Pilots Aim to Catch Space Capsule in Air
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In a harrowing feat high over the Utah desert Wednesday, two helicopter stunt pilots will try to snatch a floating space capsule that holds "a piece of the sun" and bring it safely down.
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In a piece of aerial razzle-dazzle worthy of a James Bond movie, a NASA spacecraft is scheduled to drop a capsule into Earth's atmosphere Wednesday, and a helicopter waiting in the skies over Utah will try to pluck it in midair and bring home its precious cargo -- a few micrograms of the stuff that makes up the sun.
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Smiling and confident, two Russians and an American prepared for their first mission in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft - breaking the nearly 30-year tradition of having at least one crewman with previous experience in piloting the capsule.
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A space capsule holding atoms collected from solar wind was en route to a tricky rendezvous with Earth today, offering scientists the first material Nasa has brought back from space in nearly three decades.
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Astronauts aboard NASA's shuttle Atlantis are hoping for clear skies over Florida tomorrow as they near the end of a successful construction flight to the International Space Station (ISS).
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A spacecraft made of folded  paper zooming through the skies may sound far-fetched, but  Japanese scientists plan to launch paper planes from the  International Space Station to see if they make it back to  Earth.
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It's reality TV at its most sci-fi. Two Hollywood stunt pilots hired by NASA are practicing to snag the 400-pound Genesis capsule Wednesday to give it a softer landing as it hurtles to earth. It'll be broadcast live so they better get it right.
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By JOHN ANTCZAK    MOJAVE, Calif.  -- A test pilot in a stubby rocket plane will try to climb more than 60 miles over the Mojave Desert and punch through the atmosphere Wednesday in the first stage of a quest to win a $10 million prize meant to encourage space tourism...
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A new challenge awaits private rocketeers hoping to breach the space frontier with their own versions of reusable spacecraft, this one demanding faster and hardier vehicles capable of orbital flights.
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A piece of the Sun is set to fall to Earth and be captured by Hollywood stunt pilots in a tricky mid-air manoeuvre, NASA announced on Thursday.
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A trio of astronauts is whizzing around Earth on a two-day race to catch up to and dock at the International Space Station after safely reaching orbit on a Russian rocket late Wednesday night.
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NASA sets a rocket in motion toward a comet, hoping to gain knowledge of the comet's makeup.
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Satisfied that his spaceplane is sound despite a series of unexpected rolls during Wednesday's flight, Burt Rutan will send SpaceShipOne aloft as scheduled to try to capture the $10 million X Prize. By Dan Brekke.
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PASADENA  To snag a spacecraft as it plummets to Earth after a three-year mission to collect bits of the sun, NASA has turned to Hollywood stunt pilots.
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The next three humans bound for the International Space Station (ISS) are spending their final hours on Earth before launching into space tonight atop a Soyuz rocket.
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Ordinary people are being given the chance to have their name go into space with the first X-Prize contender craft.
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Thrill seekers are plunking down six figures to ride rockets that haven't even been built yet, and a new airline called Virgin Galactic promises to be up and soaring in the next three years. Still, the budding space tourism faces a myriad of safety concerns &#151; in the sky and on the ground &#151; that must be resolved before any paying passenger takes off.