Sunday: November 10, 2002   0100 GMT Soyuz returns to Earth; Endeavour ready to fly Two cosmonauts and a Belgian astronaut undocked from the international space station aboard the Soyuz TM-34 capsule today and landed in central Asia a few hours later. Meanwhile, shuttle Endeavour's countdown is ticking smoothly toward launch at 12:58:40 a.m. EST Monday.    FULL STORY - updated! Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: TAXI CREW BOARDS SOYUZ AND CLOSE HATCHWAY QT or RV    VIDEO: SOYUZ TM-34 UNDOCKS FROM STATION QT or RV    SUBSCRIBE NOW NASA statement on space transportation plan The Administration is preparing a change to its Fiscal Year 2003 budget to implement a new Integrated Space Transportation Plan (ISTP) and ensure the space station is properly financed and better positioned to achieve its scientific research priorities.    FULL STORY Saturday: November 9, 2002   0240 GMT NASA starts countdown for Monday's shuttle blastoff The shuttle Endeavour's countdown began early Friday for blastoff Monday on a year-ending flight to the international space station. The 11-day mission will rotate the station's resident crews and install a 28,000-pound truss.    FULL STORY    MISSION FACTS AND FIGURES    DETAILED MISSION FLIGHT PLAN    SHUTTLE LAUNCH TIMELINE    COMPLETE VIDEO LISTING See more coverage here:       Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: SATURDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV    VIDEO: PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE QT or RV    VIDEO: FRIDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV    VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE AT KSC FOR LAUNCH QT or RV    SUBSCRIBE NOW Mars glows in X-rays This remarkable Chandra image gave scientists their first look at X-rays from Mars. In the sparse upper atmosphere of Mars, about 75 miles above its surface, the observed X-rays are produced by fluorescent radiation from oxygen atoms.    FULL STORY NASA's George Abbey announces retirement In a distinguished federal service career that spanned a half-century, George W.S. Abbey has announced his retirement from NASA, effective January 3, 2003.    FULL STORY Friday: November 8, 2002   0031 GMT Hubble shows an old star that gave up the ghost NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has recently obtained images of the planetary nebula NGC 6369. This object is known to amateur astronomers as the "Little Ghost Nebula," because it appears as a small, ghostly cloud surrounding the faint, dying central star. NGC 6369 lies between about 2,000 and 5,000 light-years from Earth.    FULL STORY Europe heads to Venus Officials in charge of the European Space Agency's science programs have finally fully approved development of Venus Express, a newly added mission to the agency's ambitious plans over the coming decade.    FULL STORY Shuttle launch countdown to begin Friday Under its veil of secrecy, NASA will start the countdown sometime Friday for the upcoming launch of space shuttle Endeavour to carry the next resident crew to the space station and deliver a 28,000-pound truss structure. Liftoff will occur sometime between 12 and 4 a.m. EST (0500-0900 GMT) Monday from Kennedy Space Center's pad 39A.    FULL COVERAGE    MISSION VIDEO LISTING See more coverage here:       Thursday: November 7, 2002   0122 GMT Space's exotic matter A fraction of a second after the Big Bang, all the primordial soup of matter in the Universe was 'broken' into its most fundamental constituents. It was thought to have disappeared forever. However scientists strongly suspect that the exotic soup of dissolved matter can still be found in today's Universe, in the core of certain very dense objects called neutron stars.    FULL STORY    RELEASE WITH MORE DETAILS Stunning views of Mt. Etna eruption from space station The International Space Station's Expedition Five crew was able to observe last week's spectacular eruption of Mount Etna and photograph the details of the plume and smoke from fires triggered by the lava as it flowed down the 11,000-foot mountain.    FULL STORY Galileo enters safe mode during last science mission NASA's long-lived Galileo spacecraft achieved partial success in a dash through Jupiter's inner radiation belts and past the small moon Amalthea on Tuesday, its final flyby before a deliberate impact into Jupiter next September.    FULL STORY Wednesday: November 6, 2002   0100 GMT Cargo mounted atop Delta 4 as debut launch nears With less than two weeks until its much-anticipated first flight, the Boeing Delta 4 rocket was fitted with its commercial communications satellite cargo Tuesday at Cape Canaveral's launch pad 37B.    