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News Archive 2011: June |
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Minotaur rocket streaks into the night from Virginia
A Minotaur rocket roared into orbit from the Virginia coast Wednesday night, successfully deploying a small spacecraft to make the benefits of satellite technology more accessible to deployed U.S. military forces in Afghanistan and other war zones in the Middle East.
 FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!
PREVIEW STORY
LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE
PREDICTED LAUNCH VISIBILITY MAP
IMAGES: ROCKET BLASTS OFF
IMAGES: MINOTAUR POISED FOR LAUNCH
OUR MINOTAUR ARCHIVE
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Shuttle Atlantis' payload bay doors sealed for flight
The 60-foot-long payload bay doors of space shuttle Atlantis were swung shut and latched for flight at pad 39A Wednesday. The next time the doors will be opened is in orbit, about 90 minutes after launch.
IMAGES: PHOTO GALLERY
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NASA formally sets July 8 for final shuttle launch
Senior NASA officials held the final space shuttle flight readiness review at the Kennedy Space Center and affirmed plans to launch Atlantis next week as scheduled.
FULL STORY
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 VIDEO:
ATLANTIS CLEARED FOR JULY 8 LAUNCH PLAY
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Station crew 'shelters in place' for debris threat
The six-member crew of the International Space Station was told to seek shelter in two Russian Soyuz spacecraft Tuesday because of a predicted close pass by an unknown piece of space debris. But the time of closest approach came and went harmlessly at 8:08 a.m. EDT.
FULL STORY
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Next GPS satellite moves to Cape Canaveral launch pad
A Global Positioning System satellite has been loaded aboard its ride to space, arriving Monday at Cape Canaveral's Complex 37 for mounting atop the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket.
FULL STORY
OUR DELTA ARCHIVE
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Soyuz rocket lifts off with Russian spy satellite
A Soyuz rocket launched Monday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia with a top secret Russian photo reconnaissance satellite to spy on strategic sites around the world.
FULL STORY
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Shuttle workers prepare Discovery for museum duty
Technicians preparing the shuttle Discovery for public display say the retired spaceship will be ready to leave the Kennedy Space Center in February for its new home at a Smithsonian museum annex near Washington.
FULL STORY
IMAGES: DISCOVERY'S FLIGHT DECK
IMAGES: PEEK INSIDE THE PAYLOAD BAY
IMAGES: BUSINESS END OF DISCOVERY
STS-133 ARCHIVE
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Countdown dress rehearsal completed for Atlantis
Thursday morning was a practice launch day at the Kennedy Space Center for the shuttle Atlantis, her four-person astronaut crew and the various ground teams supporting the spacecraft's ascent to orbit.
FULL STORY
IMAGES: DAY'S PHOTO GALLERY
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Space station welcomes Russian supply ship arrival
The International Space Station received a cargo freighter Thursday when the Russian-made vessel loaded with three tons of supplies safely approached and docked on autopilot.
FULL STORY
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Cargo freighter ends flight, third ATV set for 2012
Fulfilling its final duty as a trash hauler, the European Space Agency's second Automated Transfer Vehicle made a suicidal plunge into the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday with 2,600 pounds of garbage from the International Space Station. Meanwhile, German engineers are preparing Europe's third robotic cargo freighter for another resupply mission in early 2012.
FULL STORY
IMAGES: THIRD ATV IN THE CLEAN ROOM
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Shuttle tank inspections going well, valve replaced
Engineers carrying out X-ray inspections of rib-like "stringers" in the shuttle Atlantis' external tank are running ahead of schedule and so far, officials said Wednesday, there are no signs of any temperature-induced cracks in the wake of a fueling test last week. Working in parallel, another team has replaced a leaking hydrogen valve in main engine No. 3.
FULL STORY
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Shuttle Atlantis crew takes armored tank for a spin
Space shuttle Atlantis' astronauts Tuesday took turns test-driving an armored tank around Complex 39 as part of their emergency training exercises. The tank would be used by the crew to escape the pad 39A bunker in a dire scenario during the countdown.
PHOTO GALLERY
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Russian robotic cargo ship launched for space station
Headed to fill the International Space Station's docking port vacated by Europe's now-departed Johannes Kepler freighter, Russia launched another of its resupply ships Tuesday.
FULL STORY
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Mark Kelly announces plans for retirement from NASA
Astronaut Mark Kelly, commander of the shuttle Endeavour's just-completed final mission and husband of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, gravely wounded in a January assassination attempt, will retire from NASA and the Navy on Oct. 1, he announced Tuesday.
FULL STORY
STS-134 ARCHIVE
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Shuttle crew comes to town for practice countdown
The four astronauts to fly Atlantis on the final space shuttle voyage have jetted into the Kennedy Space Center for this week's countdown dress rehearsal and emergency training drills.
