Sunday: October 13, 2002   0501 GMT Astronauts complete second walk outside station Astronauts David Wolf and Piers Sellers completed a six-hour four-minute spacewalk Saturday, the second of three required to install, outfit and activate a 14.5-ton solar array truss segment on the international space station.    FULL STORY    SPACEWALK PREVIEW STORY Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: STUNNING PANORAMA OF STATION AND SHUTTLE QT or RV    VIDEO: WOLF CLIMBS FROM S1 TO QUEST MODULE QT or RV    VIDEO: SELLERS RIDES STATION ARM QT or RV    VIDEO: SPACEWALKERS SING 'CETA SONG' QT or RV    VIDEO: SATURDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV    VIDEO: PREVIEW OF SECOND SPACEWALK QT or RV    MORE: SEE A FULL LISTING OF STS-112 VIDEO    SUBSCRIBE NOW Exploding star takes astronomers by surprise A partially exploding star, known as a nova, has recovered more quickly than expected, say scientists who have analysed new data from the ESA's XMM-Newton X-ray satellite. Nova explosions are not completely destructive phenomena. In fact, after an explosion occurs, the star recovers and starts shining again.    FULL STORY NASA's future technology architect selected Gary L. Martin has been named to a key new position within the agency designed to help make NASA's future exploration and research goals possible. Martin, who has served as Assistant Associate Administrator for Advanced Systems in NASA's Office of Space Flight, will serve as the agency's Space Architect.    FULL STORY Saturday: October 12, 2002   0423 GMT Crew rested from busy spacewalk, set for another A software glitch that sidelined the space station's robot arm Thursday forced spacewalkers David Wolf and Piers Sellers to complete a tricky bit of station assembly by hand, a tough job that sent their heart rates soaring to some 170 beats per minute, Wolf said Friday. The two men are scheduled to make another spacewalk starting around 10:41 a.m. EDT Saturday.    FULL STORY    SPACEWALK NO. 2 PREVIEW STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN    NASA TV SCHEDULE See more coverage here:       Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: PREVIEW OF SECOND SPACEWALK QT or RV    VIDEO: CBS NEWS INTERVIEW WITH ASTRONAUTS QT or RV    VIDEO: CNN INTERVIEW WITH ASTRONAUTS QT or RV    MORE: SEE A FULL LISTING OF STS-112 VIDEO    SUBSCRIBE NOW Chaos seen in movement of ring-herding Saturn moons Scientists have a new explanation for weird movements of two small moons that shepherd one of Saturn's rings: Pandora, which keeps the narrow F ring from spreading outward, and Prometheus, which rides herd along the same ring's inner edge.    FULL STORY Friday: October 11, 2002   0100 GMT Station backbone grows with new truss segment Astronauts David Wolf and Piers Sellers completed a seven-hour one-minute spacewalk Thursday, successfully wiring up a new 14.5-ton $390 million solar array truss segment that was attached to the international space station earlier in the day.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!    PREVIEW STORY    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN    NASA TV SCHEDULE See more coverage here:       First planet found orbiting close-in binary star Astronomers with the McDonald Observatory Planet Search project have discovered the first planet orbiting a star in a close-in binary star system. The discovery has implications for the number of possible planets in our galaxy, because unlike the Sun, most stars are in binary systems.    FULL STORY Titan's bizarre landscape shaped by internal heat? Six months after NASA's Cassini spacecraft reaches Saturn in July 2004, it will deploy the European Space Agency's Huygens probe to Saturn's largest moon, Titan. A cold, dark, smog-shrouded world nearly half the size of Earth, Titan the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere.    FULL STORY Thursday: October 10, 2002   0200 GMT Station to get next piece of truss backbone Thursday The combined space station and shuttle crews face the busiest day of Atlantis' mission on Thursday with the installation of the S1 truss and a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk to make the initial connection of the electrical cables and data lines needed to bring the girder to life.    