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Small near-Earth asteroid 2012 DA14 will pass very close to Earth on February 15, so close that it will pass inside the ring of geosynchronous weather and communications satellites. NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office can accurately predict the asteroid's path with the observations obtained, and it is therefore known that there is no chance that the asteroid might be on a collision course with Earth. Nevertheless, the flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close. Here are the facts about the safe flyby of Earth of asteroid 2012 DA14 -- a record close approach for a known object of this size.

Read on ...

Via APOD.

The Path For Humans Is Now Cleared -- Soviet Space Propaganda Poster, 1960 -- Konstantin Ivanov

Read all about the Soviet Space Dogs on Wikipedia.

Six Ways Investments in Space are Paying Technology Dividends on Earth -- Popular Science

Each time NASA gets a new budget from Congress, a recurring debate takes a spin through a media cycle or two. At its simplest this conflict of opinion is a split between people who think Americans give NASA too much money and those who think it’s not enough. There are the more nuanced arguments too, those that hinge on specific line items and whether or not a specific program or ambition is worth it (or not worth it). But all the noise can largely be distilled into a question that looms ever larger in the current age of austerity: is what we’re getting out of NASA worth what we’re putting in? Is space science a good investment?

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Station Astronauts Capture Stunning Views of U.S., Canada, Northern Lights -- NASA

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station recently filmed what is among the most spectacular night imagery ever taken
from space of the United States. The video, comprised of hundreds of sequential still images, will air on NASA Television's video file beginning today.

Find them here ...

Lego likenesses of the Roman god Jupiter, his sister Juno and the Italian astronomer Galileo will accompany the Juno space probe. Photo: The Lego Group via Wired

GeekDad Exclusive: Lego Minifigs Soon Headed for Deep Space -- Wired

This Friday, NASA will launch an Atlas V rocket that will be contain a very special payload. Not only will the rocket be carrying Juno, a space probe that is being sent to Jupiter to study the fifth planet from the Sun, but there will be a few unique stowaways. Thanks to a joint mission between NASA and Lego, there will be three very special Lego minifigs affixed to the spacecraft.

Read on and view more images ...

Damn, Legos get to go to space! When do I get to go to space? (Although, I'll pass on that mission. Juno will end its mission 'crashing' into Jupiter. Uh, no thanks.)

Did the Earth's lost moon create the Lunar Highlands? -- Ars Technica

The Moon's far side, although not lacking for light, remained dark in the sense of hidden or obscured until the space race between the US and USSR took aim at the Moon. The Soviets' Luna 3 probe returned the first images of the far side in 1959, and the results were a bit of a surprise. The near side is covered with large, dark, basaltic flows that are called maria; these are rare on the far side, which is dominated by the rugged lunar highlands. A number of explanations have been offered for this difference, but today's issue of Nature contains what is certainly the most dramatic one yet: it suggests that the highlands are the remains of the Earth's missing moon, plastered across the far side of the one remaining Moon.

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That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind

- Neil Armstrong from Tranquility Base, the Moon, 20 July 1969

From Wikipedia

Inside SpaceX: A Hint of Life After the Space Shuttle -- Wired

A few days before the last space shuttle launch, private-sector rocket-builder SpaceX staff hosted a tour of its rocket assembly building, launch pad, launch control center and other facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. We put you in our shoes with this gallery.

Read and view ...

APOD has a sweet photo of the Space Shuttle Atlantis in its final approach to the ISS today.

Check it out ...

Unique 'Portrait' Of Shuttle And International Space Station Released -- NASA

Newly-released portraits show the International Space Station together with the space shuttle, the vehicle that helped build the complex during the last decade. The pictures are the first taken of a shuttle docked to the station from the perspective of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

On May 23, the Soyuz was carrying Russian cosmonaut Dmitry Kondratyev, NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and European Space Agency astronaut Paolo Nespoli back to Earth. Once their vehicle was about 600 feet from the station, Mission Control Moscow, outside the Russian capital, commanded the orbiting laboratory to rotate 130 degrees. This move allowed Nespoli to capture digital photographs and high definition video of shuttle Endeavour docked to the station.

The Soyuz landed in Kazakhstan and was taken to Moscow for routine post-landing analysis. NASA and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, then processed the imagery as part of the standard disposition of spacecraft cargo.

Visit http://go.nasa.gov/stationportrait to view the images.