astronauts

Chris Hadfield is back safely on Earth after five months on the International Space Station, but it will take several months for the Canadian astronaut's body to return to its pre-flight condition. More...

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Space shuttle Endeavour's final launch is off until at least the end of the week because technicians need to replace a switch box in the engine compartment, NASA said Sunday. The six astronauts — led by commander Mark Kelly — wasted no time heading back to Houston...

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Wednesday brought a Russian cosmonaut and US and Japanese astronauts safely back to Earth on the steppe of Kazakhstan after a five-and-a-half month stay in space. Russian Oleg Kotov, Soichi Noguchi of Japan and US astronaut Timothy Creamer "landed southeast of...

The recent discovery of an asteroid wrapped in a layer of water ice has revived the possibility that some space rocks would be great potential pit stops – as well as destinations – for manned or robotic exploration missions. If a space destination has water, that means astronauts traveling...

The space shuttle Endeavour's STS-127 mission could use some luck from its mascot. NASA has tried twice to launch the shuttle but both times was thwarted by a gas leak; Endeavour is now grounded until July 11 at the earliest. Perhaps that help will come from their new mascot: an alligator...