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The cast of “Alien,” in Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi blockbuster, may actually be more akin to future space-farers than our citizen heroes from NASA’s Apollo era. After all, the film presents a view of space travel that is based as much on economics as wanderlust and this is arguably as it should be. How can anyone forget the hangdog eyes of Harry Dean Stanton, who so clearly is out that far in space solely for the cash? The crew of the Nostromo, the film’s ore-carrying cargo vessel under threat from a ravenous extraterrestrial, inherently understands that sometimes great profit only...

The private spaceflight company SpaceX is poised to launch a robotic capsule toward the International Space Station Saturday (May 19) on a test flight that, if successful, could be a watershed moment for the commercial space industry. But while SpaceX has a NASA contract to provide cargo deliveries to the space station, the company and other private spaceship developers are looking to a future beyond NASA funding. The Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX is one of several aerospace firms who are competing for NASA funding under the third and final phase of NASA's commercial crew development program. Proposals for this stage of...

On May 19, if all goes well, the private spaceflight company SpaceX will launch the first commercial spaceship ever to visit the International Space Station. But the mission will be like no other U.S. flight to the orbiting laboratory. SpaceX's unmanned Dragon capsule is due to deliver food, supplies and science experiments to the outpost as a test mission for NASA. The space agency awarded the company a $1.6 billion contract for eight robotic resupply flights to fill the delivery needs left over by the space shuttle fleet's retirement last year.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA has announced a modification of its NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., to add an additional configuration of the Falcon 9 rocket to its fleet. The SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 launch service will be available to the agency's Launch Services Program to use for future missions in accordance with the on-ramp provision of NLS II.

It sounds like a routine event for NASA: At 4:55 a.m. on Saturday, a rocket is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., and carry cargo — but no people — to the International Space Station. But if all goes as planned, that morning will mark something transformative for the space industry: a victory for capitalism in what has been for decades a government-run enterprise. The capsule, built by Space Exploration Technologies Corporation — SpaceX, for short — would be the first commercial spacecraft to make it to the space station, and many observers view its launching as the...

Blue Origin, the secretive Kent company developing a new space launch system, briefly lifted the curtain on its plans earlier this month ... and then snapped that curtain back down. In an interview published in Aviation Week and Space Technology, Brett Alexander, Blue Origin director of business development and strategy, gave some new details about the company’s plans.

Weekly Sci-Fi Thread (05/13/12) Monday: 9/8 -- Eureka -- SyFy

NASA has signed off on the astronaut layout of SpaceX’s planned seven-passenger crew capsule after some NASA engineers and astronauts cozied into one in the SpaceX showroom and pronounced it fit. Officially, NASA declared that SpaceX’s plans passed another milestone, the seventh of 10, by demonstrating that the layout will allow astronauts to maneuver effectively in the vehicle. Several veteran space shuttle astronauts and NASA engineers conducted the evaluation during a pair of two-day-long reviews.

WASHINGTON, May 8, 2012 -- /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope has detected light emanating from a "super-Earth" planet beyond our solar system for the first time. While the planet is not habitable, the detection is a historic step toward the eventual search for signs of life on other planets.

When Stargate Universe was canceled a few seasons ago, it marked the end of a beloved franchise that had been on the air in some form or another for well over a decade. Now rumor has it that Stargate may not be as dead as we thought. Gateworld is reporting a rumor that something is in the works to revive the show, though the medium and details are still a little fuzzy.

Weekly Sci-Fi Thread (05/06/12) Monday: 9/8 -- Eureka -- SyFy Friday: 9/8 -- Fringe -- Fox (Season finale)

SpaceX on Monday successfully test-fired its Falcon 9 rocket in a dress rehearsal for the May 7 launch of its Dragon spacecraft on a cargo-bearing mission to the International Space Station. The test, known as a static fire of the rocket's nine main engines, lasted just two seconds, but allowed engineers to "run through all countdown processes as though it were launch day," SpaceX said on its website.

Weekly Sci-Fi Thread (04/29/12) Monday: 9/8 -- Eureka -- SyFy Friday: 9/8 -- Fringe -- Fox

Billionaire-backed space startup Planetary Resources has officially unveiled its business plan to much fanfare and with few surprises. The company’s principals--which include X-Prize Foundation founder Peter Diamandis, Space Adventures co-founder Eric Anderson, and former NASA Flight Director Chris Lewicki--today pledged that Planetary Resources would make the abundant resources of space available here on Earth, and introduced a couple of the company’s own spacecraft that will make such space prospecting possible. The rush for space resources is officially on.

Planetary Resources just wrapped up a press conference in Seattle, officially announcing both its existence and its ambitious plan to mine near-Earth asteroids. We were listening in live, and here's everything you need to know about how this asteroid mining plan is going to work and when it's going to happen. Essentially, Planetary Resources is looking to send spacecraft to mine near-Earth asteroids for resources ranging from precious metals (like platinum) to water. The company has assembled a team of engineers and visionaries with a large helping of financial support from the likes of Larry Page and James Cameron, and...

In an interview with a reporter from the Associated Press, Scott Pace, the current director of the Space Policy Institute at The George Washington University and a former NASA associate administrator, was asked to comment on the April 12th failure of the North Korean rocket launch. He noted that sending a vehicle into space is still a significant technical challenge, and added, “In many ways, the worst enemy of NASA is Star Trek… Captain Picard says ‘engage’ and the ship moves. And people think ‘How hard can this be?’” Filmmaker James Cameron supposedly made a similar comment about Star Trek’s...

It is not uncommon to read articles and blogs from space advocates lamenting that we as a country don’t prioritize space exploration the way America did during the Apollo era. Others complain that we have retreated back to low Earth orbit ever since abandoning the toehold we had for six short missions on the Moon. Some of the writers worry that the Chinese, Russians, or even others will get out to deep space before we return. To them, the Apollo era is the long past golden age of space exploration.

It's not a trip to the moon. It's not even manned spaceflight. But it is a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, and it's not insignificant. So if you want a front-row seat to witness one giant leap for private business, then you'll want to make your way over to Cape Canaveral for the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and its Dragon spacecraft.

Moon Express has successfully delivered its Preliminary Design Checkpoint Technical Package to NASA under its $10M Innovative Lunar Demonstration Data (ILDD) contract, providing NASA continuing data on the development of the company's commercial lunar robotic missions and plans to mine the Moon for precious planetary resources.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is an ambitious guy. He's the one who said he can get commercial flights to Mars up and running a decade or so from now, but what about humanity's return to the moon? Well, if you ask Musk, the moon's little more than old news. Musk has been making the rounds to talk up his company a lot these days as part of the lead-up to a (hopefully) historic SpaceX launch next week. On April 30 the company will launch an unmanned Dragon capsule to dock with the International Space Station. If it succeeds, the mission...