Sunday: December 8, 2002   0601 GMT Endeavour shuttles station residents back to Earth Running three days late, the shuttle Endeavour finally glided back to Earth Saturday - just one day before the astronauts would have run out of clean air - leaving a fresh crew behind on the international space station and bringing their three predecessors home after a marathon six-month stay in orbit.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates    ENTRY AND LANDING TIMELINE See more coverage here:       Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: TWO-MINUTE CLIP OF ENDEAVOUR'S LANDING QT or RV    VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR MAKES TURN TO ALIGN WITH RUNWAY QT or RV    VIDEO: ONBOARD CAMERA VIEW OF APPROACH AND LANDING QT or RV    VIDEO: LANDING REPLAY FROM RUNWAY MID-FIELD QT or RV    VIDEO: INFRARED CAMERA FOOTAGE OF LANDING QT or RV    VIDEO: VIEW FROM SOUTH-END OF RUNWAY QT or RV    VIDEO: VIEW FROM NORTH-END OF RUNWAY QT or RV    VIDEO: VEHICLE ASSEMBLY BUILDING ROOF CAMERA QT or RV    VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR LANDING WITH PADS IN BACKGROUND QT or RV    VIDEO: POST-LANDING SPACE SHUTTLE PROGRAM UPDATE QT or RV    VIDEO: ENGINES MOVED TO 'RAIN DRAIN' POSITION QT or RV    SUBSCRIBE NOW Saturn's moon Titan may hold clues to origin of life Enshrouded in an atmosphere impenetrable to the visible light, Saturn's largest moon has never revealed its surface. No one has been able to see through the orange-brown atmospheric haze and admire the unknown world below.    FULL STORY Saturday: December 7, 2002   0237 GMT Endeavour landing scrubbed for third day The shuttle Endeavour's hard-luck crew was forced to pass up two more Florida landing opportunities Friday because of dismal weather at the Kennedy Space Center. The astronauts now are setting their sights on a landing Saturday, in Florida or California, to finally bring their marathon mission to a close after a record fourth extension day.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates Space station action plan approved The leaders of the five space agencies that are International Partners in the International Space Station met Friday in Tokyo and concluded work on the 2002 Program Action Plan.    FULL STORY NASA selects four Mars Scout concepts for study In the first step of a two-step process, NASA selected four proposals for detailed study as candidates for the 2007 "Scout" mission in the agency's Mars Exploration Program. The selection process is the first fully competed opportunity for scientific missions to the Red Planet.    FULL STORY Friday: December 6, 2002   0230 GMT Shuttle Endeavour landing delayed to Friday Slim hopes dashed, NASA managers Thursday morning ordered the shuttle Endeavour's crew to forego any afternoon landing attempts and to remain in orbit until at least Friday because of low clouds, high winds and rain at the Kennedy Space Center.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates    WEDNESDAY'S LANDING DELAY STORY    LANDING PREVIEW STORY    ENTRY AND LANDING TIMELINE    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN    NASA TV SCHEDULE See more coverage here:       Hubble sees double bubble in neighboring galaxy A unique peanut-shaped cocoon of dust, called a reflection nebula, surrounds a cluster of young, hot stars in this view from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The "double bubble," called N30B, is inside a larger nebula. Hubble captures the glow of fluorescing hydrogen and sulfur, as well as the brilliant blue-white colors of the hot stars.    FULL STORY New research explores past, present water on Mars A pair of studies published this week reveals that while Mars may not have been as warm and wet as once thought, it does have substantial amounts of water ice, including newly-discovered deposits near the planet's south pole.    FULL STORY Thursday: December 5, 2002   00757 GMT NASA communications relay craft rides Atlas into space Blasted into orbit Wednesday by Lockheed Martin's final Atlas 2A booster, an advanced replacement satellite is en route to join NASA's flotilla of communications spacecraft designed to relay Hubble's dazzling views of the cosmos, link astronauts and mission control and track launching rockets.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER    LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE    TDRS-J FACT SHEET Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: ATLAS 2A ROCKET BLASTS OFF WITH TDRS-J QT or RV    VIDEO: CLOSE UP VIEW OF MAIN ENGINE IGNITION QT or RV    VIDEO: VIEW OF LAUNCH FROM THE PRESS SITE QT or RV    VIDEO: PLAYALINDA BEACH CAMERA ANGLE QT or RV    VIDEO: ANOTHER ANGLE OF THE LIFTOFF QT or RV    VIDEO: CAMERA LOCATED IN CAPE INDUSTRIAL AREA QT or RV    VIDEO: POWERFUL TRACKING CAMERA FOLLOWS ROCKET QT or RV    VIDEO: MOBILE SERVICE TOWER ROLLED BACK FOR LAUNCH QT or RV    VIDEO: WATCH ENTIRE PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE QT or RV    SUBSCRIBE NOW Shuttle Endeavour's landing delayed at least 24 hours Entry flight director Wayne Hale, faced with deteriorating weather at the Kennedy Space Center, called off a second attempt to land the shuttle Endeavour Wednesday and delayed re-entry at least 24 hours. NASA's Spaceflight Meteorology Group is predicting solidly "no-go" conditions Thursday, raising the prospect of a delay to at least Friday and possibly longer.