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Sunday:
February 18, 2001 | |
0300 GMT |
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Weather looks good for Atlantis' homecoming
The Atlantis astronauts tested the shuttle's re-entry systems Saturday and packed up for landing today to close out a near-perfect mission to attach a new $1.4 billion laboratory module to the international space station.
 FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
DETAILED ENTRY TIMELINE
LANDING GROUND TRACKS
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Problem arises aboard comet-bound Stardust
A thruster problem has been encountered by the Stardust comet sample return mission as the craft speeds along a perfect course after getting a boost from Earth's gravity last month.
FULL STORY
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Saturday:
February 17, 2001 | |
0557 GMT |
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Atlantis departs station after flawless lab delivery
The shuttle Atlantis undocked from the international space station Friday, leaving the outpost behind with a new $1.4 billion laboratory module and some 3,000 pounds of equipment and supplies.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
MISSION INDEX
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Airy-0: The Martian Prime Meridian surveyed by craft
On Earth, the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England is defined as the "prime meridian," or the zero point of longitude. For Mars, the prime meridian was first defined by the German astronomers W. Beer and J. H. Madler in 1830-32.
FULL STORY
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DAILY BRIEFING Other stories making news today
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First satellite explorer of Earth's core moves into gear -- The go-ahead has been given for the next phase of a European mission to measure the Earth's gravity field and a derived geoid to unprecedented accuracy and resolution using a highly sophisticated three-axis gradiometer.
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Friday:
February 16, 2001 | |
0453 GMT |
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Atlantis bids farewell to space station today
The combined crews of the shuttle Atlantis and space station Alpha completed a final day of equipment transfers Thursday and readied the two spacecraft for undocking today to close out a full week of work to install and activate the new Destiny lab module.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
VIDEO: ANIMATION OF UNDOCKING
MISSION INDEX
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Chandra finds most distant X-ray galaxy cluster
The most distant X-ray cluster of galaxies yet has been found by astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. Approximately 10 billion light years from Earth, the cluster 3C294 is 40 percent farther than the next most distant X-ray galaxy cluster previously known.
FULL STORY
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Martian sedimentary rock found in unlikely place
Although most of the best examples of layered sedimentary rock seen on Mars are found at equatorial and sub-tropical latitudes, a few locations seen at mid- and high-latitudes suggest that layered rocks are probably more common than we can actually see from orbit.
FULL STORY
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DAILY BRIEFING Other stories making news today
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First Canadian astronaut gets a promotion -- The Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for the Canadian Space Agency has announced the appointment of astronaut Marc Garneau as Executive Vice-President of the CSA.
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Thursday:
February 15, 2001 | |
0741 GMT |
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NEAR Shoemaker's mission extended by ten days
NASA granted the NEAR Shoemaker mission a last-minute reprieve Wednesday, extending the mission by up to ten days to give scientists time to capitalize on a surprisingly successful landing on the surface of the asteroid Eros.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
VIDEO: OFFICIALS SAY RELAUNCH RULED OUT
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Lab outfitting completed in 100th U.S. spacewalk
Two shuttle astronauts completed the 100th spacewalk in American space history Wednesday, finishing up work to outfit the international space station and testing rescue techniques that one day could save an injured astronaut's life.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
NASA SPACEWALK STATISTICS
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Cradle of new stars seen in stunning image
The Japanese Subaru Telescope has taken a sharp and deep infrared image of the star-forming region, S106. At a distance of approximately 2000 light-years from the Earth, the region's center holds a massive star 20 times larger than the Sun.
FULL STORY
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New commercial space facility open for business
SpaceDev has completed construction of its satellite manufacturing facility
in San Diego, bringing the commercial space company another step closer to achieving the goal of providing low-cost missions for both Earth orbit and deep-space destinations.
FULL STORY
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DAILY BRIEFING Other stories making news today
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Budding young scientists set sights on Martian soil -- For the first-time ever, student scientists will direct a camera on board NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, currently orbiting the red planet, and image interesting sites on the Martian terrain.
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Wednesday:
February 14, 2001 | |
0423 GMT |
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NEAR Shoemaker update
Officials will hold a news conference on Wednesday at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) to discuss NEAR Shoemaker's landing and status of the spacecraft. Rumors continue to swirl about the potential of relaunching the craft, but the project says it is unlikely. We will provide a live streaming broadcast of the briefing!
