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Sunday:
October 7, 2001 | |
0223 GMT |
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Space eyes in the fight against terrorism
When the United States wages war against terrorism, it will fight looking through the eyes of Air Force Space Command. "Whatever this nation does, wherever they do it, they're not going to leave home without us," says Gen. Ralph E. Eberhart.
 FULL STORY
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Alpha fluids experiment looks for solid results
Scientists went looking for solid results with an unusual fluid experiment on board the space station. Commanded by scientists on the ground, the Experiment on Physics of Colloids in Space collected numerous images and other data on the formation of these unusual particles.
FULL STORY
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Saturday:
October 6, 2001 | |
0310 GMT |
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Titan 4 launches U.S. national security satellite
A spying eye was put into the sky Friday by America's mightiest unmanned rocket, probably destined to replace an aging imaging satellite in the country's reconnaissance spacecraft fleet.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
ROCKET FACT SHEET
TITAN 4 FLIGHT HISTORY
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NASA: Checks of Endeavour engine pods not needed
NASA said Friday it wasn't necessary to inspect shuttle Endeavour's orbital maneuvering engine pods after deformed bolt holes had been found on Columbia. The decision keeps Endeavour's November space station mission on schedule.
FULL STORY
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Gravitational lens helps find galaxy building block
A very small, faint galaxy -- possibly one of the long sought "building blocks" of present-day galaxies -- has been discovered by a collaboration between NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the 10-meter Keck Telescopes.
FULL STORY
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Friday:
October 5, 2001 | |
0225 GMT |
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Titan 4 launch is a 'go'
With a trio of technical issues finally put to rest, officials have cleared the Lockheed Martin-built Titan 4B rocket for launch at 2119 GMT (5:19 p.m. EDT) Friday from Vandenberg Air Force Base. The rocket is carrying a spy satellite that experts believe is a Keyhole-type imaging spacecraft.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
LAUNCH PREVIEW STORY
ROCKET FACT SHEET
TITAN 4 FLIGHT HISTORY
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Spacecraft at Io sees and sniffs tallest volcanic plume
Jupiter's moon Io has pulled a surprise on NASA's Galileo spacecraft, hurling up the tallest volcanic plume ever seen, which arose from a previously unknown volcano. A different volcano had been lofting a plume seven months earlier, but Galileo saw no sign of that plume during its latest Io flyby in early August.
FULL STORY
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X-43A investigation update
The board studying the June 2 launch failure of the first X-43A mission expects to find more than one factor responsible for the loss, the investigation leader said Thursday. The inquiry team has ruled out most of 600 potential elements identified in a fault tree for the mishap.
FULL STORY
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Peering into the core of a globular cluster
Astronomers have used NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to peer into the center of a dense swarm of stars called Omega Centauri. Located some 17,000 light-years from Earth, Omega Centauri is a massive globular star cluster, containing several million stars swirling in locked orbits around a common center of gravity.
FULL STORY
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Thursday:
October 4, 2001 | |
0300 GMT |
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Titan 4 launch slips again
The Lockheed Martin-built Titan 4B rocket and its National Reconnaissance Office payload won't fly until at least Friday because of a voltage problem that engineers are troubleshooting at the Vandenberg Air Force Base launch pad.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
LAUNCH PREVIEW STORY
ROCKET FACT SHEET
TITAN 4 FLIGHT HISTORY
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Iridium proposes real-time airline cockpit monitoring
Iridium announced this week that it has proposed a real-time cockpit voice and flight data monitoring capability using its constellation of 66 low earth orbit satellites. The service would address national security concerns relating to aircraft safety and control.
FULL STORY
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NASA picks spacecraft builder for 2005 Mars probe
NASA has selected Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, to build the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft scheduled for launch in August 2005 to return the highest resolution images yet of the Red Planet.
FULL STORY
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Boeing to build Japanese SUPERBIRD satellite
Boeing Satellite Systems signed a contract with Space Communications Corporation of Tokyo for a Boeing 601 communications satellite. The satellite, designated SUPERBIRD-6, is scheduled to launch in the third quarter of 2003.
FULL STORY
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DAILY BRIEFING Other stories making news today
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Russian space officials review Soyuz launch preps -- A meeting of the General Designers Review on the Russian Segment of the International Space Station took place at S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia. The Review addressed the issues of the Station's technical state, the preparation of the manned transport spacecraft Soyuz TM-33 and the Soyuz launcher for its launch on Oct. 21.
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Wednesday:
October 3, 2001 | |
0420 GMT |
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Titan 4 rocket launch postponed to Thursday
It will be at least Thursday before a Titan 4B rocket is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California carrying its top-secret spy satellite cargo, which experts suspect is a KeyHole-type imaging reconnaissance spacecraft.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
LAUNCH PREVIEW STORY
ROCKET FACT SHEET
TITAN 4 FLIGHT HISTORY
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Must see picture of 'perfect' spiral galaxy
A remarkable first-light image was obtained with a new state-of-the-art instrument at the Gemini North Telescope in Hawaii. The image clearly reveals a large galaxy in Pisces has been called the "Perfect Spiral Galaxy" due to its nearly ideal form.
FULL STORY
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Boeing employee dies in accident at Delta 4 pad
A Boeing employee working at Space Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was killed Monday evening. The cause of death appears to be accidental.
FULL STORY
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DAILY BRIEFING Other stories making news today
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Scientists toast discovery of vinyl alcohol in space -- Astronomers have discovered the complex organic molecule vinyl alcohol in an interstellar cloud of dust and gas near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The discovery of this long-sought compound could reveal tantalizing clues to the mysterious origin of complex organic molecules in space.
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Tuesday:
October 2, 2001 | |
0245 GMT |
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Titan 4 delayed again
Launch of a Titan 4B rocket has been pushed back at least another 24 hours to Wednesday because of a technical concern that the Air Force still has not explained to reporters. The rocket is carrying a top-secret cargo, which experts believe is some sort of imaging spacecraft, possibly a powerful eye-in-the-sky KeyHole satellite.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
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Report: Modest recovery for commercial launch industry
Calling 2001 one of the worst years in the history of the commercial launch industry, a report issued Monday predicts only a modest recovery for commercial launchers next year.
FULL STORY
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MAP ready to measure afterglow from the Big Bang
After its three-month journey through space, NASA's Microwave Anisotropy Probe arrived at its observation station a million miles from Earth on Monday to measure the oldest light in the cosmos.
FULL STORY
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Orbital Sciences to build another B-SAT TV satellite
Japanese communications satellite operator B-SAT has contracted Orbital Sciences Corp. to build and launch another direct-to-home TV broadcasting satellite to replace the one lost in the failed launch of an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket in July.
FULL STORY
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Monday:
October 1, 2001 | |
0521 GMT |
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Titan 4 launch scrubbed
Today's launch of a Lockheed Martin Titan 4B rocket was called off Sunday evening because of an unspecified technical concern. The rocket is carrying a top-secret cargo, which experts believe is some sort of imaging spacecraft, possibly a powerful eye-in-the-sky KeyHole satellite.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
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New Canadian Space Agency president named
A three-time space shuttle astronaut, Dr. Marc Garneau, will become president of the Canadian Space Agency on November 22, officials have announced. Garneau will replace the retiring Mac Evans.
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.