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Sunday:
June 27, 2004 | |
0412 GMT |
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Avionics check delays upcoming Atlas launch
Additional avionics testing will delay Wednesday night's scheduled launch of the final Atlas 2AS rocket to ensure the booster is defect-free, officials announced Saturday. A new target launch date has not been established.
 MISSION STATUS CENTER
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Camera to shoot first direct images of exoplanets
A University of Arizona astronomer and his collaborators are using a novel
camera to hunt for extrasolar planets. Their camera has already made stunning images of Saturn's moon, Titan, and discovered an object just 27 times the mass of Jupiter. They hope the camera will be the first to directly photograph faint gas-giants similar to Jupiter in solar systems beyond our own.
FULL STORY
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Spacecraft that think for themselves developed
There's nothing worse than a satellite that can't make decisions. Rather than organizing data, it simply spews out everything it collects, swamping scientists with huge amounts of information. It's like getting a newspaper with no headlines or section pages in which all the stories are strung together end-to-end.
FULL STORY
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Saturday:
June 26, 2004 | |
0001 GMT |
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Mars scientists marvel at mysterious rock formation
NASA's two Mars rovers, well past their 90-day prime missions, have entered a dramatic new phase of exploration. The Opportunity rover is working its way down a steep slope into Endurance Crater, slowly creeping back in time as it discovers older and clearly different type rocks. Evidence is mounting that shallow seas once pooled in this region, periodically drying out and reforming. On the other side of Mars, Spirit has found one of the strangest rocks discovered to date, one that defies easy explanation.
FULL STORY
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WATCH FRIDAY'S MARS ROVER NEWS CONFERENCE QT
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Sticky switch to blame for spacewalk abort
Russian engineers believe a balky switch in astronaut Mike Fincke's Orlan spacesuit was to blame for what appeared to be an oxygen leak that derailed a spacewalk Thursday evening aboard the international space station.
FULL STORY
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Getting closer to Titan
Irregular bright and dark regions of yet unidentified composition and character are becoming increasingly visible on Titan's surface as Cassini approaches its scheduled first flyby of Saturn's largest moon on July 2, 2004.
FULL STORY
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Friday:
June 25, 2004 | |
0314 GMT |
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Suit problem ends station spacewalk
Station commander Gennady Padalka, U.S. flight engineer Mike Fincke and Russian ground controllers are troubleshooting a problem with Fincke's Orlan spacesuit that forced the crew to abort a planned six-hour spacewalk Thursday. Another attempt could be staged as early as June 29.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
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VIDEO:
SPACEWALK IS ABORTED BECAUSE OF SPACESUIT PROBLEM QT
VIDEO:
FINCKE TALKS TO MISSION CONTROL ABOUT FUTURE PLANS QT
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NASA SAYS SPACEWALK COULD BE TRIED AGAIN JUNE 29 QT
VIDEO:
WATCH THE SPACEWALK PREVIEW NEWS CONFERENCE QT
VIDEO:
PADALKA AND FINCKE DESCRIBE SPACEWALK PROCEDURES QT
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Hubble IMAX film gives ride through space and time
Take a virtual ride to the outer reaches of the universe and explore 10 billion years of galactic history, from fully formed and majestic spiral galaxies to disheveled collections of stars just beginning to form.
FULL STORY
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NASA unveils next steps of agency's transformation
In the latest of what will be ongoing briefings, Administrator Sean O'Keefe has announced a transformation of NASA's organization structure designed to streamline the agency and position it to better implement the Vision for Space Exploration.
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Thursday:
June 24, 2004 | |
0631 GMT |
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Phoebe moon likely born in outer solar system
NASA unveiled a spectacular high-resolution mosaic of Saturn's enigmatic moon Phoebe Wednesday, along with other data from the Saturn-bound Cassini probe showing the moon formed in the extreme outer solar system and later was captured by the ringed planet's gravity.
FULL STORY
NASA SCIENCE RELEASE
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WEDNESDAY'S PHOEBE FLYBY SCIENCE RESULTS BRIEFING QT
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ANIMATION SHOWS CASSINI'S ENCOUNTER WITH PHOEBE QT
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Delta rocket successfully launches one for The Gipper
Finally winning the battle over Florida's summertime weather after three earlier losses, a Boeing Delta 2 rocket roared to space Wednesday and deployed a Global Positioning System military navigation satellite in a mission dedicated to the memory of President Ronald Reagan.