MISSION STATUS CENTER
LIVE STREAMING WEBCAST
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100th U.S. spacewalk set
Astronauts Tom Jones and Bob Curbeam plan to step outside Atlantis' cabin today for their third and final spacewalk of this shuttle mission. The five-hour excursion begins around 10:18 a.m. EST (1518 GMT), and we will have live updates in the status center. The spacewalk will mark the 100th for the American space program dating back to Ed White's venture outside a Gemini capsule in 1965.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
VIDEO: SPACEWALK PREVIEW
NASA SPACEWALK STATISTICS
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Space station gyros spin up in successful test
Computers in the newly installed $1.4 billion Destiny laboratory module began controlling the international space station's orientation for the first time Tuesday, spinning up four massive, fuel-saving gyroscopes in a critical milestone for the orbiting complex.
FULL STORY
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Unique science results from Cluster's lunar eclipse
In the summer of 1999, millions of people across Europe peered upwards at the sky in an effort to see a total eclipse of the Sun. On January 25, European engineers and scientists witnessed an eclipse of a different kind - the passage of four Cluster spacecraft through the outer part of the Moon's shadow.
FULL STORY
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DAILY BRIEFING Other stories making news today
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French astronaut to visit international space station -- Astronaut Philippe Perrin of the French Space Agency, a lieutenant colonel in the French Air Force, has been named to the crew for the STS-111/Utilization Flight-2, scheduled for launch early in 2002.
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Tuesday:
February 13, 2001 | |
0334 GMT |
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NEAR probe makes historic landing on asteroid Eros
NASA's $223 million mission NEAR Showmaker spacecraft made an unprecedented landing on the surface of asteroid Eros Monday, returning spectacular pictures on the way down.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
VIDEO: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
VIDEO: NEAR LANDING ANIMATION
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Pictures from NEAR's descent to the surface
NEAR Shoemaker returned remarkable close up views as it swooped toward the surface of asteroid Eros Monday. Here is a selection of views received by mission control at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
IMAGE:LAST VIEW BEFORE TOUCHDOWN
IMAGE:EXTREME CLOSE UP!
IMAGES: 1 2 3 4
IMAGE: VIEW OF EROS' HORIZON
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Astronauts sail through 2nd successful spacewalk
The Atlantis astronauts staged a near-perfect spacewalk Monday, connecting a shuttle docking port to the $1.4 billion Destiny laboratory module, installing a mounting fixture for a new robot arm and opening the lab's picture window on the world.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
PREVIEW STORY
VIDEO: SPACEWALK PREVIEW
DETAILED SPACEWALK TIMELINE
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Experiments to study failures on small satellite
NASA experiments on a small British satellite are studying the effects of
radiation on the various systems that make up each experiment. To yield this information, engineers are actually hoping for the components to fail.
FULL STORY
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DAILY BRIEFING Other stories making news today
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Galileo playing back recorded observations -- It is going to be a relatively quiet week for the Galileo spacecraft. On Friday, the spacecraft performs standard maintenance on its propulsion systems. Other than that, playback of the data stored on the on-board tape recorder continues.
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Monday:
February 12, 2001 | |
0132 GMT |
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Probe to attempt first landing on asteroid today
NASA's $223 million mission to get up-close and personal with an asteroid goes out with what could very well amount to a bang as the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft heads for an unprecedented landing on Eros today.
FULL STORY
LIVE STREAMING WEBCAST
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Shuttle docking port to be added to Destiny Monday
Atlantis' spacewalking astronauts Tom Jones and Bob Curbeam plan to step outside the shuttle again on Monday to lend a hand attaching a cone-shaped docking port to the newly-installed Destiny lab.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER - check for updates
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NASA delighted by smooth Destiny lab activation
The Atlantis astronauts and the international space station's three-man crew floated into the $1.4 billion Destiny module for the first time Sunday and sailed through the new laboratory's initial activation and check out.
FULL STORY
PHOTO: DESTINY'S HATCH OPENS
PHOTO: CREWS INSIDE LAB
PHOTO: MARSHA & HAIR ENTER LAB
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Launches of XM radio satellites shuffled
Sea Launch has decided to flip-flop the flights of its Zenit 3SL rocket carrying the two broadcasting spacecraft for XM Satellite Radio in the continuing wake of an aborted countdown January 8.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
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The Hubble Space Telescope's majestic view of the Eskimo Nebula. This spectacular poster is available now from the Astronomy Now Store.