This week Juno sailed off for a five-year cruise to Jupiter and debris from space shuttle Columbia was found eight years after a disastrous launch. Vote for your top space story of the week:
Hollywood has been churning out a lot of alien-themed films lately, from "Super 8" to "Another Earth." What's behind this glut of alien sci-fi? [<a href="http://www.space.com/12498-alien-movies-extraterrestrial-life-real-science.html">Full Story</a>]
NASA's so-called "Red Dragon" life-hunting mission could launch toward Mars in SpaceX's Dragon capsule in 2018. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12489-nasa-mars-life-private-spaceship-red-dragon.html">Full Story</a>]
Astronomers have discovered a galaxy harboring more dark matter than any before seen.[<a href="http://www.space.com/12506-dark-matter-packed-galaxy-segue1.html">Full Story</a>]
Seattle's Space Needle is pairing with the space tourism company Space Adventures to give away a trip to space.[<a href="http://www.space.com/12510-space-needle-space-race-2012-free-spaceflight.html">Full Story</a>]
A piece of debris from NASA's space shuttle Columbia has been discovered in Texas, eight years after the 2003 disaster that destroyed the spacecraft and killed its seven-astronaut crew during re-entry, NASA officials confirmed today. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12518-space-shuttle-columbia-debris-texas.html">Full Story</a>]
Two Russian cosmonauts tossed an amateur ham radio satellite into orbit during a spacewalk outside the International Space Station today (Aug. 3), despite the fact that the boxy satellite might be broken. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12533-space-station-spacewalk-cosmonauts-satellite-toss-success.html">Full Story</a>]
Astronomers performing a survey of the Kuiper Belt have found 14 new objects, including three that may be big enough to be considered dwarf planets. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12536-3-dwarf-planets-discovered-kuiper-belt-pluto.html">Full Story</a>]
NASA's Opportunity Mars rover has logged 20 miles on Mars, and it's now less than one mile from a huge crater called Endeavour. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12527-mars-rover-opportunity-20-miles-red-planet.html">Full Story</a>]
Salt water could be running down some slopes of Mars every spring, researchers suggest. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12543-mars-mystery-slopes-salt-water.html">Full Story</a>]
NASA's Juno mission launched toward Jupiter this morning, kicking off a five-year cruise to the solar system's biggest planet. [<a href="http://www.space.com/12553-nasa-juno-spacecraft-jupiter-rocket-launch.html">Full Story</a>]
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