FULL STORY
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Shuttle Atlantis receives payloads for space station
A cargo-laden module stuffed with a full year's worth of necessities for the International Space Station was loaded into shuttle Atlantis' payload bay Monday to prepare for launch next month.
FULL STORY
IMAGES: PAYLOADS INSTALLED INTO ORBITER
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Chinese communications satellite delivered to orbit
China launched a television broadcasting and broadband communications satellite Monday aboard a Long March rocket to replace an aging 12-year-old craft serving Asia.
FULL STORY
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European freighter safely departs the space station
After delivering more than 5,000 pounds of cargo, fuel and oxygen, a European automated resupply freighter undocked from the International Space Station on Monday and headed for a destructive plunge back into the atmosphere.
FULL STORY
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VIDEO:
AUTOMATED TRANSFER VEHICLE-2 UNDOCKS PLAY
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Atlantis tank inspections, engine valve swap on tap
A hydrogen fuel valve in one of the shuttle Atlantis' three main engines that appeared to leak during an external tank fueling test Wednesday will be replaced next week in parallel with work to X-ray structural stiffeners in the tank's central compartment, officials said Thursday. The valve replacement work is not expected to impact Atlantis' July 8 target launch date.
FULL STORY
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X-ray telescope spots baby black holes in early universe
Taking what amounts to a 45-day time exposure, NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory has detected numerous massive black holes lurking in the dusty hearts of galaxies that formed within a billion years of the big bang birth of the cosmos, astronomers announced Wednesday.
FULL STORY
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Small observation satellite launched from Iran
Iran announced it launched its second homemade satellite into orbit aboard a Safir missile into orbit Wednesday, an achievement likely to draw the ire of Western governments as evidence Iran's long-range missile weapons capability is maturing.
FULL STORY
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Test checks Atlantis' tank, finds possible valve leak
Engineers pumped a half-million gallons of supercold rocket fuel into the shuttle Atlantis' external tank Wednesday to verify the integrity of structural stiffeners intended to prevent cracks during the countdown and climb to space July 8. During the operation, however, the launch team detected indications of a possible leak on engine No. 3's main fuel valve.
FULL STORY
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Nearly 400 collision notices sent to Russia, China
Since instituting a new policy to inform commercial and international satellite operators of collision threats, the U.S. Air Force has issued hundreds of notifications to Russia and China warning of possible crashes between their satellites and other objects in orbit, according to a U.S. State Department official.
FULL STORY
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Air Force recoups costs to save stranded AEHF satellite
Lockheed Martin will offset up to $25 million in investigation and recovery costs stemming from a U.S. Air Force communications satellite launched last year that failed to reach its orbital station using a liquid-fueled boost engine, according to military officials.
FULL STORY
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SpaceX collects contract to launch Thai satellite in 2013
SpaceX announced Monday it will launch a Thai television broadcasting satellite from Cape Canaveral in 2013, the second confirmed contract the company has secured this year for an international communications payload.
FULL STORY
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Engineers working 24/7 on first pair of Galileo satellites
Surging to meet a launch date in October, engineers are working around the clock on Europe's first two operational Galileo navigation satellites to get the funding-plagued program off the ground.
FULL STORY
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Satellite sets sail to survey saltiness of Earth's oceans
Seeking a missing ingredient to understanding Earth's environmental changes, a new satellite conceived through unique international collaborations was launched Friday to map the planet's salty seas from space.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
IMAGES: MORE LAUNCH PICTURES
IMAGES: LAUNCH PHOTO GALLERY
IMAGES: GANTRY ROLLED BACK
IMAGES: DELTA'S FIRST STAGE STACKED
IMAGES: SOLID ROCKET BOOSTERS ADDED
IMAGES: ROCKET'S SECOND STAGE INSTALLED
IMAGES: SPACECRAFT ARRIVES AT VANDENBERG
IMAGES: SATELLITE JOINS ROCKET
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Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO:
THE FULL LAUNCH EXPERIENCE PLAY
VIDEO:
ONBOARD VIDEO OF SATELLITE DEPLOY PLAY
VIDEO:
NASA LAUNCH MANAGER DECLARES SUCCESS PLAY
VIDEO:
FIVE DIFFERENT LAUNCH REPLAY ANGLES PLAY
VIDEO:
SAC-D/AQUARIUS PRE-LAUNCH CAMPAIGN PLAY
VIDEO:
DELTA 2 ROCKET PRE-LAUNCH CAMPAIGN PLAY
VIDEO:
MORE PAD TOWER ROLLBACK FOOTAGE PLAY
VIDEO:
PAD GANTRY RETRACTED FOR LAUNCH PLAY
VIDEO:
PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE PLAY
VIDEO:
AQUARIUS SCIENCE BRIEFING PLAY
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ESA lifting body entry craft on the cusp of final approval
The European Space Agency should formally approve this summer the construction of an Italian-led demonstrator that will launch into space on a rocket and fly back to Earth like an airplane before parachuting into the Pacific Ocean, according to the mission's project manager.
