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Welcome back to Earth
The Apollo 11 astronauts are retrieved from their capsule and welcomed back to Earth by President Richard Nixon. (2min 04sec file)
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Apollo 11 returns
Apollo 11 safely returns to Earth, making a parachute-assisted splashdown in the ocean. (3min 57sec file)
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MESSENGER preview
Mission officials and scientists preview the flight of NASA's MESSENGER space probe to orbit the planet Mercury during this news conference. (41min 36sec file)
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Apollo 11 moonwalk
Armstrong and Aldrin gather lunar samples and conduct experiments during their moonwalk. (2min 27sec file)
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Moon landing explained
The Apollo 11 astronauts narrate footage of their historic landing on the moon and describe the technical details of the descent. (22min 02sec file)
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Leaving the moon
The Eagle lunar module returns to the orbiting command module and the Apollo 11 astronauts head back to Earth. (5min 33sec file)
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Nixon calls the moon
President Richard Nixon calls Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to congratulate the astronauts following their successful landing on the moon. (1min 29sec file)
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Anniversary celebration
The Apollo 11 astronauts and other dignitaries hold a special 35th anniversary celebration in Washington on July 20. Hear from Armstrong, Aldrin, Collins, Walter Cronkite, NASA Administrator O'Keefe and others. (76min 12sec file)
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Heading for landing
The "Eagle" lunar lander undocks from the "Columbia" command module in preparation for landing. (1min 21sec file)
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The Eagle has landed!
The Apollo 11 spacecraft "Eagle" lands on the moon 35 years ago, delivering Armstrong and Aldrin. (2min 04sec file)
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Walking on the moon
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin step foot on the surface of the moon on July 20 1969, forever changing history. (11min 17sec file)
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Shuttle engine test
One of the liquid-fueled main engines that will power space shuttle Discovery on the return-to-flight mission next spring is test-fired at NASA's Stennis Space Center. (1min 56sec file)
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Cronkite interview
Famed CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite recalls the Apollo 11 mission in this interview on NASA Television. (3min 15sec file)
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Sunday: July 25, 2004  0215 GMT
Gas between galaxies helps case for dark energy
Using observations of 3,000 quasars discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, scientists have made the most precise measurement to date of the cosmic clustering of diffuse hydrogen gas. These quasars -- 100 times more than have been used in such analyses in the past -- are at distances of eight to ten billion light years, making them among the most distant objects known.
   FULL STORY
Landing technology tested for future spacecraft
Lockheed Martin has successfully performed a series of drop tests at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Ariz., to validate soft landing technology that can be used for astronaut crew capsules upon return to Earth.
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OTHER HEADLINES  Additional stories today
Space station status report -- The International Space Station's Expedition 9 crewmembers are now past the halfway point of their six-month mission. This week, they prepared for a third spacewalk and joined the world in observing the 35th anniversary of the first landing of humans on the moon.

Statement from ISS Heads of Agency meeting -- The space agency leaders from the United States, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada met Friday to discuss International Space Station cooperation activities. At this meeting, the partnership unanimously endorsed the station technical configuration and reviewed the status of on-orbit operations and plans. The new ISS configuration is planned for completion by the end of the decade and will accommodate on-orbit elements from each of the ISS Partners. The configuration will enable increased utilization and will provide early opportunities for an enhanced crew of greater than three people.
Saturday: July 24, 2004  0119 GMT
A day in the lives of galaxies
Like a photographer clicking random snapshots of a crowd of people, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has taken a view of an eclectic mix of galaxies. In taking this picture, Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys was not looking at any particular target. The camera was taking a picture of a typical patch of sky, while Hubble's infrared camera was viewing a target in an adjacent galaxy-rich region.
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Cassini sees the moon Tethys: The Sea Goddess
Like a half-full moon, cratered Tethys hangs before the Cassini spacecraft in this narrow angle camera view. Voyager images showed a large fracture on Tethys about 470 miles long. Cassini will investigate this and other features on Tethys during two planned flybys beginning next year.
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OTHER HEADLINES  Additional stories today
Minuteman 3 missile test launch successful -- An unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile was successfully launched from North Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 0837 GMT Friday.
Friday: July 23, 2004  0452 GMT
Stunning true-color picture of Saturn's rings
With shimmering pinks, hues of gray and a hint of brown, a newly released image of Saturn's rings resembles a fresco where nature is the painter. The Cassini spacecraft captured this exquisite natural color view a few days before entering orbit around Saturn.
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Newborn star provides info on solar system's origin
A new study has caught a newborn star similar to the sun in a fiery outburst. X-ray observations of the flare-up, which are the first of their kind, are providing important new information about the early evolution of the sun and the process of planet formation.
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NASA goes to the 'SORCE' of Earth sun-blockers
Scientists using measurements from NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) satellite have discovered that Venus and sunspots have something in common: they both block some of the sun's energy going to Earth.
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Thursday: July 22, 2004  0250 GMT
Cassini sees crescent Rhea
The first artificial satellite in the Saturn system, the Cassini spacecraft, returned images of the natural moons following a successful insertion into orbit. This is an unmagnified view of the moon Rhea.
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From Mojave to the moon: Armstrong's early years
The B-29 mothership shuddered, and pilot Neil Armstrong, flying the airplane from the co-pilot's seat, glimpsed a bullet-shaped propeller hub shoot past the cockpit. He looked over and saw that the number four propeller had disintegrated.
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Mercury orbiter delivered to Florida launch pad
NASA's MESSENGER space probe took a night owl drive early Wednesday from its processing hangar to launch pad 17B at Cape Canaveral where it was mounted atop the Boeing Delta 2-Heavy rocket in preparation for blastoff to the planet Mercury.
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OTHER HEADLINES  Additional stories today
NASA Television is switching satellites July 24 -- NASA Television will improve coverage to viewers in Alaska and Hawaii as well as the continental United States when it switches its signal from one satellite to two different ones.

