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Sunday:
September 23, 2001 | |
0441 GMT |
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Tracking radar glitch scrubs Athena rocket launch
A problem with a tracking radar forced the scrub of Saturday night's attempt to launch the Lockheed Martin Athena rocket from Kodiak Island, Alaska. The radar is needed to track the rocket as it travels downrange.
 MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
LAUNCH EVENTS CHART
KODIAK STAR MISSION PREVIEW
LAUNCH GROUND TRACK MAP
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Deep Space 1 survives close encounter with comet
The Deep Space 1 probe's risky encounter with comet Borrelly went extremely well Saturday, NASA said. The images and other data collected from Borrelly should help scientists learn about these intriguing members of the solar system family.
FULL STORY
FLYBY PREVIEW STORY
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Snapshot of southern spring dust storms on Mars
Southern spring on Mars began with a "bang" in late June 2001 with a series of large dust storms that in some regions were still occurring each day well into September, as NASA's Mars Global Surveyor imagery shows.
FULL STORY
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Saturday:
September 22, 2001 | |
0333 GMT |
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Taurus rocket fails to achieve Earth orbit
Two satellites that were supposed to give new prospectives of Earth never achieved orbit Friday and likely fell into the Indian Ocean after a botched launch of Orbital Sciences' Taurus rocket from California.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
DETAILED LAUNCH TIMELINE
ORBVIEW-4 FACT SHEET
QUIKTOMS OVERVIEW RELEASE
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: TAURUS LAUNCHES, GYRATES DURING STAGING QT or RV
VIDEO: REPLAY VIEW OF GYRATION QT or RV
MORE: COMPLETE SFN+ VIDEO INDEX
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Dismal weather delays Athena launch to Saturday
The first attempt to launch satellites into Earth orbit from Alaska was planned for Friday but bad weather forced officials to postpone for 24 hours the liftoff of Lockheed Martin's Athena rocket from Kodiak Island.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
LAUNCH EVENTS CHART
KODIAK STAR MISSION PREVIEW
LAUNCH GROUND TRACK MAP
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Hubble Space Telescope stand-in gets starring role
With its famous twin orbiting 370 miles above Earth inside NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the almost forgotten Earth-bound back-up mirror is finally about to step into the spotlight and get some attention of its own starting Saturday at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum.
FULL STORY
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Friday:
September 21, 2001 | |
0423 GMT |
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Taurus to launch Earth-watching satellites today
An Orbital Sciences Taurus rocket is set for blastoff today carrying a commercial Earth-imaging satellite and a NASA ozone monitoring probe from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
DETAILED LAUNCH TIMELINE
ORBVIEW-4 FACT SHEET
QUIKTOMS OVERVIEW RELEASE
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Dismal weather threatens today's Athena launch
The first attempt to launch satellites into Earth orbit from Alaska is planned for Friday but there is only a glimmer of hope the weather will permit Lockheed Martin's Athena rocket to soar as scheduled.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
LAUNCH EVENTS CHART
KODIAK STAR MISSION PREVIEW
LAUNCH GROUND TRACK MAP
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Module addition keeps Alpha astronauts busy
The International Space Station's Expedition Three crew have spent this week outfitting and activating the station's latest addition, a four-ton Russian airlock and docking port named Pirs that arrived at the orbiting complex Sunday.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: FINAL APPROACH AND DOCKING QT or RV
VIDEO: UNIQUE CLOSE-UP VIEW OF DOCKING QT or RV
MORE: COMPLETE SFN+ VIDEO INDEX
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Thursday:
September 20, 2001 | |
0338 GMT |
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Taurus rocket to launch two Earth-watching satellites
Final preparations are underway for Friday's launch of Orbital Sciences' Taurus rocket carrying a commercial Earth-imaging satellite and a NASA ozone monitoring probe from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
DETAILED LAUNCH TIMELINE
ORBVIEW-4 FACT SHEET
QUIKTOMS OVERVIEW RELEASE
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Athena rocket to launch Friday from Alaska
The Lockheed Martin Athena rocket remains poised for launch Friday from Kodiak Island in Alaska on a mission for NASA and the U.S. Air Force. But the main hurdle the launch faces is the weather.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
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Space station experiment 'shakes' for science
During the first two weeks of September, the international space station crew assisted with the "shaker" tests of an experimental device to protect delicate microgravity research from vibrations.
FULL STORY
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Wednesday:
September 19, 2001 | |
0316 GMT |
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Deep Space 1 attempts to earn extra credit at comet
Like a slugger trying to pile up extra home runs after breaking the world record, a venerable NASA spacecraft already famed for bringing science fiction's ion-engine technology to life is preparing to fly daringly close to a comet on Saturday.
FULL STORY
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Mars Odyssey tweaks trek; star camera glitch examined
NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft performed its third trajectory correction maneuver Monday morning to fine-tune its flight path for arrival at Mars next month. During the past several weeks, the flight team has been troubleshooting occasional problems with its star camera.
FULL STORY
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NASA confirms North Pole ozone hole trigger
NASA researchers using 22 years of satellite-derived data have confirmed a theory that the strength of "long waves," bands of atmospheric energy that circle the earth, regulate the temperatures in the upper atmosphere of the Arctic, and play a role in controlling ozone losses in the stratosphere.
FULL STORY
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Tuesday:
September 18, 2001 | |
0221 GMT |
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Ancient black hole speeds through the neighborhood
Astronomers have found an ancient black hole speeding through the Sun's Galactic neighborhood, devouring a small companion star as the pair travels in an eccentric orbit looping to the outer reaches of our Milky Way Galaxy.
FULL STORY
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Cluster satellite quartet take a trip down Earth's tail
Everyone is familiar with animals' tails, but less well known is the fact that most planets have tails too -- huge, magnetic tails filled with electrified gas. ESA's Cluster spacecraft have been flying along the middle of the Earth's magnetotail, carrying out the most in-depth exploration of this region ever undertaken.
FULL STORY
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DAILY BRIEFING Other stories making news today
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Space Analysis Center: Think-tank of the stars -- Nineteen years after the idea was first put forth, the Air Force Space Command's Space Analysis Center has finally been born at a downtown Colorado Springs office building. The center is the think tank for the command's modeling, simulation and analysis of space capabilities.
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Monday:
September 17, 2001 | |
0537 GMT |
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Space station Alpha expands with new module
Russia's Docking Compartment-1 module successfully linked up with the international space station tonight at 9:05 p.m. EDT (0105 GMT). Called Pirs, the module will serve as an additional docking port and Russian airlock for the orbiting outpost.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
LAUNCH-TO-DOCKING TIMELINE
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: FINAL APPROACH AND DOCKING QT or RV
VIDEO: UNIQUE CLOSE-UP VIEW OF DOCKING QT or RV
MORE: COMPLETE SFN+ VIDEO INDEX
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Athena rocket to launch Friday from Alaska
A Lockheed Martin Athena rocket on the Kodiak Star mission has been given the green light for blastoff Friday now that the launch team has reached Alaska following the resumption of commercial air travel in the U.S.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
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Young pulsar reveals clues to supernova
Astronomers have discovered one of the youngest known pulsars. The properties of this pulsar will enable scientists to better understand how neutron stars are formed in the seconds just before a supernova explosion, and how they pump energy into the space around them for thousands of years after the explosion.
FULL STORY
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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.