FULL STORY
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Space station welcomes three newest residents
The Soyuz spacecraft carrying three new members for the International Space Station's Expedition 28 crew docked Thursday at 5:18 p.m. EDT (2118 GMT). The outpost's resident crew now includes three Russians, two Americans and a Japanese astronaut.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!
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Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO:
NEW CREW WELCOMED ABOARD THE STATION PLAY
VIDEO:
POST-DOCKING NEWS BRIEFING FROM MOSCOW PLAY
VIDEO:
SOYUZ DOCKS TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION PLAY
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Voyagers find surprise at solar system's outer edge
NASA's aging Voyager spacecraft, more than three decades outbound from Earth and approaching the outermost limits of the solar system, may be seeing signs of what scientists believe are huge magnetic bubbles churning at the interface between the sun's influence and interstellar space.
FULL STORY
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Rosetta glimpses comet and enters hibernation
Despite being over 160 million kilometers from its final destination, ESA's comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft has eyed up comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko ahead of its 2014 rendezvous, and will now wait out the rest of its journey in hibernation mode.
FULL STORY
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Soyuz pictures of shuttle and station finally released
It was "the ultimate photo op" as Expedition 27 crew member Paolo Nespoli, inside the departing Soyuz TMA-20 capsule, snapped pictures of the International Space Station with shuttle Endeavour docked at the orbiting complex.
PHOTO GALLERY - more added!
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Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO:
HD VIDEO FROM "ULTIMATE PHOTO OP" PLAY | HI-DEF
MORE:
STS-134 VIDEO ARCHIVE
HDTV:
HIGH-DEFINITION COVERAGE
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Two satellites on Sea Launch's books in 2011
Two years after filing for bankruptcy, Sea Launch is gearing up for a pair of commercial satellite missions later this year from a mobile ocean-based launch pad and the historic Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
FULL STORY
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Station-bound Soyuz space capsule climbs into orbit
Under a cloudless night sky, a second-generation Russian cosmonaut, a Japanese physician-astronaut and a NASA shuttle veteran blasted off aboard an upgraded Soyuz spacecraft Tuesday and set off after the International Space Station on a mission to boost the lab's crew back to six and clear the way for a final shuttle resupply mission next month.
FULL STORY
PREVIEW STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!
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Additional coverage for subscribers:
VIDEO:
FULL EXPERIENCE FROM LIFTOFF TO ORBIT PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
THREE LAUNCH CAMERA ANGLE REPLAYS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
CREW DEPARTS SITE 254 FOR LAUNCH PAD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
VIPS MEET THE CREW ON LAUNCH MORNING PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
CREW MEMBERS DON THEIR SOKOL SPACESUITS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
LAUNCH MORNING TRADITIONS AT CREW QUARTERS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
SOYUZ ROCKET ROLLED TO LAUNCH PAD PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
LAUNCH VEHICLE IS HOISTED VERTICALLY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
POST-ROLLOUT COMMENTS FROM NASA OFFICIALS PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
CREW TOURS BAIKONUR COSMODROME PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
HIGHLIGHTS OF GETTING READY TO FLY PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
CHECKING OUT THE SOYUZ TMA-02M CAPSULE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
CEREMONIAL ARRIVAL AT THE LAUNCH SITE PLAY | HI-DEF
VIDEO:
CREW'S DEPARTURE FROM TRAINING BASE PLAY | HI-DEF
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NASA plans to select Mars rover landing site soon
NASA officials are in the final stages of deciding the destination for the agency's Curiosity rover, a complex mobile science laboratory scheduled to be shot toward Mars in November.
FULL STORY
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Spirit's last panoramic dispatches from Mars
Although NASA didn't give up on the Spirit rover until last month, scientists last heard from the robot explorer in March 2010, when it went silent at the onset of the cold and dark Martian winter. Here are a few of Spirit's last postcards from the Red Planet.
IMAGES: SPIRIT'S LAST IMAGES
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PHOTOS: Atlantis poised for final space shuttle launch
Hours after Atlantis was parked at pad 39A, Spaceflight Now received rare access to the shuttle launch complex as the sun rose over the Atlantic Ocean. These spectacular photos show the spaceship from all angles as it's readied for the last space shuttle launch in July.
IMAGES: SUN RISES ON SHUTTLE ATLANTIS
IMAGES: VIEWS FROM LAUNCH PAD TOWER
IMAGES: WALK AROUND THE SPACE SHUTTLE
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!
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Read our earlier news archive page.
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