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Video archive

Weather satellite launch

The NOAA-N Prime weather observatory launches from California aboard a Delta 2 rocket on Feb. 6.

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Carbon observatory

Preview of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory, NASA's first spacecraft dedicated to mapping the global distribution of carbon dioxide.

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Expedition 19 crew

The Russian commander and two American astronauts to serve aboard the space station during the Expedition 19 mission hold this pre-flight news briefing.

 Play

Delta 4-Heavy launch

The Delta 4-Heavy rocket launches a new intelligence-gathering satellite for the nation.

 Full coverage

STS-119: Shuttle on pad

Shuttle Discovery rolls to pad 39A for its February launch to the space station.

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STS-119: The programs

In advance of shuttle Discovery's STS-119 mission to the station, managers from both programs discuss the flight.

 Play

STS-119: The mission

A detailed preview of Discovery's mission to deliver and activate the space station's final power truss is provided in this briefing.

 Play

STS-119: Spacewalks

Four spacewalks are planned during Discovery's STS-119 mission to the station.

 Play

STS-119: The Crew

The Discovery astronauts, led by commander Lee Archambault, meet the press in the traditional pre-flight news conference.

 Play

Station's new toilet

Space station commander Mike Fincke shows the new U.S. toilet installed aboard the complex. The astronauts are preparing the station for larger crews beginning in 2009.

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More video



News Archive 2009: April

Atlantis cleared for launch; shuttle layoffs to begin
With retirement of the space shuttle program expected next year after just nine more flights, NASA's managers Thursday announced the first major round of job losses, saying 160 contractor workers would face layoffs Friday, the first of up to 900 jobs that will be lost between now and the end of the fiscal year. The announcement came following an all-day meeting that approved plans to launch Atlantis on May 11.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   LAUNCH WINDOWS CHART
   COUNTDOWN TIMELINE
   STS-125 FLIGHT PLAN
   MOVIES: HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO
   MOVIES: STANDARD DEFINITION VIDEO
Spaceflight Now Plus
Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO: NEWS BRIEFING FOLLOWING FLIGHT READINESS REVIEW PLAY

VIDEO: REFRESHER BRIEFING: THE STS-125 MISSION PLAY
VIDEO: REFRESHER BRIEFING: HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE PLAY
VIDEO: REFRESHER BRIEFING: THE SEVEN ASTRONAUTS PLAY

VIDEO: BIOGRAPHY MOVIE OF ATLANTIS' CREW PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH COMMANDER SCOTT ALTMAN PLAY | '09 UPDATE
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH PILOT GREG JOHNSON PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS1 MIKE GOOD PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS2 MEGAN MCARTHUR PLAY
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS3 JOHN GRUNSFELD PLAY | '09 UPDATE
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS4 MIKE MASSIMINO PLAY | '09 UPDATE
VIDEO: INTERVIEW WITH MS5 DREW FEUSTEL PLAY | '09 UPDATE
MORE: STS-125 VIDEO COVERAGE
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MESSENGER reveals a very dynamic planet Mercury
A NASA spacecraft gliding over the surface of Mercury has revealed that the planet's atmosphere, the interaction of its surrounding magnetic field with the solar wind, and its geological past display greater levels of activity than scientists first suspected. The probe also discovered a previously unknown large impact basin about 430 miles in diameter -- equal to the distance between Washington and Boston.
   FULL STORY
Russian military launches new surveillance satellite
Russia launched a Soyuz rocket Wednesday carrying a covert military payload believed to be a spy satellite with a high-resolution optical camera.
   FULL STORY
Solar wind tans young asteroids, study reveals
A new study reveals that asteroid surfaces age and redden much faster than previously thought -- in less than a million years, the blink of an eye for an asteroid.
   FULL STORY
Gamma-ray burst smashes cosmic distance record
NASA's Swift satellite and an international team of astronomers have found a gamma-ray burst from a star that died when the universe was only 630 million years old, or less than five percent of its present age. The event is the most distant cosmic explosion ever seen.
   FULL STORY
Electrical space tornadoes drive the Northern Lights
Earth-bound tornadoes are puny compared to "space tornadoes," which span a volume as large as Earth and produce electrical currents exceeding 100,000 amperes, according to new observations by a suite of five NASA space probes.
   FULL STORY
OTHER HEADLINES  Additional stories today
New blow for dinosaur-killing asteroid theory -- The enduringly popular theory that the Chicxulub crater holds the clue to the demise of the dinosaurs, along with some 65 percent of all species 65 million years ago, is challenged in a paper published in the Journal of the Geological Society.

