Spaceflight Now: Breaking News
Sunday: June 25, 2000  0517 GMT
Map shows 900 asteroids that could threaten Earth
A new study portrays the paths of asteroids in the inner solar system as a vast traffic system crisscrossed with superhighways along which are hurtling huge, rocky projectiles. And in the middle, on a possible collision path, is Earth.
   FULL STORY
Asteroid
Cape Canaveral, Kennedy Space Center joining forces
Another milestone was reached Friday towards planning for the Cape Canaveral Spaceport when KSC and the 45th Space Wing signed an interagency agreement.
   FULL STORY
KSC
Testing completed on new RS-72 upper stage engine
A team from Boeing and Astrium has successfully completed hot-fire testing of the RS-72 Pathfinder engine at NASA's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. The test is the latest milestone in a jointly sponsored development program for the prototype engine.
   FULL STORY
RS-72
Saturday: June 24, 2000  0850 GMT
Water discovery gives new impetus to Mars Express
The latest evidence that liquid water has flowed on Mars very recently, makes the European Space Agency's upcoming Mars Express mission even more relevant, officials said Friday.
   FULL STORY
Mars Express
Proton rocket launches Russian spacecraft
A Russian Proton rocket launched the Express 3A communications satellite today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan after a one-day postponement.
   FULL STORY
Proton
Space station officials to set Zvezda launch date Monday
The General Designer's Review, a thorough review of the Zvezda module's readiness for flight, will convene in Moscow on Monday to establish a launch date for the long-awaited International Space Station segment.
   FULL STORY
Zvezda
Friday: June 23, 2000  1612 GMT
Salty meteorite indicates Mars had Earth-like oceans
Thanks to NASA's unmanned planetary exploration program, evidence of the existence of past oceans on Mars has been accumulating for years, but no one had ever been able to say what the overall chemical composition of those oceans might actually have been like -- until now.
   FULL STORY
Meteorite
Problem aborts shuttle main engine test firing
A space shuttle main engine equipped with a next-generation fuel turbopump was damaged during an aborted test firing last week, NASA officials said Thursday.
   FULL STORY
Main engine
Proton launch delayed
Officials were forced to scrub by one day the launch of a Russian Proton rocket carrying the Express 3A communications satellite for Intersputnik. Liftoff is reset for 0034 GMT Saturday (8:34 p.m. EDT tonight) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
   FULL STORY
Express 3A
DAILY BRIEFING  Other stories making news today
Delta 4 solid rocket motors qualified for launch -- Alliant Aerospace Propulsion Company yesterday successfully completed the last of three static test firings of a new solid propulsion Graphite Epoxy Motor designated as the GEM-60 for Boeing's Delta 4 Medium-plus family of launch vehicles.
Thursday: June 22, 2000  0450 GMT
Evidence of liquid water on Mars
Scientists say they have found evidence of flowing water on the surface of Mars within the geologic recent past -- the last million years. "No one in the community even proposed that water might have been flowing on Mars today or even a million years ago," said NASA's science chief Ed Weiler.
   FULL STORY
Mars
Proton ready to launch Russian Express 3A satellite
In an effort to enhance Russian communications services, a new satellite is waiting to be hauled into space by Proton rocket. Liftoff is scheduled for 0032 GMT Friday (8:32 p.m. EDT tonight) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
   FULL STORY
Proton
ESO finds 8 new exoplanets
Discoveries of planets around other stars are becoming almost routine. The latest success comes from the ace team of planet-hunters at the Geneva Observatory in Switzerland, who claim to have found eight new, very low mass companions to solar-type stars.
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Artist concept
Second generation RLVs to pave 'Highway to Space'
The Marshall Space Flight Center is leading an effort to help NASA get into orbit more safely and for less money in the future than it does today using the Space Shuttle.
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X-37
Wednesday: June 21, 2000  0357 GMT
NASA finds evidence of water on Mars
Confirming what scientists had long theorized, NASA will announce Thursday that water has been found on Mars. A press conference is planned for 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) and Spaceflight Now will provide a live QuickTime streaming video broadcast.
   FULL STORY
Mars
XMM-Newton reveals details of Castor sextuplet
Behind the apparently simple brightness of certain stars there is often a fascinating complexity. That is the case for the particularly interesting Castor stellar system upon which ESA's XMM-Newton has shed new light.
   FULL STORY
XMM-Newton
Sea Launch completes return to flight activities
Sea Launch has successfully completed its Return to Flight/Systems Readiness Review, with participants indicating all corrective actions are being implemented after the March failure.
   FULL STORY
Sea Launch
DAILY BRIEFING  Other stories making news today
Satellite shows strong, long-lasting La Nina fading away -- After dominating the tropical Pacific Ocean for more than two years, the 1998-2000 La Nina "cool pool" is continuing its slow fade and seems to be retiring from the climate stage, according to the latest data from TOPEX/Poseidon.

