The Year in Space Exploration

By Michele Berger

Published Dec 25,2014 12:52PM,EST

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The surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as seen from the Philae lander, which landed on the comet's surface on Nov. 12, 2014, making it the first man-made craft to ever land on a comet. (ESA via Getty Images) 

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This was a big year for space exploration. For the first time in history, a spacecraft landed on a comet. With its Orion test flight, the U.S. took steps to get back into the manned space-travel game — and toward putting a man on Mars. And we found organic chemicals on Mars. Here, we highlight 14 important space stories from 2014.

1. We landed a spacecraft on a comet

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The surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as seen from Philae, which landed on the comet Nov. 12, 2014. (ESA/Getty Images) 

In November, the European Space Agency reached a huge milestone: It landed a spacecraft on a comet for the first time in history. “We are sitting on the surface,” Stephan Ulamec, ESA’s Philae lander manager, said after the historic touchdown of Rosetta’s lander on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. “Philae is talking to us.”The lander, however, didn’t end up in its planned locale, bouncing three times before perching precariously. That wouldn’t have been problematic save for the fact that Philae was supposed to recharge via solar panels from seven hours’ daily sun exposure. Where it landed, that exposure dipped to under two hours.
Just four days after the momentous docking, the lander went to sleep, its batteries drained — but not before sending back data about and photos of the comet. “This machine performed magnificently under tough conditions,” Ulamec said on the ESA blog, “and we can be fully proud of the incredible scientific success Philae has delivered.”

2. We tested the Orion spacecraft

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On Friday, Dec. 5, NASA successfully completed the first flight of its new Orion spacecraft, testing the machine’s capabilities and marking NASA’s reentry into manned space travel. (U.S. Navy) 

In early December, NASA successfully tested its Orion vessel. The spacecraft didn’t hold any astronauts, rather taking a four-and-a-half-hour journey to test the crew module’s capabilities, including how its heat shield behaved during reentry.Since the Space Shuttle ended, NASA hasn’t has its own manned spaceflight program (though U.S. astronauts have continued to go to the International Space Station aboard Russian rockets). Orion reopens that door, with NASA taking the first step to sending Americans to Mars — and beyond.
Astronaut Rex Walheim was on hand for the launch. “It’s gonna be a game-changer,” he said of Orion during a news conference. “It really is.”

3. We learned a great deal about Mars

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This evenly layered rock on Mars shows typical lake-floor sedimentary deposit not far from where flowing water entered a lake. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS) 

August marked two years since Curiosity landed on Mars. The rover has already taught us much about the Red Planet. For example, could Mars hold life? Curiosity answered that question — yes, in fact, it could — within its first year, NASA reported, thanks to its landing spot close to an “ancient streambed and lake.” Then, in September, Curiosity reached an important destination, Mount Sharp. “We have finally arrived at the far frontier that we have sought for so long,” Curiosity Project Scientist John Grotzinger said during a press conference, noting they could now get down to the “core of the science mission.”
That’s proving beneficial. NASA announced in December that the rover had detected organic chemicals, including methane, on Mars. “Researchers stressed that their findings do not indicate that life exists or ever existed on Mars — but it does open the door of possibility,” Space.com reported.

4. We’re moving closer to Pluto than ever before

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Artist's concept of the New Horizons spacecraft as it approaches Pluto in July 2015. (JHUAPL/SwRI) 

A decade can be a long time to wait for something, but NASA’s New Horizons team is about to get its reward. After nine years and 3 billion miles of travel, the spacecraft woke up in December. Its next stop, in July 2015, will be closer to Pluto than we’ve ever been before.It wasn’t the first rise and shine for New Horizons; NASA has tested the wake-up routine 18 times since 2006. But now it’s “game time,” one administrator told Space.com.
New Horizons doesn’t get to float lazily along for the next seven months. Rather, its controllers will continue evaluating and programming the spacecraft for its Pluto encounter, when it gets just 6,200 miles away from the dwarf planet. “It will begin observing the Pluto system in mid-January,” we reported in early December. “By the middle of May, it will start sending back the best images of Pluto we’ll have to date.”

