Best Space Stories of the Week March 29, 2015

Two spaceflyers blasted off on the first-ever yearlong mission to the International Space Station, NASA announced its plan to haul a boulder from a near-Earth asteroid to lunar orbit and yet more ingredients for life were found on Mars. Here's a look at Space.com's top stories of the week.

1-year space station mission blasts off

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft launched the International Space Stations first one-year crew on Friday (March 27), kicking off an epic voyage for NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko. [Full Story: Liftoff! US, Russia Launch Historic One-Year Space Mission]

The science of the yearlong space station mission

Science experiments conducted on the International Space Station during the orbiting outpost's first yearlong mission could help open the door to deep space for NASA. [Full Story: A Year in Space: The Science Behind the Epic Space Station Voyage]

NASA opts to pluck a boulder, not grab a whole asteroid

NASA's bold asteroid-capture mission will pluck a boulder off a big space rock rather than grab an entire near-Earth object, agency officials announced Wednesday (March 25). [Full Story: For Asteroid-Capture Mission, NASA Picks 'Option B' for Boulder]

'Fixed' nitrogen found on Mars

Nitrogen was available on ancient Mars in a form that microbes could have used to build key biomolecules, and atmospheric carbon monoxide has been a feasible energy source for life throughout the Red Planet's history, two new studies suggest. [Full Story: More Ingredients for Life Identified on Mars]

Opportunity rover completes its Mars marathon

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Best Space Stories of the Week March 29, 2015