Boeing, Honeywell awarded for new shuttle glass cockpit -- Space shuttle prime contractor United Space Alliance has announced that Boeing and Honeywell Space Systems are recipients of the prestigious USA Space Achievement Award for the outstanding performance of the Multifunction Electronic Display Subsystem (MEDS) during the recent Atlantis mission.
Tuesday: June 20, 2000  0639 GMT
MirCorp announces plans to launch tourists into space
MirCorp opened a new era in space Monday by inaugurating its Citizen Explorer program, which will provide the first truly commercial manned flight opportunities for private citizens to be flown to the Russian space station.
   FULL STORY
Mir
Boeing, Lockheed Martin win NASA launch contracts
The NASA Launch Services contracts, or NLS, has been award to Boeing's Delta rocket fleet and Lockheed Martin's Atlas family of boosters to loft planetary, Earth-observing and scientific spacecraft over the next 10 years.
   FULL STORY
Atlas 3
More accurate warnings of space storms now provided
The arrival from the Sun of billion-ton electrified-gas clouds that cause severe space storms can now be predicted to within a half-day, a great improvement over the best previous estimates of two to five days.
   FULL STORY
Sun
DAILY BRIEFING  Other stories making news today
Galileo moves away from Jupiter in test with Cassini -- NASA's Galileo spacecraft has left the powerful influence of Jupiter's magnetosphere and entered the solar wind. This transition marks the beginning of joint work with the Saturn-bound Cassini probe.

NASA planning successor to Compton gamma ray probe -- Astronomers said a fond farewell to NASA's Compton Gamma Ray Observatory earlier this month. Compton proved gamma-ray bursts come from most distant reaches and are the most powerful explosions in the universe. Now a new burst monitor is being developed for launch in 2005.
Monday: June 19, 2000  0231 GMT
First 'space tourist' goes public with announcement
American millionaire Dennis Tito made it official today, announcing he plans to become the first tourist of the final frontier early next year with a 10-day trip to Russia's space station Mir. "It is a life's dream," he said in a news conference.
   EARLIER STORY
MirCorp
Futuristic spy satellite snaps clear pictures of U.S.
A small U.S. spacecraft launched in March to test advanced imaging technologies for possible use by next-generation spy satellites has gone to work.
   FULL STORY
Roadway
Clouds hang over ancient Martian volcano
Last April, NASA's Mars Global Surveyor passed over the Apollinaris Patera volcano and captured a patch of bright clouds hanging over its summit in the early martian afternoon.
   FULL STORY
Mars
DAILY BRIEFING  Other stories making news today
Air Force Space Command's Y2K program recognized -- Last year's extensive Y2K public affairs program by NORAD, U.S. Space Command and Air Force Space Command, which sought to reassure the public that all command mission critical systems were Y2K compliant, has been awarded.



Earlier news
June 12-18: First space tourist announced; Delta 3 rocket to make demonstration flight; Russian cosmonauts depart Mir; Sugar discovered in space.

June 5-11: Extensive black hole news; Pegasus launches TSX-5; NEAR instrument shut down; Clues to origin of Hale-Bopp; Rocketcams.

May 29-June 4: Compton Gamma Ray Observatory reenters; Atlantis lands; Jupiter's moon Io covered with volcanoes galore; Hubble peers into the heart of the Crab Nebula.

May 22-28: Atlas 3A rocket makes successful debut; Atlantis astronauts repair ISS; Chandra sees 1 million mph winds from black hole; 20,000 images added to Mars album.

More news  See our weekly archive of space news.


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