Pioneer Venus Missions
Pioneer Venus Missions - Pioneer 12 and Pioneer 13. The Orbiter was launched on 20 May 1978. On 4 December 1978, the orbiter was injected into orbit around Venus. On 8 August 1978, slightly less than three months after the Orbiter left Earth, the Multiprobe spacecraft was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on an Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle. On 16 November 1978, the Large Probe was released from the Bus toward an entry near the equator on the day side of Venus. Air Force Sends Spy Satellite Into Space
Air Force Sends Spy Satellite Into Space. An Atlas IIAS rocket successfully lifted off today at 2:04 a.m.
PST (10:04 GMT) from this West Coast launch site, releasing a national
security payload into transfer orbit 74 minutes later.
Return To Flight Task Group Public Meeting Announced
The Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group will hold its second public meeting at 9 a.m. CST, Thursday, Dec. 11, in the Hilton NASA Clear Lake, 3000 NASA Road 1, Houston. STS-61 Shuttle Mission
STS-61 Shuttle Mission - Mission to Repair the Hubble Space Telescope. Learn about the Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission-01 (HST-SM-01) in this area. The STS-61 mission crew serviced the space observatory in addition to installing corrective optics. Mars Odyssey Mission Status
Mars Odyssey Mission Status 11/28/03. The martian radiation environment experiment on NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter has collected data continuously from the start of the Odyssey mapping mission in March 2002 until late last month. The instrument has successfully monitored space radiation to evaluate the risks to future Mars-bound astronauts. Its measurements are the first of their kind to be obtained during an interplanetary cruise and in orbit around another planet. Most Popular Articles - What's Hot Now
What's Hot Now - Most Popular Articles. About Astronomy and Space Most Popular and Fastest Moving Articles. Last Month's Most Popular Topics. Articles, features or topics which have increased in popularity over the last day. Discover what others are reading at About Astronomy and Space. Final Death Throes of Nearby Star Witnessed First-Hand
Final Death Throes of Nearby Star Witnessed First-Hand. It takes only a few hundred to a thousand years for a dying Sun-like star, many billions of years old, to transform into a dazzling, glowing cloud called a planetary nebula. This relative blink in a long lifetime means that a Sun-like star's final moments - the crucial phase when its planetary nebula takes shape - have, until now, gone undetected. Special Recipes Give Space Station Crew A Taste Of Home
Special Recipes Give Space Station Crew A Taste Of Home. There is a place where, no matter what you eat during the holidays, you'll never gain any weight. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are preparing for the fourth holiday season on the zero gravity
research laboratory. Although the food is not mom's home
cooking, today's selections are a huge advance over the
"tubes and cubes" of the first meals in orbit more than 40
years ago. SPACE: A Journey to Our Future
SPACE: A Journey to Our Future. On November 22, 2003, one of the largest traveling museum exhibits on space exploration will open to the public at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington. SPACE: A Journey to Our Future is a 12,000 square foot exhibit that boasts expansive scenic elements, live performances and interactive displays. Hubble Peers into Heart of Dying Star
Hubble Peers into Heart of Dying Star. The Egg Nebula, also known as CRL 2688, is shown on the left as it appears in visible light with the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) and on the right as it appears in infrared light with Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). Hubble Finds a New Black Hole - and Unexpected New Mysteries
Hubble Finds a New Black Hole - and Unexpected New Mysteries. Confirming the presence of yet another super-massive black hole in the universe, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope have found unexpected new mysteries. The black hole, and a 800 light-year-wide spiral-shaped disk of dust fueling it, are slightly offset from the center of their host galaxy, NGC 4261, located 100 million light-years away in the direction of the constellation Virgo. 'Death Spiral' Around a Black Hole Yields Tantalizing Evidence of Event Horizon
Death Spiral Around a Black Hole Yields Tantalizing Evidence of Event Horizon. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope may have, for the first time, provided direct evidence for the existence of black holes by observing the disappearance of matter as it falls beyond the event horizon. Hubble Captures an Extraordinary and Powerful Active Galaxy
Hubble Captures an Extraordinary and Powerful Active Galaxy. Resembling a swirling witch's cauldron of glowing vapors, the black hole-powered core of a nearby active galaxy appears in this colorful NASA Hubble Space Telescope image. The galaxy lies 13 million light-years away in the southern constellation Circinus. Black Holes Shed Light on Galaxy Formation
