Sunday: June 8, 2003  0401 GMT
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover to launch today
After a three-year, $800 million campaign to dispatch a pair of Mars Exploration Rovers to the Red Planet, the first craft is just hours away from launch. Liftoff is scheduled for 2:05:55 p.m. EDT (1805:55 GMT) aboard a Boeing Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
   LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE
   ASCENT GROUND TRACK
Twin roving geologists bound for surface of Mars
Building on past successes -- and learning from embarrassing failures -- NASA is poised to jump start its Mars exploration program by sending a pair of "monster truck" rovers to the Red Planet in a mission to search for clues about what happened to the water than once carved the martian surface.
   FULL STORY
Rovers undergo biological cleaning before launch
What do NASA's soon-to-be-launched Mars Exploration Rover spacecraft have in common with the Viking and Voyager spacecraft launched decades ago? Besides being interplanetary explorers, they will be among the biologically cleanest spacecraft ever launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
   FULL STORY
Cargo freighter awaits launch to space station
A Russian Progress resupply craft is scheduled for liftoff at 1034 GMT (6:34 a.m. EDT) today from Baikonur Cosmodrome atop a unmanned Soyuz rocket. The Progress is carrying about 5,300 pounds of supplies for the station's crew -- Expedition 7 commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA science officer Ed Lu.
Saturday: June 7, 2003  1230 GMT
Foam impact cracks wing leading edge panel
In a potentially significant breakthrough, engineers fired a 1.7-pound chunk of foam insulation at shuttle wing mockup Friday, visibly cracking a leading edge panel in a test that strongly supports the widely held hypothesis that a foam strike during Columbia's launch doomed the orbiter and its crew.
   FULL STORY
   FOAM TEST DELAYED (posted Thursday)
   STS-107 STORY DIRECTORY
Russian Proton rocket flies its 300th launch
In a commercial mission Friday night that was anything but a sprint, the milestone 300th flight of the Russian Proton heavy-lifting rocket booster successfully launched a telecommunications satellite to cover North America.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE
   GROUND TRACK MAP
   ORBIT INSERTION GRAPHIC
Friday: June 6, 2003  0001 GMT
Test postponed because of weather conditions
Stormy weather in Texas forced the Columbia Accident Investigation Board to delay a critical test designed to find out whether foam debris could have caused the kind of wing leading edge damage that doomed the shuttle and its crew during re-entry.
   FULL STORY
   EARLIER STORY
   STS-107 STORY DIRECTORY
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover to launch Sunday
Building on past successes -- and learning from embarrassing failures -- NASA is poised to jump start its Mars exploration program by sending a pair of "monster truck" rovers to the Red Planet in an $800 million mission to search for clues about what happened to the water than once carved the martian surface. The first rover is poised for liftoff at 2:06 p.m. EDT Sunday from Cape Canaveral.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   MARS ROVER PREVIEW STORY
   STORY ON ROVERS' DESCENT AND LANDING
Thermal data from Odyssey reveals a changing Mars
The first overview analysis of a year's worth of high-resolution infrared data gathered by the Thermal Emission Imaging System on NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft is opening Mars to a new kind of detailed geological analysis and revealing a dynamic planet that has experienced dramatic environmental change.
   FULL STORY
Clamps away: Mars Express eases its grip on its lander
Mars Express engineers breathed a sigh of relief Thursday morning at the European Space Operations Centre, in Germany. If a particularly delicate operation had not proceeded as planned, it would have been impossible to deploy the Beagle 2 lander on arrival at Mars.
   FULL STORY
Russian rocket to launch U.S. communications craft
Hoping the third time is the charm, a Russian Proton rocket is standing on its Baikonur Cosmodrome pad for a commercial satellite launch that has been delayed since April by technical problems. Liftoff is scheduled for 2215 GMT (6:15 p.m. EDT) on Friday.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE
   GROUND TRACK MAP
   ORBIT INSERTION GRAPHIC
Thursday: June 5, 2003  0001 GMT
Critical foam impact test planned for Thursday
Computer analysis and the results of a dramatic test last week indicate a critical experiment on tap Thursday may help investigators determine, to the satisfaction of most, that a foam strike during the shuttle Columbia's launching was the initiating event that led to the ship's destruction.
   FULL STORY
Japanese space probe headed to Mars rendezvous
As other nations launch their stake in this year's wave of Mars exploration, Japan has its own mission that is chugging toward the Red Planet despite encountering a rocky journey.
   FULL STORY
Launch date established for NASA's Mars rover
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover-A has been cleared for launch Sunday at 2:05:55 p.m. EDT (1805:55 GMT) following the Flight Readiness Review held Wednesday morning. The only worry now is the weather forecast, which predicts a 60 percent chance of unfavorable conditions.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   LAUNCH WINDOWS CHART
Wednesday: June 4, 2003  0124 GMT
Another Jovian moon found
So far this year, Jupiter has gained 21 new distant satellites, with the most recent announcement of satellite S/2003 J 21 on Tuesday at the annual Canadian Astronomical Society meeting in Waterloo. This puts Jupiter far ahead of the all other planets, with 61 known moons.
   FULL STORY
'RAVE' seeking to reveal Galaxy's history
Clues to how galaxies formed in the early Universe lie right under our nose -- in our own Galaxy. The Galaxy formed by the accretion of infalling satellite galaxies, many astronomers think. Theoretical models of the formation of galaxies predict such a scenario. But not all astronomers are convinced yet and the topic is still controversial.
   FULL STORY
No final decision yet on launch date for Mars rover
NASA has put off making the final decision, which had been expected Tuesday, of when to launch the Mars Exploration Rover-A. For now, workers continue to prepare for liftoff on Sunday.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   EARLIER STORY
   LAUNCH WINDOWS CHART
Tuesday: June 3, 2003  0001 GMT
'Razor-sharp image' of star cluster snapped from Earth
A razor-sharp image was released Monday revealing new details at the heart of a famous star cluster. The thousands of swarming stars at the cluster's core were made visible by an innovative adaptive optics system called Altair that is currently being commissioned on the Frederick C. Gillett Gemini Telescope on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.
   FULL STORY
NASA opens applications for new astronaut class
NASA is accepting applications for mission specialist and pilot astronaut candidates to join the 2004 Astronaut Candidate Class.
   FULL STORY
Monday: June 2, 2003  2030 GMT
Europe's first adventure to Mars successfully launched
Kicking off a string of Mars launches this month, a Russian Soyuz booster did its job Monday as it placed the first European mission to the Red Planet onto the path that will see it arrive late this year amidst a flurry of international science missions.
   FULL STORY
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   MARS EXPRESS PREVIEW STORY
   BEAGLE 2 OVERVIEW STORY
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News Archive
May 26-June 1: Foam impact test causes significant T-seal movement; Demonstration flight not likely for space shuttle; 'Slick Six' launch pad hosts its first Delta 4 rocket; Japanese science cargo returns to Earth for study; Mars rover launch delayed.

May 19-25: Columbia rescue mission feasible, but unlikely; Slag on shuttle debris suggests location of breach; Martian view of Earth; Satellite of Milky Way found in retrograde orbit.

May 12-18: Clearest video yet of foam strike as tests get underway; NASA chief, CAIB chairman testify at Senate hearing; First Greek satellite launch performed by Atlas 5 rocket; Brighter Neptune suggests a change of seasons; NASA picks in-space propulsion innovations.

May 5-11: CAIB accepts, agrees with NASA failure scenario; Japan launches asteroid sample return mission; New shuttle program manager named; Deepest view of space yields young stars in halo; India launches second GSLV rocket.

More news  See our weekly archive of space news.








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