by NASA, astronaut Buzz Aldrin poses for a photograph beside the U.S. flag deployed on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969. A new poll shows most Americans prefer focusing on potential asteroid impacts over a return to the moon. The survey by The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research was released Thursday, June 20, one month before the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Aldrin’s momentous lunar landing. (Neil A.

AP-NORC poll: Asteroid watch more urgent than Mars trip

FILE - In this image provided by NASA, astronaut Buzz Aldrin poses for a photograph beside the U.S. flag deployed on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969. A new poll shows most Americans prefer focusing on potential asteroid impacts over a return to the moon. The survey by The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research was released Thursday, June 20, one month before the 50th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Aldrin’s momentous lunar landing. (Neil A.

June 20, 2019, 9:00am Life

Americans prefer a space program that focuses on potential asteroid impacts, scientific research and using robots to explore the cosmos over sending humans back to the moon or on to Mars, a poll shows. Read story

Night Earth observations taken by NASA astronaut Scott Kelly.

50 years after reaching the moon, dream of sending man to Mars may not be best course

Night Earth observations taken by NASA astronaut Scott Kelly.

June 18, 2019, 9:15pm Nation & World

Mars was supposed to be next. Surely the moon was just a steppingstone in the conquest of space. For many people who came of age during the Apollo era, it seemed reasonable to assume that in short order the entire solar system would be our stomping ground. Eventually we’d be… Read story