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Atlas launches Superbird
The Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS rocket launches the Japanese Superbird 6 communications spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, Florida. (3min 09sec file)
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Lion King panorama
The stunning "Lion King" high-resolution color panorama from the Opportunity rover shows the vast landing site. Expert narration by Jason Soderblom, science team collaborator. (2min 12sec file)
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Opportunity trench
Opportunity rover uses one of its wheels to dig another trench in the soil for science investigations. Narration by Jan Chodas, flight software manager. (25sec file)
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April 14 rover briefing
The software overhaul performed on both Mars rovers, new science information and photographs are discussed at this briefing from Wednesday, April 14. (31min 29sec file)
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Changing NASA's culture
Administrator Sean O'Keefe holds a discussion with agency workers around the country about organizational culture change at NASA. (56min 12sec file)
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Yuri Gagarin
Historical footage documents the flight of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. (2min 25sec file)
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Cosmonautics Day
Expedition 8 crewmembers Michael Foale and Alexander Kaleri celebrate Cosmonautics Day aboard the International Space Station. (3min 07sec file)
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Sunday: April 18, 2004  0241 GMT
Einstein space mission to launch Monday
Forty years in the making, NASA's exotic satellite mission to test Albert Einstein's theories of space and time is finally ready for launch Monday from California.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
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VIDEO: PRE-FLIGHT MISSION SCIENCE NEWS CONFERENCE QT
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Cassini spots Saturn moons
Cassini has sighted Prometheus and Pandora, the two F-ring-shepherding moons whose unpredictable orbits both fascinate scientists and wreak havoc on the ring. The moons, which were discovered in images returned by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1980, are in chaotic orbits that can change when the moons get very close to each other.
   FULL STORY
Saturday: April 17, 2004  0323 GMT
New space station residents poised for launch
Expedition 9, the next crew to live aboard the International Space Station, will depart Earth Sunday night as they launch on a Russian Soyuz rocket for the two-day journey to reach the orbiting laboratory complex.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   VIDEO COVERAGE
Cometlike body vaporized by very young star
Evidence that a cometlike body with a diameter of at least 100 kilometers fell into a massive, very young star has been obtained by a team of astronomers at Penn State using the 9.2-meter Hobby-Eberly Telescope at the McDonald Observatory in Texas.
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Friday: April 16, 2004  0646 GMT
Japanese Superbird soars to space atop Atlas launcher
Blessed with perfect weather for a space shot and a smooth-as-silk countdown, a Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS rocket blasted off Thursday night to deliver a Japanese communications satellite into a record-setting high orbit designed to economize the payload's precious fuel supply.
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   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   LAUNCH PHOTOS
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VIDEO: ATLAS ROCKET LAUNCHES SUPERBIRD 6 QT
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VIDEO: OFFICIALS MAKE CELEBRATORY SPEECHES AFTER LAUNCH QT
VIDEO: NARRATED ATLAS/SUPERBIRD LAUNCH PREVIEW QT
VIDEO: ANIMATION OF SUPERBIRD 6 DEPLOYED IN ORBIT QT
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Cosmic magnifying glass reveals distant planet
Like Sherlock Holmes holding a magnifying glass to unveil hidden clues, modern day astronomers used cosmic magnifying effects to reveal a planet orbiting a distant star.
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Mars rover finds rock like meteorites on Earth
NASA's Opportunity rover has examined an odd volcanic rock on the plains of Mars' Meridiani Planum region with a composition unlike anything seen on Mars before, but scientists have found similarities to meteorites that fell to Earth.
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Thursday: April 15, 2004  0326 GMT
Mars rover Opportunity receives software upgrade
Following the successful flight software updating on sister-craft Spirit, the Opportunity rover has received its own brainpower makeover. Meanwhile, scientists have revealed the true-color panorama, dubbed "Lion King," generated by Opportunity showing Eagle Crater and the vast plains of Meridiani Planum.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
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IN OTHER NEWS  Additional stories making news today
Scientists size-up Illinois meteorites -- The meteorites that punched through roofs in Park Forest, Illinois, in 2003 came from a larger mass that weighed no less than 1,980 pounds before it hit the atmosphere, according to scientific analyses led by the University of Chicago's Steven Simon, who himself also happens to live in Park Forest.
Wednesday: April 14, 2004  1701 GMT
Hubble observes planetoid Sedna as mystery deepens
Astronomers poring over 35 Hubble Space Telescope images of the solar system's farthest known object, unofficially named Sedna, are surprised that the object does not appear to have a companion moon of any substantial size.
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   READ EARLIER STORY
History flashback: The first space shuttle mission
This video retrospective captures the first space shuttle flight from Columbia's delivery to Kennedy Space Center in 1979, assembly and rollout to the launch pad, its safe ascent to orbit in 1981 and return to Earth two days later.
   FULL REPORT
Invisible giants exposed in new Spitzer image
Hidden behind a curtain of dusty darkness lurks one of the most violent pockets of star birth in our galaxy. Called DR21, this stellar nursery is so draped in cosmic dust that it appears invisible to the human eye.
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Refreshed Mars rover Spirit returns to action
The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has successfully undergone the software overhaul and is ready to resume its mission at Gusev Crater. Twin Opportunity has been receiving a similar software update over the past few days.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
Tuesday: April 13, 2004  0250 GMT
Atlas rocket to deliver a Superbird into space
Rocketing toward an exceptionally high orbit Thursday evening, a Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS booster will heave a communications satellite into space to relay television and provide Internet services across the Asia-Pacific region.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
   LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE
   GROUND TRACK MAP
Chemists teaming to develop Mars-life finder
The same cutting-edge technology that speeded sequencing of the human genome could, by the end of the decade, tell us once and for all whether life ever existed on Mars, according to a University of California, Berkeley, chemist.
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Monday: April 12, 2004  1655 GMT
April 12: Historic day for space program
Today is a great day in the history of spaceflight, marking the 43rd anniversary of the first human spaceflight and the 23rd anniversary of the first flight of the Space Shuttle. In keeping with tradition, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe sent congratulations on behalf of the agency to Russian Federal Space Agency Head Anatolii Perminov.
   FULL STORY
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VIDEO: HISTORICAL FOOTAGE OF YURI GAGARIN'S FLIGHT QT
VIDEO: SPACE STATION CREW CELEBRATES COSMONAUTICS DAY QT
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SOHO sees its 750th comet
The joint European/NASA SOHO solar observatory spacecraft has discovered its 750th comet. The finding was made by the German amateur astronomer Sebastian Honig, one of the most successful SOHO comet-hunters. It was a part of the Kreutz family of "sungrazing" comets, which usually evaporate in the hot solar atmosphere.
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Mars Express' stunning view of Louros Valles
These latest images from the Mars Express orbiter around the Red Planet show a system of sapping channels, called Louros Valles, south of the Ius Chasma canyon which runs east to west. Louros Valles was named in 1982 after river in Greece.
   FULL STORY
News Archive
April 5-11: Mars rovers have missions extended through Sept.; Successful X-43A mission proves scramjets work; Saturn moon casts 'once-in-a-lifetime' shadow; Cassini watches as two storms merge on Saturn; Stars appear as grains of sand in nearby galaxy.

