Vote Now! Best Space Stories of the Week - June 2, 2013

Salty Stars, A Magnetar, Nuking Asteroids & More

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Last week scientists found stars that could burn out before their time, more evidence of a river on Mars and plans to nuke asteroids. See the top stories of the last week here.

FIRST STOP: Astronauts Launch to Space Station on Express Trip

Astronauts Launch to Space Station on Express Trip

NASA TV

A trio of astronauts successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on a six hour express trip to the International Space Station. [Full Story]

NEXT: Do Black Holes Create New Universes? Q&A With Physicist Lee Smolin

Do Black Holes Create New Universes? Q&A With Physicist Lee Smolin

Shutterstock/Kim D. French

If time is real and not an illusion, it could explain why the laws of the universe are the way they are, physicist Lee Smolin says in a new book. [Full Story]

NEXT: Nuking Dangerous Asteroids Might Be the Best Protection, Expert Says

Nuking Dangerous Asteroids Might Be the Best Protection, Expert Says

Texas A&M

If a dangerous asteroid appears to be on a collision course for Earth, one option is to send a spacecraft to destroy it with a nuclear warhead. [Full Story]

NEXT: Like People, Stars Should Cut Back on Salt for Longer Life

Like People, Stars Should Cut Back on Salt for Longer Life

ESA/Hubble & NASA

About 70 percent of stars in the globular cluster NGC 6752 inexplicably burn out before their time, scientists say. The discovery defies theories. [Full Story]

NEXT: Asteroid Miners to Launch World's 1st Crowdfunded Space Telescope

Mars-Bound Astronauts Could Face Higher Risk of Cancer

NASA

Astronauts bound for Mars would receiver a major dose of radiation during the Red Planet flight, a major fraction of their total lifetime limit, a new Study reveals. See the Mars Rover Curiosity's role. [Full Story]

NEXT: Approaching Asteroid 1998 QE2 Has a Moon, Images Reveal

Asteroid Miners to Launch World's 1st Crowdfunded Space Telescope

Planetary Resources

The asteroid mining company Planetary Resources will hold a press conference on Wednesday, May 29, to discuss its latest project to support the company’s asteroid-mining goals. [Full Story]

NEXT: Mars-Bound Astronauts Could Face Higher Risk of Cancer

Approaching Asteroid 1998 QE2 Has a Moon, Images Reveal

NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR

A huge asteroid set to sail past Earth on Friday has its own moon, NASA scientists have just discovered. [Full Story]

NEXT: Possible 'Comet of the Century' Blazes Up in New Photos

Possible 'Comet of the Century' Blazes Up in New Photos

Gemini Observatory/AURA

New images show the much-ballyhooed Comet ISON brightening considerably as it approaches the inner solar system. [Full Story]

NEXT: Mars Rover Curiosity Finds Pebbles Likely Shaped by Ancient River

Mars Rover Curiosity Finds Pebbles Likely Shaped by Ancient River

Malin Space Science Systems

NASA’s Mars Rover Curiosity has found the most definitive proof yet that an ancient river once flowed on the Red Planet. Here’s what the Martian riverbed pebbles have to say. [Full Story]

NEXT: Fast-Spinning Magnetic Star Has Strange Glitch

Fast-Spinning Magnetic Star Has Strange Glitch

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Scientists have discovered a strange neutron star that appears to be going through a mystifying slow-down. [Full Story]

NEXT: US Military's Secretive Robot Space Plane Mission Passes 5-Month Mark

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

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.