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The genesis of Apollo 8’s ‘earthrise’Thirty years ago, the crew of Apollo 8 made the first around-the-moon flight - a Christmas 1968 mission that set the stage for the first moon landing less than a year later. In this excerpt from the book Genesis, Robert Zimmerman focuses on the events leading up to the 'earthrise' picture, the first widely distributed picture of Earth as seen from the moon. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Lunar Prospector to gather data closer to moon's surface On Dec. 19, mission controllers at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, will command the Lunar Prospector spacecraft into a 40-kilometer (approximately 25-mile) lunar polar orbit, down from its current 100 kilometer (63 mile) mapping orbit, signaling the transition to the spacecraft's extended mission. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Top of the science class See also: Top scientific advance of year: Universe will keep expanding and Farthest Supernova yet Confirms Mysterious Force Last year it was Dolly the cloned sheep. The year before it was the possibility of life on Mars. This year, astronomy once again heads the list of the most important scientific advances of 1998. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Space Station a New Star in the Night Sky Astronaut Robert Cabana stood on the tarmac of the Kennedy Space Centre on Wednesday and talked about a bright new star in the firmament. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bringing Life to Mars 'In the future there will be two major sources of energy,' predicts would-be Martian Edward B. Kiker, 'nuclear power and Robert Zubrin.' Zubrin is an astronautical engineer whom Kiker and 750 other founding members of the Mars Society believe has the right stuff to lead them to the red planet. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Hubble astronomers discuss cosmic mysteries Join talk show host Marc Steiner and world-renowned astronomers as they discuss the new images and their implications during a Webcast forum recorded December 15 from the Space Science Telescope Institute. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Space probe on track for asteroid encounter See also: Asteroid Probe Set for Trip and Spacecraft Ready to Orbit Asteroid in Yearlong Study A robot spacecraft is on target for a rendezvous that will give humankind its closest look ever at the surface and composition of an asteroid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Looking back on a holiday to remember Nearly 30 years after Apollo 8's adventure gave humans a first-hand look at the dark side of the moon, two of its three mission astronauts said they were eager to give space flight another shot. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Endeavour Returns in Triumph See also: Endeavour back on Earth After nearly 12 days in space, the Endeavour astronauts are looking forward to spending the holidays with their families. They landed Tuesday night after a successful mission to begin building the International Space Station. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Bunches & Bunches of Geminids Observers around the globe were treated to one of the strongest Geminid showers ever. Next year could be even better.
ISS, Brought to You By... | Corporations may get more involved in the new space station than ever before. NASA is trying to get out of the space-operations business, and the private sector might pick up some of the slack.
NASA's shuttle chief warns of close calls | NASA's shuttle program chief warned space agency workers to focus on safety after "three close calls" that could have led to a catastrophic accident -- one of them at the launch of the mission taking John Glenn back into space in October.
Texas biosafety experts look to Mars | The Texas medical school planning a laboratory to handle the world’s most dangerous organisms is ready to take on the universe. The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, 45 miles south of Houston, is discussing the possibility of housing any Mars specimens returned to Earth in NASA’s proposed unmanned missions to the Red Planet next decade.
Endeavour Readies for Departure See also: Space station on its own | The crew of the space shuttle Endeavour returned to the routine work of deploying satellites and readying for a return to Earth today after leaving behind the International Space Station.
First Ion Burn Completed | Ground controllers commanded Deep Space 1 to turn off thrusting of its ion engine this week, allowing them to perform critical tests of two of the mission's advanced technologies.
Searching For Life On Jupiter's Moon Europa | If the icy surface of Europa conceals a liquid ocean, which seems increasingly likely, then the Jovian moon will become one of the hottest spots in the solar system to look for alien life.
Interstellar burp leads to discovery of new pulsar | Few people get to discover a new star. Colleen Wilson-Hodge, an astrophysicist at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, now has two with her second discovery of an astrophysical oddity - a pulsar orbiting a massive star. 
New Missions to MarsThe American space agency NASA Friday launched the first of two missions to Mars. The Mars Climate Orbiter will circle and take measurements of the planet's weather. A second spacecraft will be launched early next year. It will land near the south pole of Mars and analyze the red planet's soil and local climate. NPR's Joe Palca previews these newest Mars missions.
Destination Mars See also: Rain check on Mars, NASA heads back to Mars and Heading for a better weather forecast from Mars | A NASA spacecraft blasted off to Mars on Dec.11, a trip that will take 9 months just to get to the Red Planet and another two years looking for water there.