5. We watched two rockets explode, one resulting in tragedy

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The Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket, with the Cygnus spacecraft onboard, explodes moments after launch from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. (AP Photo/NASA/Joel Kowsky) 

Within days of each other, two spacecraft exploded, one an unmanned NASA rocket, the other the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft of private company Virgin Galactic.On Oct. 28, the Antares rocket carrying the Cygnus spacecraft exploded shortly after liftoff from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. No one was injured and the facility incurred little damage. “Launching rockets is an incredibly difficult undertaking, and we learn from each success and each setback,” William Gerstenmaier, a NASA administrator, said in a statement following the accident. “Today’s launch attempt will not deter us from our work to expand our already successful capability to launch cargo from American shores to the International Space Station.”
Three days later, on Oct. 31, Virgin Galactic was testing its SpaceShipTwo when something went wrong. The aircraft crashed, killing one pilot, Mike Alsbury, and sending the other, Pete Siebold, to the hospital. SpaceShipTwo was destroyed. After expressing shock and sadness over the loss of life, Virgin Galactic said in a statement that it remained “united in our vision to push the boundaries of Earth and space. Continuing on with our mission … is our way of honoring the many brave people who came before us and to inspire the next generation to reach for the stars.”

6. We experienced two total lunar eclipses

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A lunar eclipse in Tokyo on Oct. 8, 2014. Many people climbed atop the city's skyscrapers for the view. (Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images) 

This year saw two total lunar eclipses, one on April 15, the other on Oct. 8. They were the first two of four that will happen before the end of 2015.“A lunar eclipse happens when the Earth casts a shadow that blocks sunlight that normally reflects off of the moon,” NASA writes on its eclipse page. “A total lunar eclipse can only happen when the sun, Earth and moon are perfectly aligned.”
When this happens, the moon takes on a rust-colored hue, earning it the nickname of blood moon. Back in October, we compiled some of our favorite images of this event.

 

7. We experienced a partial solar eclipse

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A view of the sun as the moon crosses during the peak moment of a solar eclipse on Oct. 23, 2014. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images) 

Unlike the two total lunar eclipses, the solar eclipse wasn’t a sight to behold. Not in the same sense, anyway. Though in theory, it sounds cool to see the moon block out part of the sun, as what happens with a solar eclipse, the phenomenon is dangerous to look at without some sort of intentional obstruction.That’s why, for the Oct. 23 partial solar eclipse, NASA issued a stern warning: “It is never safe to look at the sun with the naked eye. Even during a partial solar eclipse, when only a very small part of the sun is visible.”
As Jim O’Leary, senior scientist at the Maryland Science Center, told us recently, if you weren’t looking at the right time, the October partial solar eclipse could have easily been missed. “Because the sun is so bright even when you cover up 39 or 50 or 60 percent, it’s still shining very brightly,” he said. “You have to get up to about 85 percent to even notice anything is happening.”

8. We discovered another Earth-like planet

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An artist concept of Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone. (NASA Ames/SETI Institute/JPL-Caltech) 

In space, there’s something called the habitable zone. It’s what NASA describes as the “distance from a star where liquid water might pool on the planet’s surface.” When the Kepler Space Telescope discovered what came to be known as Kepler-186f, it confirmed for the first time that Earth-size planets exist in the habitable zone of stars aside from our sun.Why is this a big deal? “While planets have previously been found in the habitable zone, they are all at least 40 percent larger in size than Earth and understanding their makeup is challenging,” NASA explains. “Kepler-186f is more reminiscent of Earth.” In other words, maybe there are more Earths out there.
This came on the heels of NASA’s February announcement that Kepler observed 715 new exoplanets, including four that could sustain water. “It’s a veritable exoplanet bonanza,” Jack Lissauer, a planetary scientist with NASA’s Ames Research Center, said during a news conference. “We’ve almost doubled … the number of planets known to humanity,” he added.

9. We sent a 3-D printer to the International Space Station

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Astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore shows off a ratchet wrench made with a 3-D printer on the International Space Station. The wrench and other parts will return to Earth for testing. (NASA) 

When astronauts aboard the ISS recently needed a ratchet wrench, what did they to? They printed one out. Thanks to a 3-D printer now on the International Space Station, they can do that kind of thing, as long as they have the approval — and the blueprints.Final testing of the printer, which went into space in September, happened Monday, Dec. 22. “NASA wanted to validate the process for printing on demand, which will be critical on longer journeys to Mars,” explained Niki Werkheiser, who programs the printer from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. "In less than a week, the ratchet was designed, approved by safety and other NASA reviewers and the file was sent to space where the printer made the wrench in four hours.”
So far, according to Popular Science, the printer has printed 20 objects, including printer parts and a faceplate. And NASA is now working with astronauts aboard the ISS to determine what else they can make.