March 29-April 4: Spirit finds hints of past water at Gusev site; Probe confirms methane in the Martian atmosphere; Cassini examines high winds on Saturn; Radio astronomers lift 'fog' on Milky Way's dark heart; Hunt for extrasolar Earth-like planets intensifies.

March 22-28: Rover finds evidence of ancient sea on Mars; Opportunity rover bids farewell to crater home; Scramjet experiment soars off California coast; New phase of exploration beginning for Mars rovers; 10-week launch delay adds 2 years to Mercury journey for MESSENGER; White dwarf explodes inside circumstellar disk.

March 15-21: Most distant object in Solar System discovered; Mineral in Mars 'berries' adds to water story; Newest GPS spacecraft successfully soars into orbit; New imagery of comet released from Stardust; Satellite solves 30-year gamma-ray mystery; W3A communications satellite put into orbit by Proton.

March 8-14: Hubble's deepest view ever unveils earliest galaxies; Rovers watch solar eclipses by Martian moons; The great 'bunny' chase at Mars rover landing site; Atlas launches mobile communications satellite for Asia; Clumps in Saturn's rings; Gehman's initial review of Hubble mission released.

March 1-7: Rover confirms past liquid water on Mars; Rosetta soars on ambitious comet intercept mission; Hubble picture of space phenomenon imitates art; Enigmatic X-rays may point to new class of black holes.

More news  See our weekly archive of space news.








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