MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – How cool would it be to have your name on board the spacecraft that discovers the first known Earth-like planet beyond our solar system? Well, here’s your chance. NASA today ...

The reaction wheels, shown in this diagram, are the source of Kepler's woes. (NASA graphic) NASA engineers have successfully transitioned its planet-seeking Kepler telescope to "point rest state" -- ...

MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. – NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler mission, scheduled to launch in 2009, has survived an extreme temperature test. The thermal vacuum test is part of a series of environmental tests ...

Mission managers say they expect Kepler to run out of fuel in the next few months, putting an end to nearly a decade of planet-spotting. Share on Facebook (opens in a new window) Share on X (opens in ...

Scientists using NASA's Kepler spacecraft (see photo) to look for planets around other stars have been “surprised by the universe,” and the value of those surprises has earned the mission a four-year ...

There's no fuel gauge on the spacecraft, but engineers can calculate how much it has used with a high degree of accuracy. Therefore, the craft is in hibernation mode to conserve what little is left in ...

NASA’s elite planet-hunting spacecraft has been declared dead, just a few months shy of its 10th anniversary. Officials announced the Kepler Space Telescope’s demise Tuesday. Already well past its ...

Days after they declared a spacecraft emergency over the Kepler space telescope, NASA engineers say the craft has now recovered and that they're working to figure out what happened. Kepler, which is ...

AMES, Iowa – An international team of astronomers has used nearly three years of high precision data from NASA’s Kepler spacecraft to make the first observations of a planet outside our solar system ...

Space-watchers saw the handwriting on the wall months ago, but now it’s official: NASA’s Kepler spacecraft, by far the most successful planet-hunting telescope in history, isn’t coming back. Engineers ...