Sunday: December 3, 2000   0338 GMT Endeavour skipper pulls off 'flawless' docking Capping a virtually flawless rendezvous, shuttle commander Brent Jett guided Endeavour to a picture-perfect docking with the international space station Saturday as the two spacecraft sailed high above central Asia.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER    VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR DOCKS    VIDEO: STATION'S VIEW OF ENDEAVOUR    VIDEO: ANIMATION OF DOCKING Choose from this menu:       Atlas rocket launch of secret NRO craft slips a day A Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS rocket and its clandestine payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office won't make their appointed launch date Monday because of concerns surrounding the liquid-fueled upper stage engine used by the $100 million booster.    FULL STORY Observatory weighs Universe's invisible matter An international team of astronomers has succeeded in mapping the "dark" matter in the Universe, as seen in 50 different directions from the Earth. They find that, within the uncertainty, it is unlikely that mass alone would stop the current expansion of the Universe.    FULL STORY Saturday: December 2, 2000   0414 GMT NASA to make 'major Mars announcement' next week What is being described as the "most significant discovery yet" by the team of scientists using NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft currently orbiting the Red Planet will be announced next Thursday, the space agency says.    FULL STORY Shuttle crew prepares for linkup with space station The Endeavour astronauts closed in on the international space station Friday, checked out the ship's robot arm, inspected a $600 million set of solar arrays in the payload bay and tested the spacesuits two astronauts will wear during an excursion Sunday to attach the arrays to the orbital outpost. Docking is set for Saturday at 2:59 p.m. EST.    FULL STORY    DOCKING TIMELINE    VIDEO: ANIMATION OF DOCKING Choose from this menu:       Ages of moon rocks support 'lunar cataclysm' Lunar meteorite ages present new, strong evidence for the "lunar cataclysm," a 20-to-200 million-year episode of intense bombardment of the moon and the Earth at 3.9 billion years ago when the first evidence of life appeared on Earth, planetary scientists report.    FULL STORY Bright Trans-Neptunian Object discovered The Spacewatch Project at the University of Arizona has discovered a minor planet in the outer reaches of the solar system which appears to be the brightest known such object other than Pluto.    FULL STORY Friday: December 1, 2000   1650 GMT Progress cargo freighter undocks from station An unmanned resupply ship undocked from the international space station today to make room for space shuttle Endeavour's planned Saturday afternoon arrival at the orbiting complex. The Progress cargo craft delivered two tons of supplies and equipment to the station. It will remain in space until officials decide on a possible redocking.    MISSION STATUS CENTER Shuttle Endeavour launches on station mission The space shuttle Endeavour lifted off Thursday night on a high-stakes mission to attach a $600 million set of solar arrays to the international space station that will make the outpost one of the brightest "stars" in the night sky. See the mission status center for continuous updates.    FULL STORY    VIDEO: LIFT-OFF    MISSION STATUS CENTER    PHOTO: WORKERS ON CRANE    PHOTO: LOOSE BRACKET Choose from this menu:       XMM-Newton spacecraft finds most distant quasar Quasars are the most luminous known objects in the Universe. They can emit 1000 times the energy of our entire Galaxy, and this prodigious luminosity originates from objects only the size of our solar system. XMM-Newton has detected the X-rays of the most distant known quasar, providing a view of the Universe when it was less than 1 billion years old.    FULL STORY Sirius 3 radio broadcasting satellite launched by Proton The final digital broadcasting spacecraft that completes the orbiting network for Sirius Satellite Radio was successfully launched Thursday by a Russian Proton rocket from Central Asia. See the status center for launch coverage.    MISSION STATUS CENTER    VIDEO: PROTON ROCKET LIFTS OFF    VIDEO: STAGING OF PROTON Thursday: November 30, 2000   0616 GMT Endeavour to set sail on station mission tonight The final hours of an exceptionally quiet countdown are underway at Kennedy Space Center for tonight's planned launch of space shuttle Endeavour and a five-man crew to deliver the first set of solar array wings to the international space station. Liftoff remains set for 10:06 p.m. EST.    