Sunday: May 4, 2003   0630 GMT Off-target Soyuz found after hours of searching An upgraded Russian Soyuz TMA spacecraft carrying three returning space station fliers landed some 285 miles short of its target in Kazakhstan, kicking off a hurried search that raised post-Columbia concern among U.S. observers.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates    LANDING PREVIEW STORY    UNDOCKING AND LANDING TIMELINE    GRAPHICAL PREVIEW OF SOYUZ HOMECOMING    MAP OF LANDING ZONE IN KAZAKHSTAN Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: WATCH THE CHANGE-OF-COMMAND CEREMONY QT    VIDEO: NASA ADMINISTRATOR SEAN O'KEEFE CALLS THE STATION QT    VIDEO: EXPEDITION 6 CREW BIDS FAREWELL AND BOARDS SOYUZ QT    VIDEO: 5-MINUTE REPLAY OF SOYUZ TMA-1 UNDOCKING QT    VIDEO: 'THE EARLY SHOW' INTERVIEW WITH STATION CREWS QT    VIDEO: LIVE CREW INTERVIEW BY CNN'S MILES O'BRIEN QT    COMPLETE VIDEO LISTING    SUBSCRIBE NOW Saturday: May 3, 2003   0001 GMT Outgoing station crew returns to Earth today After more than five months living in space, the Expedition 6 crew of commander Ken Bowersox, flight engineer Nikolai Budarin and science officer Don Pettit will depart the international space station aboard the Russian Soyuz TMA-1 capsule today for landing on the steppes of Kazakhstan.    MISSION STATUS CENTER    UNDOCKING AND LANDING TIMELINE    SPACE STATION VIDEO COLLECTION Finding ashes of first stars Recent observations with the Hubble Space Telescope suggest that the first stars formed as little as 200 million years after the Big Bang. This is much earlier than previously thought. Astronomers have observed large amounts of iron in the ultraluminous light from very distant, ancient quasars. This iron is the "ashes" left from supernova explosions in the very first generation of stars.    FULL STORY Friday: May 2, 2003   0215 GMT Full video coverage of Expedition 7 launch Video coverage of the Expedition 7 crew's pre-flight preparations, launch aboard the Russian Soyuz capsule, docking to the space station and joint activities with Expedition 6 is available to Spaceflight Now Plus users.    SEE VIDEO COLLECTION    PEGASUS/GALEX LAUNCH COLLECTION Freewheeling galaxies collide in blaze of star birth A dusty spiral galaxy appears to be rotating on edge, like a pinwheel, as it slides through the larger, bright galaxy NGC 1275 in this NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. Taken with the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, the image shows traces of spiral structure accompanied by dramatic dust lanes and bright blue regions that mark areas of active star formation.    FULL STORY Scientist sees evidence of 'onions' in space Scientists may have peeled away another layer of mystery about materials floating in deep space. Tiny multilayered balls called "carbon onions," produced in laboratory studies, appear to have the same light-absorption characteristics as dust particles in the regions between the stars.    FULL STORY Thursday: May 1, 2003   0001 GMT Columbia could not be saved, NASA study shows As NASA and independent investigators close in on the root cause of the Columbia disaster, one question lingers in the minds of many armchair analysts: What, if anything, could have been done to save the crew if engineers had known early on that the orbiter had a non-survivable breach in the leading edge of its left wing?    FULL STORY See more coverage here:       Hubble gyroscope fails; no impact to science The Hubble Space Telescope went into "zero gyro safemode," a form of electronic hibernation, early Tuesday when one of the three stabilizing gyroscopes then in operation failed. The telescope is programmed to stop science observations, spin down its remaining gyros and go into safe mode whenever fewer than three gyros are running.    FULL STORY Early Universe sheds light on how elements form New information from a distant corner of the Universe may lead to a fuller understanding of how the elements of the periodic table -- which make up all the familiar matter in the Universe -- come to be.    FULL STORY Wednesday: April 30, 2003   0310 GMT Breach moves slightly inboard; key tests on tap Ongoing analysis of recovered debris from the shuttle Columbia indicates the deadly breach in the ship's left wing may have been centered on a broken leading edge panel and not slightly outboard at a so-called "T-seal" as investigators were thinking last week, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board said Tuesday.    