PREVIEW STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN    NASA TV SCHEDULE See more coverage here:       Atlantis arrives at station for construction mission The shuttle Atlantis glided to a picture-perfect docking with the international space station Wednesday, capping a flawless two-day orbital ballet that began with blastoff Monday.    FULL STORY    RENDEZVOUS AND DOCKING TIMELINE Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: ATLANTIS APPROACHES STATION QT or RV    VIDEO: ATLANTIS DOCKS TO THE STATION QT or RV    VIDEO: ALTERNATE DOCKING VIEW FROM SHUTTLE QT or RV    VIDEO: MISSION OVERVIEW QT or RV    VIDEO: MEET THE CREW QT or RV    MORE: SEE A FULL LISTING OF STS-112 VIDEO    SUBSCRIBE NOW Global warming on Pluto Pluto is undergoing global warming, as evidenced by a three-fold increase in the planet's atmospheric pressure during the past 14 years, a team of astronomers announced Wednesday.    FULL STORY Delta 4 set for engine firing; launch date moved Boeing is making final preparations for a Delta 4 countdown dress rehearsal Monday that will culminate with a brief ignition of the inaugural rocket's main engine on pad 37B at Cape Canaveral. Meanwhile, officials are delaying the debut launch from Nov. 3 to around Nov. 16.    ARCHIVED DELTA 4 COVERAGE NASA awards contract to Boeing NASA has awarded Boeing Space and Communications Group, Houston, a $201.5 million contract to perform payload-engineering integration, mission integration and payload operations work for the International Space Station.    FULL STORY Wednesday: October 9, 2002   0109 GMT Atlantis crew makes ready for station rendezvous The crew of space shuttle Atlantis spent their first full day in orbit preparing their gear for Wednesday's planned space station docking and their mission to install the S1 truss. The docking is scheduled for 11:24 a.m. EDT (1524 GMT).    MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!    MISSION PREVIEW    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN    NASA TV SCHEDULE See more coverage here:       Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: MISSION OVERVIEW QT or RV    VIDEO: MEET THE CREW QT or RV    MORE: SEE A FULL LISTING OF STS-112 VIDEO    SUBSCRIBE NOW 'Shuttlecam' captures never before seen view of launch The world got to hitch a ride aboard space shuttle Atlantis when it thundered from Earth to space Monday thanks to a small video camera mounted to the external fuel tank. This is a collection of images from the video.    PHOTO GALLERY    VIDEO LISTING Video coverage for subscribers only:    ONBOARD CAMERA: VIDEO OF ATLANTIS' LIFTOFF QT or RV    ONBOARD CAMERA: OUR OPTIMIZED MOVIE THRU SRB SEP QT or RV    ONBOARD CAMERA: ATLANTIS SEPARATES FROM TANK QT or RV    VIDEO: CREW GETS REPORT ON SHUTTLECAM QT or RV    MORE: SEE A FULL LISTING OF STS-112 VIDEO    SUBSCRIBE NOW Shuttle Atlantis blasts off After a frustrating summer of delays to fix potentially dangerous fuel line cracks, the shuttle Atlantis roared away Monday on a critical mission to deliver a 14-ton section of the international space station's main solar array truss.    FULL STORY    LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: LIFTOFF AS SEEN LIVE ON NASA TV QT or RV    VIDEO: 3-MINUTE MOVIE FROM BEACH TRACKER QT or RV    VIDEO: POWERFUL PLAYALINDA TRACKER FOLLOWS SHUTTLE QT or RV    VIDEO: PAYLOAD BAY DOORS OPENED IN SPACE QT or RV    MORE: SEE A FULL LISTING OF STS-112 VIDEO    SUBSCRIBE NOW Scientists race to observe fading gamma-ray burst Scientists have seen the afterglow of a gamma-ray burst just nine minutes after the explosion, a result of precision coordination and fast slewing of ground-based telescopes upon detection of the burst by NASA's High-Energy Transient Explorer (HETE) satellite.    FULL STORY Images show cold hole over Jupiter's north pole Observations with two NASA telescopes show that Jupiter has an arctic polar vortex similar to a vortex over Earth's Antarctica that enables depletion of Earth's stratospheric ozone.    