Vote Now! Top Space Stories of the Week - July 29, 2012

Vampire Stars, First Potentially Habitable Planet and Farewell to Sally Ride

NASA

In the last week we've witnessed "impossible stars" do an orbital dance, bid farewell to Sally Ride and encountered vampire stars. But which story wins out?

Root for your favorite space news story of the week here in our latest voting round!

FIRST STOP: Despite Risk, Experts Bet on New Mars Rover's Audacious Landing Plan

Despite Risk, Experts Bet on New Mars Rover's Audacious Landing Plan

NASA/JPL-Caltech

The supposed "first habitable planet," Gliese 581g, may not be dead after all, its discoverers say. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: Saturn's Moon Titan May Have Seen Earth-Like Erosion

Saturn's Moon Titan May Have Seen Earth-Like Erosion

NASA/JPL/USGS

Radar images of Titan revealed an icy terrain carved out over millions of years by rivers of liquid methane, similar to how rivers of water have etched into Earth’s rocky continents. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: Is Planet Gliese 581g Really the 'First Potentially Habitable' Alien World?

Is Planet Gliese 581g Really the 'First Potentially Habitable' Alien World?

Lynette Cook

The supposed "first habitable planet," Gliese 581g, may not be dead after all, its discoverers say. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: Sally Ride, 1st American Woman in Space, Dies at 61

Sally Ride, 1st American Woman in Space, Dies at 61

NASA

The first American woman to travel to space, Sally Ride, has died at 61 from pancreatic cancer. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: Unmanned Russian Supply Ship Fails to Dock at Space Station

Unmanned Russian Supply Ship Fails to Dock at Space Station

NASA

A robotic Russian cargo ship failed to dock at the International Space Station late Monday due to apparent failure in a new rendezvous system, NASA officials say. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: 'Impossible' Stars Found in Super-Close Orbital Dances

'Impossible' Stars Found in Super-Close Orbital Dances

J. Pinfield, for the RoPACS network

A team of astronomers have used the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope on Hawaii to discover four pairs of stars that orbit each other in less than 4 hours. Until now it was thought that such close-in binary stars could not exist. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: Record Greenland Ice Melt Happened in Days

Record Greenland Ice Melt Happened in Days

Photo courtesy of Andreas Muenchow, University of Delaware.

Greenland ice, it seems, can vanish in a flash, with new satellite images showing that over just a few days this month nearly all of the veneer of surface ice atop the island's massive ice sheet had thawed.[Full Story

NEXT STOP: Skydiver Leaps from 18 Miles Up in 'Space Jump' Practice

Skydiver Leaps from 18 Miles Up in 'Space Jump' Practice

balazsgardi.com/Red Bull Content Pool

A daredevil leapt from a balloon more than 18 miles above the Earth today (July 25), moving one step closer to a so-called "space jump" that would set the record for the world's highest skydive. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: Most Massive Stars Live as Vampires in Close Stellar Pairs

Most Massive Stars Live as Vampires in Close Stellar Pairs

ESO/L. Calçada/S.E. de Mink

The universe's most massive stars are rare, but when they are found they likely have companion stars hovering nearby. [Full Story

NEXT STOP: San Quentin Prison Inmates Build Tiny Satellite Parts for NASA

Why Do We Keep Going Back to Mars?

NASA/JPL-Caltech

Why do we keep sending so many probes to Mars, when the rest of the solar system's planets remain so understudied?[Full Story

NEXT STOP: How NASA Launched the 2012 Olympics 12 Years Ago

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Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.