CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A Mercury-bound spacecraft swooped past Earth on Friday, tweaking its roundabout path to the solar system’s smallest and innermost planet.  Launched 1½ years ago, Europe and Japan’s BepiColombo spacecraft passed…

The memories have faded. Half a century after playing a key role in the development of the Saturn V rocket engine — which sent Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the moon 50…

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Americans prefer a space program that focuses on potential asteroid impacts, scientific research and using robots to explore the cosmos over sending humans back to the moon or on to…