FULL STORY Tuesday: October 8, 2002   1050 GMT Shuttle Atlantis blasts off With a video camera mounted to its external fuel tank to capture a stunning view, space shuttle Atlantis set sail on an 11-day voyage at 3:46 p.m. EDT Monday to install the next piece of the international space station's truss backbone.    LAUNCH STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!    LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN    NASA TV SCHEDULE See more coverage here:       Video coverage for subscribers only:    ONBOARD CAMERA: VIDEO OF ATLANTIS' LIFTOFF QT or RV    ONBOARD CAMERA: OUR OPTIMIZED MOVIE THRU SRB SEP QT or RV    VIDEO: ANIMATION PREVIEW OF VIEW FROM SHUTTLECAM QT or RV    VIDEO: LIFTOFF AS SEEN LIVE ON NASA TV QT or RV    VIDEO: 3-MINUTE MOVIE FROM BEACH TRACKER QT or RV    VIDEO: POWERFUL PLAYALINDA TRACKER FOLLOWS SHUTTLE QT or RV    VIDEO: CLOSE UP VIEW OF ENGINE START QT or RV    VIDEO: SCENE FROM CAMERA ATOP WATER TOWER QT or RV    VIDEO: VIEW FROM VAB ROOF CAMERA QT or RV    VIDEO: PAD PERIMETER CAMERA VIEW QT or RV    VIDEO: VIEW FROM IN FRONT OF PAD QT or RV    VIDEO: ANGLE FROM WEST OF THE PAD QT or RV    VIDEO: LAUNCH REPLAY FROM PRESS SITE QT or RV    VIDEO: LAUNCH PAD ENGINEERING CAMERA 171 QT or RV    VIDEO: PAYLOAD BAY DOORS OPENED IN SPACE QT or RV    VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS DEPART FOR THE LAUNCH PAD QT or RV    VIDEO: NASA's SUNDAY LAUNCH STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV    MORE: SEE A FULL LISTING OF STS-112 VIDEO    SUBSCRIBE NOW Hubble spots an icy world far beyond Pluto Astronomers have discovered a distant body that appears to be the largest object in the Kuiper Belt, a body half the size of Pluto that raises new questions about the definition of a planet. The icy world 2002 LM60 has been dubbed "Quaoar".    FULL STORY    NASA NEWS RELEASE STORY Astronomers slice and dice galaxies New views of star birth and the heart of a spiral galaxy have been seen by a state-of-the-art astronomical instrument on its first night. The new spectrometer has a revolutionary ability to 'slice' any object in the sky into sections, producing a three dimensional view of the conditions throughout entire galaxies in a single observation.    FULL STORY Monday: October 7, 2002   0138 GMT Atlantis to fly Monday NASA has announced the actual launch time for Monday's start of space shuttle Atlantis' 11-day mission to loft the next truss structure to the international space station. There are two technical problems being reported in the countdown. The weather forecast is favorable. See our Mission Status Center for the latest:    MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!    LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN    NASA TV SCHEDULE See more coverage here:       Transit authority model eyed for space shuttle NASA will examine shifting shuttle management to a corporate "space authority," similar to a ground-based regional mass transit authority, as part of assessments on how to restructure the shuttle program for an additional 20 years of operation.    FULL STORY				News Archive Sept. 30-Oct. 6: Hurricane delays launch of Atlantis; Camera eyes dusty spirals in Milky Way center; Chandra discovers history of black hole X-ray jets; Odd couple widely separated by time, space; Astronomers put quasars in their place; Boeing tests changes to Delta 4 countdown software. Sept. 23-29: Atlantis to launch outward extension of station truss; Climate model for Earth also describes changes on Mars; Air Force grounds weather satellite launch again; New Russian resupply ship en route to space station; Avoiding the fate of the dinosaurs. Sept. 16-22: Hubble discovers black holes in unexpected places; Spanish satellite soars aboard Atlas 2AS rocket; 'Runaway universe' may collapse in 10 billion years; Station resident named first 'ISS Science Officer'; Satellite data credited in earthquake breakthrough; Secrets of the Crab revealed. More news  See our weekly archive of space news. The ultimate Apollo 11 DVD This exceptional chronicle of the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing mission features new digital transfers of film and television coverage unmatched by any other.  U.S. STORE  U.K. WORLDWIDE STORE Contact us If you have a comment or question for Spaceflight Now, just send us an e-mail.