Sunday: November 26, 2000   0412 GMT A neighbor of our solar system discovered An international team of astrophysicists, working in France, Spain and the U.S., have discovered one of our closest neighbors in our cosmic backyard. The object is only a dozen or so light years from Earth.    FULL STORY Now is your chance to own piece of the Liberty Bell 7 The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center is making a limited number of items remaining from the restoration of the Liberty Bell 7 Mercury spacecraft available to the public.    FULL STORY New Mars research center allows kids to join in Arizona State University and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are creating a new facility that will be used by scientists and students studying Mars.    FULL STORY Saturday: November 25, 2000   0634 GMT Daring high wire act to mount space station arrays The shuttle Endeavour is poised for launch on a dramatic mission to attach a huge set of solar arrays on the international space station, a $600 million addition that will provide the power needed to finally begin scientific research. Read our six-part mission preview report.    FULL REPORT    EXPEDITION ONE STATUS CENTER Choose from this menu:       U.S. Galaxy 7 television satellite lost in space For the third time in two years an American-made telecommunications satellite has spun out of control in geostationary orbit after its computer brain malfunctioned due to a design flaw. The latest casualty is PanAmSat's Galaxy 7, which went dark on Wednesday and won't be recovered.    FULL STORY European Cluster 2 probes buffeted by a solar storm Even before the full complement of experiments on the European Space Agency's Cluster 2 spacecraft have been brought on line, scientists are collecting their first data. Initial experiments indicate the quartet made their first crossings of the magnetopause -- the boundary between the Earth's zone of magnetic influence and interplanetary space.    FULL STORY Friday: November 24, 2000   0457 GMT China temporarily lifts veil on its secret space program The Chinese government finally gave the outside world a view of its top-secret space program on Wednesday, after releasing a document that outlines its policy on the future of its man-in-space program and satellite launch industries.    FULL STORY Europe places more emphasis on the Red Planet The European Space Agency is planning to focus more on its Mars programs throughout the coming decades, starting with the Mars Express and Beagle 2 space probes to be launched in 2003.    FULL STORY Huygens helps Cassini to meet Galileo at Jupiter As the Cassini spacecraft starts its approach of Jupiter, the Huygens Probe and all its onboard instruments remain dormant. However, Huygens is not going to be totally passive. The role of Huygens in acting as a sunshield will be crucial in protecting Cassini's instruments from the heat of the Sun.    FULL STORY Thursday: November 23, 2000   0500 GMT Stardust spacecraft blinded for a time by solar flare Quick-thinking NASA engineers and scientists helped the Stardust spacecraft survive a close encounter with a storm of high-energy particles from the Sun after a recent solar flare.    FULL STORY Scientists line up for next NASA Great Observatory Six teams of scientists have been selected to participate in the first new mission of NASA's Origins Program, a project which will seek to answer the questions: Where did we come from? Are we alone?    FULL STORY DAILY BRIEFING  Other stories making news today Lockheed Martin-built craft shipped for Ariane 5 launch -- The GE-8 telecommunications satellite, designed and built by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems GE Americom, was recently shipped to Kourou where it will be readied for a late December launch aboard an Ariane 5 rocket. Wednesday: November 22, 2000   1503 GMT Jupiter: the movie NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the University of Arizona have released two movies of Jupiter's swirling atmosphere taken by the Cassini probe as it speeds towards a flyby of the giant planet next month. See the movies in QuickTime and GIF formats.    FULL STORY Delta 2 rocket puts three satellites into Earth orbit Three spacecraft that will study Earth from above were carried aloft Tuesday aboard a Boeing Delta 2 rocket including one that promises to make future remote sensing satellites faster, better and cheaper.