Spaceflight Now

Sunday: August 3, 2003		0001 GMT

Further delay ordered for Delta 4 rocket launch Launch of the Boeing Delta 4 rocket carrying the DSCS 3-B6 communications satellite for the U.S. military is being delayed a few more days so workers can replace an antenna on the vehicle's safety-destruct system. A new launch date has not been established. MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!

Deeply embedded stellar clusters found in Milky Way Peering into a giant molecular cloud in the Milky Way galaxy astronomers from the European Southern Observatory have discovered a whole new population of very massive newborn stars. FULL STORY

Search for life could include planets, stars unlike ours The search for life on other planets could soon extend to solar systems that are very different from our own, according to a new study by an Ohio State University astronomer and his colleagues. FULL STORY

Saturday: August 2, 2003		0017 GMT

Delta 4 rocket could launch Monday, pending tests Engineers were expected to complete a series of tests Friday night on thermal protection material used by the Boeing Delta 4 rocket, giving senior officials the data to decide if launch can occur Monday evening from Cape Canaveral. MISSION STATUS CENTER

Stratosphere's role in weather suggested What happens in the stratosphere, the atmospheric layer just above where commercial airplanes fly, may have a larger influence on our climate and weather than previously thought, according to research funded by NASA, NOAA and the National Science Foundation. FULL STORY

Friday: August 1, 2003		0109 GMT

Delta 4 launch delayed Sunday's scheduled launch of the Boeing Delta 4 rocket from Cape Canaveral is being delayed 24 hours to give engineers time to complete tests of thermal protection material on the vehicle. Liftoff is tentatively reset for Monday. MISSION STATUS CENTER

Mars orbiter captures view of stair-stepped mound This Mars Global Surveyor image shows a stair-stepped mound of sedimentary rock on the floor of a large impact crater in western Arabia Terra. FULL STORY

Spacecraft confirm expected ozone recovery NASA satellite observations have provided the first evidence the rate of ozone depletion in the Earth's upper atmosphere is decreasing. This may indicate the first stage of ozone layer recovery. FULL STORY

Thursday: July 31, 2003		0343 GMT

Ion engine records nearly five years of firing time The future is here for spacecraft propulsion and the trouble-free engine performance that every vehicle operator would like, achieved by an ion engine running for a record 30,352 hours at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The engine is a spare of the Deep Space 1 ion engine used during a successful technology demonstration mission. FULL STORY

Columbia board: NASA needs better imaging The Columbia Accident Investigation Board has issued its fifth preliminary finding and recommendation to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, in advance of its appearance in the final report. FULL STORY

Close encounters of the stellar kind NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has confirmed that close encounters between stars form X-ray emitting, double-star systems in dense globular star clusters. These X-ray binaries have a different birth process than their cousins outside globular clusters, and should have a profound influence on the cluster's evolution. FULL STORY

Antarctic telescope delivers first neutrino sky map A novel telescope that uses the Antarctic ice sheet as its window to the cosmos has produced the first map of the high-energy neutrino sky. The map provides astronomers with their first tantalizing glimpse of very high-energy neutrinos, ghostly particles that are believed to emanate from some of the most violent events in the universe -- crashing black holes, gamma ray bursts, and the violent cores of distant galaxies. FULL STORY

Wednesday: July 30, 2003		0143 GMT

300th Delta to launch last Air Force DSCS satellite This weekend's launch from Cape Canaveral will mark a moment in history for the Delta rocket and the finale for a long-running family of U.S. military communications satellites. FULL STORY LAUNCH TIMELINE GROUND TRACK MAP

The future: Air Force EELV launch schedule The upcoming Delta 4 rocket flight carrying the last DSCS satellite marks the second Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle mission. For a look into the future, we present this EELV launch schedule. It shows the next 26 Air Force flights of Delta 4 and Atlas 5, the payloads and launch sites, and notes which missions were transferred to Lockheed Martin as the Air Force's penalty against Boeing for wrongdoing. LAUNCH SCHEDULE

X-37 demonstrator completes structural tests An approach and landing test version of the X-37, a spacecraft designed to demonstrate technologies for NASA's Orbital Space Plane Program, has successfully completed structural testing in Huntington Beach, Calif. FULL STORY

Tuesday: July 29, 2003		0153 GMT

New maps of Mars water "Breathtaking" new maps of likely sites of water on Mars showcase their association with geologic features such as Vallis Marineris, the largest canyon in the solar system. The maps detail the distribution of water-equivalent hydrogen as revealed by Los Alamos National Laboratory-developed instruments aboard NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft. FULL STORY MARS NEWS ARCHIVE

