Spaceflight Now

Sunday: January 19, 2003		0001 GMT

Astronauts 'batting 1,000' in space research Two days into one of the most ambitious shuttle science missions in years, the commander of the shuttle Columbia said his dual-shift team has encountered remarkably few problems and that "things are going really well." FULL STORY NASA TELEVISION SCHEDULE ASTRONAUTS' MASTER FLIGHT PLAN
See more coverage here:
Video coverage for subscribers only: VIDEO: WATCH CBS NEWS INTERVIEW WITH ASTRONAUTS QT or RV VIDEO: CNN'S MILES O'BRIEN CHATS WITH CREW QT or RV VIDEO: SATURDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV SUBSCRIBE NOW
Saturday: January 18, 2003		0230 GMT

Crew shares some of their launch day experiences Columbia commander Rick Husband on Friday downlinked video footage recorded aboard the shuttle during Thursday's launch, including views inside the cockpit during ascent and the external fuel tank after it was jettisoned. Clips are available to our Spaceflight Now Plus subscribers:

Video coverage for subscribers only: VIDEO: IN-CABIN VIEW OF LIFTOFF QT or RV VIDEO: CREWMEMBERS HEAD TO WINDOWS TO SEE TANK QT or RV VIDEO: THE JETTISONED EXTERNAL TANK MOVES AWAY QT or RV VIDEO: ORBITAL MANEUVERING ENGINE FIRING QT or RV SUBSCRIBE NOW
Experiment activations on track aboard Columbia While it's not unusual these days to turn on the TV and watch construction projects going on in outer space, it is a bit out of the ordinary when ants - not astronauts - are the ones doing the building. FULL STORY

Video coverage for subscribers only: VIDEO: FRIDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV SUBSCRIBE NOW
Friday: January 17, 2003		0502 GMT

Shuttle Columbia rockets into orbit for science flight With fighter planes and radars scanning the sky for intruders, the shuttle Columbia thundered away on a marathon 16-day science mission Thursday, carrying a crew of seven - including the first Israeli astronaut - scores of experiments and a menagerie of animal and insect research subjects. FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE

Video coverage for subscribers only: VIDEO: COLUMBIA BLASTS OFF ON ITS SCIENCE MISSION QT or RV VIDEO: PAD PARAMETER CAMERA REPLAY OF LIFTOFF QT or RV VIDEO: VIEW ATOP THE VEHICLE ASSEMBLY BUILDING QT or RV VIDEO: LAUNCH VIEW FROM COMPLEX 39 PRESS SITE QT or RV VIDEO: ENGINEERING VIEW FROM PAD CAMERA 063 QT or RV VIDEO: SEE SHUTTLE 'TWANG' DURING IGNITION QT or RV VIDEO: TRACKING CAMERA IN FRONT OF PAD 39A QT or RV VIDEO: VIEW FROM CAMERA ATOP WATER TOWER QT or RV VIDEO: CLOSE-UP OF MAIN ENGINE IGNITION QT or RV VIDEO: POWERFUL TRACKER AT PATRICK AFB QT or RV VIDEO: STS-107 POST-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE QT or RV VIDEO: NASA ADMINISTRATOR NEWS CONFERENCE QT or RV VIDEO: CREW SEATED FOR PRE-LAUNCH SNACK QT or RV VIDEO: ASTRONAUTS DEPART THEIR QUARTERS TODAY QT or RV VIDEO: COMMANDER HUSBAND CLIMBS INTO HIS SEAT QT or RV VIDEO: FIRST ISRAELI ASTRONAUT BOARDS THE SHUTTLE QT or RV PANORAMA: 360-DEGREE VIEW OF COLUMBIA ON THE PAD QT VIDEO: WEDNESDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV VIDEO: TUESDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV VIDEO: MONDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV VIDEO: DETAILED OVERVIEW OF COLUMBIA'S MISSION QT or RV VIDEO: MEET THE SEVEN COLUMBIA ASTRONAUTS QT or RV SUBSCRIBE NOW
Researchers seek 'heart' of black hole mystery New research, funded by NASA and the University of Tokyo, has shown astronomers may not yet have uncovered the mystery at the heart of one of the Galaxy's oldest star systems, the globular cluster M15. FULL STORY

Vital signs of life on distant worlds Detecting Earth-sized planets is hard enough but how does an astrobiologist decide which of them are inhabited? Scientists are now working to understand what signals life might give off into space, so that when they do detect Earth-like planets they know what to look for. FULL STORY

Thursday: January 16, 2003		0345 GMT

Shuttle to launch Thursday The protective rotating service structure was rolled away from space shuttle Columbia at launch pad 39A late this afternoon as technicians began preparations to load a half-million gallons of super-cold propellants into the ship overnight. Liftoff remains scheduled for 10:39 a.m. EST Thursday at the opening of a 2 1/2-hour launch window. MISSION STATUS CENTER - updates! NASA TELEVISION SCHEDULE LAUNCH EVENTS TIMELINE ASTRONAUTS' MASTER FLIGHT PLAN
See more coverage here:
Video coverage for subscribers only: PANORAMA: 360-DEGREE VIEW OF COLUMBIA ON THE PAD QT VIDEO: WEDNESDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV VIDEO: TUESDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV VIDEO: MONDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV VIDEO: DETAILED OVERVIEW OF COLUMBIA'S MISSION QT or RV VIDEO: MEET THE SEVEN COLUMBIA ASTRONAUTS QT or RV SUBSCRIBE NOW
Mission preview: Columbia's research flight The shuttle Columbia is poised for blastoff Thursday on a marathon 16-day microgravity research mission, carrying scores of experiments and a menagerie of animal, plant, insect and human research subjects, including the first Israeli astronaut. FULL STORY

