Spaceflight Now

Sunday: March 16, 2003		0001 GMT

NASA's Odyssey marks one year in orbit around Mars NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has transformed the way scientists are looking at the red planet. "In just one year, Mars Odyssey has fundamentally changed our understanding of the nature of the materials on and below the surface of Mars," the project scientist says. FULL STORY

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Saturday: March 15, 2003		0110 GMT

Readdy says 'no rationale' for spy satellite inspection William Readdy, associate administrator for spaceflight and a former shuttle commander, told the Columbia Accident Investigation Board he did not consider asking for a spy satellite inspection of Columbia's left wing during the doomed ship's mission because the agency had already concluded the shuttle could land safely. FULL STORY
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Columbia timeline updated The following timeline was compiled by William Harwood, CBS News, from telemetry data (through revision 15 of NASA's internal timeline) and transcriptions of the NASA-Select commentary, mission control audio loops and portions of an in-cabin video recovered after the accident. The relevant data sources were released by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. SEE THE TIMELINE - Updated Friday

Friday: March 14, 2003		0738 GMT

Debris may strengthen breach scenario Investigators have recovered debris from the shuttle Columbia that appears to support the increasingly held belief that the doomed ship's left landing gear door remained in place as a plume of super-heated air entering through a breach near the leading edge of the left wing wreaked havoc inside the wheel well. FULL STORY

Chandra image reveals supernova origin NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory image of the supernova remnant DEM L71 reveals a hot inner cloud of glowing iron and silicon surrounded by an outer blast wave. Data from the Chandra observation show that the central ten-million-degree Celsius cloud is the remains of a supernova explosion that destroyed a white dwarf star. FULL STORY

Thursday: March 13, 2003		0424 GMT

Hubble discovers an evaporating planet For the first time, astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have observed the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet evaporating off into space. Much of the planet may eventually disappear, leaving only a dense core. The planet is a type of extrasolar planet known as a "hot Jupiter." These giant gaseous planets orbit their parent stars very closely, drawn to them like moths to a flame. FULL STORY

Virtual observatory demo produces surprise discovery A new approach to finding undiscovered objects buried in immense astronomical databases has produced an early and unexpected payoff: a new instance of a hard-to-find type of star known as a brown dwarf. FULL STORY

Wednesday: March 12, 2003		0538 GMT

Board studies wing edge, wind shear, foam repair The Columbia Accident Investigation Board today showed video of Columbia's launching that indicates foam debris falling away from the ship's external fuel tank slammed into the lower leading edge of the orbiter's left wing within a few feet of where it merged with the fuselage. FULL STORY
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Team talked foam impact analysis just after disaster NASA managers meeting 90 minutes after the Columbia disaster Feb. 1 discussed a re-analysis of the potential damage caused by foam debris slamming into the shuttle's left wing during launch. But senior managers decided the public would be told, during an initial press conference, that the debris hit "on the left wing was reviewed and not determined to be safety of flight issue." FULL STORY

Twin gamma-ray bursts provide several firsts Gamma-ray bursts are the most violent explosions in the Universe, but little is known about them. In recent years, several theories have been put forward to explain these elusive explosions, but the mystery still remains. Now, two recent bursts observed by astronomers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics provide unique data that can not only help test previous models but also help theorists come up with a better picture of what GRBs really are. FULL STORY

Tuesday: March 11, 2003		0510 GMT

Delta 4 rocket successfully begins military service Born in the last decade by the Pentagon's call for a next-generation launcher of satellite cargos, Boeing's Delta 4 rocket did what it was designed to do Monday with the successful deployment of a $210 million military communications spacecraft. It was the Air Force's first Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle mission. FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER

Email author 'frustrated' by misinterpretation Robert Daugherty, a senior engineer at NASA's Langley Research Center, said Monday his widely publicized emails outlining various dire scenarios for the shuttle Columbia's re-entry Feb. 1 were misinterpreted by the media. FULL STORY