FULL STORY Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: THIS WEEK'S COLUMBIA BOARD NEWS CONFERENCE QT    SUBSCRIBE NOW BeppoSAX takes the plunge A defunct Italian research satellite fell from orbit Tuesday and spread debris across the Pacific Ocean, ending a potential scare to more than 30 nations along the equator that were under the craft's orbital flight path before re-entry.    FULL STORY The search for the missing mass of the Universe The Universe around us is not what it appears. The stars make up less than 1 percent of its mass; all the gas clouds and other objects, less than 5 percent. This visible matter is mere flotsam on a sea of unknown material -- so called 'Dark Matter' -- a descriptor which mainly serves as an expression of our great ignorance of its nature.    FULL STORY Tuesday: April 29, 2003   0100 GMT Group organized to develop ambitious survey telescope Four major research organizations have joined forces to build a world-class telescope that will survey the entire sky in a relentless search for supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, near-Earth asteroids and the mysterious energy of expansion in the Universe known as dark energy.    FULL STORY NASA satellite measures Earth's carbon metabolism NASA scientists have unveiled the first consistent and continuous global measurements of Earth's "metabolism." Data from the Terra and Aqua satellites are helping scientists frequently update maps of the rate at which plant life on Earth is absorbing carbon out of the atmosphere.    FULL STORY Monday: April 28, 2003   1400 GMT Satellite launched to trace the evolution of galaxies A diminutive satellite with a monumental goal of mapping the history of star formation in a million galaxies streaked into space Monday atop an air-launched rocket booster.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: L-1011 CARRIER JET TAKES OFF FROM CAPE QT    VIDEO: WATCH 12-MINUTE REPLAY OF GALEX LAUNCH QT    VIDEO: POST-FLIGHT COMMENTS BY NASA LAUNCH MANAGER QT    SEE GALEX VIDEO COLLECTION    SUBSCRIBE NOW New residents arrive at station for half-year stay A Russian Soyuz spacecraft successfully docked with the international space station Monday, bringing a two-man "caretaker" crew to the lab complex in a bid to keep the high-maintenance station manned until NASA's space shuttles can resume flights.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: 5-MINUTES OF FINAL APPROACH & DOCKING FROM SOYUZ QT    VIDEO: STATION'S VIEW OF APPROACHING SOYUZ CAPSULE QT    VIDEO: CLOSE-UP VIEW OF DOCKING FROM INSIDE STATION QT    VIDEO: HATCHWAY OPENED AND EXPEDITION 7 ENTERS STATION QT    VIDEO: VIP CALL FROM RUSSIAN AND U.S. OFFICIALS QT    VIDEO: POST-DOCKING NEWS CONFERENCE QT    SUBSCRIBE NOW				News Archive April 21-27: Space station caretaker crew blasts off on Soyuz; NASA, CAIB investigators compare notes on disaster; Dittemore to leave after accident probe complete; Glowing hot transiting exoplanet discovered; Spectacular photos unveil mysterious nebulae; Titan reveals a surface dominated by icy bedrock. April 14-20: Columbia board issues preliminary recommendations; Administrator O'Keefe visits Texas search teams; Rocket booster problem delays SIRTF until August; Fix ordered for possible problem on Mars rovers; X-rays found from a lightweight brown dwarf. April 7-13: No 'privileged' Columbia testimony to be made public; Ariane 5 program resumes flights with a success; Last Milstar successfully soars to orbital perch on Titan 4; Atlas 3 rocket gives Asian satellite ride to orbit; SIRTF launch on hold; Galileo makes discovery during moon encounter; Far-flung supernovae shed light on dark Universe. March 31-April 6: Gehman calls recorder data a 'treasure trove'; NASA formally announces Expedition 7 station crew; Delta doesn't disappoint in successful GPS launch; Hubble's rainbow image of a dusty star; NASA researchers put new spin on relativity theory. March 24-30: Plan calls for shuttles to be imaged by spy satellites; Expert says NASA lost sight of safety margin; Japan enters spy satellite arena with rocket launch; Rocket troubles delay pair of ESA research projects; Stunning Hubble images of mysterious erupting star; New class of hot-tempered black holes bucks trends. 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.