MISSION STATUS CENTER    LAUNCH EVENTS CHART Hubble spies extraordinary and powerful active galaxy Resembling a swirling witch's cauldron of glowing vapors, the black hole-powered core of a nearby active galaxy appears in this colorful NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy lies millions of light-years away in the southern constellation Circinus.    FULL STORY Sirius 3 radio broadcasting satellite to launch today The final digital broadcasting spacecraft that will complete the orbiting network for Sirius Satellite Radio is scheduled for launch Thursday aboard a Russian Proton rocket from Central Asia. Liftoff is scheduled for 1959 GMT (2:59 p.m. EST) and we will have live coverage.    MISSION STATUS CENTER    LINK TO LIVE LAUNCH WEBCAST Most distant object in Universe loses its title Astronomers have stripped a galaxy near the Big Dipper of its title as "Most Distant Object Known" by using different techniques to make improved estimates of its distance that show it is closer than it first appeared.    FULL STORY Wednesday: November 29, 2000   0557 GMT Communications remain a challenge for space station Improving communications between U.S. and Russian flight controllers remains a major challenge for the international space station team as both sides struggle to iron out differences in operational philosophy, not to mention coping with a language barrier and the physical distance.    FULL STORY Endeavour's launch countdown rolls on The countdown continued smoothly on Tuesday as technicians readied space shuttle Endeavour for blastoff Thursday evening destined to deliver massive solar arrays to the international space station. The weather forecast is favorable for the planned 10:06 p.m. EST liftoff.    MISSION STATUS CENTER    COUNTDOWN EVENTS CHART    LAUNCH WEATHER FORECAST NASA leaping into the future with robo-frogs A small hopping robot with froglike abilities that moves by a combination of rolls and hops to its desired destination may someday hop a ride to an asteroid and leap its way to other planets in the search for water.    FULL STORY Scientists line up to use NASA's planet-hunter NASA has selected a science team for the Space Interferometry Mission, an innovative space system that will hunt for Earth-sized planets around other stars and provide new insights into the origin and evolution of our galaxy.    FULL STORY Tuesday: November 28, 2000   0635 GMT Endeavour astronauts fly to Cape, countdown begins Space shuttle Endeavour's five-man crew arrived at Kennedy Space Center Monday afternoon and the launch team started the countdown just hours later in advance of Thursday night's blastoff to deliver a set of power-generating solar arrays to the international space station.    CREW ARRIVAL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER    COUNTDOWN EVENTS CHART Explore the frosty craters of the Red Planet NASA's Mars Global Surveyor camera recently captured four wide-angle pictures of craters in both the northern and southern middle and polar latitudes of Mars that demonstrate how the camera is used to monitor changes in Martian weather and the seasonal coming and going of polar frost.    FULL STORY Ulysses spacecraft swings over the Sun's south pole On Monday, Ulysses became the first space probe to fly over the south pole of the Sun twice. The international teams of scientists working with the mission are raising their glasses to toast the intrepid solar explorer only weeks after celebrating the 10th anniversary of its launch.    FULL STORY Monday: November 27, 2000   0304 GMT Revealing colorful element formations in ancient stars Astronomers studying how elements heavier than iron were produced in the early Milky Way have identified a distinct series of epochs of galaxy-wide chemical formation. This evolutionary timeline stretches from the Big Bang onward for several billion years.    FULL STORY Global Surveyor captures spring thaw on Mars A newly-released color image from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft in orbit around the Red Planet shows the surface thawing in springtime. Beneath the frost some areas get warmer while others stay cold, causing frost to linger in parts and sublime away elsewhere. Dazzling, almost psychadelic patterns are the result.    FULL STORY				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. 20-26: Jupiter: the movie; Delta launches three satellites; Launch failure for QuickBird 1; Daring high wire act to mount space station arrays; China lifts veil on its secret space program; U.S. Galaxy 7 TV satellite lost. 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.