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Sunday:
January 4, 2004 | |
1057 GMT |
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NASA's Spirit Rover successfully lands on Mars
Cushioned by giant airbags, the Spirit rover bounced to a successful landing on Mars late Saturday and beamed back pictures from the surface three hours after touchdown. The black-and-white images showed Spirit landed on a rock-strewn plain, in a relatively level orientation facing south across the floor of Gusev crater, once the site of a vast lake.
 FULL STORY
SCIENTIST THRILLED WITH LANDING SITE
ENTRY, DESCENT AND LANDING TIMELINE
THE GUSEV CRATER
SCIENCE OBJECTIVES
FIRST IMAGES:
SPIRIT'S VIEW OF THE MARTIAN HORIZON
MARS ORBITER VIEW OF LANDING SITE
FIRST IMAGES ON MISSION CONTROL SCREEN
NASA CHIEF VIEWS EARLY IMAGES
360-DEGREE OVERHEAD VIEW OF LANDING SITE
SPIRIT ROVER SITTING ON ITS LANDER
SCIENTISTS ADMIRE THE FIRST VIEWS
DESCENT CAMERA IMAGE OF LANDING SITE
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: THE MOMENT MISSION CONTROL HEARS SPIRIT'S SIGNAL QT
VIDEO: THE SUCCESSFUL LANDING DESCRIBED AT NEWS BRIEFING QT
VIDEO: FIRST IMAGES ARE DISCUSSED AT OVERNIGHT CONFERENCE QT
VIDEO: ENTRY, DESCENT & LANDING SEQUENCE EXPLAINED QT
VIDEO: EXPLANATION OF ROVER'S POST-LANDING EVENTS QT
VIDEO: SATURDAY'S PRE-LANDING STATUS BRIEFING QT
VIDEO: NASA OFFICIALS HOLD INFORMAL CHAT WITH REPORTERS QT
VIDEO: WATCH FRIDAY'S MARS PROGRAM BRIEFING QT
VIDEO: MARS SCIENCE IS DETAILED IN THIS NEWS CONFERENCE QT
MORE: COMPLETE MARS EXPLORATION ROVER VIDEO REPORT
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Spirit set for its first full day on martian surface
The primary goal of tonight's activity is to deploy, check out and begin using the rover's main high-gain antenna, the link flight controllers will use throughout the mission to send commands to the spacecraft. Overnight, scientists hope to downlink a spectacular color image from Spirit's high-resolution stereo panoramic camera.
FULL STORY
SPIRIT LANDS IN SCIENCE 'SWEET SPOT'
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: MIDDAY BRIEFING ON SPIRIT'S HEALTH AND LANDING SITE QT
VIDEO: TAKE SIMULATED FLIGHT OVER THE GUSEV CRATER! QT
VIDEO: BEHIND THE SCENES AT MOMENT OF TOUCHDOWN QT
VIDEO: CHEERS AND SCREAMS WHEN SPIRIT CONFIRMED ALIVE QT
MORE: COMPLETE MARS EXPLORATION ROVER VIDEO REPORT
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Saturday:
January 3, 2004 | |
0321 GMT |
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Rover lands on Mars tonight
After a seven-month journey from Earth to Mars, the Spirit rover arrives at the Red Planet tonight with a tense six-minute descent to the surface. Touchdown in the Gusev Crater is scheduled for 11:35 p.m. EST (0435 GMT).
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!
ENTRY, DESCENT AND LANDING TIMELINE
THE GUSEV CRATER
SCIENCE OBJECTIVES
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: TODAY'S PRE-LANDING STATUS BRIEFING QT
VIDEO: NASA OFFICIALS HOLD INFORMAL CHAT WITH REPORTERS QT
VIDEO: WATCH FRIDAY'S MARS PROGRAM BRIEFING QT
VIDEO: MARS SCIENCE IS DETAILED IN THIS NEWS CONFERENCE QT
MORE: COMPLETE MARS EXPLORATION ROVER VIDEO REPORT
SUBSCRIBE NOW
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Scientists elated with comet flyby results
The Stardust probe flew through at least two significant jets of debris during its approach to comet Wild 2 Friday and captured a stunning image of the comet's icy heart showing overlapping pits and depressions where material boiled off in the past.
