Sunday: March 3, 2002  1700 GMT
Columbia retrieves Hubble
Space shuttle Columbia's robotic arm reached out and captured the 12 1/2-ton Hubble Space Telescope at 4:31 a.m. EST this morning, setting the stage for five spacewalks to service and upgrade the observatory starting Monday morning. The telescope's solar arrays were later retracted successfully.
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Retrieval

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Spacecraft to detect rocky planets around other worlds
Astronomers from European Space Agency's Member States are preparing to take part in a French-led mission to be the first to search for rocky planets around other stars. The mission, COROT, is an important stepping stone in the European effort to find habitable, Earth-like planets around other stars.
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COROT
Saturday: March 2, 2002  0400 GMT
Problem not expected to end shuttle mission early
NASA officials said Friday evening they were optimistic Columbia's mission to the Hubble Space Telescope would continue as planned despite a cooling problem aboard the space shuttle. Mission managers will meet again Saturday to discuss the situation further. See our status center for the latest on the mission:
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Columbia
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Columbia launched on Hubble service call
Space shuttle Columbia was launched at morning's first light Friday in pursuit of the Hubble Space Telescope for a service call that will see five spacewalks performed to repair and upgrade the observatory.
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Columbia
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Mars Odyssey detects evidence of water ice
In its first major discovery since entering orbit, NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has detected evidence of extensive amounts of water ice below the surface of the Red Planet, scientists announced Friday.
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Odyssey
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Friday: March 1, 2002  0456 GMT
Ariane 5 launches massive environmental satellite
Seven months after a failed launch that placed two satellites in the wrong orbit, Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket lifted off at 8:08 p.m. EST (0108 GMT) Thursday evening carrying into orbit a massive and costly European environmental research spacecraft.
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Ariane 5
NASA to attempt contact with Pioneer 10 spacecraft
NASA scientists will try to contact Pioneer 10 this weekend to see if the plucky little spacecraft's signal can still be heard - 30 years after its launch. Pioneer 10 is now at a distance of 7.4 billion miles from Earth.
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Pioneer 10
New Jason 1 oceanography satellite releases first data
Following an in-depth performance review by NASA and the French Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, the Jason 1 oceanography satellite has been declared ready for operational service.
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Jason 1
Thursday: February 28, 2002  0456 GMT
Cold weather delays Columbia launch
The forecast of cold temperatures at launch time Thursday prompted NASA officials to delay liftoff of space shuttle Columbia by 24 hours. The launch has been rescheduled for 6:22 a.m. EST (1122 GMT) Friday when the weather is predicted to be warmer. Meanwhile, engineers continue to review the technical concern involving the shuttle's main landing gear.
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Columbia
Ariane 5 rocket to resume flights after grounding
Seven months after a failed launch that placed two satellites in the wrong orbit, Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket is poised to return to flight Thursday evening carrying a massive and costly European environmental research spacecraft.
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   ENVISAT SCIENCE STORY
Ariane 5
Congress questions O'Keefe about NASA budget
New NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe told members of a key Congressional committee Wednesday that the next several months will be critical to the future of the International Space Station and other major agency programs.
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O'Keefe
Solar wind buffets vast Jupiter region
Scientists simultaneously using a combination of NASA spacecraft have seen into the workings of an invisible whirling bubble of charged particles surrounding Jupiter. That bubble, Jupiter's magnetosphere, is the biggest object with distinct boundaries within our solar system, more than 100 times wider than Jupiter itself.
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Jupiter
Jupiter hot spot makes trouble for theory
A pulsating hot spot of X-rays has been discovered in the polar regions of Jupiter's upper atmosphere by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Previous theories cannot explain either the pulsations or the location of the hot spot, prompting scientists to search for a new process to produce Jupiter's X-rays.
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Jupiter
Wednesday: February 27, 2002  0500 GMT
First space shuttle launch director passes away
George F. Page, the first space shuttle launch director, former deputy director of the Kennedy Space Center and a legendary missileman who played a key role in America's race to the moon, died Tuesday in Cocoa Beach after a long illness. He was 77.
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Page
Astronauts named to key space station missions
NASA has named 16 crewmembers for space shuttle missions to deliver key structural hardware to the International Space Station in 2003. The missions are designated STS-115, which is slated for launch in early 2003; and STS-116, with a core crew of four, which will ferry three- person, space station expedition crews to and from the station in spring 2003.
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Astronauts
Tuesday: February 26, 2002  0615 GMT
Hubble to undergo risky makeover by astronauts
The Hubble Space Telescope has cost U.S. taxpayers more than $6 billion in the quarter century since the project was approved. But to astronomers around the world, the 24,000-pound satellite is, quite simply, priceless. Read a comprehensive five-part preview of the most technically challenging - and risky - overhaul and upgrade of Hubble that NASA has ever attempted.
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Hubble

