Spaceflight Now

Sunday: December 22, 2002		0235 GMT

Elusive young stars can't hide from 'Michelle' U.K. astronomers have pinpointed for the first time hundreds of newborn stars inside their dusty cocoons, with the help of "Michelle" - one of the most ambitious and technically complicated ground-based instruments ever built. Michelle is a youngster too: it has just celebrated its first birthday on the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope in Hawaii. FULL STORY

Saturday: December 21, 2002		0200 GMT

A tiny galaxy is born New detailed images from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope show a "late-blooming" galaxy, a small, distorted system of gas and stars that still appears to be in the process of development, even though most of its galactic cousins are believed to have started forming billions of years ago. FULL STORY

Six satellite cargos ride Dnepr booster to space A converted Russian ballistic missile was launched into orbit Friday with a cluster of six satellites for a variety of organizations around the world. The Dnepr booster blasted out of its silo and began its trip to space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at approximately 1700 GMT. FULL STORY

Friday: December 19, 2002		0304 GMT

Young star cluster aglow with mysterious cloud Astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory discovered a mysterious cloud of high-energy electrons enveloping a young cluster of stars. The extremely high-energy particles could cause dramatic changes in the chemistry of the disks that will eventually form planets around stars in the cluster. FULL STORY

Hale to replace Halsell in key KSC post Astronaut James Halsell, shuttle launch integration manager at the Kennedy Space Center and the person who gives the final "go" for launch in the last few minutes of a countdown, is returning to the Johnson Space Center in Houston in the next few weeks to begin training for his sixth shuttle flight. He will be replaced by Wayne Hale, a widely respected JSC ascent-and-entry flight director who brings a wealth of soft-spoken experience to the job. FULL STORY

No signal from CONTOUR Mission operators put out a call to the Comet Nucleus Tour spacecraft - the first of two scheduled attempts to contact the NASA satellite this week - but CONTOUR remains silent. FULL STORY

Thursday: December 19, 2002		0431 GMT

Clouds discovered at south pole of Saturn's moon Titan Teams of astronomers at the California Institute of Technology and the University of California, Berkeley, have discovered methane clouds near the south pole of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, resolving a fierce debate about whether clouds exist amid the haze of the moon's atmosphere. FULL STORY

Creepy crawlers may unravel web of planetary mysteries Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have created a micro robot reminiscent of the childhood character Charlotte from "Charlotte's Web." Dubbed "spider-bot" for its spider-like appearance, this itsy-bitsy, high-tech critter may one day chart the terrain on other planets and explore smaller bodies, such as comets, asteroids or the Moon. FULL STORY

Titan 2 off till January Dogged by continued bad weather at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Titan 2 rocket and the Coriolis military satellite cargo were set for a fourth consecutive launch attempt Wednesday. But a technical concern with the spacecraft prompted a scrub until January. MISSION STATUS CENTER

Wednesday: December 18, 2002		0407 GMT

Titan 2 to make fourth try Dogged by continued bad weather at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the Titan 2 rocket and its Coriolis military satellite cargo will make a fourth consecutive launch attempt on Wednesday. Liftoff is set for 1418 GMT (9:18 a.m. EST). MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!

Second Delta 4 rocket erected on the launch pad Less than a month after the successful inaugural flight, the second Boeing Delta 4 rocket is now standing on the launch pad for a February blastoff carrying a military spacecraft to bolster the U.S. national security communications network. FULL STORY

Second Atlas 5 rocket rolls out for rehearsal Sporting what its Swiss maker calls the world's largest lightweight composite payload fairing unveiled to date, Lockheed Martin's second Atlas 5 rocket was moved from its assembly building to the open-air launch pad at Cape Canaveral's Complex 41 Tuesday morning. The rocket will undergo a full countdown dress rehearsal Wednesday, then return to its hangar on Thursday. Lockheed Martin is using the test as a pathfinder exercise for the new nose cone, which is to launch on the third Atlas 5 mission in May. PHOTO GALLERY OF TUESDAY'S ROLLOUT

Workhorse Ariane 4 rocket flies its next to last mission Amidst its latest troubles with the Ariane 5 rocket, Arianespace came one step closer to phasing out its Ariane 4 predecessor Tuesday night as the venerable rocket continued its streak of successful launches. FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER

Controllers get Galileo spacecraft working again NASA's Galileo spacecraft has begun transmitting high-priority scientific information that was collected and stored on its tape recorder during the orbiter's early-November dash by Jupiter, which brought it closer to the planet than ever before. FULL STORY

Next Delta 2 launch pushed in the new year A technical concern has forced Boeing to postpone Thursday's planned launch of NASA's ICESAT and CHIPSAT science spacecraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. While performing pre-flight testing, a glitch was uncovered with a box that sends the signal to jettison the Delta 2 rocket's payload shroud during launch. The work to replace the unit will delay the mission to January 8.

