Sunday: August 31, 2003  0534 GMT
Cargo vessel safely docks to space station
An unmanned resupply ship made an automated docking to the International Space Station on Saturday evening. The Russian Progress M-48 spacecraft linked up with the aft docking port of the station's Zvezda service module at 11:40 p.m. EDT (0340 GMT) while flying 240 miles above Central Asia.
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Europe readies to drop in on Saturn's moon Titan
You need to have thought of almost every eventuality when landing on a distant moon in a remote corner of the Solar System. You must have tested your spacecraft to its limits to be sure it will withstand the extreme conditions expected on Titan, a moon of Saturn.
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NASA gives Chandra X-ray Observatory life extension
NASA has awarded a contract to provide science and operational support for the Chandra X-ray Observatory, one of the world's most powerful tools to better understand the structure and evolution of the Universe. As a result of Chandra's success, NASA extended the mission from five to 10 years.
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Saturday: August 30, 2003  0715 GMT
Delta 4 rocket delivers last Air Force DSCS satellite
After four decades and two dozen launches, the Air Force's longest-running communications satellite system received its final member Friday with the successful flight of Boeing's Delta 4 rocket.
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Infrared halo frames a newborn star
Observations of a star-forming cloud have revealed, for the first time, a ring of infrared light around a nascent star. The images also show the presence of jets that emanate from the young object and collide with the surrounding cloud.
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Friday: August 29, 2003  0230 GMT
Boeing's Delta 4 rocket poised for liftoff today
Delayed 24 hours because of weather worries, a Boeing Delta 4 rocket will try again this evening to launch from Cape Canaveral carrying the final DSCS communications satellite for the U.S. Air Force.
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Resupply ship bound for International Space Station
A fresh load of supplies -- from shoes to rocket fuel -- is headed for the International Space Station following Thursday night's successful launch of Russia's unmanned Progress cargo freighter atop a Soyuz rocket.
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NEWSWIRE  Links to news across the internet
NASA fuel tank specialist removed -- (Associated Press) The NASA manager who oversaw space shuttle Columbia's faulty external tank has been removed in the continuing fallout from the shuttle disaster. Jerry Smelser, external tank project manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, has been reassigned and will retire at the end of the year, said Dave King, Marshall director.

NASA hires local shop to print shuttle report -- (Seattle Times) When investigators of the Columbia shuttle accident needed 2,500 copies of its 248-page findings -- and fast -- they turned to Seattle print shop Reischling Press Inc. "How about that? Out of 30,000 (commercial printers nationwide), they picked us," said founder Barry Reischling.

Air Force Museum forms review panel -- (Dayton Daily News) The U.S. Air Force has formed a blue-ribbon panel to review practices at the U.S. Air Force Museum, where hundreds of items, ranging from bombs to artifacts of aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright, are missing.

SPACEHAB reports financial results for Fiscal Year 2003 -- (SPACEHAB) SPACEHAB, Incorporated, a leading provider of commercial space services, today announced financial results for the Company's fourth quarter and the 2003 fiscal year ended June 30, 2003.

Thursday: August 28, 2003  0431 GMT
Dramatic view from space of launch pad disaster
Space Imaging's commercial Earth observing satellite, Ikonos, has captured extraordinary "before" and "after" photos of the Brazilian launch pad where 21 workers were killed in a rocket explosion last week.
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Boeing to launch Delta 4 rocket tonight from Florida
Delayed nearly a month after technical troubles pushed the mission out of the Cape Canaveral launch lineup, the third Boeing Delta 4 rocket is set for liftoff this evening. The rocket will place the Air Force's last DSCS communications satellite into orbit.
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   LAUNCH TIMELINE
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Russian freighter discarded from space station
A trash-filled supply ship departed the International Space Station Wednesday, making way for the next Russian-made cargo vessel due to arrive this weekend.
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Hubble telescope takes its closest view of Mars
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope snapped this portrait of Mars within minutes of the planet's closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years. This image was made from a series of exposures taken between Wednesday with Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2. In this picture, the red planet is 34,647,420 miles from Earth.
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Wednesday: August 27, 2003  0001 GMT


