Sunday: February 24, 2002   0314 GMT Shuttle astronauts to give Hubble telescope makeover Taking a break from space station assembly work, NASA is gearing up for the next Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, a high-stakes five-spacewalk flight to install new solar arrays, a critical power switching unit and a new camera to extend the observatory's scientific reach. Liftoff is scheduled for 6:48 a.m. EST on Thursday.    FULL STORY    COMPREHENSIVE MISSION FLIGHT PLAN    QUICK LOOK FACTS AND FIGURES    LAUNCH COUNTDOWN TIMELINE    DAILY LAUNCH WINDOWS    ASCENT EVENTS CHART More mission coverage here:       Advanced camera will give new view of Universe NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has been pushing the frontiers of astronomy since its launch in 1990. Now its time to expand Hubble's vision even further during Servicing Mission 3B. Set for launch Thursday, the mission will give the orbital observatory a series of midlife upgrades that includes the Advanced Camera for Surveys, a new instrument package that will increase Hubble's already formidable capacity for discoveries tenfold.    FULL STORY Image previews Hubble's restored infrared vision The University of Arizona-built 'infrared eyes' of the Hubble Space Telescope will be reopened to the universe in the NASA's next shuttle mission. A new infrared image of the "Pillars of Creation" is a glimpse of what is to come.    FULL STORY Saturday: February 23, 2002   0807 GMT European Ariane 4 rocket launches from Kourou The deployment of Intelsat's latest generation of telecommunications satellites continued this morning with the successful launch of the Intelsat 904 spacecraft aboard an Ariane 4 rocket.    MISSION STATUS CENTER Chandra sees bow shock in a merging galaxy cluster Chandra's image of the extremely hot galaxy cluster 1E0657-56 reveals a bow-shaped shock wave toward the right side of the cluster. This feature, thought to be the result of the merger of a smaller group or sub-cluster of galaxies, gives astronomers a rare opportunity to study how clusters grow.    FULL STORY Radiation test conducted during spacewalk Scientists collected their first spacesuited data with the EVA Radiation Monitoring Experiment during Wednesday's six-hour spacewalk by Flight Engineers Dan Bursch and Carl Walz. The experiment is the first radiation-monitoring device to measure dosage received by the eyes, internal organs and skin during specific spacewalks.    MISSION STATUS CENTER Friday: February 22, 2002   0522 GMT Lockheed Martin Atlas 3B rocket has successful debut After more than 40 years of flights using numerous reincarnations, the evolution of the American Atlas rocket took another step Thursday with the successful maiden launch of the largest and most powerful version of the storied booster - the Atlas 3B.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: 3 1/2 MINUTE REPLAY OF ATLAS 3B LAUNCH QT or RV    VIDEO: OFFICIALS DECLARE LAUNCH SUCCESSFUL QT or RV    AUDIO: LISTEN TO ENTIRE POST-LAUNCH NEWS BRIEFING QT or RV    VIDEO: ATLAS ROCKET PRE-LAUNCH PROCESSING QT or RV    VIDEO: ECHOSTAR 7 PRE-LAUNCH PROCESSING QT or RV Team plots a faster path to Pluto for robotic probe New Horizons mission planners have developed a new strategy that could trim nearly a year off their original schedule to send a spacecraft to the solar system's outermost planet. Now in preliminary development for NASA, New Horizons would be the first mission to explore Pluto and its moon, Charon, as well as the ancient Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond the planets.    FULL STORY Black hole, star remnant tango may explain explosion Gamma-ray bursts, extremely powerful explosions occurring in distant parts of the universe, may be the energetic offspring of a cosmic dance between black holes and their dance-partner stars, said scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Tel Aviv University.    FULL STORY Boeing restructures its satellite operations A restructuring of the satellite operations of Boeing Space and Communications will enable the world's leading satellite provider to position itself to compete more aggressively in a highly competitive market.Approximately 11 percent of jobs will be reduced, including 900 in El Segundo and 150 in Torrance.    FULL STORY Thursday: February 21, 2002   0224 GMT Artemis satellite starts its journey to final orbit Thanks to ion propulsion, the Artemis mission is turning near-defeat into a success story. Nominal operations could start this summer, with ESA's satellite, manufactured by Alenia Spazio as prime contractor, playing a significant role in the pursuit of high technology and advanced telecommunications.    FULL STORY Mars Odyssey begins mapping of the Red Planet NASA's Mars Odyssey spacecraft has begun its science mapping mission. The spacecraft turned its science instruments toward Mars on Monday. Flight controllers report that the thermal emission imaging system was turned on Tuesday morning. The camera system will go through a period of calibration before the first science images are taken during the next few days. The first images will be released at a news conference on March 1.    