OBAMA TO END NASA CONSTELLATION PROGRAM - On the eve of the fullest moon of the year, NASA scientists were told they won't be able to visit any longer. In his new budget, President Obama plans to eliminate the space program's manned moon missions. When the president releases his budget on Monday, a White House official confirmed on Thursday, there will be a big hole where funding for NASA's Constellation program used to be. Constellation is the umbrella program that includes the Ares rocket -- the replacement for the aging space shuttles.    More
(Source: Fox News - Jan 29)

RUSSIA SENDS MILITARY SATELLITE INTO SPACE - military satellite launched early Thursday has successfully entered orbit, the Defense Ministry said. The satellite, aboard a Proton-M heavy carrier rocket, was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 03:18 Moscow time (00:18 GMT). The satellite successfully separated from the rocket at around 12:19 Moscow time (09:19 GMT), said Space Forces spokesman Alexei Zolotukhin. "Contact is steady, and the onboard equipment operates well," he said. The launch was Russia's first this year.    More
(Source: Xinhua - Jan 28)

STUDENT-BUILT RUBIK'S CUBE SIZE SATELLITE SELECTED FOR FLIGHT BY NASA - A tiny communications satellite designed and built by University of Colorado at Boulder undergraduates has been selected as one of three university research satellites to be launched into orbit in November as part of a NASA space education initiative. The three satellites, dubbed "CubeSats" because of their shape, were built by CU-Boulder, Montana State University and Kentucky Space, which is a consortium of state universities.    More
(Source: Science Daily - Jan 28)

ENDEAVOUR SET TO BLAST OFF IN FEBRUARY - NASA will launch Space Shuttle Endeavour on February 7, which will be the first of five launches this year before the shuttle fleet is retired. Endeavour will blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a 13-day mission to the international space station. The mission will include three spacewalks, NASA said. The shuttle will also deliver the final U.S. portion of the space station. This portion will provide more room for crew members.    More
(Source: CNN - Jan 28)

ISS ORBIT SUCCESSFULLY CORRECTED - The orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) has been successfully raised by about 5 km on Sunday, said the Mission Control Center outside Moscow. The operation has thus created conditions for the dockings between the ISS and Russian cargo spaceships as well as U.S. space shuttles, news agencies reported. The space maneuver was carried out in automatic mode at around 12:02 Moscow time (0902 GMT) and lasted about 150 seconds, said the Mission Control, when two thrusters of the Zvezda service module were initiated to raise the space station's orbit.    More
(Source: Xinhua - Jan 25)

LAUNCH NEARS FOR OBSERVATORY TO MONITOR SUN'S BEHAVIOR - At a satellite-readying hangar outside the Kennedy Space Center on Thursday, NASA's sophisticated new Sun-studying probe was enclosed within the giant metal fairing that will shroud the craft during ascent to space atop an Atlas 5 booster next month. The Solar Dynamics Observatory is being prepared for launch from the Cape's Complex 41 on February 9 during a one-hour window opening at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT).    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Jan 24)

ENDEAVOUR CREW BOARDS THE SPACECRAFT FOR REHEARSAL - Dressed in their bright orange spacesuits and following the scripted launch morning routine, the six astronauts who will blast off aboard Endeavour next month went to the launch pad and climbed inside the shuttle today for a realistic dry run. Commander George Zamka, pilot Terry Virts and mission specialists Kay Hire, Steve Robinson, Bob Behnken and Nick Patrick wrapped up the countdown simulation in preparation for the February 7 launch to the International Space Station.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Jan 22)

ISS CREW RELOCATES SOYUZ TMA-16 - Members of the Expedition 22 crew on the International Space Station (ISS) relocated one of the two Soyuz lifeboats aboard the station today, moving it to a freshly installed Russian docking port. The maneuver, which began at 5:03 am EST, was successfully concluded at 5:24 am (1025 GMT), with the Soyuz TMA-16 space capsule being safely attached to the new Poisk module aboard the orbital facility. The move clears the way for the arrival of the Node 3 module, called Tranquility, aboard the space shuttle Endeavor early next month.    More
(Source: Softpedia - Jan 22)

GOOGLE RELEASES NEW HIGH-RES SATELLITE IMAGES OF HAITI - Google has released new, higher-resolution satellite images of the Port-au-Prince area of Haiti that was devastated by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on Jan. 12. The new impressively detailed photos were taken on Sunday, Jan. 17 and have resolution of around 6 inches, according to Google. You can see the full set of images in Google Maps in Satellite mode.    More
(Source: Wired News - Jan 21)

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