Report blasts NASA for Columbia tragedy
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board released its long-awaited report Tuesday, blaming the Feb. 1 disaster on bureaucratic inertia, slipshod internal communications and ineffective management at the top levels of NASA.
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   STS-107 STORY ARCHIVE
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NASA vows to implement recommendations
NASA will use the Columbia Accident Investigation Board's final report as a blueprint for correcting the problems that led to the Feb. 1 shuttle disaster and returning the shuttle safely to flight, Administrator Sean O'Keefe said Tuesday.
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On-orbit tile, RCC repair required to resume flights
NASA must develop the capability to repair damaged heat shield tiles in orbit, as well as cracks or breaches in the reinforced carbon carbon panels making up the shuttle's wing leading edges, before space shuttles return to flight, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board says.
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Columbia report released
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board, led by Admiral Hal Gehman has published its final report into the loss of the shuttle during reentry on February 1. Spaceflight Now is publishing unedited extracts from the report:
   BOARD STATEMENT
   EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
   REPORT SYNOPSIS
CAIB
Board issues recommendations
In its final report the Columbia Accident Investigation Board makes 29 recommendations, 15 of which are deemed necessary before the shuttle can return to flight.
   RECOMMENDATIONS
   FINDINGS
Decision-making during the flight of STS-107
This lengthy portion of the report details how management decisions made during Columbia's final flight reflect missed opportunities, blocked or ineffective communications channels, flawed analysis, and ineffective leadership.
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CAIB addresses fate of Columbia's astronauts
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board, in its final report, provided new insights into how the shuttle broke apart and the fate of the orbiter's crew. For the record, here are those observations.
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Report looks at possibility of rescue or repair
To put the decisions made during the flight of STS-107 into perspective, the Board asked NASA to determine if there were options for the safe return of the Columbia crew. In this study, NASA was asked to evaluate the possibility of rescuing the crew by launching Atlantis or repairing damage to Columbia's wing on orbit.
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Statement by the President
President George W. Bush issued a statement regarding the Columbia Accident Investigation Board's report, pledging that "our journey into space will go on."
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NASA administrator accepts Columbia accident report
Tuesday morning, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe received the report of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board from the chairman, retired U.S. Navy Admiral Harold Gehman. The following is a statement from the NASA Administrator regarding the CAIB report.
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Comments from co-chair of Return to Flight Task Group
"Over the coming days and months we will carefully study the board's report and findings, review, digest and assess NASA's plans for implementing the board's recommendations, and provide the NASA Administrator -- and the public -- with our assessments as they pertain to the safety and operational readiness of the STS-114 space shuttle mission."
   READ THE STATEMENT
Tuesday: August 26, 2003  0401 GMT
Final report on Columbia accident due out today
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board issues its final report today in Washington, D.C. The lengthy report will explain the cause of Columbia's tragic destruction on February 1 during re-entry in which the shuttle and seven astronauts were lost. We will provide extensive coverage of the report's scheduled 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) release.
   STS-107 STORY ARCHIVE
   OUR LIVE COVERAGE ON LANDING DAY
NASA mulls changes for next space shuttle flight
The addition of a time-consuming tile inspection on the next shuttle flight, a spacewalk to test new tile repair equipment and techniques and lack of a third space station crew member to assist in equipment transfer work is forcing NASA managers to consider major changes to reduce the crew's workload.
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IN OTHER NEWS  Additional stories making news today
Protecting America's spacecraft -- Since Sputnik first circled the earth nearly half a century ago, aerospace engineers have searched for better ways to protect spacecraft from the violent engine vibrations transmitted through the rocket body during launch.

Air Force lab reflects mirror technology -- A milestone in telescope-mirror technology, completed recently by Air Force scientists here, is leading to lightweight, space-based telescopes much larger than NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Rather than use a heavy, glass mirror, researchers at the Air Force Research Laboratory were able to produce a 1-meter-diameter mirror, made of a thin-film membrane material.

DigitalGlobe plans third ground station for QuickBird -- DigitalGlobe has announced that it plans to install a ground station in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania to receive data from the QuickBird high-resolution imaging satellite. Scheduled to be operational by the end of the third quarter, this ground station provides additional operational capability to DigitalGlobe's other ground stations located in Norway and Alaska.
Monday: August 25, 2003  0902 GMT
300th Delta rocket launches new window on Universe
With a sky-lighting burst of flame and thunder, a Boeing Delta 2 rocket boosted a $1.2 billion infrared telescope into space early today, a "great observatory" designed to detect the feeble glow of infant planets, stars and galaxies in the making.
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Searching for answers in Brazil's launch pad disaster
As the days pass since Friday's tragic rocket explosion in Brazil that killed as many as 21 launch pad workers, more information is slowly beginning to become available as the government's investigation takes full steam.
   FULL STORY
   EARLIER STORY
IN OTHER NEWS  Additional stories making news today
Multi-band Optus C1 military and commercial satellite begins service -- Space Systems/Loral has announced that the Optus C1 communications satellite has successfully completed a complex series of in-orbit tests. Optus C1 is one of the most advanced communications satellites ever built, carrying a total of 16 antennas that provide 18 beams across Australia, New Zealand, and the Asia-Pacific region, as well as global beams covering a large area from Malaysia to Hawaii.

Raytheon proposes Transformational Communications -- Leading a team of network systems experts, Raytheon Company has submitted a proposal to transform and expand the military's network capability, removing communications as a constraint to the warfighter.

Air Force announces space, missile pioneer awards -- Four visionaries were selected to receive the 2003 Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Award. They will be honored in an award ceremony and hall of fame induction luncheon August 28.
News Archive
Aug. 18-24: Brazilian rocket explodes on pad; New findings could dash hopes for past Mars oceans; Titan 4 rocket launch postponed into September; Distance data solves astrophysical mysteries.

Aug. 11-17: What to do with Hubble? Telescope's future debated; Canada's ozone research project launched into space by Pegasus rocket; Hot spots on Mars give hunt for life new target; Horseshoe nebula flows with 'X-ray champagne'; Galaxy torn apart in dark matter halo.

Aug. 4-10: Shuttle return-to-flight task group outlines plans; Asteroids dedicated to fallen Columbia astronauts; 'Phoenix' lander headed for Martian North Pole; Sea Launch rocket lofts communications satellite; Gravity variations predict earthquake behavior.

More news  See our weekly archive of space news.








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