Missing planets attest to power of stars' tides -- During the last two decades, astronomers have found hundreds of planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. New research indicates they might have found even more except for one thing - some planets have fallen into their stars and simply no longer exist.

Base considers disassembling historical launch complex -- Vandenberg Air Force Base is currently undergoing the planning stages of removing and disassembling pieces from one of its historical launch pads, Space Launch Complex-5.
Russian lunar and Mars missions face delays
The planned revival by Russia of its once mighty lunar and planetary robotic exploration program is beginning to falter due to budget and spacecraft problems. The difficulties are threatening to delay Russia's first mission to the Moon in 33 years, and a roundtrip mission to the Martian moon Phobos is also in trouble.
   FULL STORY
Spirit rover resumes driving on the Red Planet
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has driven for the first time in a couple of weeks, acting on commands from engineers who are still investigating bouts of amnesia and other unusual behavior exhibited by Spirit in the past two weeks.
   FULL STORY
NASA officially moves up Atlantis launch to May 11
The launch date for shuttle Atlantis on the final servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope has been moved a day sooner than originally planned. NASA has formally set May 11 as the new target, with a liftoff time of 2:01 p.m. EDT.
   FULL STORY
   LAUNCH WINDOWS CHART
   MOVIES: HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO
   MOVIES: STANDARD DEFINITION VIDEO
No repairs needed for Atlantis radiator ding
A one-and-one-eighth-inch socket from a torque wrench fell from a service platform and hit the shuttle Atlantis' left payload bay door radiator during Hubble Space Telescope cargo installation earlier this week. In a lucky break for NASA's shuttle team, no one was injured, coolant lines in the radiator were not damaged and a dent where the socket impacted will not need repairs.
   FULL STORY
Video collection looks back at Hubble's launch
This video retrospective remembers the birth of Hubble. Space shuttle Discovery successfully delivered NASA's Hubble Space Telescope into Earth orbit in April 1990. The observatory opened a new window on the universe, revolutionizing our understanding of the cosmos.
   VIDEO COLLECTION
On Hubble's 19th birthday,
a fountain of youth

To commemorate the Hubble Space Telescope's 19 years of historic, trailblazing science, the orbiting telescope has photographed a peculiar system of galaxies known as Arp 194. This interacting group contains several galaxies, along with a "cosmic fountain" of stars, gas, and dust that stretches over 100,000 light-years.
   FULL STORY
Atlantis could launch a day sooner than planned
NASA managers are debating whether to move up launch of the shuttle Atlantis one day, from May 12 to May 11, to get as many launch opportunities as possible before standing down to make way for a military operation that requires support from the Air Force Eastern Range starting May 14, officials said Wednesday.
   FULL STORY
   STORE: HUBBLE PATCH COLLECTION
New Japanese rocket conducts longer engine test
For the second time this month, Japanese engineers rolled the nation's new H-2B rocket to the launch pad and fired its two main engines Wednesday, this time for a thundering two-and-a-half minutes.
   FULL STORY
OTHER HEADLINES  Additional stories today
Observation satellite launched by China -- China sent into orbit a clandestine remote sensing satellite Wednesday during a launch that was announced less than a day in advance.
Spitzer Space Telescope to embark on new, warmer life
Scientists are bracing for the loss of two key instruments aboard NASA's infrared Spitzer Space Telescope, which will considerably diminish the observatory's ability to image infant stars but unlock more time for more thorough studies of mysterious worlds outside the solar system.
   FULL STORY
Will the Sun's decline affect climate change?
The lack of current solar activity came under the spotlight Wednesday at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science. "Activity is at an all time low since the start of the space age," says Professor Mike Lockwood of the University of Southampton and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.
   FULL STORY - includes video
Are imaged exoplanets really failed stars?
Most of the images of exoplanets released towards the end of 2008 may not be planets at all, according to new research presented at the European Week of Astronomy and Space Science being held at the University of Hertfordshire.
   FULL STORY - includes video
An Earth-like world found
Researchers using a European Southern Observatory telescope in Chile confirmed the existence of a rocky Earth-like planet orbiting in the Gliese 581 system where three other, larger worlds have been discovered.
   FULL STORY - includes video
Graveyards of solar systems around dead suns
Using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope to study white dwarves, the dense glowing embers of Sunlike stars, astronomers have found the dusty remains of ancient solar systems.
   FULL STORY - includes video

