Limerick Institute of Technology has created Irish space history after an experiment that could deliver a breakthrough to successfully growing crops in extreme conditions on Earth was loaded on the International Space Station.

The space shuttle Atlantis made a slow, solemn journey to retirement today, accompanied by astronauts and Nasa workers.

With winter nights closing in, ease toddlers into bed with a story.

Sally Ride, who blazed trails into orbit as the first American woman in space has died of pancreatic cancer. She was 61.

Nasa has launched the world’s biggest extraterrestrial explorer on a mission to Mars.

A NUCLEAR-powered rover as big as a family car is set to begin a nine-month journey to Mars this weekend to learn if the planet is or ever was suitable for life.

Space shuttle Atlantis is back on Earth, and the shuttle era is over.

Space shuttle Atlantis is zooming back to Earth for the last landing of the 30-year programme.

Two astronauts ventured out on the last spacewalk of the space shuttle era today.

Atlantis has blasted off on Nasa’s last space shuttle launch this afternoon.

THE public will be able to watch a piece of history unfold today when the CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory screens live the last take-off of the space shuttle.

The last space shuttle launch this week may have to deal with bad weather.

AS YOU read, Space Shuttle Atlantis stands on Launch Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Centre, its black nose pointed towards the heavens, one last mission beckoning.

The space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of six landed at Kennedy Space Centre in Cape Canaveral, Florida, early today.

A space shuttle took flight for the next-to-last time as US Representative Gabrielle Giffords, still recovering from a gunshot wound and hidden from public view, watched her astronaut husband rocket through the clouds in a deafening roar.

Space shuttle Endeavour has blasted off on the next-to-last flight fo the programme under the command of Mark Kelly, the husband of shooting victim Gabrielle Giffords.

The astronaut husband of wounded US Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords said that she wants to be at his shuttle launch next month.

Discovery, the world’s most travelled spaceship, thundered into orbit for the final time, heading towards the International Space Station on a journey that marks the beginning of the end of the shuttle era.

ASTRONOMERS are preparing for an up-close and personal look at a comet this week.

SPACE shuttle Atlantis has lifted off on its final voyage, carrying an experienced crew of six and a full shipment of space station gear.

Rain and overcast skies prevented space shuttle Discovery from returning to Earth today, and Mission Control instructed the astronauts to spend a 15th day circling the world to await better weather.

A Russian rocket carrying three astronauts blasted off in southern Kazakhstan today, kicking off a tightly packed schedule at the International Space Station in the coming days.

Nasa slashed the asking price for its soon-to-be-redundant space shuttles from $42m (€29.19m) to $28.8m (€20m).

Nasa is investigating how a bag of cocaine got into the hangar that houses space shuttle Discovery at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida.

NASA’s newest rocket successfully completed a brief test flight yesterday, taking the first step in a back-to-the-moon programme that could yet be shelved by the White House.

Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts landed safely in California today, ending a successful 13-day mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope.

Space shuttle Atlantis is headed to California to land after NASA decided to bad weather made a touchdown too risky in Florida.

Thunderstorms are again spoiling Nasa’s landing plans for space shuttle Atlantis.

ASTRONAUTS on the shuttle Columbia were trying to regain control of their craft before it broke apart in 2003, but there was no chance of surviving the accident, says a Nasa report.

Space shuttle Endeavour and its seven astronauts landed safely back on Earth tonight.

Space shuttle Endeavour and its seven astronauts will remain in orbit a little longer than planned.

Nasa managers have cleared space shuttle Endeavour to return to Earth today; now all they need is for the weather to co-operate.

Pages from an Israeli astronaut's diary which survived the explosion of the space shuttle Columbia and a 37-mile fall to earth are going on display this weekend for the first time in Jerusalem.

Nasa’s next space shuttle launch has been delayed by nearly a week after a new fuel tank arrived late.

WITH their fifth and final spacewalk under their belt, Endeavour’s astronauts took some well-deserved time off yesterday before starting the journey home.

IRELAND’S adopted astronaut returned to Earth after 101 days in space yesterday to an emotional reunion with his wife and children.

ATLANTIS’S astronauts got their spaceship ready for the ride home yesterday, wrapping up a two-week mission to add Europe’s new orbital laboratory to the international space station.

Space shuttle Endeavour touched down in Florida today as it returned former teacher Barbara Morgan and six other crew to Earth following their mission to the international space station.

Astronauts aboard the shuttle Endeavour and the international space station today prepared for the last spacewalk of their joint mission, an outing that was scaled back because of Hurricane Dean.

A crowd of around 7,000 watched US actor Bruce Willis and his blues band perform at the Kennedy Space Centre’s rocket garden in Florida.

America’s space agency has been rocked by reports of astronauts drunk before flying and a NASA worker sabotaging a computer bound for the international space station.

Space shuttle Atlantis’ seven astronauts reunited with their families in Texas last night, a day after the space shuttle capped a two-week mission with a perfect landing in the Mojave Desert in California.

Space shuttle Atlantis and its seven astronauts took a detour across the US and landed safely in California, ending a two-week mission of construction on the international space station.

NASA planned another attempt to return the US space shuttle Atlantis to Earth today after bad weather in Florida a day earlier kept its seven astronauts in space an extra 24 hours.