PROPOSED ULTIMATE SPACE STATION PHOTO OP REJECTED - Russian mission managers Tuesday rejected a NASA proposal to undock a three-man Soyuz spacecraft for a fly around of the International Space Station to capture unprecedented views of the complex with the shuttle Discovery and a full complement of European, Japanese and Russian spacecraft attached. Discovery's mission is the only time such a photograph would be possible before the shuttle fleet is retired later this summer. "The Mission Management Team has conferred and the program's official decision is the fly about is a no-go," Stan Love radioed the shuttle-station crew from mission control, shortly after the astronauts attached a final U.S. module -- the Permanent Multipurpose Module -- to the space station. More (Source: Space Flight Now - Mar 1)
SHUTTLE DISCOVERY DOCKS WITH SPACE STATION - The space shuttle Discovery successfully docked with the International Space Station Saturday, NASA said. Commander Steve Lindsey performed the maneuver at 2:14 p.m. EST, while the two spacecraft were orbiting 220 miles above western Australia. It was Discovery's 13th and final docking to the space station. More (Source: UPI - Feb 26)
RUSSIA LAUNCHES KEY SATELLITE ON SECOND ATTEMPT - Russia on Saturday successfully launched a satellite vital to the deployment of its own navigation system after the failure of an earlier attempt prompted the Kremlin to sack two top space officials. The Federal Space Agency said in a statement that the high-tech Glonass-K satellite reached its intended orbit about four hours after blasting off on top a Soyuz-2 rocket from Russia's northern Plesetsk launchpad. "We have established and are maintaining steady telemetry communications with the space craft," a spokesman for the defence ministry's space forces told the Interfax news agency. "The on-board systems of the Glonass-K satellite are functioning normally," the official said. More (Source: AFP - Feb 26)
HOW TO SEE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY CHASE SPACE STATION TONIGHT - Skywatchers across parts of the United States and Canada have a chance tonight (Feb. 25) to spot NASA's space shuttle Discovery – on its last-ever mission – as it chases the International Space Station across the night sky. The shuttle and space station will be visible to the unaided eye as separate entities, appearing as bright "stars" sailing across this evening's twilight sky. Skywatchers with clear skies in the northern U.S. and southern Canada have the best chances of seeing the two spacecraft. [Photos of Space Shuttles and Stations from Earth] The International Space Station is can be easily seen on clear nights without a telescope because of its huge size and solar arrays. It is as long as a football field and has enough living space for astronauts as a Boeing 747 jumbo jet. More (Source: Space.com - Feb 26)
NASA POSTPONES LAUNCH OF GLORY MISSION - The launch of NASA's Glory spacecraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California has been postponed at least 24 hours. During the final 15 minutes before Wednesday's scheduled launch of 5:09 a.m. EST, the vehicle interface control console, a ground interface with Orbital Sciences' Taurus XL rocket, gave an unexpected reading. The cause and potential effect of the reading was not fully understood. With a 48-second available launch window, there was insufficient time to analyze the issue causing the launch to be postponed. Members of the Taurus team are troubleshooting the issue. More (Source: NASA - Feb 25)
SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY LAUNCHES ON FINAL FLIGHT - NASA's most traveled space shuttle, Discovery, launched Thursday for its final voyage after nearly three decades of service. The six astronauts for the space station delivery mission headed to the launch pad in early afternoon, waving and smiling to the massive picture-taking crowd at crew quarters. Once at the pad, they paused at the base of the pad to gaze up at Discovery and embraced in a group hug, before getting on board. The crew never made it that far before; November's launch attempt ended midway through fueling. This time, no hydrogen gas seeped out during fueling. More (Source: CBS News - Feb 24)
EUROPE’S ATV SUPPLY SHIP DOCKS SAFELY WITH SPACE STATION - Eight days after launch, ESA’s latest Automated Transfer Vehicle, Johannes Kepler, completed a flawless rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station at 17:08 CET (16:08 GMT) to deliver essential supplies. The approach and docking were achieved autonomously by its own computers, closely monitored by ESA and French space agency (CNES) teams at the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France, as well as the astronauts on the Station. ATV's own second set of sensors and computers More (Source: ESA - Feb 24)
DISCOVERY FUELED FOR THURSDAY LAUNCH - It's taken four months to get this far, but the space shuttle Discovery is finally set for launch this Thursday afternoon. The shuttle's 39th and last flight will take a cargo carrier to the International Space station. NASA says the weather forecast gives an 80 percent chance that the launch will - finally - go ahead as planned. All six astronauts for Discovery's final mission, STS-133, are now at the Kennedy Space Center for prelaunch preparations, and commander Steve Lindsey and pilot Eric Boe have been practicing landing approaches in a Gulfstream II jet modified to simulate a shuttle's cockpit, motion and handling qualities. More (Source: TG Daily - Feb 23)
MSU SMALL SATELLITE SCHEDULED TO LAUNCH - A small research satellite built by Montana State University students is scheduled to launch into space early Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base along with a larger NASA satellite on a mission to study fine airborne particles. Montana State's "Explorer-1 Prime" is meant to replicate the 1958 scientific mission that detected the existence of a band of charged particles held in place by the Earth's magnetic field. The band was named the Van Allen radiation belt after the late James Van Allen. More (Source: KULR-TV - Feb 23)
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