Black Holes Shed Light on Galaxy Formation. Astronomers are concluding that monstrous black holes weren't simply born big but instead grew on a measured diet of gas and stars controlled by their host galaxies in the early formative years of the universe. Fireworks Near a Black Hole in the Core of Seyfert Galaxy NGC 4151
Fireworks Near a Black Hole in the Core of Seyfert Galaxy NGC 4151. The Hubble telescope's imaging spectrograph simultaneously records, in unprecedented detail, the velocities of hundreds of gas knots streaming at hundreds of thousands of miles per hour from the nucleus of NGC 4151, thought to house a super-massive black hole. This is the first time the velocity structure in the heart of this object, or similar objects, has been mapped so vividly this close to its central black hole. Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places
Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places. Medium-size black holes actually do exist, according to the latest findings from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, but scientists had to look in some unexpected places to find them. Ancient Black Hole Speeds Through Sun's Galactic Neighborhood
Ancient Black Hole Speeds Through Sun's Galactic Neighborhood, Devouring Companion Star. Data from the Space Telescope Science Institute's Digitized Sky Survey has played an important supporting role in helping radio and X-ray astronomers discover an ancient black hole speeding through the Sun's galactic neighborhood. The rogue black hole is devouring a small companion star as the pair travels in an eccentric orbit looping to the outer reaches of our Milky Way galaxy. Feasting Black Hole Blows Bubbles
Feasting Black Hole Blows Bubbles. A monstrous black hole's rude table manners include blowing huge bubbles of hot gas into space. At least, that's the gustatory practice followed by the supermassive black hole residing in the hub of the nearby galaxy NGC 4438. Known as a peculiar galaxy because of its unusual shape, NGC 4438 is in the Virgo Cluster, 50 million light-years from Earth. Hubble Reopens Its Eye on the Universe
Hubble Reopens Its Eye on the Universe. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is back in business, as made dramatically evident in stunning new celestial pictures of remote galaxies and a colorful dying star released today. Hubble Uncovers Dust Disk around a Massive Black Hole
Hubble Uncovers Dust Disk around a Massive Black Hole. Resembling a gigantic hubcap in space, a 3,700-light-year-wide dust disk encircles a 300-million- solar-mass black hole in the center of the elliptical galaxy NGC 7052. Hubble Finds a Bare Black Hole Pouring Out Light
Hubble Finds a Bare Black Hole Pouring Out Light. Probing the heart of the active galaxy NGC 6251, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has provided a never-before-seen view of a warped disk or ring of dust caught in a blazing torrent of ultraviolet light from a suspected massive black hole. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Discovers a Disk Fueling a Possible Black Hole
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Discovers a Disk Fueling a Possible Black Hole. The giant elliptical galaxy NGC 4261 is one of the 12 brightest galaxies in the Virgo Cluster, located 45 million light-years away. Photographed in visible light - white - the galaxy appears as a fuzzy disk of hundreds of billions of stars. A radio image - orange - shows a pair of opposed jets emanating from the nucleus and spanning a distance of 88,000 light-years. Eratosthenes of Cyrene
Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Eratosthenes of Cyrene lived approximately 275-195 BC. He was born in Cyrene which is now in Libya in North Africa. Another area in which Eratosthenes is remembered is his work with prime numbers. Although his original writings are lost, he is remembered for his Sieve of Eratosthenes which, in modified form, is still an important tool in number theory research. Eratosthenes is probably best known for the surprisingly accurate measurement of the circumference of the Earth. International Space Station Marks Five Years In Orbit
International Space Station Marks Five Years In Orbit. The International Space Station reaches the historic five years in space milestone on November 20, 2003. The unique orbiting laboratory complex has grown from a lone, uninhabited module into a permanently staffed, house-sized research facility. Three Members Added To Stafford-Covey Task Group
Three Members Added To Stafford-Covey Task Group. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe today announced the appointment of three additional members to the task group assigned to perform an independent assessment of the agency's implementation of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board's recommendations. | 