Double shuttle panoramas

For the final time in space shuttle program history, both launch pads at Kennedy Space Center are occupied. Endeavour was rolled to pad 39B before sunrise last Friday, taking its perch a mile-and-a-half north of pad 39A where Atlantis stands poised for the last mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. These panoramas shot Friday show Endeavour at dawn and the mid-afternoon spectacle of seeing double shuttles.

   PANORAMA GALLERY
Rover team analyzing Spirit reboots and amnesia events
After three days of completing Earth-commanded activities without incident last week, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit had a bout of temporary amnesia Friday and rebooted its computer Saturday, behavior similar to events about a week earlier.
   FULL STORY
Indian rocket launches Israeli-built spy satellite
India launched a closely-guarded Israeli-built radar spy satellite Monday to begin gathering valuable intelligence data from a 342-mile-high perch above the planet, regardless of lighting and weather conditions.
   FULL STORY
   PREVIEW STORY
Sea Launch deploys military spacecraft for Italy
An Italian military communications satellite that will be shared with NATO and allied countries went into orbit Monday morning atop an international rocket launched from a platform floating in the Pacific Ocean.
   FULL STORY
SpaceX launch of Falcon 1 rocket postponed
The next launch by the SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket, originally scheduled for Monday, has been postponed while engineers examine the level of vibrations its Malaysian satellite payload will experience during ascent.
   FULL STORY
India readies Israeli radar spysat to eye Pakistan
India is poised to launch a $200 million military imaging radar reconnaissance satellite purchased secretly from Israel to locate hostile Pakistani or terrorist operations at night and during all weather conditions.
   FULL STORY
Endeavour moved to launch pad for rescue standby
Following through on its extraordinary plan to have a quick-response space shuttle poised to launch if the Atlantis crew needs rescuing during next month's Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, NASA rolled sistership Endeavour to the other Kennedy Space Center pad Friday morning.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   PHOTO GALLERY: ENDEAVOUR LEAVES VAB
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Improved odds ease NASA's space debris concerns
Even factoring in a recent satellite collision, an analysis of the threat posed by space debris at the Hubble Space Telescope's 350-mile-high altitude shows the crew of shuttle Atlantis, scheduled for launch May 12 on a mission to service the observatory, will not face a dramatically higher risk of potentially catastrophic damage.
   FULL STORY
Kepler captures first views of planet-hunting territory
The Kepler spacecraft has returned its first images of the star-rich sky in the Cygnus-Lyra region of our Milky Way galaxy. The NASA mission it will soon begin hunting for planets like Earth.
   FULL STORY
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VIDEO: 'FIRST LIGHT' FOR KEPLER TELESCOPE PLAY
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MORE: HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO
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Residents say station is ready for bigger crew
The International Space Station's power, life support and emergency systems are in good condition and ready for the arrival of three additional crew members in late May, the commander said Wednesday.
   FULL STORY
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VIDEO: INTERVIEWS BY CBS NEWS AND DAYTON DAILY NEWS PLAY
MORE: EXPEDITION 19 VIDEO COVERAGE
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Mars spacecraft teams on alert for dust-storm season
Heading into a period of the Martian year prone to major dust storms, the team operating NASA's twin Mars rovers is taking advantage of eye-in-the-sky weather reports.
   FULL STORY
NASA chooses history over comedian in naming contest
The space station module built to house life support equipment and a panoramic observation cupola has been given a name: Tranquility. The multi-hatch connecting module received the official name following an online poll that had taken on a life of its own.
   FULL STORY
OTHER HEADLINES  Additional stories today
Navigation satellite deployed in Chinese launch -- China launched a new member of its budding satellite navigation system Tuesday, the first of up to 10 such spacecraft scheduled to be added by the end of next year.
NASA spacecraft show 3-D anatomy of a solar storm
Twin NASA spacecraft have provided scientists with their first view of the speed, trajectory, and three-dimensional shape of powerful explosions from the sun known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. This new capability will dramatically enhance scientists' ability to predict if and how these solar tsunamis could affect Earth.
