ASTRONAUTS PREPARE FOR MISSION'S THIRD SPACEWALK - With two of their three spacewalks completed, the astronauts aboard the linked shuttle-station complex focused Thursday on getting the new Columbus lab up and running. NASA extended Atlantis' mission by a day on Wednesday to give the crew more time to work on the lab, Europe's main contribution to the international space station. More (Source: CNN.com - Feb 14)
U.S. MAY SHOOT DOWN ERRANT SATELLITE - The U.S. spent around a billion dollars on a dud spy satellite, and now, the military is considering plans to shoot it down. That's right, the Lockheed Martin-built satellite that is floating around in space -- soon to re-enter Earth's atmosphere -- may be shot out of the sky. More (Source: Wired News - Feb 13)
LAUNCH OF NORWEGIAN SATELLITE FROM BAIKONUR PUT OFF ONE DAY - The launch of a Proton-M rocket with the Norwegian telecommunications satellite Thor 2R has been put off until Monday, a source based in Baikonur told Interfax. "The launch has been put off for technical reasons," the source said, but declined to give the details. More (Source: Intefax - Feb 10)
ATLANTIS ARRIVES AT SPACE STATION - Space shuttle Atlantis and the STS-122 crew arrived at the International Space Station at 12:17 p.m. EST, delivering the European Space Agency’s Columbus laboratory and a new crew member to the orbital outpost. The STS-122 astronauts and the station’s Expedition 16 crew will conduct pressure and leak checks before the hatches between the spacecraft open. After the crews greet each other, they will begin joint operations. More (Source: NASA - Feb 9)
NASA, EUROPEANS DELIGHTED BY ATLANTIS LAUNCH - Space shuttle Atlantis and its crew of seven astronauts launched on spectacular plumes of gold-tipped smoke today carrying Europe’s primary contribution to the International Space Station – the Columbus science laboratory. The lab is filled with racks for experiments and research euipment and has fixtures on its exterior to also host research exposed to the vacuum of space. It represents the latest international addition to a facility already made of structures from the United States, Russia and Canada. More (Source: NASA - Feb 7)
COUNTDOWN BEGINS FOR US-EUROPE SPACE MISSION - The crew of the US shuttle Atlantis readied Tuesday for this week's delayed mission to deliver a European space laboratory to the orbiting International Space Station. Lift-off, originally scheduled for December, now is set for Thursday after a two-month delay, while engineers got to the bottom of electrical faults with fuel gauges on the shuttle's external fuel tank. More (Source: AFP - Feb 6)
SHUTTLE LAUNCH PLANNED FOR THIS WEEK - Seven astronauts returned to NASA's launch site Monday to take a new shot at flying space shuttle Atlantis to the international space station. Liftoff is set for Thursday afternoon, with NASA wrapping up a last repair Sunday night involving a radiator hose. The mission was waylaid in December by a different problem, erratic fuel gauges. More (Source: CNN.com - Feb 4)
IRAN TEST LAUNCHES ROCKET DESIGNED TO CARRY HOMEMADE SATELLITE INTO SPACE - Iran has inaugurated its first major space center and launched a new rocket that it says is designed to carry an Iranian-made research satellite into orbit. Iranian state-run television showed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad giving the order to launch the rocket, named Explorer-1. More (Source: VOA News - Feb 4)
50TH ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST U.S. SATELLITE LAUNCH CELEBRATED - After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the United States gave a 90-day deadline to the Army and a little-known research lab in California to send up its own satellite. Seemingly against all odds, the project was completed in 84 days. On Jan. 31, 1958, a knot of rocket scientists and engineers waited anxiously as the satellite, Explorer 1, blasted into orbit, launching the U.S. into the space race. More (Source: San Francisco Chronicle - Jan 31)
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