Meteorite is possible ice age culprit See also: Evidence of Killer Asteroid | The discovery of a 3.3-million-year-old meteorite impact site in Argentina has revealed a potential cause for the series of ice ages that has periodically frozen the Earth since that time.
Astronauts cross new threshold | Two astronauts from the US Space Shuttle Endeavour have made history by becoming the first people to step inside the International Space Station.
Unraveling Mars’ Weather | Mars is about to get another Earth visitor. Japan is set to launch its own Mars orbiter, which will spend two years studying Mars’ upper atmosphere and ionosphere and how they’re affected by solar winds.
Light From a Long Time Ago | A new digital telescope has spotted what could be the most distant quasar ever detected, a red dot in the sky dating from the earliest days of the universe.
Solar wind blows some of Earth's atmosphere into space | The northern lights are more than beautiful; they are indicators of powerful storms strong enough to drive some of Earth's upper atmosphere right into space!
Launch on one Mars mission and results from another featured this week | The first of two upcoming launches of NASA's 1998 Mars Surveyor missions, and exciting scientific findings from the Agency's current Mars mission will be featured this week on NASA Television.
Space station comes alive See also: International space station springs to life | Two US astronauts have successfully hooked up 40 electrical connections between the first two pieces of the International Space Station, allowing power and data to flow from one side to the other.
Building a shelter in space -- step by step | More than 200 miles above the globe, Jerry Ross and Jim Newman stepped into space with their tools on Monday, and got to the handiwork that eventually will lead to one of the biggest engineering feats in history -- an immense, 520-ton structure to house human beings in space.
The dark heart of our galaxy is revealed | You cannot see the heart of our star system. It is obscured by vast clouds of gas and dust in the constellation of Sagittarius. Try as they might astronomers simply cannot see through these clouds to the centre of our Milky Way galaxy.
Mars' north pole revealed in stunning 3D See also: Measuring Martian Ice and North pole of Mars offers scientists 'chilling' revelations | A space-borne laser has produced the first three-dimensional view of Mars' North Pole. This has enabled scientists to estimate the volume of water in the ice cap and speculate that much of the planet's original water is either hidden below the surface or missing.
Apollo 17 Moon Rock Recovered | A 3.9-million-year-old chunk of the moon that President Nixon gave to Honduras has been seized by federal agents who said they uncovered a plan to sell the rock for $5 million.
Deep Space probe's ion engine working smoothly | The futuristic ion engine on NASA's Deep Space 1 probe is activated and has been running smoothly and gently for nearly two weeks, according to NASA.
Slipping, Sliding on Europa See also: Fault line on Europa similar to San Andreas and Jupiter's moon Europa has a major fault | First, planetary scientists found evidence that Europa sloshed. Now they know it slid as well.
Radiation Belts Pose Risk See also: Radiation belts threaten satellites, astronauts | The radiation belts surrounding Earth can become extremely powerful in a matter of seconds, posing far greater risks to spacewalking astronauts and communication satellites than previously believed.
The Mysterious Geminid Meteor Shower | On December 13, 1998, fragments of a curious object called 3200 Phaethon will produce a beautiful sky show.
Difficult Maneuver Planned See also: Shuttle Adjusts Orbit to Avoid Space Junk and Zarya, Unity to be connected by Endeavour's crew today | Endeavour’s astronauts were poised today to connect America’s first piece of the international space station with a Russian module already in orbit, but first they had to steer clear of a piece of space debris..
Endeavour 'all set' for space rendezvous | Astronauts on the Space Shuttle Endeavour have successfully raised the first US-built section of the International Space Station into position ready for connection on Sunday with the Russian Zarya module launched two weeks ago.
NASA launches satellite to study star formation | A NASA satellite that will study stellar formation was put into orbit Dec.5 by a rocket ferried several miles above Earth by a jetliner.
Contest to name Mars microprobes | NASA has announced the start of a contest to name its Deep Space 2 mission's two microprobes, scheduled to be launched next month on journey to Mars.
Small Island Prepares For Big Challenge | Alderney, one of just four locations in the British Isles, where a total eclipse of the sun can be witnessed on August 11, 1999, is bracing itself for a mass invasion - although clearly not on the same scale as Devon and Cornwall. (The fourth location being the Scilly Isles.)