   FULL STORY
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Hubble witnesses flaring in jet from black hole
A flare-up in a jet of matter blasting from a monster black hole is giving astronomers an incredible light show. The outburst is coming from a blob of matter embedded in the jet, a powerful narrow beam of hot gas produced by a supermassive black hole residing in the core of a giant elliptical galaxy.
   FULL STORY
NASA poised to stop work on shuttle extension option
Facing a tight budget, a 2010 deadline to end space shuttle operations and a lack of concrete political support to fund additional flights or stretch out the current manifest, NASA managers are meeting this week to discuss the impact of ending efforts that have been keeping open the option of extending the shuttle program past the current deadline.
   FULL STORY
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VIDEO: ORION AND ARES ROCKET PROGRESS REPORT PLAY
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR HOISTED FOR ATTACHMENT TO TANK PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO: CRANE ROTATES ENDEAVOUR VERTICALLY PLAY | HI-DEF
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Computer reboots raise concerns for Mars rover
The team operating NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers is examining data received from Spirit in recent days to diagnose why the rover apparently rebooted its computer at least twice over the weekend.
   FULL STORY
Titan may have subsurface ocean of hydrocarbons
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, may have a subterranean ocean of hydrocarbons and some topsy-turvy topography in which the summits of its mountains lie lower than its average surface elevation, according to new research.
   FULL STORY
North Korean rocket flew further than earlier thought
New details emerging from the analysis of data from North Korea's April 5 Taepo-Dong-2 test indicate the vehicle flew successfully several hundred miles further than previously believed and used more advanced steering than has been demonstrated by the North Korean's before.
   FULL STORY
Weather satellite launch delayed to repair rocket
A countdown simulation for the upcoming Delta 4 rocket launch carrying a next-generation weather satellite has uncovered a liquid oxygen leak on the booster's first stage, a problem that will delay liftoff at least a couple of weeks.
   FULL STORY
Shuttle Endeavour moves into assembly building
In preparation for its role as a standby rescue craft during next month's Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission and its scheduled June construction flight to the international space station, shuttle Endeavour rolled from the hangar to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Friday morning.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   PHOTO GALLERY: ENDEAVOUR MOVES TO VAB
Twin spacecraft may reveal secret of moon's origin
Two places on opposite sides of Earth may hold the secret to how the moon was born, and NASA's twin Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) spacecraft are about to enter these zones.
   FULL STORY
Atlantis launch preps continue for Hubble mission
The multi-day process is underway at pad 39A to load storable propellants aboard space shuttle Atlantis to feed the maneuvering engines and thrusters, the orbiter's auxiliary power units and the solid rocket booster hydraulics.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   LAUNCH WINDOWS CHART
   COUNTDOWN TIMELINE
   STS-125 FLIGHT PLAN
Cool stars have different mix of life-forming chemicals
Life on Earth is thought to have arisen from a hot soup of chemicals. Does this same soup exist on planets around other stars? A new study from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope hints that planets around stars cooler than our sun might possess a different mix of potentially life-forming, or "prebiotic," chemicals.
   FULL STORY
Gravity wave mission to help study asteroids
LISA, NASA and the European Space Agency's Laser interferometer Space Antenna that will attempt to detect gravitational waves, will also turn its "noise" into useful information about near-Earth asteroids.
   FULL STORY
Station crew and tourist land aboard Soyuz capsule
Outgoing space station commander Mike Fincke, flight engineer Yury Lonchakov and space tourist Charles Simonyi bid farewell to the Expedition 19 crew, boarded a Soyuz ferry craft and returned to Earth. Undocking took place at 11:55 p.m. as planned, followed by ignition of the deorbit burn at 2:24 a.m. and touchdown in Kazakhstan at 3:16 a.m. EDT Wednesday.
   FULL STORY
   PREVIEW STORY
