|  NASA Astronauts Gearing Up for Christmas Eve Spacewalk  | Two astronauts on the International Space Station are set for a Christmas Eve spacewalk tomorrow (Dec. 24). NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins will don their spacesuits and float out into the weightless wonderland of space for another spacewalk to repair the orbiting outpost's critical cooling system Tuesday. This EVA (extra-vehicular activity, or spacewalk) is the second in a series of spacewalks quickly planned after a problem with the vital system arose on Dec. 11. Originally, NASA officials planned three spacewalks to fix the issue, however, if all goes well during the Christmas Eve EVA, the astronauts should be able to get the system back up and running at full capacity without a third spacewalk.
| Read More » The Virgin Birth: Why We Believe About three-quarters of Americans believe in the Virgin Birth, according to a recent Pew survey. Belief in Jesus' immaculate conception isn't such a leap once you accept the possibility of miracles and the supernatural. And from a cognitive perspective, the human brain is primed for a belief in God and the supernatural. Those polls are "evidence that most people know scientific knowledge is not the only kind of knowledge," said Stacy Trasancos, a popular blogger on science and Catholicism and the author of "Science Was Born of Christianity" (Amazon Digital Services, 2013). Read More » Night-Shining Clouds Show Up Early Over South Pole  | Night-shining clouds started glowing high above Antarctica earlier than usual this year, observations from a NASA satellite show. They form when water molecules freeze around "meteor smoke" close to the edge of space, typically about 50 to 53 miles (80 and 85 kilometers) above Earth's surface — so high that they can reflect light after the sun sets. The phenomenon looks spectacular from the ground, but scientists also have watched these night-shining clouds from above with NASA's AIM (Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere) satellite since 2007. Data from AIM indicate that noctilucent clouds started forming around the South Pole on Nov. 20 this year as a tiny spot of electric blue that quickly expanded to cover the entire frozen continent, as this NASA video shows.
| Read More » Astronauts ready for second spacewalk to repair station  | By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are planning a second and final spacewalk to fix the outpost's cooling system early on Tuesday, a NASA official said. NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins are expected to leave the station's Quest airlock to install a new ammonia pump, space station flight director Judd Frieling said during an interview on NASA Television on Monday.
| Read More » 6 Miracle Birth Stories Beyond Jesus  | Christmas, in the religious sense at least, centers on one basic tenet of Christian belief: that Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born to a virgin mother. Unconventional births can be found far outside the manger in mythologies and religious traditions from ancient Egypt to the Aztec empire; LiveScience brings you the story behind six miracle births. Osiris' wife Isis picked up the pieces of her husband — all but his penis, which was thrown into the Nile and eaten by a fish, according to some accounts.
| Read More » Mars Express to Fly Within 'Touching Distance' of Moon Phobos (Video) A European spacecraft orbiting Mars is set to make its closest flyby yet of the largest Martian moon, Phobos, on Sunday (Dec. 29). Passing just 28 miles (45 kilometers) above the surface of Phobos, the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft will be traveling too close and too fast to take any images of the lumpy, potato-shaped moon. Phobos is small, measuring only about 16 by 14 by 11 miles (27 by 22 by 18 km), which means a 150-pound (68 kilograms) person standing on its surface would weigh just two ounces (56 grams). Nonetheless, Phobos' gravitational pull will tug Mars Express slightly off course during Sunday's flyby. Read More » 12 Days of Science: Celebrating Christmas with Cool Images  | The British Royal Society, the world's oldest scientific society, is celebrating the 12 days of Christmas with gorgeous science illustrations from its picture library. In place of five golden rings are five pink rings surrounding a portrait of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, an Internet visionary and professor at MIT. On the ninth day of Christmas, The Royal Society celebrates "nine fireman leaping" with an 1825 illustration of Russian firefighters practicing rescue techniques on a spindly looking scaffolding. On the third day comes an illustration of three Inuit in a group portrait sketched by Capt. James Clark Ross, who was icebound in the Canadian Arctic for four winters.
| Read More » NASA Astronauts Tackle Christmas Eve Spacewalk to Fix Space Station: Watch Live  | Two American astronauts will spend Christmas Eve working in the vacuum of space to hopefully fix the vital cooling system aboard the International Space Station, and you can walk their spacewalk live. NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio are scheduled to venture outside the International Space Station today (Dec. 24) at about 7:10 a.m. (1210 GMT) for their second spacewalk in four days. You can watch the spacewalk live on SPACE.com via NASA TV. During the 6.5-hour spacewalk, Hopkins and Mastracchio will be working to replace a faulty pump module that helps cool equipment inside and outside of the space laboratory.
| Read More » NASA Astronauts Begin Christmas Eve Spacewalk for Space Station Repairs  | Two American astronauts are spending Christmas Eve working in the vacuum of space to hopefully fix the vital cooling system aboard the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio officially started the spacewalk at 6:53 a.m. EST (1153 GMT). The two astronauts ventured outside of the space station's Quest airlock shortly afterwards, getting to work on their second spacewalk in four days. You can watch the spacewalk live on SPACE.com today (Dec. 24) via NASA TV.
| Read More » Astronauts leave space station to replace cooling pump  | By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Two NASA astronauts floated outside the International Space Station on Tuesday for a second and final spacewalk to fix the outpost's critical cooling system. Flight engineers Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins were slated to spend about 6 1/2 hours outside the station to install a new ammonia cooling system pump. A nonworking unit was removed during a spacewalk on Saturday. The spacewalk was broadcast live on NASA Television.
| Read More » Flu Vaccine May Work Better in Women Women have a stronger immune response than men when given the flu vaccine, new research shows. In the study, researchers examined the inflammatory responses of 53 women and 34 men following vaccination with a flu shot. Scientists found that men had a weaker response, or less inflammation in their bodies, than women after receiving the vaccine, and the response was weakest among some of the men who had the highest testosterone levels. The finding "reinforces the message that there are major differences between men and women in terms of their immune systems," said study researcher Mark Davis, a professor of microbiology and immunology at the Stanford School of Medicine. Read More » Spacewalking Astronauts Gift Space Station with Christmas Eve Cooling Pump Fix  | HOUSTON — Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have received a gift just in time for Christmas: a new pump module to repair their ailing cooling system and to restore the outpost to full power. NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins embarked on their second spacewalk together, setting out at 6:53 a.m. EST (1153 GMT) on Tuesday (Dec. 24) to complete the work they began Saturday to remove and replace an ammonia pump module with a faulty flow control valve. "It's like Christmas morning, opening a little present here," Mastracchio said early in the spacewalk, as he rummaged through a bag for tools to help in installing the new pump. The Christmas Eve EVA — extravehicular activity, NASA's term for a spacewalk — had the two astronauts retrieve a spare of the refrigerator-size cooling system device and install it on the space station's starboard, or right, side backbone truss.
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