Peacekeeper launch from Vandenberg is successful -- An unarmed Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missile was successfully launched Wednesday from a launch facility on North Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The missile carried 8 unarmed re-entry vehicles approximately 4,800 miles to a predetermined target at the Reagan Test Site on the Kwajalein Atoll.

Minuteman 3 missile test launch scheduled -- An unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile is scheduled for launch from North Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, on Friday morning as part of the Force Development Evaluation Program.
Wednesday: July 21, 2004  0250 GMT
Doughnut-shaped cloud has 'black hole' filling
An international team of scientists has found more evidence that massive black holes are surrounded by a doughnut-shaped gas cloud which, depending on our line of sight, blocks the view of the black hole in the center.
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New martian meteorite found in Antarctica
While rovers and orbiting spacecraft scour Mars searching for clues to its past, researchers have uncovered another piece of the red planet in the most inhospitable place on Earth -- Antarctica.
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New date established for delayed Atlas launch
Launch of the final Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS rocket is being delayed another four weeks so technicians can replace transistors inside an avionics unit as a precaution. Liftoff is now targeted for August 31 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
   MISSION STATUS CENTER
Newest GPS satellite begins service for users worldwide
Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force have completed on-orbit checkout of the upgraded Global Positioning System satellite launched successfully June 23 from Cape Canaveral. The spacecraft has been declared fully operational for military and civilian navigation users around the globe.
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   LAUNCH COVERAGE
Tuesday: July 20, 2004  0057 GMT
Cassini shows the dark side of Saturn's moon Dione
The icy, cratered surface of Saturn's moon Dione shows more than just its sunlit side in these two processed versions of the same image from the Cassini spacecraft.
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Spitzer pinpoints elusive but violent starbursts
A major breakthrough in pinpointing some of the most primordial and violently star forming galaxies in the Universe has been made by a joint collaboration of U.K. and U.S. astronomers using the Spitzer Space Telescope to resolve primordial galaxies initially detected by a ground-based observatory.
   FULL STORY
First engine tested for shuttle return to flight
NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi has successfully tested one of the engines that will carry the next space shuttle into orbit. The engine will be shipped to NASA's Kennedy Space Center for installation on the space shuttle Discovery.
   FULL STORY
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Monday: July 19, 2004  0129 GMT
Satellite sees 'sprites' in the upper atmosphere
Photos of red sprites, blue jets, elves and sprite halos are now flowing into the University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory from the first satellite instrument devoted to the study of these puzzling high-altitude lightning flashes.
   FULL STORY
Autonomous rendezvous craft goes to Vandenberg
The Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) flight demonstrator, a spacecraft developed to prove technologies to locate and maneuver near an orbiting satellite, has arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in preparation for a fall 2004 launch.
   FULL STORY
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission to end
NASA will decommission the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission later this year. A highly successful scientific research mission, TRMM has provided data used worldwide in the monitoring and forecasting of hazardous weather on a demonstration basis.
   FULL STORY
News Archive
July 12-18: Aura launched to probe atmosphere's chemistry; Panel says keep options open for Hubble repair; Cassini exposes Saturn's two-face moon Iapetus; Mars rovers roll into martian winter; Ariane 5 lofts broadband communications satellite .

July 5-11: Ultraviolet pictures hint at origin of Saturn's rings; Glimpse at early universe reveals surprise; New view of Orion Nebula's stellar nursery; Space probes track blast wave through solar system; How to fail at being a star.

June 28-July 4: Cassini arrives at Saturn; First pictures from Saturn orbit show rich ring detail; Cassini close ups of Titan thrill, mystify scientists; Hubble studies generations of star formation; Sea Launch rocket fails to put satellite in correct orbit.

More news  See our weekly archive of space news.








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