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER Ariane 4 rocket lofts hefty satellite for Canada The most powerful commercial communications satellite ever was hurled into space on Tuesday night, setting Arianespace cargo records and blazing the trail for future powerhouse satellites along the way.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER Commercial eye-in-the-sky satellite appears lost A small American satellite launched Monday to snap high-resolution images of Earth appears to have failed to reach orbit, according to reports from Moscow and U.S. tracking data. The QuickBird 1 craft flew aboard a Russian Cosmos-3M rocket from Plesetsk Cosmodrome.    FULL STORY Tuesday: November 21, 2000   0411 GMT Launch of Delta 2 rocket set for midday Tuesday A stripped-down version of Boeing's workhouse Delta 2 rocket is set to fly Tuesday from the Central Coast of California with American, Argentine and Swedish satellites onboard that will study planet Earth from space.    MISSION STATUS CENTER Another commercial eye-in-the-sky launched A small American satellite was launched to space Monday to snap high resolution images of Earth's surface for commercial sale. The QuickBird 1 craft flew aboard a Russian Cosmos-3M rocket from Plesetsk Cosmodrome.    FULL STORY European Ariane 4 rocket launch on tap Tuesday Continuing with its rigorous schedule for 2000, Arianespace hopes to tally another success Tuesday evening with the launch of an Ariane 4 rocket carrying a Canadian telecommunications spacecraft.    MISSION STATUS CENTER DAILY BRIEFING  Other stories making news today Checking into the mission of NASA's Galileo spacecraft -- During the next two weeks Galileo completes weeks four and five of the 14-week long continuous survey of the Jovian magnetosphere being performed by the spacecraft's Fields and Particles instruments. Monday: November 20, 2000   0440 GMT More evidence found suggesting water on Mars NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, currently orbiting Mars, simultaneously snapped both a wide-angle and high-resolution view of Hale crater that show gullies -- possibly carved by water -- in the peaks of sand dunes inside the crater.    FULL STORY New insight offered into formation of Yucatan crater Computer simulations have revealed what might have happened when the Chicxulub impact crater was formed 65 million years ago near the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. The crater is thought to have resulted from an impact with an asteroid or comet, possibly causing the mass extinction of dinosaurs.    FULL STORY NOAA using commercial satellite to study coral reefs Space Imaging, the world's only company to offer commercially available one-meter satellite imagery, has sold $350,000 of pictures to NOAA to map, measure and monitor coral reef ecosystems in the Caribbean and Pacific Rim.    FULL STORY DAILY BRIEFING  Other stories making news today Arianespace targets Tuesday night launch for Canada -- An Ariane 4 rocket is poised to loft the powerhouse Canadian Anik F1 telecommunications satellite Tuesday from French Guiana, one day later than planned to verify the readiness of the payload.				100 shuttle launches As NASA launched the 101st space shuttle flight on Thursday, we looked back to the past 20 years of blastoffs in a special gallery feature.    FLIGHTS 1 TO 25    FLIGHTS 26 TO 50    FLIGHTS 51 TO 75    FLIGHTS 76 TO 100 Hubble poster The Hubble Space Telescope's majestic view of the Eskimo Nebula. This spectacular poster is available now from the Astronomy Now Store.    MORE Earlier news Nov. 13-19: Cosmonaut docks cargo ship in dramatic fashion; Russia decides to dump Mir; Iridium system saved; Hot stars of Orion cluster uncovered in the making; Ariane 5 launch. Nov. 6-12: Solar storm warning for ISS; Delta 2 launches GPS 2R-6; Solar system family portrait; Cassini watches Jupiter; Chandra telescope catches a galactic football. Oct. 30-Nov. 5: First residents arrive at international space station; Sulfur-rich 'snow' found on Io; Research could pave way for discovery of life on Mars; Hubble gives a bird's eye view of galaxy collision. Oct. 23-29: Discovery lands in California; Four new moons found orbiting Saturn; Strange shapes on the sizzling world of volcanic Io; Revealing Neptune's icy atmosphere, Uranus' rings; 100th Ariane 4 launch. Oct. 16-22: Space station construction mission successful; Gigantic gamma-ray burst breaks all distance records; New light shed on Milky Way's elusive center; Atlas, Proton and Sea Launch rocket missions. More news  See our weekly archive of space news. Contact us If you have a comment or question for Spaceflight Now, just send us an e-mail.