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In the absence of NASA's Space Shuttle Program, private companies are left to fill the black hole of space exploration. Now, 50 years after John Glenn orbited the Earth, some very different kinds of explorers are leading the way. 1.

In October 2009 a small group of robotic space exploration geeks decided to venture out of our comfort zone and began brainstorming different approaches to flying people into space. We were spurred into action when the Augustine com

NASA’s plans for human spaceflight, the subject of much hand-wringing since the curtains closed on the agency’s space shuttle program in July, took a big step this week when the agency announced plans for a powerful new rocket to take astronauts into deep space. [More]

[youtube aPgPyq8EonE] NASA is, the Agency urges in a news release , "ready to move forward with the development of the Space Launch System--an advanced heavy-lift launch vehicle that will provide an entirely new national capability for human exploration beyond Earth's orbit. The messy politics behind the story aren't innovative (the Apollo program was canceled to make way for the Shuttle, and the Shuttle has now been ditched to make way for the SLS, with bitter discussions and budget controversies along for the ride, as ever) but the rocket itself is going to be. Because NASA's next "big stick" binds together 50 years of research and lessons into one 21st century rocket

The space shuttle era is finished, its vehicles museum-bound . The deep-space forays of Apollo astronauts are long gone, their final moon voyage nearly 40 years in the past

NASA's space shuttle fleet will never fly again, but the agency believes it still has plenty to learn from the iconic vehicles. [More]

Nokia Finances Will Be Gloomy . Nokia's delayed its quarterly earnings call today, citing "technical reasons," but it won't delay the inevitable: Market expectations are that it will report a net loss of €10 million ($14.2 million) for the quarter, down from a profit of €419 million for the same period last year. Nokia's limping smartphone efforts are being blamed for the company's lost income.

NASA's space shuttles have racked up an amazing set of accomplishments over the last 30 years, not to mention the miles and statistics. But after three decades and 135 flights, the era of the NASA space shuttle is at an end. The final shuttle flight, NASA's STS-135 mission aboard Atlantis , will land Thursday (July 21) to cap a 13-day trip that delivered supplies and spare parts to the International Space Station

When space shuttle Atlantis rolls to a stop at the end of its current mission, the only remaining U.S. spacecraft capable of taking astronauts to orbit will be powered down for good. NASA's fleet of space shuttles, developed in the 1970s and first launched in 1981, have provided the nation with 30 years of almost uninterrupted access to space.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER--4:14 A.M.

The space shuttle era draws to a close with the final launch of shuttle Atlantis, planned for July 8 [More]

This is the third of a three-part series that looks back at the 30-year history of the U.S. space shuttle program

NASA will send its final space shuttle into orbit this summer, when Atlantis lifts off from Kennedy Space Center for a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. The mission will garner much attention for what it represents -- the 135th and final flight of NASA's 30-year space shuttle program. But also important is the work that the four-member crew will be doing to ready the International Space Station for the post-shuttle-program era.

NASA will send its final space shuttle into orbit this summer, when Atlantis lifts off from Kennedy Space Center for a 12-day mission to the International Space Station.

The end of the Space Shuttle era is slightly depressing. NASA won't be flying its own astronauts into space for a while, either, putting a further damper on the good PR that comes from the visually and intellectually stimulating space program, which encourages students of engineering and science.