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates    LANDING PREVIEW STORY    ENTRY AND LANDING TIMELINE    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN    NASA TV SCHEDULE Wednesday: December 4, 2002   0450 GMT Endeavour homeward bound, weather permitting While there's a chance of rain and even thundershowers near the Kennedy Space Center this afternoon, NASA Spaceflight Meteorology Group is predicting a 70 percent chance of acceptable weather for the shuttle Endeavour's planned landing. Touchdown on runway 15 is targeted for 3:48 p.m. EST.    FULL STORY    ENTRY AND LANDING TIMELINE    MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN    NASA TV SCHEDULE Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: PRE-LANDING MISSION STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV    VIDEO: CREW INTERVIEW BY CBS NEWS QT or RV    VIDEO: TULSA WORLD INTERVIEW QT or RV    SUBSCRIBE NOW Crew looks ahead to landing Shuttle commander James Wetherbee says his crew has more than enough food, fuel and other supplies to remain in orbit a few extra days if the weather doesn't permit an on-time landing Wednesday. But just in case, the shuttle skipper said the crew is foregoing second helpings.    FULL STORY Station arm transporter to be moved before spacewalk NASA flight controllers now plan to move the space station's $190 million robot arm transporter back to its central work site on the lab's solar array truss just before a spacewalk Dec. 12 by Expedition 6 commander Kenneth Bowersox and flight engineer Nikolai Budarin.    FULL STORY Atlas rocket to launch NASA's TDRS-J satellite The last in the line of Lockheed Martin Atlas 2A rockets will fly tonight, if all goes according to plan, to launch the final satellite in NASA's advanced series of tracking and data relay spacecraft. Liftoff is scheduled for 9:42 p.m. EST from Cape Canaveral, Florida.    MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!    LATEST WEATHER FORECAST    LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE    TDRS-J FACT SHEET Tuesday: December 3, 2002   0607 GMT Endeavour leaves station With pilot Paul Lockhart at the controls, the shuttle Endeavour undocked from the international space station Monday, leaving a fresh three-man crew behind and ending seven days of work to install and activate a new solar array truss segment. Later in the day, the shuttle launched two tiny picosats connected by a 50-foot tether.    FULL STORY    UNDOCKING PREVIEW STORY    UNDOCKING TIMELINE Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: FAREWELL CEREMONY IN DESTINY LAB MODULE QT or RV    VIDEO: ENDEAVOUR'S UNDOCKING AS SEEN FROM STATION QT or RV    VIDEO: VIEW OF STATION FROM DEPARTING SHUTTLE QT or RV    VIDEO: TETHERED PICOSATS LAUNCHED FROM ENDEAVOUR QT or RV    VIDEO: ANIMATION OF MEPSI PICOSAT DEPLOYMENT QT or RV    VIDEO: MONDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV    SUBSCRIBE NOW Hubble precisely measures distant planet's true mass Hubble Space Telescope's crisp view has allowed an international team of astronomers to apply a previously unproven technique (called astrometry) for making a precise measurement of the mass of a planet outside our solar system.    FULL STORY Simulating cosmic explosions A $22 million contract from the U.S. Department of Energy will help the University of Chicago's Center for Astrophysical Thermonuclear Flashes model the turbulent mix and flow of gases that trigger exploding stars over the next five years.    FULL STORY Monday: December 2, 2002   0501 GMT NASA's TDRS-J satellite to launch Wednesday The third member in a trio of advanced tracking and data relay spacecraft for NASA heads into orbit this week, joining a satellite constellation that has linked Earth and space for nearly 20 years. The TDRS-J satellite is scheduled for blastoff at 9:42 p.m. EST Wednesday aboard an Atlas 2A rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.    MISSION STATUS CENTER    LATEST WEATHER FORECAST    TDRS-J FACT SHEET    LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE				News Archive Nov. 25-Dec. 1: Russian Proton mission fails; Go for a ride on Endeavour; New station crew takes over; Station grows with addition of another truss; Ariane 5 launch aborted. Nov. 18-24: Boeing's Delta 4 rocket debuts successfully; Endeavour launches to continue building station; Fast-flying black hole yields clues to supernova origin; Two supermassive black holes found in same galaxy. Nov. 11-17: Boeing delays debut launch of Delta 4 rocket; Endeavour launch delayed by oxygen leak, robot arm accident; Exceptionally bright eruption on Jovian moon Io; New evidence for dark energy in the Universe; Black hole at Milky Way's center is on starvation diet. Nov. 4-10: A spectacular solar show; Soyuz returns to Earth; Endeavour ready to fly; Mars glows in X-rays; Hubble shows an old star that gave up the ghost; Stunning views of Mt. Etna eruption from space station; Galileo enters safe mode during last science mission; Cargo mounted atop Delta 4 as debut launch nears. 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.