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Sunday:
March 25, 2001 | |
0630 GMT |
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NASA tests rocket modem using Globalstar satellites
Imagine a day when self-diagnostic tools allow future rockets to phone home with vital information about their condition, location and performance. NASA engineers believe the technology could replace expensive ground systems, reducing the cost of space flight.
 FULL STORY
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Movement of Earth's crust can be detected with GPS
The same type of technology used by motorists to help them navigate city roadways can now be used to detect and measure the smallest movements in the Earth's crust, an international group of scientists has found.
FULL STORY
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Saturday:
March 24, 2001 | |
0557 GMT |
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Veteran satellite testbed gets new lease on life
A NASA experimental satellite that completed its mission to test futuristic communications technologies has been given to a university-led consortium for use in educational studies.
FULL STORY
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NASA names future space station expedition crews
As the Expedition Two crew gets settled aboard the International Space Station, American crew members for future space station missions have begun formal training to meet launch dates, beginning in 2002. The 14 astronauts, six assigned to primary crews and eight assigned to backup crews.
FULL STORY
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DAILY BRIEFING Other stories making news today
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Student experiments to fly high thanks to NASA -- A NASA education program will give high school students from across the country the opportunity for their dreams to literally take flight when experiments designed by the students fly on either a Space Shuttle or sub-orbital rocket.
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Friday:
March 23, 2001 | |
0630 GMT |
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Mir dives into Pacific
The 15-year odyssey of the Russian space station Mir ended in an extraordinary fireball in Earth's atmosphere today. Fiery debris rained down on the South Pacific Ocean after a successful controlled reentry of the station.
FULL STORY
U.S. TO TRACK MIR
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Delta 2 rocket picked to launch QuickBird 2 satellite
A commercial eye-in-the-sky with better vision than any other Earth imaging satellite will be lofted into space by a Boeing Delta 2 rocket this fall, officials announced Thursday.
FULL STORY
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White dwarfs shed light on dark matter
Some of the invisible "dark matter" that makes up most of the mass of our galaxy may be in the form of previously undetected white dwarf stars, astronomers reported this week.
FULL STORY
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Thursday:
March 22, 2001 | |
0557 GMT |
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Blinking star explains mystery aboard Galileo
When a star tracker on NASA's Galileo spacecraft temporarily lost a star being used as a reference point for monitoring the spacecraft's attitude, engineers suspected an aberration in the equipment, not in the star. After all, this particular star is one of the 50 brightest in the sky.
FULL STORY
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X-ray telescope provides wealth of data about comet
Most of their time is spent frozen in the outer reaches of the solar system. But when these balls of ice and dust, which we know as comets, decide to make an appearance, the spectacle is often grandiose.
FULL STORY
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DAILY BRIEFING Other stories making news today
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Polar telescope sights first high-energy neutrinos -- A novel telescope, buried deep in the Antarctic ice at the South Pole, has become the first instrument to detect and track high-energy neutrinos from space, setting the stage for a new field of astronomy that promises a view of some of the most distant, enigmatic and violent phenomena in the universe.
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Wednesday:
March 21, 2001 | |
0252 GMT |
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Station pioneers back on Earth after historic voyage
After a dramatic reversal of fortune, the shuttle Discovery dropped out of orbit and glided to a pre-dawn landing at the Kennedy Space Center today, bringing the international space station's first full-time crew back to Earth after a 141-day space odyssey.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
VIDEO: LANDING (subscribers only)
DETAILED ENTRY TIMELINE
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NASA continues protesting space joyride of Dennis Tito
NASA managers vowed Tuesday to continue efforts to convince their Russian counterparts not to launch U.S. millionaire Dennis Tito to the international space station next month, saying the would-be space tourist has not been properly trained and represents a clear safety threat to the multi-billion-dollar station and its crew.
FULL STORY
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Russia stands firm on Tito, cosmonauts resume training
The Russian Aviation and Space Agency ordered the Russian Soyuz taxi crewmembers to resume training at the Johnson Space Center on Tuesday but remained adamant that Dennis Tito would fly with to the space station with or without NASA's consent.
FULL STORY
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Deep Space 1 probe loads up for trek to comet
NASA's Deep Space 1 spacecraft, sailing through the solar system today, has taken delivery of a new cargo: the latest software for its ambitious encounter with Comet Borrelly this September.
FULL STORY
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DAILY BRIEFING Other stories making news today
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NASA Astrobiology Institute announces new teams -- NASA has selected four new teams to become part of the agency's Astrobiology Institute (NAI), a national and international research consortium that studies the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life on Earth and in the universe.
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Tuesday:
March 20, 2001 | |
0404 GMT |
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NASA blocks Tito training
In an escalating battle of wills, NASA is staging a news conference today to discuss its opposition to Russian plans for launching American millionaire Dennis Tito to the international space station next month as history's first space tourist.
FULL STORY
NASA NEWS RELEASE
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Stormy weather threatens space shuttle's homecoming
The Discovery astronauts tested the shuttle's re-entry systems late Monday and packed up for landing early Wednesday to bring the international space station's first crew back to Earth after 141 days in the weightlessness of space.
FULL STORY
DETAILED ENTRY TIMELINE
LANDING WEATHER FORECAST
MISSION STATUS CENTER
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Space station Mir to remain aloft for an extra day
Russian space officials have postponed the deorbiting of the Mir space station by 24 hours to Friday. The decision to delay the reentry was caused by lower than expected descent rate of the station in the upper atmosphere.
FULL STORY
U.S. TO TRACK MIR
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LockMart's Athena rocket welcomed back at NASA
Lockheed Martin's Athena rocket, facing a very uncertain future after being left out of a NASA launch services contract two years ago, received favorable news from the space agency Monday.
FULL STORY
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Stardust comet probe's vision gets fuzzy again
In December, Stardust, the mission to Comet Wild 2 to capture dust particles and return them to Earth, cleared a coating that was clouding its camera optics by applying heat. Today, team members are investigating the reappearance of the coating, which is similar to the frost on a car windshield.
FULL STORY
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DAILY BRIEFING Other stories making news today
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Orbital picked to build three TV satellites for PanAmSat -- PanAmSat has announced a new multi-spacecraft agreement with Orbital Sciences Corporation for the development of the next generation of Galaxy cable satellites. The contract solidifies Orbital as a major supplier in the world market for GEO communications satellites.
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Monday:
March 19, 2001 | |
1600 GMT |
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Fire alarm sends station crew scrambling
A fire alarm went off in the Destiny laboratory module of the international space station today. It turned out to be a false alarm, but it shut down ventilation systems, computers dropped off line and the station's new crew was unable to find the documentation needed to reactive critical systems.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
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Discovery departs the International Space Station
The international space station's first commander formally turned the ship over to his replacement Sunday night, wishing the lab's second three-person crew good luck aboard the orbital outpost and urging them to "sail her well" during their four-and-a-half-month stay.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates
Subscribers only:
VIDEO: CHANGE OF COMMAND CEREMONY
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Satellite launched to beam digital radio across America
American motorists seeking something new from their car radios received a boost Sunday when a rocket launched from a platform in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and delivered a digital audio broadcasting satellite into orbit.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
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The Hubble Space Telescope's majestic view of the Eskimo Nebula. This spectacular poster is available now from the Astronomy Now Store.