Washington (AFP) Aug 18, 2007 - Endeavour space shuttle astronauts sped up a final spacewalk early Saturday as their comrades rushed to prepare to return to Earth to beat a huge hurricane looming in the Caribbean sea, NASA said.
Washington (AFP) Aug 18, 2007 - Endeavour astronauts sped up a final spacewalk Saturday, as NASA announced it would bring them back one day early, on Tuesday, to avoid disruption to ground operations from hurricane Dean.
Washington (AFP) Aug 18, 2007 - NASA will bring the shuttle Endeavour back to Earth a day early, on Tuesday, to avoid disruption to ground operations from hurricane Dean as it roars towards the US coast, the US space agency said Saturday.
Houston TX (SPX) Aug 17, 2007 - So, can you make spaghetti sauce in space? Well, you'll need several ingredients, but you're sure to have plenty of one: STS-118 mission specialist Barbara Morgan has carried millions of basil seeds with her on board space shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station. These seeds are joining three million other basil seeds that have been flying on the station for a year and are waiting for Morgan to bring them back to Earth.
Kourou, French Guiana (SPX) Aug 16, 2007 - The BSAT-3a telecommunications satellite, designed and built by Lockheed Martin for the Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation (B-SAT), was successfully launched from Kourou, French Guiana. Lift-off occurred at 7:44 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) aboard an Ariane 5-ECA launch vehicle provided by Arianespace of Evry, France. Initial contact with the satellite, called acquisition of signal, was confirmed at 8:46 p.m. EDT from Lockheed Martin's satellite tracking station in Uralla, Australia.
Kourou, French Guiana (SPX) Aug 16, 2007 - Last night, an Ariane 5 ECA launcher lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on its mission to place two telecommunications satellites into geostationary transfer orbits. Lift-off of flight V177 took place at 23:44 GMT/UTC (20:44 local time, 01:44 [15 August] CEST/Paris). The satellites were accurately injected into the correct transfer orbits about 30 minutes later.
Washington (AFP) Aug 16, 2007 - NASA determined on Thursday that there was no need to attempt a risky repair to the shuttle Endeavour's heat shield because the damage did not present a significant danger, a spokesman said.
Minneapolis MN (SPX) Aug 16, 2007 - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have announced that Alliant Techsystems has received a $1.8 billion contract for the design, development, test and evaluation (DDT and E) of the first stage of the agency's next-generation human space flight vehicle - the Ares I. The multi-year development contract extends through June 2013 and includes flight tests beginning in 2009.
Houston TX (SPX) Aug 16, 2007 - The STS-118 and Expedition 15 crews are preparing for a possible spacewalk to repair damage on Space Shuttle Endeavour's thermal protection system. During the first half of the day, the crew held class in space for students on Earth. Mission managers have not decided that a repair spacewalk will be needed. But to prepare for that possibility, the crew members are getting ready to do the repair, should managers determine that is necessary.
Houston TX (SPX) Aug 16, 2007 - STS-118's second spacewalk is now in the history books. Mission Specialists Dave Williams and Rick Mastracchio successfully installed a new control moment gyroscope (CMG) onto the International Space Station's Z1 truss during the excursion, which ended at 6 p.m. EDT. The new CMG replaces a faulty gyroscope, which was removed during the first half of the spacewalk. The new gyroscope is one of four CMGs that are used to control the station's attitude in orbit.
Beijing, China (Xinhua) Aug 16, 2007 - At least three orbiting satellites have been malfunctioning but all were salvaged by experts, aerospace scientists said here Monday. The experts from the Xi'an Satellite Monitor and Control Center said that an orbiter lost its position and repeated rollovers in space in October 2006. The ground center temporarily lost control over the malfunctioning satellite, said Dong Deyi, head of the center.
Washington DC (SPX) Aug 15, 2007 - NASA has issued a draft environmental impact statement on potential environmental impacts associated with the Constellation Program. NASA's Constellation Program is developing a space transportation system that is designed to return humans to the moon by 2020. The Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement concludes that localized and global environmental impacts associated with implementing the Constellation Program would be comparable to past or ongoing NASA activities.
Washington (AFP) Aug 15, 2007 - The first teacher in space taught her first lesson in zero-gravity Tuesday, answering questions from school children in Idaho from the orbiting International Space Station hundreds of miles above Earth.
Moscow (UPI) Aug 15, 2007 - In all probability, the question in the headline should be rephrased and run like this: Who will man the International Space Station next? (Andrei Kislyakov is a political commentator for RIA Novosti. This article is reprinted by permission of RIA Novosti. The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.) (United Press International's Outside View commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.)
Washington (AFP) Aug 15, 2007 - NASA is cautiously optimistic that astronauts will not have to undertake repairs of a damaged area on the Endeavour shuttle's heat shield, an official said Tuesday.
Kourou, French Guiana (AFP) Aug 15, 2007 - An Ariane 5 rocket blasted off here on Tuesday and put into orbit Japanese and US telecommunications satellites, Arianespace said.
