NASA

Today, Monday May 9 the planet Mercury will go directly in front of the sun. This is a rare ‘transit’ that happens only 13 times a century.

U.S. Navy Captain and NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy was appointed chief of the Astronauts Office in July 2015. Cassidy is a graduate of York High School in Maine. He is also a member of the U.S. Navy Seals and won two bronze stars for combat leadership in Afghanistan.

NASA is looking for astronauts. Next month details of the hire will be posted on the federal job site USAJOBS.

There is new U.S. record for time spent in space. It was set by astronaut Scott Kelly for the most time spent off earth by an American citizen.

A Japanese company known for its whiskey and other alcoholic beverages delivered a supply of their drink to the International Space Station. The whiskey arrived with 10,000 pounds of cargo that included space walking equipment, an emergency breathing kit and toilet wiring.

Caribou native Jessica Meir is part of the 21st NASA astronaut class and is hoping to advance from candidate to astronaut. Meir says since she was in first grade her dream was to go into space.

NASA has just discovered a protective radiation field around the earth the Van Allen radiation belts. It’s named after the twin Van Allen space probes than made the find. in 1958.

NASA has revealed that astronauts in space suffer from sleep deprivation. According to a 10 year study it shows astronauts get an average of only six hours of sleep a night. NASA orders crew members to get at least 8.5 hour of sleep but that’s not happening.

NASA’s moon probe LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) has been studying the moon's thin atmosphere since its launch in September, 2013. This space probe will not be coming back to Earth; NASA is going to crash land it on the far side of the moon.

NASA announced the discovery of 715 new planets.  Now just to get a feel for the scope of this announcement, about 1,000 planets total had been identified in our galaxy. That is before this week.

In science fiction movies, man travels through space with no problem, hopping from universe to universe, but the reality is, man was not built to travel through space. NASA says there are many problems the human body goes through in space; many they still haven’t been able to solve.

NASA is giving us a chance to send our name and personal message into space aboard the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft. It is expected to launch in November and will study the upper atmosphere of Mars. It will also carry a DVD of every name submitted.

The Angry Birds franchise turned to NASA for the development and promotion of their game Angry Birds Space. Now it appears the space agency is turning to the super-addictive game for their latest strategy to explore the great beyond.

This spring NASA plans to announce their latest class of astronauts. 9 to 15 candidates will be chosen for training to begin in August of this year. The space agency received more than 6,300 applications for a space program that doesn’t have a shuttle program anymore.

Even scientists have soul! Take a listen to 'Jewel in the Night,' by Colonel Chris Hadfield.

Man has been on the moon, several times, but it has been awhile since we’ve been there. Now, a group of former NASA executives have formed a company to send people to the moon.