FULL STORY    GAMMA RAY SPECTROMETER UPDATE Spacewalkers test U.S. airlock aboard station Alpha On the 40th anniversary of John Glenn becoming the first American to orbit the Earth, the two U.S. crewmembers of the International Space Station made a successful spacewalk Wednesday to set the stage for the next assembly mission to the outpost.    MISSION STATUS CENTER Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: SPACEWALKERS' TRIBUTE TO GLENN QT or RV Wednesday: February 20, 2002   0525 GMT Spacewalkers to test U.S. airlock aboard station Alpha On this 40th anniversary of John Glenn becoming the first American to orbit the Earth, the two U.S. crewmembers of the International Space Station will take a six-and-a-half hour spacewalk today to set the stage for the next assembly mission to the outpost. The walk is slated to begin at 7:10 a.m. EST (1210 GMT).    MISSION STATUS CENTER Floods at Mars' equator are recent, scientists say Not only lava, but water has recently flooded from fissures near Mars' equator, University of Arizona scientists have discovered. And they're not talking about a trickle. They're talking possibly one and a quarter times as much water as in Lake Erie.    FULL STORY Door opens for Mars science Mars Odyssey today is a step closer toward its mission to map the Red Planet. The door to the craft's Gamma Ray Spectrometer science package was opened this week in preparation to begin collecting gamma rays.    FULL STORY Tuesday: February 19, 2002   0501 GMT New version of Atlas rocket ready for maiden flight Lockheed Martin's Atlas 3B rocket is poised to make its premiere flight Thursday, lofting a direct-to-home TV broadcasting satellite into space and proving the new "stretched" version of the venerable Centaur upper stage works in preparation for its use on the next-generation Atlas 5.    MISSION STATUS CENTER Ariane 4 rocket set to launch Intelsat 904 satellite Work in the South American jungle is in the final stages as Arianespace gears up for Wednesday's predawn launch of an Ariane 4 rocket carrying an international telecommunications satellite for operator Intelsat. Liftoff is scheduled for 0659 GMT (1:59 a.m. EST).    MISSION STATUS CENTER Scientists detect afterglow of short gamma-ray bursts In the powerful, fast-fading realm of gamma-ray bursts, scientists say they have detected for the first time a lingering afterglow of the shortest types of bursts, which themselves disappear within a second.    FULL STORY Alien life more likely to be found outside solar system The chance of detecting life outside our own solar system probably is greater than discovering it on neighboring planets and moons like Mars or Europa, a moon of Jupiter, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder professor.    FULL STORY Monday: February 18, 2002   0400 GMT Wiring mistake doomed launch of Japanese craft Human error during the designing of an experimental satellite caused its failure to separate from Japan's H-2A rocket following launch earlier this month, a Japanese newspaper reported over the weekend. The finding clears the H-2A rocket itself of blame in the mishap.    MISSION STATUS CENTER Scientists seek second generation space plants The Advanced Astroculture experiment was successfully activated Wednesday to learn whether seeds from plants grown aboard the International Space Station last year will grow normally and produce second-generation space seeds.    FULL STORY Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: PREVIEW OF WEDNESDAY'S STATION SPACEWALK QT or RV    VIDEO: NASA MANAGERS UPDATE STATUS OF STATION QT or RV    VIDEO: STATUS OF STATION SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS QT or RV    MORE: COMPLETE SFN+ VIDEO INDEX				A Year in Space Astronomy Now and Spaceflight Now present a 100-page, full-color special publication: 2001: a Year in Space. A stunning month-by-month pictorial record of the space events and discoveries during 2001. Available now from our store.  U.S. STORE  WORLDWIDE STORE Earlier news Feb. 11-17: Delta 2 rocket launches quintet of Iridium satellites; Cassini studies ripples in the fabric of space and time; Global Surveyor sees changes of Martian ice cap; Weather satellite removed from rocket for repairs. Feb. 4-10: HESSI solar explorer finally launched by Pegasus rocket; NASA emphasizes basics in 2003 budget proposal; Reentry satellite lost during launch of H-2A rocket; Tides of Jovian moon Europa might support life. Jan. 28-Feb. 3: Updates on new Boeing Delta 4 and Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 rockets; Dennis Tito cautious about space tourism future; Impressive new images released of Saturn and Io. 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