FULL STORY
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TUESDAY'S UPDATE STORY
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Launch photo collection
This gallery of launch pictures captures Wednesday's successful flight of Boeing's Delta 2 rocket carrying the GPS 2R-12 spacecraft as seen from sound-activated cameras at pad 17B, the press viewing site at Cape Canaveral and more.
OPEN GALLERY
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Photo collection shows Wednesday's launch preps
These photos were taken Wednesday morning as the mobile service tower was rolled away from the Boeing Delta 2 rocket at launch pad 17B.
OPEN GALLERY
SATURDAY'S TOWER ROLL BACK GALLERY
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Wednesday:
June 23, 2004 | |
0114 GMT |
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Delta 2 rocket team wishing for better weather luck
The Boeing Delta 2 rocket will try again Wednesday to launch a military navigation satellite after three consecutive countdowns were thwarted by Florida's summertime thunderstorms. Officials remain committed to launching the mission before NASA's Mercury orbiter, which has a two-week planetary window this summer.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates!
TOWER ROLL BACK GALLERY
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Chandra finds mystery at Milky Way center
A long look by NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has revealed new evidence that extremely hot gas exists in a large region at the center of the Milky Way. The intensity and spectrum of the high-energy X-rays produced by this gas present a puzzle as to how it is being heated.
FULL STORY
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Link found between Earth's oceans and Jupiter's bands
Scientists have discovered a striking similarity between certain ocean currents on Earth and the bands that characterize the surface of large, gaseous planets like Jupiter.
FULL STORY
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Tuesday:
June 22, 2004 | |
0431 GMT |
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SpaceShipOne rockets into history
A privately-built rocket plane soared into space Monday, boosting a 63-year-old test pilot on a thrilling, at times scary ride out of Earth's discernible atmosphere and into history as the first non government-sponsored astronaut. But SpaceShipOne will not fly again until the team of pilots and engineers figures out what triggered the failure of a critical flight control system during the climb to space.
FULL STORY
MISSION STATUS CENTER
PREVIEW STORY
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Ultra-cool diminutive star weighs in
The power of the some of the world's biggest telescopes has been brought to bear to directly measure the mass, for the first time, of one of the smallest stars ever seen in the universe. Barely the size of the planet Jupiter, the dwarf star weighs in at just 8.5 percent of the mass of our Sun.
FULL STORY
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Weather scrubs latest Delta launch attempt
The third try was not the charm during Monday's attempt to launch Boeing's Delta 2 rocket carrying a Global Positioning System satellite as stormy weather scrubbed the mission for the third straight day. Another try will come no sooner than Wednesday.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!
TOWER ROLL BACK GALLERY
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New view of Saturn's rings and moons from Cassini
Saturn's magnificent rings show some of their intricate structure in this image taken by the Cassini spacecraft's narrow angle camera. Although they appear to be solid structures, the rings are composed of billions of individual particles, each one orbiting the planet on its own path.
FULL STORY
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Monday:
June 21, 2004 | |
0206 GMT |
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Private spacecraft ready for historic flight Monday
Legendary aircraft designer Burt Rutan and his small cadre of pilots and engineers fueled the privately-funded SpaceShipOne rocket plane Sunday and ran through a final few flight simulations in preparation for a history-making launch to the edge of space Monday.
FULL STORY
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Weather keeps Delta rocket on the launch pad again
Thunderstorms and lightning over Cape Canaveral forced the launch of Boeing's Delta 2 rocket with a Global Positioning System satellite to be postponed Sunday evening for the second straight day. Another attempt will be made Monday.
MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!
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Scientists explain the Mars rover Spirit's discovery of hematite at the Columbia Hills and Opportunity's work inside Endurance Crater during this briefing from June 25. (40min 17sec file)
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe explains the space agency's reorganization plans and answers questions during this news conference from June 24. (57min 08sec file)
Scientists report scientific results from the Cassini spacecraft's close-up examination of Saturn's moon Phoebe. (31min 53sec file)
International Space Station officials preview the upcoming Expedition 9 spacewalk to replace a faulty power control box that supports one of the U.S. control moment gyros. (66min 08sec file)