FULL STORY    ARCHIVED DELTA 4 COVERAGE Everyone wants gamma-ray eyes Even before ESA's Integral gamma-ray observatory was launched, astronomers were competing to win time to use this state-of-the-art observatory. Unlike the serene beauty of the night sky that we see with our eyes, gamma rays reveal the violent activity of a hostile cosmos.    FULL STORY Lovell Telescope presents a new face to the Universe After many months of unseen work, the University of Manchester's giant Lovell Telescope at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire is again scanning the skies with a brand new, pristine white, surface.    FULL STORY Tuesday: November 5, 2002   0233 GMT Interview with station residents Spaceflight Now had an exclusive live interview with International Space Station commander Valery Korzun and NASA Science Officer Peggy Whitson on Monday. During the 18-minute chat, the two Expedition 5 crew members discussed the accomplishments of their five-month voyage, life away from the planet and much more.    VIDEO: WATCH THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW QT or RV Stardust's images of asteroid Annefrank released All systems on NASA's Stardust spacecraft performed successfully when tested in a flyby of asteroid Annefrank, heightening anticipation for Stardust's encounter with its primary target, comet Wild 2, 14 months from now. As a bonus, Stardust discovered that Annefrank is about twice the size anticipated, but with a dimmer surface. The dimmer surface increased the challenge of sighting the object as the spacecraft approached.    FULL STORY Most powerful magnet found in the Universe Scientists have identified the most magnetic object known in the Universe, the result of the first direct measurement of a magnetic field around a peculiar neutron star first observed nearly 25 years ago. It is believed this star's magnetic field to be up to 10 times more powerful than previously thought -- with a force strong enough to slow a steel locomotive from as far away as the Moon.    FULL STORY Gravity waves to open a 'completely new sense' Sometime within the next two years, researchers will detect the first signals of gravity waves -- those weak blips from the far edges of the Universe passing through our bodies every second. Predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity, gravity waves are expected to reveal, ultimately, previously unattainable mysteries of the Universe.    FULL STORY Volcanic eruption in Ecuador seen from space NASA's Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) on board the Orbview 2 satellite captured this image of brown smoke shooting through the white clouds after the weekend eruption of a volcano in Ecuador.    FULL STORY Monday: November 4, 2002   0001 GMT A spectacular solar show Not to be outdone by fall's explosion of color, the Sun issued a series of spectacular solar eruptions, which were photographed by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. These beautiful but violent solar events are important to solar science and can affect high-technology systems.    FULL STORY Glasgow astronomers explain hot star disks Astronomers have been puzzled for decades as to how the rings of hot gas surrounding certain types of star are formed. Now scientists from the Universities of Glasgow and Wisconsin believe they have found the answer.    FULL STORY NASA joins international ozone study in Arctic NASA researchers will join more than 350 scientists from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Poland, Russia and Switzerland this winter to measure ozone and other atmospheric gases using aircraft, large and small balloons, ground-based instruments and satellites.    FULL STORY				News Archive Oct. 28-Nov. 3: Stardust zooms past asteroid Annefrank; Saturn-bound Cassini probe sees its destination; Soyuz taxi crew launches; Red freckles on Europa suggest 'lava lamp' action; Satellite sees 200-mile ash, smoke plume from Mt. Etna; GPS launch on hold after Delta 2 rocket damaged; Kuiper Belt implicated in cosmic rays mystery; Solid-fueled booster a step closer to Atlas 5 use. Oct. 21-27: Scientists boost tally of moons around Uranus; New way of finding planets; Dark matter reality check; Surfing a black hole; Integral makes its first measurements. Oct. 14-20: Soldier killed in Soyuz explosion; Delta 4 rocket fires engine on the launch pad; Atlantis returns to Earth; Galaxy merger leaves behind telltale blue arc; European gamma ray observatory launched; Clouds found floating high above Milky Way. 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.