Columbia timeline updated The following timeline was compiled by William Harwood, CBS News, from telemetry data and transcriptions of the NASA-Select commentary and mission control audio loops, both released by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. SEE THE TIMELINE - Updated Monday

Monday: March 10, 2003		0112 GMT

Data shows autopilot on through last transmission A computer alarm generated in the final two seconds of data from Columbia suggests one of the pilots' joystick hand controllers may have been briefly engaged, but the autopilot was never deactivated before contact was lost. FULL STORY

Final Great Observatory arrives at launch site NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility arrived in Florida last week to begin a month-long period of final preparations before being attached to its Delta 2 booster for launch in mid-April. FULL STORY

Rising storms revise story of Jupiter's stripes Pictures of Jupiter, taken by a NASA spacecraft on its way to Saturn, are flipping at least one long-standing notion about Jupiter upside down. Stripes dominate Jupiter's appearance. Darker "belts" alternate with lighter "zones." The Cassini mission shows that individual storm cells of upwelling bright-white clouds, too small to see from Earth, pop up almost without exception in the dark belts. FULL STORY

News Archive
March 3-9: Investigators begin public hearings into accident; Plume may have entered wheel well from within wing; Delta 4's first Air Force launch scrubbed; China reportedly planning lunar exploration; Team pegs brightness of history's brightest star.

Feb. 24-March 2: Video shows Columbia crew unaware of impending disaster; Flight controllers downplay emails about Columbia; Europe pushes ahead with its new Vega rocket; Massive gas cloud around Jupiter revealed; Pioneer 10 sends last signal; Remnants of ancient stars found in Earth's atmosphere.

Feb. 17-23: New data shows Columbia's state in final moments; Crew agrees manned space in 'very serious situation'; Melting snow could be cause of gullies on Mars; Missing mass exists as warm intergalactic fog; Where's the coolest place in the Universe?

Feb. 10-16: Latest on Columbia investigation; Age of universe refined; Goodbye Ariane 4: Finale flight for workhorse rocket; Study shows how water may have flowed on Mars.

More news See our weekly archive of space news.

The ultimate Apollo 11 DVD

This exceptional chronicle of the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing mission features new digital transfers of film and television coverage unmatched by any other.

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Apollo 11 special patch

Special collectors' patch marking the 35th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing is now available.

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Apollo 11 special patch

Special collectors' patch marking the 35th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing is now available.

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Inside Apollo mission control

An insider's view of how Apollo flight controllers operated and just what they faced when events were crucial.

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The ultimate Apollo 11 DVD

This exceptional chronicle of the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing mission features new digital transfers of film and television coverage unmatched by any other.

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Next ISS crew

Own a little piece of history with this official patch for the International Space Station's Expedition 11 crew. We'll ship yours today!

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Columbia Report

A reproduction of the official accident investigation report into the loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its crew of seven.

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Mars Panorama

DISCOUNTED! This 360 degree image was taken by the Mars Pathfinder, which landed on the Red Planet in July 1997. The Sojourner Rover is visible in the image.

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Apollo 11 Mission Report

Apollo 11 - The NASA Mission Reports Vol. 3 is the first comprehensive study of man's first mission to another world is revealed in all of its startling complexity. Includes DVD!

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Rocket DVD

If you've ever watched a launch from Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, Vandenberg Air Force Base or even Kodiak Island Alaska, there's no better way to describe what you witnessed than with this DVD.

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Apollo Collage

This beautiful one piece set features the Apollo program emblem surrounded by the individual mission logos.

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STS-127 Patch

The official embroidered patch for shuttle Endeavour's flight to finish building Japanese section of the space station.

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Hubble Patch

The official embroidered patch for mission STS-125, the space shuttle's last planned service call to the Hubble Space Telescope, is available for purchase.

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Project Orion

The Orion crew exploration vehicle is NASA's first new human spacecraft developed since the space shuttle a quarter-century earlier. The capsule is one of the key elements of returning astronauts to the Moon.

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Fallen Heroes Patch Collection

The official patches from Apollo 1, the shuttle Challenger and Columbia crews are available in the store.

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