Best Space Pictures of the Week - Oct. 7, 2012

Weather On Mars Surprisingly Warm, Curiosity Rover Finds

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is enjoying some nice, warm weather on the Red Planet — and spring hasn't even come to its landing site yet. [Full Story]

Strange Layer of Venus Surprisingly Cold

ESA/MPS, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany

A layer of Venus’ atmosphere may be cold enough for carbon dioxide snow, scientists say. [Full Story]

NASA Mulls Deep-Space Station on Moon's Far Side

Lockheed Martin

There appears to be support within NASA to position astronauts at an Earth-moon libration point to bolster the space agency’s plans of pushing beyond low-Earth orbit with its Orion spacecraft design. [Full Story]

Canada Unveils Next-Generation Robotic Arms for Spaceships

Canadian Space Agency

The Canadian Space Agency and Canadian company MDA (maintainer of past Canadarms) have unveiled what the next generation of Canadarm will look like. [Full Story]

Where Obama and Romney Stand on Space Exploration

NASA

President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney will face off in their first debate tonight (Oct. 3). Here is where they stand on America’s space program. [Full Story]

Pair of Black Holes in Star Cluster Surprises Scientists

Benjamin de Bivort; Strader, et al.; NRAO/AUI/NSF

Black holes might seem too monstrous to have company, but now researchers say they might not always be loners — new findings suggest they can coexist as pairs. [Full Story]

One Year In Space: US-Russian Crew Launching Audacious Spaceflight in 2015

NASA

The first-ever year-long mission to the International Space Station will launch in 2015 and feature an American-Russian crew, NASA revealed today (Oct. 5).[Full Story]

Alien Comet Cloud Spotted Around Faraway Star

NASA/FUSE/Lynette Cook

Scientists have discovered a cloud of comets around an alien star, suggesting the comets in our own solar system aren't so unique, scientists say. The comets were found around a star 63 light-years away. [Full Story]

Speed of Universe's Expansion Measured Better Than Ever

NASA/JPL-Caltech

The universe just got a new speeding ticket. The most precise measurement ever made of the speed of the universe's expansion is in, thanks to NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. [Full Story]

China's First Woman in Space: Q&A with Astronaut Liu Yang

China Ministry of National Defense

A Q&A with Liu Yang, who earlier this year became the first Chinese woman to reach space. [Full Story]

How Sputnik Changed the World 55 Years Ago Today

NASA

Fifty-five years ago today, the Space Race was kicked into gear by a silver basketball flying through the sky. [Full Story]

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Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor.