Reuters Science News Summary

Following is a summary of current science news briefs. Japanese space probe touches down on asteroid to collect samples

A Japanese space probe named after a falcon, Hayabusa 2, has touched down on an asteroid more than 300 million km (186 million miles) from Earth on a mission to seek clues about the origins of life, Japan's space agency said on Friday. The spacecraft's landing on the asteroid Ryugu, just 900 meters (3,000 feet) in diameter, came after an initial attempt in October was delayed because it was difficult to pick a landing spot on the asteroid's rocky surface. NASA clears SpaceX test flight to space station

NASA gave its final go-ahead on Friday to billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX company to conduct its first unmanned test flight of a newly designed crew capsule to the International Space Station on March 2. The approval cleared a key hurdle for SpaceX in its quest to help NASA revive America's human spaceflight program, stalled since space shuttle missions came to an end in 2011. Israel's first lunar lander launched into space from Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Florida on Thursday night carrying Israel's first lunar lander on a mission that if successful will make the Jewish state only the fourth nation to achieve a controlled touchdown on the moon's surface. The unmanned robotic lander dubbed Beresheet - Hebrew for the biblical phrase "in the beginning" - soared into space from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at about 8:45 p.m. EST (0145 GMT Friday) atop the 23-story-tall rocket. Branson's Virgin Galactic takes another step toward space tourism

A Virgin Galactic rocket plane on Friday soared to the edge of space with a test passenger for the first time, nudging British billionaire Richard Branson’s company closer to its goal of suborbital flights for space tourists. Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses, who will train future space tourists, joined pilots onboard SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity to evaluate the customer experience and cabin. Exclusive: SpaceX, Boeing design risks threaten new delays for U.S. space program

NASA has warned SpaceX and Boeing Co of design and safety concerns for their competing astronaut launch systems, according to industry sources and a new government report, threatening the U.S. bid to revive its human spaceflight program later this year. NASA is paying SpaceX $2.6 billion and Boeing $4.2 billion to build rocket and capsule launch systems to return astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil for the first time since America's Space Shuttle program went dark in 2011. Space crew unfazed ahead of first launch since rocket failure

Two astronauts who survived a midair rocket failure in October said on Thursday they had received counseling following their brush with death and felt ready to fly again next month. Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin and U.S. astronaut Nick Hague appeared relaxed in Russia's Star City as they discussed preparations for their first space flight since then. Modest dinosaur dubbed 'harbinger of doom' set stage for T. rex

No one would ever look at the huge and ferocious Tyrannosaurus rex as an underdog. But its newly discovered evolutionary great uncle certainly was. Scientists on Thursday said they have unearthed in central Utah fossils of a relatively small, fleet-footed, lightly built forerunner to T. rex that lived 96 million years ago during the Cretaceous Period. Named Moros intrepidus, it was roughly 10 feet (3 meters) long and weighed 170 pounds (78 kg).