Dark Energy, Dark Matter

In the early 1990's, one thing was fairly certain about the expansion of the Universe. It might have enough energy density to stop its expansion and recollapse, it might have so little energy density that it would never stop expanding, but gravity was certain to slow the expansion as time went on. Granted, the slowing had not been observed, but, theoretically, the Universe had to slow. 

SpaceX Dragon capsule heading back to Earth

Space Exploration Technologies' Dragon spaceship was poised to wrap up a pioneering test flight, the first by a private company to the International Space Station, and head back to Earth on Thursday.

Dragon became the first privately owned vehicle to reach the $100 billion research complex, a project of 15 countries, on Friday when astronauts used the station's robot arm to pluck it from orbit and latch it onto a berthing port as the spacecraft sailed about 250 miles (402 km) above the planet. 


The bell-shaped capsule, which was partly financed by NASA, was scheduled to be detached from the station at 4:05 a.m. EDT (0805 GMT) on Thursday and released from the station's crane about 90 minutes later. Splashdown in the Pacific Ocean about 564 miles (907 km) southwest of Los Angeles is expected at 11:44 a.m. EDT (1544 GMT).