07.23.02
Source: NASA, Media Fusion	An artist's rendering of the air-breathing, hypersonic X-43B-the third and largest of NASA's Hyper-X series flight demonstrators-which could fly later this decade. NASA will develop, test and fly the Hyper-X series over the next two decades to support development of future-generation reusable launch vehicles and improved access to space.
03.24.02
Source: Lockheed Martin	Lockheed Martin's new Atlas V booster has passed its first major test on the launch pad. Over a five day period that began on 03.11.02, the rocket was rolled to the launch pad on its mobile launch platform, loaded with super-cold propellants, and put through a simulated launch countdown. The Atlas V's debut launch is scheduled for this summer. The rocket is being developed in partnership with the US Air Force as part of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Program.
03.19.02
Source: NASA	This pair of images of the Hubble Space Telescope was recorded by the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-109) before (top) and after (bottom) their recent retrofitting of the world's most famous astronomical instrument. Commander Scott Altman, Pilot Duane Carey, and Mission Specialists Nancy Currie, John Grunsfeld, Rick Linnehan, Mike Massimino, and Jim Newman successfully completed Servicing Mission 3B's objectives of augmenting the giant telescope. The upgrades and servicing by the crew leaves Hubble with a new power unit, a new camera, and new solar arrays, which are clearly visible in the bottom image. This was the fourth shuttle mission dedicated to servicing Hubble. The next servicing mission is scheduled for 2004.
03.14.02
Source: Space Adventures	Space Adventures has recently unveiled a full-scale model of its Cosmopolis XXI Aerospace System, a next-generation spacecraft designed specifically for sub-orbital space tourist flights. The system consists of a carrier aircraft, the M-55X, and a manned rocket module, the C-21. The module is a lifting body reusable launch vehicle built around a 3-seat passenger capsule. It also includes an engine unit and an equipment compartment with rescue and environmental control and life support systems. Space Adventures has over 100 sub-orbital reservations and is currently accepting bookings for sub-orbital flights departing by 2005 at $98,000 (US) per seat. Test flights for the C-21 are expected to begin by 2004.
03.09.02
Source: NASA	Astronaut James H. Newman moves about in the Space Shuttle Columbia's cargo bay while working in tandem with astronaut Michael J. Massimino (out of frame) during the STS-109 mission's second day of extravehicular activity. The space walk lasted seven hours, 16 minutes. Inside Columbia's cabin, astronaut Nancy J. Currie controlled the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) to assist the two in their task of replacing the Hubble Space Telescope's port solar array. Part of the giant telescope's base, latched down in the payload bay, can be seen behind Newman.
03.05.02
Source: NASA ARC	30 years to the day after its launch from Cape Canaveral, FL, NASA scientists successfully established communication with the Pioneer 10 interplanetary probe. On 03.02.02, NASA's Deep Space Network sent a signal from a dish in Goldstone, CA and received a return signal at a facility in Spain. Because the spacecraft is now approximately 7.4 billion miles from Earth, it took roughly 22 hours for the radio signal to make the round trip.
02.28.02
Source: NASA MSFC	Boeing has recently completed the composite wings for the X-37 reusable spaceplane and delivered them to the High Desert Assembly Integration & Test facility in Palmdale, CA. The wings of this next-generation Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV) technology demonstrator are now co-located with the fuselage. During the final assembly process this June, the wings will be mated to the fuselage. Completion of the X-37 is targeted for late 2003. The first unpowered drop test from a NASA B-52 is slated for early 2004 at Edwards Air Force Base, CA. NASA and Boeing continue to discuss plans for boosting the X-37 into orbit.
02.22.02
Source: JHUAPL, SwRI	New Horizons mission planners have developed a new strategy that could trim nearly a year off their original schedule to send a spacecraft to the solar system's outermost planet. Now in preliminary development for NASA, New Horizons would be the first mission to explore Pluto and its moon, Charon, as well as the ancient Kuiper Belt of rocky, icy objects beyond the planets. If approved and funded later this year, New Horizons would launch in January 2006, swing around Jupiter for scientific studies and a gravity boost in 2007, and reach Pluto as early as 2015.
02.18.02
Source: NASA, JPL	After months of checks and calibrations, NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft is about to being its scientific work from an orbit of about 250 miles above the surface. A large part of that work is the search for water near the surface of the planet using both a thermal emission imaging system and a combination gamma ray spectrometer and neutron detector. Preliminary data indicate the extreme southern latitudes are rich in hydrogen, which suggests the likely presence of water.
02.14.02
Source: NASA	Scheduled to be launched no earlier than 02.28.02 (STS-109), the Space Shuttle Columbia has recently been outfitted with the multi-functional electronic display system (MEDS). The new system is intended to improve crew interaction with the orbiter during flight and reduce the high cost of maintaining the outdated electromechanical cockpit displays currently onboard. A similar "glass cockpit" is seen in this wide-angle view of a simulator at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
02.09.02
Source: NASA, JPL, & NIMA	This computer-generated visualization of Utah's Wasatch Front­site of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games­was produced by combining a Landsat satellite image with an elevation model from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Looking to the north, Utah Lake and Provo can be seen at the bottom of the image, a corner of the Great Salt Lake and Salt Lake City itself to the left of center, and Ogden toward the upper left. Let the games begin!