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VIDEO: AERIAL VIEW OF SOYUZ LANDING WITH EXPEDITION 18 PLAY
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VIDEO: EXPEDITION 18 BOARDS SOYUZ CAPSULE PLAY
VIDEO: FAREWELLS BETWEEN TWO CREWS PLAY
VIDEO: CHANGE OF COMMAND CEREMONY PLAY
VIDEO: FINCKE AND BARRATT OFFER INSIGHTS PLAY
VIDEO: JOINT CREW IN-FLIGHT NEWS BRIEFING PLAY
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MORE: EXPEDITION 19 VIDEO COVERAGE
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Video and pictures reveal North Korean launch details
Video footage obtained by The Associated Press and a remarkable commercial satellite image of the ill-fated North Korean launch are providing new insights into the rocket.
   FULL STORY
Dust cover jettisoned from NASA's Kepler telescope
Engineers have successfully ejected the dust cover from NASA's Kepler telescope, a spaceborne mission soon to begin searching for worlds like Earth.
   FULL STORY
   VIDEO: KEPLER LAUNCH COVERAGE
   HDTV: HIGH DEFINITION VIDEO
Satellite information shows Arctic literally on thin ice
The latest Arctic sea ice data from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center show that the decade-long trend of shrinking sea ice cover is continuing. New evidence from satellites also shows that the ice cap is thinning as well.
   FULL STORY
A young pulsar shows its hand in Chandra picture
A small, dense object only twelve miles in diameter is responsible for this beautiful X-ray nebula that spans 150 light years. At the center of this image made by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory is a very young and powerful pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star which is spewing energy out into the space around it to create complex and intriguing structures.
   FULL STORY
Most detailed map of nearby Universe completed
Researchers from Australia, the UK and the USA have just completed the most detailed survey of galaxies in the nearby Universe, which will reveal not only where the galaxies are but also where they are heading, how fast, and why.
   FULL STORY
North Korean launch fails to put anything into orbit
Sunday's failure of an improved version of the North Korean Taepo-Dong-2 has deprived U.S. intelligence agencies from assessing performance of the vehicle's third stage. This is deemed critical to determining the precise threat the vehicle poses as an ICBM that could attack Alaska, Hawaii or deeply into the continental U.S.
   FULL STORY
Weather causes one-day delay in Soyuz landing
Snow and soggy conditions at the primary landing site in Kazakhstan have prompted Russian flight planners to order a 24-hour delay, from Tuesday to Wednesday, for the return of a Soyuz capsule carrying outgoing space station commander Mike Fincke, flight engineer Yury Lonchakov and space tourist Charles Simonyi.
   FULL STORY
   VIDEO: EXPEDITION 18 COVERAGE
Atlas 5 rocket successfully launches military satellite
It was a perfect Friday night flight for the Atlas 5 rocket, completing a military mission that put an advanced communications spacecraft into the sky to serve U.S. forces deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   PHOTOS: LAUNCH IMAGE GALLERY
   PHOTOS: SECOND ROLLOUT TO PAD
   PHOTOS: THE FIRST ROLLOUT
   PHOTOS: LAUNCH PREPS
   LEAKY VALVE REPLACED
   PAYLOAD PREVIEW STORY
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Multi-tasking satellite deployed by 50th ILS Proton
A Proton rocket blasted off from Kazakhstan Friday and deposited a versatile European communications satellite into orbit, beginning a 15-year mission that will introduce a state-of-the-art service to beam live television to cell phones, iPods and cars across Europe.
   FULL STORY
Engineering double checks put off next Ariane launch
The launch of two European astronomical observatories will slip until May because engineers need extra time to make sure the $1.3 billion Herschel telescope can survive the extreme mechanical pressures of blastoff, officials said Thursday.
   FULL STORY
New Japanese rocket fires its engines on launch pad
Japan's new H-2B rocket rolled to its oceanfront launch pad this week and briefly fired its two main engines Thursday, concluding the heavy-lift booster's first practice countdown after a six-day delay due to faulty ground equipment.
   FULL STORY
NASA's robotic return to the moon delayed to June
Given the delays of a military mission before NASA's use of the Atlas 5 rocket to dispatch a moon mapper and experimental impact probe, the space agency has delayed its lunar launch from May to June.
   FULL STORY
Hubble finds hidden exoplanet in archival data
A powerful, newly refined image-processing technique may allow astronomers to discover extrasolar planets that are possibly lurking in over a decade's worth of Hubble Space Telescope archival data.
   FULL STORY

Read our earlier news archive page.