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Shuttle tank returned
Shuttle fuel tank ET-119 is loaded onto a barge at Kennedy Space Center for the trip back to Lockheed Martin's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The tank will be used in the investigation to determine why foam peeled away from Discovery's tank on STS-114 in July.

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Discovery ferried home
Mounted atop a modified Boeing 747, space shuttle Discovery was ferried across the country from Edwards Air Force Base, California, to Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

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Delta 4 launch delayed
Launch of the GOES-N weather observatory aboard a Boeing Delta 4 rocket is postponed at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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Mars probe leaves Earth
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter lifts off aboard a Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral's Complex 41.

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Shuttle delayed to 2006
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and Associate Administrator for Space Operations Bill Gerstenmaier hold a news conference from Agency Headquarters in Washington on August 18 to announce a delay in the next shuttle flight from September to next March. (38min 02sec)

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Launch pad demolition
Explosives topple the abandoned Complex 13 mobile service tower at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. This video was shot from the blockhouse roof at neighboring Complex 14 where John Glenn was launched in 1962.

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Major weather forecasting advancement revealed
NASA/JPL NEWS RELEASE
Posted: August 24, 2005

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration today outlined research that has helped to improve the accuracy of medium-range weather forecasts in the Northern Hemisphere.


NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument is able to peel back cloud cover to reveal 3-D data of a storm's water vapor content, information that can be used to improve weather forecast models. Credit: NASA/JPL
 
NASA and NOAA scientists at the Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation in Camp Springs, Md., came up with procedures to improve forecasting accuracy. The scientists worked with experimental data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite.

They found incorporating the instrument's data into numerical weather prediction models improves the accuracy range of experimental six-day Northern Hemisphere weather forecasts by up to six hours, a four-percent increase. The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder is a high-spectral resolution infrared instrument that takes 3-D pictures of atmospheric temperatures, water vapor and trace gases.

The instrument data have been officially incorporated into the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationšs National Weather Service operational weather forecasts.

"NASA is assisting the world's weather prediction agencies by providing very detailed, accurate observations of key atmospheric variables that interact to shape our weather and climate," said Dr. Mary Cleave, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "The forecast improvement accomplishment alone makes the AIRS project well worth the American taxpayers' investment."

"This AIRS instrument has provided the most significant increase in forecast improvement in this time range of any other single instrument,˛ said retired Navy Vice Adm. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr., Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration administrator.

"Climate and weather forecasts are dependent upon our understanding current global ocean and atmosphere conditions,˛ added Lautenbacher. ŗIf we want to be able to predict what the weather will be like in the future, we must adequately define the global conditions today. Satellite data, like AIRS provides, is a vital link for NOAA to take the pulse of the planet continuously."

"A four-percent increase in forecast accuracy at five or six days normally takes several years to achieve," said Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation Director Dr. John LeMarshall. "This is a major advancement, and it is only the start of what we may see as much more data from this instrument are incorporated into operational forecast models at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrationšs Environmental Modeling Center."

The European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts began incorporating data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder into their operational forecasts in October 2003. The center reported an improvement in forecast accuracy of eight hours in Southern Hemisphere five-day forecasts.

The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument is the result of more than 30 years of atmospheric research and is led by Dr. Moustafa Chahine of NASAšs Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. It is the first in a series of advanced infrared sounders that will provide accurate, detailed atmospheric temperature and moisture observations for weather and climate applications.

The Joint Center for Satellite Data Assimilation is operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA and the U.S. Air Force and Navy. The goals of the center are to accelerate the use of observations from Earth-orbiting satellites to improve weather and climate forecasts, and to increase the accuracy of climate data sets.