Stellar cocoons found in harsh environment Astronomers have discovered dozens of potential stellar cocoons within the hostile environment of the Carina Nebula, including some oddballs with bulbous heads, irregular shapes and long, thin tails. Each of these objects may harbor disks of gas and dust that could one day form planetary systems. FULL STORY

Earth's clock of life In its 4.5 billion years, Earth has evolved from its hot, violent birth to the celebrated watery blue planet that stands out in pictures from space. But in a new book, two noted University of Washington astrobiologists say the planet already has begun the long process of devolving into a burned-out cinder, eventually to be swallowed by the sun. FULL STORY

Two Americans take spacewalk outside station Space station commander Kenneth Bowersox and science officer Donald Pettit completed a six-hour, 51-minute spacewalk Wednesday to help deploy a huge radiator panel and to carry out other tasks necessary for ongoing station assembly work. It was the 50th spacewalk dedicated to the international space station. PREVIEW STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER

Video coverage for subscribers only: VIDEO: SPACEWALK PREVIEW NEWS BRIEFING QT or RV SUBSCRIBE NOW
Wednesday: January 15, 2003		0400 GMT

Rocket issues keep Rosetta grounded indefinitely The European Space Agency's ambitious Rosetta comet explorer has been grounded indefinitely due to continuing concerns with the Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket that will launch the costly probe, forcing scientists to replan the mission for liftoff sometime in the future. FULL STORY

Space station spacewalk on tap Wednesday Space station commander Kenneth Bowersox and science officer Donald Pettit are gearing up for a planned six-and-a-half-hour spacewalk Wednesday to help deploy a huge radiator panel and to carry out other tasks necessary for ongoing station assembly work. FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER

Video coverage for subscribers only: VIDEO: SPACEWALK PREVIEW NEWS BRIEFING QT or RV SUBSCRIBE NOW
Next week's Titan 4B rocket launch delayed The Air Force has postponed next Tuesday's planned liftoff of a Lockheed Martin Titan 4B rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The reasoning behind the delay is expected to be announced tomorrow. The rocket will carry the sixth and final Milstar military communications satellite.

Experiment stowage begins Technicians at the Kennedy Space Center were spending Tuesday loading experiment samples, subjects and hardware into a Spacehab module in the shuttle Columbia's cargo bay in preparation for launch Thursday on a microgravity research mission. With no technical problems at pad 39A, forecasters continue to predict a 95 percent chance of good weather during Columbia's launch window. FULL STORY
See more coverage here:
Video coverage for subscribers only: VIDEO: TUESDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV VIDEO: MONDAY'S COUNTDOWN STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV VIDEO: DETAILED OVERVIEW OF COLUMBIA'S MISSION QT or RV VIDEO: MEET THE SEVEN COLUMBIA ASTRONAUTS QT or RV SUBSCRIBE NOW
Tuesday: January 14, 2003		0317 GMT

Three new moons found around Neptune A team of astronomers has discovered three previously unknown moons of Neptune. This boosts the number of known satellites of the gas giant to eleven. These moons are the first to be discovered orbiting Neptune since the Voyager 2 flyby in 1989, and the first discovered from a ground-based telescope since 1949. FULL STORY

NASA starts counting down to Thursday's shuttle launch Countdown clocks began ticking late Sunday for launch of the shuttle Columbia Thursday on a 16-day microgravity research mission featuring dozens of high-tech experiments and a seven-member crew that includes the first Israeli astronaut. FULL STORY
See more coverage here:
Early afterglow of gamma-ray burst caught A team of University of California, Berkeley, astronomers say that its robotic telescope has captured one of the earliest images ever of the visible afterglow of a gamma-ray burst. The telescope started its exposures 108 seconds after the burst was detected by the HETE-2 satellite and continued for more than 2.5 hours, until brightening of the dawn sky halted the observations. FULL STORY

Monday: January 13, 2003		0720 GMT

Delta 2 pulls double duty with launch of two satellites Two NASA spacecraft -- one that will bounce laser beams off Earth to gauge environmental changes, the other to study relics of a supernova explosion in our galactic neighborhood -- rode a Boeing Delta 2 rocket into orbit Sunday from California. FULL STORY MISSION STATUS CENTER

