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Sunday:
December 23, 2001 | |
0215 GMT |
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Station astronauts busy with cell science research
Human cell tissue research that could contribute to the study of cancer, heart diseases and AIDS, has kept the new Expedition Four crew busy aboard the International Space Station during the past week.
 FULL STORY
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Saturday:
December 22, 2001 | |
0641 GMT |
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New missions to asteroids, search for Earth-like planets
Two new NASA missions, selected Friday in the agency's Discovery Program, promise to bring staples of science-fiction stories to reality. The missions are Dawn, which will orbit the two largest asteroids in our solar system, and Kepler, a spaceborne telescope, which will search for Earth-like planets around stars beyond the solar system.
FULL STORY
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2003 missions will go to Mars with Christmas spirit
In two year's time, the planet Mars will receive a Christmas present from planet Earth - a flotilla of spacecraft. Gifts from different nations, the spacecraft will share communications channels to solve a problem which will intensify as Mars exploration gathers pace: how to relay the data gathered by so many missions back to Earth.
FULL STORY
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Friday:
December 21, 2001 | |
1600 GMT |
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Industry team to design air-breathing rocket engine
A new design contract, to be awarded today by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, is expected to lead to development by 2006 of a ground test version of an air-breathing rocket engine for a next-generation hypersonic flight vehicle. The industry team that will design the engine includes Rocketdyne, Aerojet and Pratt & Whitney.
FULL STORY
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NASA scientist finds some meteorites not sugar-free
A discovery by a NASA scientist of sugar and several related organic compounds in two carbonaceous meteorites provides the first evidence that another fundamental building block of life on Earth may have come from outer space. A carbonaceous meteorite contains carbon as one of its important constituents.
FULL STORY
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NASA Advisory Council releases station report
The NASA Advisory Council on Wednesday sent a letter to Acting NASA Administrator Daniel Mulville with its recommendations for the management and future development of the International Space Station.
FULL STORY (external link)
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DAILY BRIEFING Other stories making news today
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Tsyklon rocket launches Russian spy satellite -- A Ukrainian-built Tsyklon 2 rocket launched a Russian electronic intelligence-gathering satellite today from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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Thursday:
December 20, 2001 | |
0519 GMT |
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Hubble sends season's greetings from the cosmos
Looking like a colorful holiday card, this image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveals a vibrant green and red nebula far from Earth, where nature seems to have put on the traditional colors of the season. These colors, produced by the light emitted by oxygen and hydrogen, help astronomers investigate the star-forming processes in nebulas such as NGC 2080.
FULL STORY
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Next two space shuttle flights delayed
NASA announced Wednesday that the launch of Columbia to service the Hubble telescope will be delayed a week to Feb. 21 so the replacement of a pointing device can be added to the mission. Also, the launch of Atlantis carrying the first piece of the space station's backbone is slipping two weeks to April 4 so one of the shuttle's maneuvering engine pods can be removed for inspections.
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Lockheed Martin proposes next Landsat mission
A team headed by Lockheed Martin has delivered a proposal to formulate and implement the Landsat Data Continuity Mission to NASA. The mission would be based upon the satellite design employed on the IKONOS Earth-imaging spacecraft.
FULL STORY
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Wednesday:
December 19, 2001 | |
0511 GMT |
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Next space shuttle flight could be delayed
NASA is considering replacing a suspect reaction wheel on the Hubble Space Telescope during the February servicing mission. That late-addition to the flight would force the planned February 14 launch date to slip about two weeks to get the new device readied. Reaction wheels are used to point the observatory.
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Former station residents glad to be home for holidays
Fresh off his four-month voyage in space, Expedition Three commander Frank Culbertson said Tuesday he and his two Russian crewmates were happy to be back on Earth and reunited with their families in time for the holidays.
FULL STORY
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The hunt for source of gamma-ray bursts
After a lonely nine months, Ulysses has a new partner in gamma-ray burst detection. On 21 November, the ESA/NASA spacecraft in orbit high above the Sun's poles, and Mars Odyssey, NASA's spacecraft recently arrived at the Red Planet, detected their first gamma-ray burst together.
FULL STORY
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Tuesday:
December 18, 2001 | |
0400 GMT |
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Endeavour shuttles station crew back to Earth
The shuttle Endeavour glided back to Earth Monday, bringing three space station astronauts back to a starkly different post Sept. 11 world and leaving a fresh crew behind in orbit for a nearly six-month tour of duty. Touchdown occurred on Runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center at 12:55:10 p.m. EST.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
ENTRY AND LANDING TIMELINE
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Video coverage for subscribers only:
VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR LANDS AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER QT or RV
VIDEO: DRAMATIC ONBOARD "PILOT'S POINT OF VIEW" QT or RV
VIDEO: LANDING AS SEEN FROM RUNWAY SOUTH END QT or RV
VIDEO: VIEW OF LANDING FROM RUNWAY NORTH END QT or RV
VIDEO: TOUCHDOWN WITH PADS, VAB IN BACKGROUND QT or RV
VIDEO: SHUTTLE CREW'S POST-LANDING COMMENTS QT or RV
MORE: COMPLETE SFN+ VIDEO INDEX
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NASA to say farewell to Deep Space 1 probe today
NASA's Deep Space 1 probe will receive its final radio command from Earth today, ending a three-year mission that tested new technologies and completed an extraordinary fly-by of comet Borrelly in September.
FULL STORY
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Monday:
December 17, 2001 | |
0150 GMT |
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Shuttle Endeavour ready for trek back to Earth
Weather permitting, Endeavour will return to Earth on Monday to shuttle the Expedition Three astronauts back home after 129 days space, most of which were spent living aboard the international space station. Touchdown is planned for 12:55 p.m. EST (1755 GMT) at Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates
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Geophysicist studies life in the early solar system
Between the cataclysmic impact that created the Moon around 4.5 billion years ago and the first evidence of life 3.8 billion years ago, there may have been long periods during which life repeatedly spread across the globe, only to be nearly annihilated by the impact of large asteroids.
FULL STORY
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Iridium predicts satellites to live through mid-2010
Iridium Satellite LLC says it predicts its constellation of satellites will retain mission functionality into the next decade, based on internal analyses of satellite and operational data, as well as an external study by an independent company.
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.