Wind and reflections from supermassive black hole This composite image of the active galaxy, NGC 1068, shows gas blowing away in a high-speed wind from the vicinity of a central supermassive black hole. The elongated shape of the gas cloud is thought to be due to the funneling effect of a torus, or doughnut-shaped cloud, of cool gas and dust that surrounds the black hole. FULL STORY

Monday: July 28, 2003		0258 GMT

Troubles strike Landsat 7 Officials with the Landsat 7 Earth-watching satellite program have now spent almost two months struggling with a problem that significantly degrades the scientific value of images from the observatory. FULL STORY

Intriguing celestial images arrive from GALEX NASA's Galaxy Evolution Explorer has beamed back revealing images of hundreds of galaxies to expectant astronomers, providing the first batch of data on star formation that they had hoped for. FULL STORY

News Archive
July 21-27: Pentagon strips 7 launches from Boeing Delta 4 rocket; Columbia management team hardly discussed foam strike; Two options emerge for NASA's Orbital Space Plane; Space entrepreneurs seek regulatory relief; Giant gas cloud made of atoms formed in first stars.

July 14-20: Enhanced version of Atlas 5 rocket debuts successfully; Columbia crew module likely survived shuttle breakup; Detailed maps reveal early Universe galaxy distribution; Hubble tracks down a galaxy cluster's dark matter.

July 7-13: Earth's Opportunity rover launched to Mars; Foam impact test blows hole in shuttle wing panel; Detailed failure scenario released by Columbia board; Shuttle team to attempt recovery of Atlas 5 boosters; Farthest and oldest known planet confirmed; Pluto's atmosphere is expanding, researchers say.

More news See our weekly archive of space news.

Columbia Report

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

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

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.

Choose your store:
U.S.

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!

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

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.

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Gemini 12

Gemini 12: The NASA Mission Reports covers the voyage of James Lovell and Buzz Aldrin that capped the Gemini program's efforts to prove the technologies and techniques that would be needed for the Apollo Moon landings. Includes CD-ROM.

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Soviet Space

For the first time ever available in the West. Rocket & Space Corporation Energia: a complete pictorial history of the Soviet/Russian Space Program from 1946 to the present day all in full color. Available from our store.

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Viking patch

This embroidered mission patch celebrates NASA's Viking Project which reached the Red Planet in 1976.

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Apollo 7 DVD

For 11 days the crew of Apollo 7 fought colds while they put the Apollo spacecraft through a workout, establishing confidence in the machine what would lead directly to the bold decision to send Apollo 8 to the moon just 2 months later.

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Gemini 12

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Get e-mail updates
Sign up for our NewsAlert service and have the latest news in astronomy and space e-mailed direct to your desktop (privacy note: your e-mail address will not be used for any other purpose).

Apollo 12 tribute DVD set

New! Featuring the jovial crew of Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon and Alan Bean, the Apollo 12 mission was struck by lightning shortly after liftoff but proceeded on the second successful exploration voyage to the lunar surface. This three-disc DVD brings the mission to life with extraordinary detail.

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Fallen Heroes special patch

This special 12-inch embroidered patch commemorates the U.S. astronauts who made the ultimate sacrifice, honoring the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia.

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Women in Space

Women of Space: Cool Careers on the Final Frontier is for girls, young women, and anyone else interested in learning about exciting careers in space exploration. Includes CD-ROM.

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Mars rover poster

This new poster features some of the best pictures from NASA's amazing Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity.

Choose your store:
U.S.

Expedition 18 patch & pin

The official embroidered patch and lapel pin for the International Space Station Expedition 18 crew is now available to from our stores.

U.S. STORE: PATCH | PIN

WORLD STORE: PATCH | PIN

Columbus mission patch

The official astronaut embroidered patch of Atlantis' STS-122 mission that launched the Columbus science lab in February is available to U.S. customers from our store.

U.S. STORE

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.

U.S. STORE

Apollo patches

The Apollo Patch Collection: Includes all 12 Apollo mission patches plus the Apollo Program Patch. Save over 20% off the Individual price.
U.S. STORE

Contact us
If you have a comment or question for Spaceflight Now, just send us an e-mail.

INDEX | PLUS | NEWS ARCHIVE | LAUNCH SCHEDULE
ASTRONOMY NOW | STORE

ADVERTISE