10. We saw astronauts return from the ISS

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Astronauts Max Suraev (left), Alexander Gerst (center) and Reid Wiseman returned safely from the ISS. (Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images) 

After almost half a year on the International Space Station, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Max Suraev and Alexander Gerst returned safely back to Earth in November. Expedition 41, 165 days total, included “hundreds of scientific experiments and several spacewalks,” according to NASA, including the beginnings of the 3-D printer we mentioned above.  Expedition 42 began almost immediately thereafter. And for Expedition 43, starting in March 2015, astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will begin a yearlong stint on the ISS, the longest time anyone has ever spent aboard the station.

 

 

11. We discovered the oldest star in the universe

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Astronomers have found a star almost as old as the universe itself. (NASA/STSci) 

Want to know what to call the oldest star in the universe? Try SMSS J031300.36-670839.3. Catchy, no?The star, announced in February in the journal Nature, is “about 13.6 billion years old and formed just a few hundred million years after the universe was formed,” we reported earlier this year. “Astronomers found that the star doesn’t contain any iron, which forms gradually during the cycles of star death and birth, indicating that the star formed very early on in the universe’s life, in the wake of the deaths of the very first stars.”
All things considered, this oldest star was pretty close to Earth, a mere 6,000 light-years away.

 

12. We discovered the youngest galaxy

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The distant galaxy Abell2744_Y1 is the youngest we've found. (NASA/ESA/J. Lotz, M. Mountain, A. Koekemoer, the HFF Team, STScI/N. Laporte, Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias) 

Describing the galaxy called Abell2744_Y1, whose discovery the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias or IAC announced early in 2014, requires a bunch of superlatives. It’s one of the brightest galaxies out there. It’s one of the farthest. And as it turns out, it’s the youngest we’ve seen, too. “Because it takes light from Abell2744_Y1 13 billion years to get to Hubble, the telescope is seeing it as it looked 13 billion years ago, just 650 million years after the universe formed,” we noted in February. “In this sense, the galaxy looks very young to us, but out in the universe, it’s actually quite old.”

 

 

13. We saw SpaceX, Boeing get contracts to take people to space

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A helicopter returns the SpaceX Dragon to Morro Bay, Cailf., following a test to evaluate the spacecraft’s parachute deployment system. (NASA/Kim Shiflett) 

NASA wants to start sending astronauts to space from U.S. soil again, and to do so, the agency turned to private companies, in September awarding Boeing and SpaceX $6.8 billion contracts to fly astronauts to the International Space Station.During the press conference to announce the contracts, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden could barely contain his excitement. “I’m giddy today, I will admit,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier.”
Despite the obvious forward momentum to make this happen (there’s a 2017 goal), NASA won’t take any chances when it comes to the lives of its astronauts. Boeing and SpaceX will have to meet a strict set of requirements, as well as successfully conduct a test flight to the ISS — with a NASA astronaut tagging along for the ride — before making an actual run, Kathy Lueders, deputy program manager for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said during a press conference. “We are counting on them to deliver our most precious cargo.”

14. We witnessed unparalleled views of Aurora Borealis

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The Northern Lights seen near Hallbankgate in North Cumbria, on Feb. 27, 2014. (Stuart Walker/Caters News Agency) 

It’s been a pretty stellar year to see the Aurora borealis, or Northern Lights. Back in October, one expert suggested views during the fall could be the most stunning in decades.“September and October have yielded some of the best and most frequent Auroral displays across the Arctic Circle we have seen in many a year, and it just keeps getting better and better,” Alistair McLean, The Aurora Zone managing director, told The Telegraph. “This winter really is proving to be a fantastic time to go in search of the Northern Lights.”
And even in the final weeks of 2014, media outlets in the United Kingdom are reporting some spectacular shows. If you won’t get the chance to see the lights in person this year, check out this annual list from the Mother Nature Network of the year’s best Aurora borealis videos.

MORE FROM WEATHER.COM: Our Top 50 Science and Environment Photos of 2014

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On Nov. 22, the 35-foot-tall St. Joseph Lighthouse was covered in ice, the earliest photographer Tom Gill can remember seeing this type of freeze. Gill loves being out in the cold, calling his ideal setting 30-degree temperatures and blue skies the day after a storm. (Tom Gill)