Sunday: January 5, 2003  1420 GMT
Titan 2 rocket launch postponed again
Unacceptable winds at high altitudes forced officials to scrub today's launch of the Titan 2 rocket carrying the U.S. military's Coriolis research satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. A sixth attempt to launch the $224 million mission is planned for 1418 GMT (9:18 a.m. EST) on Monday.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
Titan
Saturday: January 4, 2003  0200 GMT
The Sun does the wave
The mystery of why large features called supergranules move across the Sun's surface faster than the Sun rotates has been solved, according to a team of scientists using the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. Instead of actually moving faster than the Sun, their apparent rapid rotation is an illusion generated by a pattern of activity, like fans doing the wave at a sporting event.
   FULL STORY
Friday: January 3, 2003  0401 GMT
Earth and asteroid play orbital cat and mouse game
The first asteroid discovered to orbit the Sun in nearly the same path as Earth will make its closest approach to our planet this month before scurrying away for 95 years. The space rock, measuring about approximately 200 feet across, is like a mouse teasing a cat.
   FULL STORY
Thursday: January 2, 2003  0330 GMT
Volcanoes on Jovian moon spew salt into atmosphere
Astronomers have solved a nearly 30-year-old mystery surrounding Jupiter's moon Io, showing that volcanoes there appear to be shooting gaseous salt into the moon's thin atmosphere.
   FULL STORY
Wednesday: January 1, 2003  0505 GMT
Engine 'destroyed' in Proton mission failure
Russian investigators probing the November launch failure that doomed a massive communications satellite to a worthless orbit say excess fuel in the Proton rocket's upper stage main engine is to blame.
   FULL STORY
Preview of 2003 schedule for space station assembly
The coming year will be the most challenging ever for construction of the International Space Station. Already more than two-thirds of the way through the assembly of its core structure, international crews face a full and busy schedule.
   FULL STORY
Tuesday: December 31, 2002  0140 GMT
Ariane 5 launch failure investigation delays Rosetta
The European Space Agency's ambitious Rosetta comet explorer will miss the opening of its tight launch window January 12 as the investigation continues into the failure of Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket.
   FULL STORY
Pluto mission adds student science instrument
It's a 20-year homework assignment, but you won't hear any complaints from the students handed the task. A special instrument, called the Student Dust Counter, has been added to NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt.
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Monday: December 30, 2002  0747 GMT
Russian rocket delivers Canadian satellite in space
A spacecraft to broadcast TV and communications services across Canada was successfully sent into orbit Sunday night aboard the first commercial flight of Russia's modernized Proton M rocket and Breeze M upper stage motor.
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China launches fourth Shenzhou capsule
The fourth and possibly last unmanned test flight of China's Shenzhou spacecraft was launched at 1640 GMT (11:40 a.m. EST) Sunday aboard a Long March rocket from the Jiuquan base. Observers suspect that if the Shenzhou 4 is successful, the Chinese would press ahead with its first manned space flight in 2003.
   FULL STORY
News Archive
Dec. 23-29: Giant X-ray disk sheds light on elliptical galaxies; Integral's first look at the gamma-ray Universe; First elusive 'dark' gamma-ray burst caught; NASA tests future flight vehicle concepts.

Dec. 16-22: Clouds discovered at south pole of Saturn's moon Titan; Workhorse Ariane 4 rocket flies its next to last mission; Titan 2 off till January; Second Delta 4 rocket erected on the launch pad; Young star cluster aglow with mysterious cloud; Six satellite cargos ride Dnepr booster to space.

Dec. 9-15: New Ariane 5 fails; International observatory put into orbit to study Earth; Morgan named to upcoming shuttle mission; Chandra reveals pileup on cosmic speedway; NEAR Shoemaker's silent treatment; Hubble watches galaxies in a destructive dance.

Dec. 2-8: Endeavour shuttles station residents back to Earth; Hubble precisely measures distant planet's true mass; NASA communications relay craft rides Atlas into space; Saturn's moon Titan may hold clues to origin of life; Double bubble in neighboring galaxy.
More news  See our weekly archive of space news.


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