02.07.02
Source: NASA GSFC	NASA's High Energy Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI) satellite was successfully launched into its targeted orbit aboard Orbital Sciences Corporation's Pegasus rocket on 02.05.02. Data gathered by HESSI will assist researchers in understanding the causes and effects of solar flares, energetic explosions which take place in the atmosphere of the Sun. HESSI will use its imaging instrument to produce the first high-fidelity color videos of solar flares during the periods of their highest energy emissions.
02.02.02
Source: NASA, JPL, & NIMA	The Nyiragongo volcano in Congo erupted on 01.17.02, sending streams of lava into the city of Goma on the north shore of Lake Kivu. More than 100 people were killed and more than 12,000 homes destroyed. This computer-generated visualization combines a Landsat satellite image and an elevation model from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) to provide a view of both the volcano and the city of Goma (pink in foreground). Additionally, image data from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite were used to supply a partial mapping of the recent lava flows (red). Thick­but broken­cloud cover during the ASTER image acquisition prevented a complete mapping of the lava distribution, but future image acquisitions should complete the visualization.
01.31.02
Source: Boeing Rocketdyne	Engineers at Canoga Park, CA-based Rocketdyne are developing the RS-83 engine for NASA's Space Launch Initiative (SLI) program for future reusable space transportation. NASA has awarded Boeing Rocketdyne $65 million to develop concepts and technologies for the main and upper stage propulsion systems for the next-generation reusable launch vehicle.
01.27.02
Source: ESO	Produced from data obtained by the European Southern Observatory's (ESO) second VLT Unit Telescope­nicknamed Keuyen­this high-resolution color image features the famous "Horsehead Nebula" (IC 434) in Orion.
01.23.02
Source: NASA, JPL, & NIMA	The 3-D topography of California is illustrated in this image which combines both directional shading (north-facing slopes appear bright and south-facing slopes appear dark) and color coding of height (blue and green at the lower elevations rising through yellow and brown to white at the highest elevations). The elevation data used to produce this image was acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), which was flown aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-99) in February, 2000.
01.15.02
Source: NASA, UMass, & D.Wang et al.	This image of the central region of our Milky Way galaxy is actually a mosaic composed of 30 separate images taken by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory during July, 2001. Covering an area of 400 by 900 light-years, this stunning X-ray image reveals hundreds of white dwarf stars, neutron stars, and black holes suspended in a fog of hot, incandescent gas.
01.04.02
Source: NASA, STScI, & AURA	Recorded by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, these nearly opaque "globules" are associated with large, hydrogen-emitting, star-forming regions such as IC 2944. Referred to as Thackeray's Globules, these dense clouds of dust were first identified in 1950 by astronomer A.D. Thackeray. Little is still known, however, about this strikingly beautiful structure.
12.29.01
Source: NASA, JPL	An artist's rendering of NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft as it tightens it's orbit around the planet Mars. According to flight controllers, the mission's aerobraking phase is proceeding on schedule and should be completed in early January. In this phase, the vehicle's speed is reduced as it skims the planet's upper atmosphere once each orbit. Currently, Odyssey's orbital period is approximately three hours and 15 minutes. When the spacecraft first entered orbit in October, it was 18 hours and 30 minutes.
12.24.01
Source: NASA, ESA, & Mohammad Heydari-Malayeri	This image from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope captures the unique star-forming site NGC 2080, also known as the "Ghost Head Nebula." The red and blue light from the nebula is emitted by hydrogen gas as it is heated by neighboring stars. The source of the green light is oxygen which is energized by a stream of high-speed particles emanating from a nearby massive star.
12.18.01
Source: NASA	Astronaut Daniel M. Tani, an STS-108 mission specialist, waves at a crew member inside Endeavour's cabin during an extravehicular activity conducted on 12.10.01.
12.13.01
Source: NASA	The International Space Station's port side mast canister and solar array blanket boxes of the P6 Truss as recorded during the docking approach of the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-108). Linda M. Godwin and Daniel M. Tani, mission specialists, installed additional insulation to this area during an extravehicular activity conducted on 12.10.01.
12.07.01
Source: NASA	The Space Shuttle Endeavour soars into space on mission STS-108. Liftoff occurred at 5:19 PM EST on 12.05.01. Endeavour will dock with the International Space Station on 12.07.01.
12.03.01
Source: NASA	Progress 5 departing from the International Space Station on 11.22.01. A rubberized seal left attached to the docking port of the Zvezda Service Module by this unpiloted supply vehicle subsequently prevented a hard docking by its replacement, Progress 6, and delayed the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-108) by several days. The seal was, however, successfully removed by Flight Engineer Mikhail Tyurin and Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov during a space walk on 12.03.01.
11.28.01
Source: NASA	A high-resolution image of the edge of Telegonus Mensa on Jupiter's moon Io. The image was captured by NASA's Galileo spacecraft last month and includes a portion of the mountain's edge along which slumping has ocurred. As Io has neither surface water, nor an atmosphere, the slumping is thought to be due to gravity.
11.24.01
Source: NASA	From left to right, the International Space Station Expedition Four crew: Flight Engineer Daniel W. Bursch, Commander Yuri I. Onufrienko and Flight Engineer Carl E. Walz. The crew is slated to launch on Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-108) no earlier than 11.29.01.
This page was last updated on 08.11.02