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Sunday:
September 30, 2001 | |
0600 GMT |
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Athena rocket successfully launches from Alaska
After waiting all week for the solar weather to subside, the Lockheed Martin Athena 1 rocket lifted off at 0240 GMT (10:40 p.m. EDT) Saturday evening from Kodiak Island, Alaska. The rocket successfully lofted four small satellites for NASA and the Air Force, marking the first orbital launch from Alaska.
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: ATHENA BLASTS OFF FROM KODIAK ISLAND QT or RV
VIDEO: LAUNCH PAD TOWER ROLLED BACK QT or RV
VIDEO: ATHENA TRAVELS BY BARGE, TRUCK TO KODIAK QT or RV
VIDEO: ROCKET STAGES ASSEMBLED ON LAUNCH PAD QT or RV
VIDEO: KODIAK STAR SATELLITES PREPPED QT or RV
VIDEO: PAYLOADS MOVED TO PAD TO JOIN ATHENA QT or RV
MORE: COMPLETE SFN+ VIDEO INDEX
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Titan 4 to launch secret reconnaissance satellite
A Lockheed Martin Titan 4B rocket, America's most powerful unmanned launcher, will haul a top-secret spy satellite into orbit on Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Experts believe the cargo is some sort of imaging spacecraft, possibly a powerful eye-in-the-sky KeyHole satellite.
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Bolt hole mystery could delay next shuttle launch
NASA officials will decide this week whether shuttle Endeavour's orbital maneuvering engine pods must be removed for inspections, a move that would likely delay the ship's November space station mission until next year.
FULL STORY
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Measuring bone loss in space and on Earth
Bone loss is a problem for astronauts spending months or years in space. National Space Biomedical Research Institute scientists are designing a compact machine to allow precision bone and tissue measurements in space.
FULL STORY
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Search of galactic halo yields treasure trove
A project supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and National Science Foundation to determine the nature of dark matter in the halo of the Milky Way has yielded a treasure trove of data on 73 million stars, many of them variable.
FULL STORY
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Saturday:
September 29, 2001 | |
0157 GMT |
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Audit gives negative marks for NASA's CSOC contract
The audit report "Consolidated Space Operations Contract: Evaluating
and Reporting Cost Savings" has been release from the NASA Office of Inspector General. The report shows cost savings from the contract cannot be substantiated.
FULL STORY
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NASA-funded study of Pluto mission completed
A team led by the Southwest Research Institute and the Johns Hopkins University has just completed a NASA-funded design study for a Pluto-Kuiper Belt mission.
FULL STORY
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Friday:
September 28, 2001 | |
0418 GMT |
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Athena to try Saturday
The Lockheed Martin Athena rocket is going to make another launch attempt on Saturday evening despite an iffy chance that the space weather conditions will cooperate. Officials believe it will be the last best shot at liftoff for the near future from Kodiak Island in Alaska.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
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Asteroid's rocky surface the result of one impact
The boulder-strewn surface of the asteroid Eros was likely shaped by a single collision a billion years ago, scientists studying data from a recent NASA mission reported Thursday.
FULL STORY
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XM radio service unaffected by satellite anomaly
A solar array output power issue has arisen with the orbiting Boeing 702-model spacecraft. XM Satellite Radio has two such craft but says it anticipates the situation "will have no material impact on its quality of service, conduct of business or cost of oput levels and service quality."
FULL STORY
XM RADIO DEBUTS [Posted: Sept. 26]
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Thursday:
September 27, 2001 | |
0322 GMT |
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Athena delayed till weekend
The weather -- both Earthly and solar -- continues to plague the planned launch of a Lockheed Martin Athena rocket carrying a quartet of small satellites for NASA and the Air Force. Officials said late Wednesday that the next launch attempt won't occur until at least Saturday evening.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
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Chandra exposes the knotty problem of M87 jet
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has given astronomers their most detailed look to date at the X-ray jet blasting out of the nucleus of M87, a giant elliptical galaxy 50 million light years away. The image of the jet reveals an irregular, knotty structure.
FULL STORY
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Russian docking module sheds propulsion package
The propulsion section of the international space station's new Russian Pirs docking module was jettisoned from the outpost by pyrotechnic devices on Wednesday. The stage is now set for the first spacewalk from Pirs.
MISSION STATUS CENTER
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The SPOT 5 satellite: Delivering the world in 3D
The SPOT 5 "imaging" satellite, to be launched in April 2002, will provide digital elevation models of any location on Earth, allowing customers to create realistic 3D perspectives for simulations, defense planning and even video games.
FULL STORY
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Wednesday:
September 26, 2001 | |
0404 GMT |
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Deep Space 1 returns stunning images of comet
A NASA spacecraft once all but given up for dead has provided the best close-up view of the nucleus of a comet. Deep Space 1 has revealed that comet Borrelly has a bowling pin-shaped nucleus with an unusual jet of gas and dust emanating from one region of it.
FULL STORY
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Ariane 4 lofts satellite to cover both sides of Atlantic
A telecommunications bridge that will span the Atlantic Ocean to link five continents from the Americas to the Persian Gulf was successfully launched into space Tuesday.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
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XM Satellite Radio debuts
XM Satellite Radio on Tuesday officially launched the first U.S. digital satellite radio service -- "Radio to the Power of X" -- featuring 100 coast-to-coast, digital channels of music and information.
FULL STORY
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Tuesday:
September 25, 2001 | |
0112 GMT |
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Solar flare scrubs Athena
Launch the Athena rocket has been postponed until at least Thursday after a massive solar flare erupted from the sun on Monday, unleashing a powerful space storm that could disrupt the rocket's guidance computer during flight.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
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Sea Launch marketed along side Boeing Delta rockets
The Sea Launch partners and Boeing Space & Communications officials announced Monday their intention to have a common sales and marketing organization for Sea Launch and Boeing Delta commercial launch services.
FULL STORY
SEA LAUNCH NAMES NEW PRESIDENT
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DAILY BRIEFING Other stories making news today
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Galileo keeps beaming back Io encounter data -- In addition to the usual array of playback data this week, two engineering activities are planned for the Galileo spacecraft. On Wednesday, the spacecraft is turned by 2.76 degrees to keep the communications antenna pointed towards Earth. On Friday, routine maintenance of the on-board tape recorder is performed.
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Monday:
September 24, 2001 | |
0327 GMT |
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Athena ready to try again
With a troublesome tracking radar now working, a Lockheed Martin Athena rocket will make a third try at launching from Alaska on Monday evening, but bad weather could again spoil liftoff plans.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
LAUNCH EVENTS CHART
KODIAK STAR MISSION PREVIEW
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Probe shows springtime on the Martian south polar cap
This Mars Global Surveyor wide angle view of the Martian south polar region was acquired on September 12, four years to the day after the spacecraft first began to orbit the Red Planet.
FULL STORY
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Ariane to launch Tuesday
A European Ariane 4 rocket is poised for launch Tuesday from South America carrying Eutelsat's Atlantic Bird 2 spacecraft that will transmit telecommunications broadcasts between both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
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.