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Columbia's launch countdown is underway
Countdown clocks have begun ticking at Kennedy Space Center for Thursday's sunrise blastoff of shuttle Columbia on the fourth Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. The weather forecast is calling for a 30 percent chance cold temperatures will delay the launch.
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Pad
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'Aqua' Earth observer shipped to launch site
The next satellite in NASA's Earth Observing System, the Aqua spacecraft, was delivered to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California early Monday to begin final preparations for launch in April aboard a Delta 2 rocket.
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Aqua
Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean picked for flight
Officials announced Monday that Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean will join a distinguished international group and fly aboard the shuttle Endeavour in April 2003. The crew for the STS-115 mission will complete another assembly phase of the International Space Station.
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MacLean
Soyuz rocket launched
A Russian Soyuz rocket was successfully launched Monday, delivering a military Kosmos satellite cargo into Earth orbit. Liftoff occurred from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. This was the first Soyuz mission in 2002 and the 70th consecutive successful launch for the Soyuz family of launchers.
Soyuz
Monday: February 25, 2002  0414 GMT
Columbia's launch countdown begins today
The three-day countdown begins at 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) today for space shuttle Columbia's sunrise blastoff Thursday on the fourth Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. The seven astronauts were scheduled to arrive at Kennedy Space Center overnight.
   LAUNCH COUNTDOWN TIMELINE
Pad
NASA's Quikscat spacecraft turns operational
In a move to improve global weather forecasts and ultimately save lives and property, the United States and Europe have incorporated wind speed and direction data from NASA's Quick Scatterometer spacecraft -- also known as Quikscat -- into their operational global weather analysis and forecast systems.
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Quikscat
A Year in Space
Astronomy Now and Spaceflight Now present a 100-page, full-color special publication: 2001: a Year in Space. A stunning month-by-month pictorial record of the space events and discoveries during 2001. Available now from our store.
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Earlier news
Feb. 18-24: Lockheed Martin Atlas 3B rocket has successful debut; Team plots a faster path to Pluto for robotic probe; Odyssey begins mapping Mars; Wiring mistake doomed launch of Japanese craft; Ariane 4 rocket launch.

Feb. 11-17: Delta 2 rocket launches quintet of Iridium satellites; Cassini studies ripples in the fabric of space and time; Global Surveyor sees changes of Martian ice cap; Weather satellite removed from rocket for repairs.

Feb. 4-10: HESSI solar explorer finally launched by Pegasus rocket; NASA emphasizes basics in 2003 budget proposal; Reentry satellite lost during launch of H-2A rocket; Tides of Jovian moon Europa might support life.

Jan. 28-Feb. 3: Updates on new Boeing Delta 4 and Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 rockets; Dennis Tito cautious about space tourism future; Impressive new images released of Saturn and Io.

More news  See our weekly archive of space news.





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Hubble poster
The Hubble Space Telescope's majestic view of the Eskimo Nebula. This spectacular poster is available now from the Astronomy Now Store.
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