rocket

This is the first time in almost a decade that the U.S. will be going to space.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk wants to send you to Mars. This week he unveiled a plan to build a reusable rocket system that could make it happen.

NASA's Glory satellite was destroyed when its protective fairing failed to open, rendering it unable to achieve orbit. As cnet's Bill Harwood explains, it's a $424 million boo-boo, and that's on top of the very similar Orbiting Carbon Observatory loss in 2009.

The hardest working spaceship of them all is on its final mission. Upon its return to Earth, The Space Shuttle Discovery will retire from service and never see outer space again, but it leaves behind a legacy that will not soon be rivaled...