FULL STORY
SEE IMAGES
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Stardust intercepts comet to gather samples
Blasted by icy particles striking at 4 miles per second -- six times faster than a rifle bullet -- NASA's armored Stardust probe flew within 150 miles of a 3-mile-wide comet Friday, capturing primordial debris left over from the birth of the solar system 4.2 billion years ago.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: STARDUST SURVIVES CLOSEST APPROACH TO COMET QT
VIDEO: FIRST IMAGES RELEASED AT NEWS CONFERENCE QT
VIDEO: PRE-ENCOUNTER INTERVIEW WITH PROGRAM MANAGER QT
VIDEO: MISSION PLANNER DESCRIBES STARDUST'S CHALLENGES QT
VIDEO: DESCRIPTION OF THE STARDUST SCIENCE PROGRAM QT
VIDEO: REPORT ON THE STARDUST SCIENCE INSTRUMENTS QT
VIDEO: INTERVIEW EXPLAINS STARDUST'S CAMERA SYSTEM QT
VIDEO: LEARN MORE ABOUT THE EXOTIC AEROGEL MATERIAL QT
VIDEO: AN INTERVIEW WITH STARDUST'S NAVIGATOR QT
VIDEO: A LOOK AHEAD TO DEEP IMPACT COMET MISSION QT
VIDEO: OVERVIEW OF THE SEVEN-YEAR STARDUST MISSION QT
VIDEO: ANIMATION OF STARDUST COLLECTING COMET SAMPLES QT
VIDEO: STARDUST RETURNS TO EARTH AND PARACHUTES TO UTAH QT
VIDEO: ENCOUNTER DETAILED BY 39-MINUTE NEWS CONFERENCE QT
ADDITIONAL VIDEO COVERAGE
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Friday:
January 2, 2004 | |
0501 GMT |
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Stardust to rendezvous with comet today
On a daring first-of-its-kind quest, an armored space probe will race past a three-mile-wide comet today to collect samples of the ancient relic that serves as a frozen time capsule from the formation of our solar system.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
EXPLANATION OF HOW ENCOUNTER OCCURS
SCIENCE OBJECTIVES OF STARDUST MISSION
FACTS ABOUT THE TARGETED COMET
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: OVERVIEW OF THE SEVEN-YEAR STARDUST MISSION QT
VIDEO: ANIMATION OF STARDUST COLLECTING COMET SAMPLES QT
VIDEO: STARDUST RETURNS TO EARTH AND PARACHUTES TO UTAH QT
VIDEO: ENCOUNTER DETAILED BY 39-MINUTE NEWS CONFERENCE QT
ADDITIONAL VIDEO COVERAGE
SUBSCRIBE NOW
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2003: A year scarred by Columbia tragedy
The past 12 months have seen many historic and tragic moments in space exploration. From the obvious impact of the loss of space shuttle Columbia February 1 to the resounding success of the maiden Chinese manned spaceflight in October, space enthusiasts and industry insiders alike will have a lot to remember from 2003.
FULL STORY
NASA'S YEAR IN REVIEW
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Boeing gets $1 billion space station contract extension
NASA has extended a primary contract for the International Space Station for On-Orbit Acceptance and Vehicle Sustaining services to The Boeing Company. The basic period of the cost-plus-award-fee contract extension is two years and nine months with an estimated value as much as $1 billion.
FULL STORY
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Thursday:
January 1, 2004 | |
0257 GMT |
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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 an $800 million mission to search for clues about what happened to the water than once carved the martian surface.
FULL STORY
SCIENCE OBJECTIVES
MISSION STATUS CENTER
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: NEWS CONFERENCE PREVIEWING ROVER LANDINGS QT
EARLIER VIDEO FROM SPIRIT'S LAUNCH
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Giant airbags will give rovers' landings a bounce
If all goes well, Mars rover "Spirit" will slam into the atmosphere of the Red Planet on Saturday night, at an angle of 11.5 degrees, an altitude of about 80 miles and a velocity of 12,000 mph. Eight seconds before touchdown, giant airbags will suddenly inflate, encapsulating the spacecraft in a protective cocoon.
FULL STORY
ENTRY, DESCENT AND LANDING TIMELINE
THE GUSEV CRATER
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Wednesday:
December 31, 2003 | |
0701 GMT |
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Stardust zooms to close encounter of the comet kind
On a daring first-of-its-kind quest, an armored space probe will race past a three-mile-wide comet Friday to collect samples of the ancient relic that serves as a frozen time capsule from the formation of our solar system.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
EXPLANATION OF HOW ENCOUNTER OCCURS
SCIENCE OBJECTIVES OF STARDUST MISSION
FACTS ON THE TARGETED COMET
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: ENCOUNTER DETAILED BY 39-MINUTE NEWS CONFERENCE QT
ADDITIONAL VIDEO COVERAGE
SUBSCRIBE NOW
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Tuesday:
December 30, 2003 | |
1557 GMT |
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Mars Express reaches new orbit around Red Planet
The European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft performed a major maneuver Tuesday, changing its initial "capture" orbit achieved on Christmas morning to a new orbit needed for the probe's scientific investigations of the Red Planet.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
PREVIOUS COVERAGE
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Planetary survivor strategy: Outeat, outweigh, outlast
Of the first 100 stars found to harbor planets, more than 30 stars host a Jupiter-sized world in an orbit smaller than Mercury's, whizzing around its star in a matter of days. Planet formation is a contest, where a growing planet must fight for survival lest it be swallowed by the star that initially nurtured it.
FULL STORY
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China launches joint European science satellite
The first of two new international science satellites was launched from a Chinese launch pad Monday, ending that nation's most active year in space and opening the next chapter in learning about the complicated relationship between Earth and our Sun.
FULL STORY - updated
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Monday:
December 29, 2003 | |
1137 GMT |
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Obstacle found at heart of Beagle landing zone
The first clear view of the specific area where the British Beagle 2 lander should have touched down Christmas Day has revealed a one-kilometer crater dead center in the target landing zone, but officials were quick to say the discovery doesn't dash their optimism of finding the missing craft.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
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Launch will probe magnetic bubble surrounding Earth
The first of two internationally-developed research satellites is poised for launch today from China to begin its mission of evaluating the complicated relationship between the Sun and Earth. The Double Star project a joint effort between the European and Chinese space programs.
FULL STORY
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Proton launches Russian communications satellite
The first in a new series of Russian communications satellites successfully rose to space Sunday night aboard a Proton rocket. The Russian-made booster lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2300 GMT (6 p.m. EST) carrying the domestic Express AM-22 communications satellite.
FULL STORY - updated
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