Tuesday: December 17, 2002		0531 GMT

Bad weather continues to plague Titan 2 launch The Air Force and Lockheed Martin launch team are preparing for a third consecutive day of attempting to get the Titan 2 rocket and Coriolis spacecraft off the ground. The next try will come at 1418 GMT (9:18 a.m. EST) Tuesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, weather permitting. MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!

Ariane 4 to fly Tuesday As investigators begin searching for clues into last week's Ariane 5 rocket failure, the penultimate flight of the Ariane 4 booster is set to launch Tuesday at 2304 GMT (6:04 p.m. EST). MISSION STATUS CENTER

More Sun-like stars may have planetary systems If David Weintraub and Jeff Bary are right, there may be a lot more planets circling stars like the Sun than current models of star and planet formation predict. FULL STORY

New theory accounts for binaries in Kuiper belt In the last few years, researchers have discovered more than 500 objects in the Kuiper belt, a gigantic outer ring in the outskirts of the solar system, beyond the orbit of Neptune. Of these, seven so far have turned out to be binaries -- two objects that orbit each other. The surprise is that these binaries all seem to be pairs of widely separated objects of similar size. FULL STORY

Monday: December 16, 2002		0200 GMT

Titan 2 launch scrubbed Sunday's launch attempt was scrubbed after the prediction of bad weather became reality and a technical concern was noted with the ordnance system used to deploy the Coriolis spacecraft from the Titan 2 rocket. MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates! LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE MISSION PREVIEW STORY TITAN 2 ROCKET FACT SHEET OVERVIEW OF CORIOLIS

New model for Jovian satellite formation A new model describing the origin of the four large moons of Jupiter -- the so-called Galilean satellites -- can reconcile the moons' major properties with the formation of the satellites from a disk of gas and small particles orbiting Jupiter during the very end stages of the planet's growth. This model may represent a breakthrough in understanding how the large satellites of Jupiter formed. FULL STORY

Atlas 5 solid rocket motor completes third test firing Lockheed Martin's Atlas 5 500 series launch vehicle is one step closer to first launch next year with the third test firing of the solid rocket motor built by Aerojet. The full-scale, 67-foot Atlas 5 solid rocket motor performed a full-duration burn for 95 seconds at Aerojet's massive test stand near Sacramento. FULL STORY

News Archive
Dec. 9-15: New Ariane 5 fails; International observatory put into orbit to study Earth; Morgan named to upcoming shuttle mission; Chandra reveals pileup on cosmic speedway; NEAR Shoemaker's silent treatment; Hubble watches galaxies in a destructive dance.

Dec. 2-8: Endeavour shuttles station residents back to Earth; Hubble precisely measures distant planet's true mass; NASA communications relay craft rides Atlas into space; Saturn's moon Titan may hold clues to origin of life; Double bubble in neighboring galaxy.

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.

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.

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Apollo patches

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Apollo 12 tribute DVD set

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Fallen Heroes special patch

This special 12-inch embroidered patch commemorates the U.S. astronauts who made the ultimate sacrifice, honoring the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia.

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Women in Space

Women of Space: Cool Careers on the Final Frontier is for girls, young women, and anyone else interested in learning about exciting careers in space exploration. Includes CD-ROM.

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Mars rover poster

This new poster features some of the best pictures from NASA's amazing Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity.

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Apollo 12 tribute DVD set

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U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Fallen Heroes special patch

This special 12-inch embroidered patch commemorates the U.S. astronauts who made the ultimate sacrifice, honoring the crews of Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia.

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U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Women in Space

Women of Space: Cool Careers on the Final Frontier is for girls, young women, and anyone else interested in learning about exciting careers in space exploration. Includes CD-ROM.

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Mars rover poster

This new poster features some of the best pictures from NASA's amazing Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity.

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STS-134 Patch

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The final planned flight of space shuttle Endeavour is symbolized in the official embroidered crew patch for STS-134. Available in our store!

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Final Shuttle Mission Patch

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The crew emblem for the final space shuttle mission is now available in our store. Get this piece of history!

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Apollo Collage

This beautiful one piece set features the Apollo program emblem surrounded by the individual mission logos.

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STS-133 Patch

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The final planned flight of space shuttle Discovery is symbolized in the official embroidered crew patch for STS-133. Available in our store!

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Anniversary Shuttle Patch

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This embroidered patch commemorates the 30th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Program. The design features the space shuttle Columbia's historic maiden flight of April 12, 1981.

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Mercury anniversary

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Celebrate the 50th anniversary of Alan Shephard's historic Mercury mission with this collectors' item, the official commemorative embroidered patch.

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Fallen Heroes Patch Collection

The official patches from Apollo 1, the shuttle Challenger and Columbia crews are available in the store.

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Station Calendar

NEW! This beautiful 12" by 12" wall calendar features stunning images of the International Space Station and of the people, equipment, and space craft associated with it, as it takes shape day by day in orbit high above the Earth.

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