Sunday: November 18, 2001   0321 GMT ESA approves Galileo and Ariane upgrade funding The ministers responsible for space affairs in the countries that make up the European Space Agency held a two-day meeting this past week of the ruling Council by endorsing the next stages in a series of ongoing programs and committing to new initiatives.    FULL STORY Boeing picked to operate Spaceway satellite system Hughes Network Systems announces that it has entered into an agreement with Boeing Satellite Systems for the operation and control of its Spaceway satellites. The Spaceway Ka-band satellite platform will be used in a unique new broadband satellite network to provide high-bandwidth and high-speed communications for broadband and multimedia applications.    FULL STORY Saturday: November 17, 2001   0503 GMT Genesis spacecraft performs crucial maneuver The NASA probe in search of our origins fired its thrusters Friday to settle into orbit a million miles away where it can collect bits of the solar wind for return to Earth.    FULL STORY - updated Alpha experiments exceed 50,000 hours of operations Space Station experiments ranging from biology and human physiology to materials processing and education were on track to pass the 50,000-hour operating mark during the past week as Expedition Three nears its end later this month.    FULL STORY DAILY BRIEFING  Other stories making news today New deputy director named at Johnson Space Center -- Randy Stone, a 34-year veteran of Mission Control and the Johnson Space Center, has been named Deputy Director of the Johnson Space Center by JSC Acting Director Roy Estess. Friday: November 16, 2001   0335 GMT Genesis spacecraft to perform crucial maneuver The NASA probe in search of our origins will fire its thrusters Friday to settle into orbit a million miles away where it can collect bits of the solar wind for return to Earth.    FULL STORY Shuttle Endeavour slated for blastoff November 29 Senior NASA officials met Thursday and affirmed plans to launch space shuttle Endeavour on November 29 to ferry a new resident crew and supplies to the international space station.    FULL STORY    MISSION QUICKLOOK FACTS    COMPREHENSIVE FLIGHT PLAN    LAUNCH WINDOWS CHART    LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE    MEET THE CREW More mission coverage here:       Huygens probe ready for dress rehearsal Just over three years from now, ESA's Huygens probe will separate from the NASA Cassini spacecraft and plunge into the atmosphere of Titan, the largest of Saturn's 30 moons. Far from the tender care of controllers on the Earth, every precaution must be taken to ensure that the risks of failure are minimized.    FULL STORY Thursday: November 15, 2001   0350 GMT NASA administrator replacement found Sean O'Keefe, currently the deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, is being nominated as the next NASA administrator by President Bush. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, O'Keefe would replace Dan Goldin who steps down Saturday after nine years as head of the space agency.    FULL STORY Caught in the act: Star seen becoming planetary nebula A team of astronomers has caught an old star during the very brief period of its transformation into a planetary nebula, a shining bubble of glowing gas with a hot remnant star at its center. The researchers say this is the first time that anyone has seen a star that is so clearly going through this transformation stage.    FULL STORY Sirius announces radio service launch plans Sirius Satellite Radio, the satellite radio broadcaster, announced Wednesday it will launch its service on February 14, 2002, in leading metropolitan markets Houston, Denver and Phoenix.    FULL STORY Wednesday: November 14, 2001   0305 GMT NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey takes first visible picture The first visible photo taken by NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft was released Tuesday as part of the ongoing calibration and testing of the probe's camera system. The image was obtained when Odyssey was approximately 22,000 kilometers above Mars looking down toward the south pole.    FULL STORY Odyssey using Martian atmosphere to lower orbit NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft has now entered the main aerobraking phase of the mission. By skimming through the upper reaches of the Mars atmosphere during each orbit, the craft has reduced its orbital period by more than three hours in the past two weeks.    FULL STORY DAILY BRIEFING  Other stories making news today Iridium unveils aeronautical satellite communications system -- Iridium Satellite LLC and Icarus Instruments, Inc. announced Tuesday the commercial availability of the SatTalk II, a satellite-based aeronautical voice and data communications system that provides aircraft crew and passengers with reliable, worldwide communications in the air and on the ground. Tuesday: November 13, 2001   0201 GMT Astronaut and cosmonaut take walk outside Alpha International space station commander Frank Culbertson and cosmonaut Vladimir Dezhurov stepped outside their orbiting home for a five-hour spacewalk Monday to complete the outfitting of Russia's new Pirs docking module and the checkout of a telescoping cargo crane.    MISSION STATUS CENTER Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: CULBERTSON EXITS AIRLOCK FOR SPACEWALK QT or RV    VIDEO: TELESCOPING CARGO BOOM MANUALLY EXTENDED QT or RV    VIDEO: CARGO CRANE RETRACTED AFTER TEST QT or RV    MORE: COMPLETE SFN+ VIDEO INDEX Meet Europe's gigantic Environment Satellite Early next year the largest and most advanced Earth observation satellite ever built in Europe will be launched into space. From an altitude of 800 kilometres Envisat will deliver images and data that will help us better understand and more effectively protect the Earth. The craft was built at a cost of 2.3 billion euros.    FULL STORY DAILY BRIEFING  Other stories making news today Which come first, gamma rays or neutrinos? -- The most powerful explosions in the universe, gamma-ray bursts, may come with a 10-second warning: an equally violent burst of ultra-high energy particles called neutrinos, scientists report in theory being published. Monday: November 12, 2001   0341 GMT First orphan afterglow of unseen gamma burst Combining the newest of astronomical instruments with the most venerable techniques of patient attention to detail, scientists believe they have made the first optical observation of a gamma ray burst afterglow unprompted by prior observation of the gamma ray burst itself-a so-called "orphan afterglow."    FULL STORY				Earlier news Nov. 5-11: Impact craters give clues about Europa's ice crust; Taurus failure update; Four shuttle astronauts enter Hall of Fame; Sky survey lowers estimate of asteroid impact risk. Oct. 29-Nov. 4: Commission report blasts space station management; Mars Odyssey snaps first picture of the Red Planet; Hubble reveals ultraviolet galactic ring; Endeavour rolled to pad under cloak of secrecy; Old Soyuz craft undocks from Alpha, lands on Earth. 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. 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