Video coverage for subscribers only: VIDEO: FIVE-MINUTE CLIP OF THE DELTA 2 ROCKET LAUNCH QT or RV VIDEO: AERIAL VIEW OF DELTA SOARING AT SUNSET QT or RV VIDEO: REPLAY FROM CAMERA BEHIND THE PAD QT or RV VIDEO: LAUNCH ANGLE FROM IN FRONT OF PAD QT or RV VIDEO: VIEW OF UMBILICALS PULLING AWAY AT LIFTOFF QT or RV VIDEO: NASA LAUNCH MANAGER'S POST-FLIGHT COMMENTS QT or RV VIDEO: WATCH FRIDAY'S PRE-LAUNCH NEWS CONFERENCE QT or RV VIDEO: NARRATED OVERVIEW OF THE ICESAT MISSION QT or RV VIDEO: COMMENTS FROM ICESAT PROJECT SCIENTIST QT or RV VIDEO: ANIMATION OF CHIPSAT ORBITING EARTH QT or RV VIDEO: COMMENTS FROM CHIPSAT PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR QT or RV SUBSCRIBE NOW
Shuttle countdown to begin NASA managers have given approval to begin the three-day launch countdown for Thursday's blastoff of space shuttle Columbia on a microgravity science mission. The decision was made during a teleconference Sunday to review the health of critical bearings in the ship's fuel lines. The final resolution of the technical issue will be made during a management meeting Tuesday. EARLIER STORY
See more coverage here:
Hypergiant erupts An international team of astronomers announced last week that they have observed a huge eruption by a hypergiant star that blasted nearly 10,000 times the mass of the Earth into space. The star Rho Cassiopeiae lost more mass than in any other stellar eruption observed by astronomers. FULL STORY

Coronal activity may be buried alive in red giants When Earth's sun expands into a red giant star in roughly five billion years, long after Earth has become uninhabitable, the hydrogen core will be burned out and the bloated outer shell will be cool and murky. FULL STORY

News Archive
Jan. 6-12: Farthest known planet discovered; Coriolis launched to track ocean winds, solar storms; ; Nozzle failure doomed Ariane 5 rocket; Biggest zoom lens in space extends Hubble's reach; New lower limit for age of universe claimed.

Dec. 30-Jan. 5: China launches fourth Shenzhou capsule; Russian rocket delivers Canadian satellite in space; Ariane 5 launch failure investigation delays Rosetta; Engine 'destroyed' in Proton mission failure; Volcanoes on Jovian moon spew salt into atmosphere.

Dec. 23-29: Giant X-ray disk sheds light on elliptical galaxies; Integral's first look at the gamma-ray Universe; First elusive 'dark' gamma-ray burst caught; NASA tests future flight vehicle concepts.

Dec. 16-22: Clouds discovered at south pole of Saturn's moon Titan; Workhorse Ariane 4 rocket flies its next to last mission; Titan 2 off till January; Second Delta 4 rocket erected on the launch pad; Young star cluster aglow with mysterious cloud; Six satellite cargos ride Dnepr booster to space.

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

Columbia Report

The official accident investigation report into the loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its crew of seven. Includes CD-ROM.

Choose your store:
U.S.

Apollo 12 tribute DVD set

New! Featuring the jovial crew of Pete Conrad, Dick Gordon and Alan Bean, the Apollo 12 mission was struck by lightning shortly after liftoff but proceeded on the second successful exploration voyage to the lunar surface. This three-disc DVD brings the mission to life with extraordinary detail.

Choose your store:
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.

Choose your store:
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.

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Mars rover poster

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

Choose your store:
U.S.

Get e-mail updates
Sign up for our NewsAlert service and have the latest news in astronomy and space e-mailed direct to your desktop (privacy note: your e-mail address will not be used for any other purpose).

Gemini 7

Gemini 7: The NASA Mission Reports covers this 14-day mission by Borman and Lovell as they demonstrated some of the more essential facts of space flight. Includes CD-ROM.

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Apollo patches

The Apollo Patch Collection: Includes all 12 Apollo mission patches plus the Apollo Program Patch. Save over 20% off the Individual price.

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Mars Rover mission patch

A mission patch featuring NASA's Mars Exploration Rover is available from our online.

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

Apollo 9 DVD

On the road to the moon, the mission of Apollo 9 stands as an important gateway in experience and procedures. This 2-DVD collection presents the crucial mission on the voyage to the moon.

Choose your store:
U.S. - U.K. - E.U. - Worldwide

STS-134 Patch

Free shipping to U.S. addresses!

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

U.S. STORE

WORLDWIDE STORE

Final Shuttle Mission Patch

Free shipping to U.S. addresses!

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

U.S. STORE

WORLDWIDE STORE

Apollo Collage

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

U.S. STORE

STS-133 Patch

Free shipping to U.S. addresses!

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

U.S. STORE

WORLDWIDE STORE

Anniversary Shuttle Patch

Free shipping to U.S. addresses!

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.

U.S. STORE

WORLDWIDE STORE

Mercury anniversary

Free shipping to U.S. addresses!

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

U.S. STORE

WORLDWIDE STORE

Fallen Heroes Patch Collection

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

U.S. STORE

WORLDWIDE STORE

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.

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.

INDEX | PLUS | NEWS ARCHIVE | LAUNCH SCHEDULE
ASTRONOMY NOW | STORE

ADVERTISE