Cassini/Huygens deep-space manoeuvre completed | Cassini/Huygens successfully completed its long-planned 90-minute firing of its onboard rocket engine on Dec.3, setting the spacecraft on course for a second flyby of Venus in June - the next major milestone on the long voyage to Saturn.
This Old Space Station | When Jerry Ross and James Newman begin connecting cables on the International Space Station next week, they won't be doing the work of typical telephone linemen.
Endeavour looking good | The Space Shuttle Endeavour is in orbit and is looking good at the start of its mission to begin construction work on the International Space Station.
CWRU's Nassau Telescope Goes Online In December For Public Use | The whole world will soon have the stars and galaxies at its finger tips. The 0.9-meter telescope at Case Western Reserve University's Nassau Astronomical Station will go online by December 15 as the country's first Earth-bound robotic telescope accessible to the public.
Prospecting For Helium-3 On The Moon | Future prospectors on the Moon may be assisted by resource maps developed from research by scientists in Arizona and Hawaii. The resources they will be seeking are not gold or diamonds, but helium-3 [3He], an isotope that is rare on Earth, but more common on the Moon.
The frosty plains of Europa | As Galileo returns new images of Europa, NASA scientists prepare to study samples from a potentially similar environment here on Earth.
Skylab Was More Swank than ISS | NASA’s first space station, Skylab, had more perks 25 years ago than its new one will offer at the turn of the millennium.
Reflecting on Mirror Find | Scientists have made a breakthrough with special light-filtering mirrors that may open up their use from energy-saving windows for the home to heat-deflecting coating for the space shuttle.
Martian Underground Provides Safe Harbour | In the early years of the solar system, when giant chunks of rock and ice pummeled the planets, the best place for life to survive -- if life existed at all -- was in underground niches on Mars.
Earth Used to Tilt More | The Earth might have tilted far more toward the sun 600 million years ago than it does today, making the polar regions warm and the tropics cold.
Deep Space 1 Mission Status | Deep Space 1 is in powered flight, with its ion propulsion system thrusting smoothly and gently since shortly before 3 p.m. Pacific time Tuesday, November 23. 300-Year-Old Rgo Finally to Close | Like Lewis Carroll's Cheshire cat, which disappeared leaving only its grin, one of Britain's oldest scientific institutions will vanish next month leaving only its name. The 300-year-old Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO) in Cambridge, which provides technical and scientific support for Britain's astronomers, will close in October as part of cost-cutting measures by the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC). Lava May Have Sculpted Martian Plains | The northern lowlands on Mars, half the size of the United States and flatter than the Sahara Desert, may have been volcanically active as recently as 10 million years ago. New images reveal that huge plates of solidified volcanic lava, rather than sediment from a giant body of water, formed the extraordinarily level terrain. Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite To Study Star Formation | NASA's Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite (SWAS) mission, scheduled for launch at 8:40 p.m. EST (5:40 p.m. PST) on Dec. 2, 1998, will gather star-formation data, which have remained invisible from beneath the obscuring effects of the Earth's atmosphere. An Ocean for Callisto | Of the four large moons of Jupiter, Callisto lies farthest from its mother planet and has always been regarded as the least interesting--a geologically dead chunk of ice and rock. New evidence from the Galileo spacecraft hints that, like its sister satellite Europa, Callisto may harbor an ocean beneath its icy crust.
All in the Timing | They are the most outrageous of stars. Neutron stars squeeze more matter than the sun into a sphere only 20 kilometers wide, wield the strongest gravity outside of a black hole, and spin at a dizzying rate, up to several hundred times a second.
NASA to Buy Research Time to Bail out Russian Agency | U.S. scientists planning research projects aboard the international space station have long fretted that their experiments would get short shrift from astronauts too busy putting the station together to spend much time conducting science. But a deal negotiated with Russia last week could provide them all the experiment time they want.
The one-man band of astrophysics | The original astrophysical one-man band has sounded off again, this time for a encore that wasn't quite as long or loud as its debut. The band is a pulsar rotating around a low mass star, in a binary system called GRO J1774-28.
Russians still work to keep Mir alive | Russia has struck a tentative agreement with a not-yet-named commercial firm for the use of the Mir space station beyond 1999, a space official said Tuesday. If the pact is firmed up over the next month, it could provide a reprieve for the Russian station, which is due to die a fiery death next summer.
Space station has no name but lots of suggestions: Giant Space Thingy? | If it were up to kids, NASA would be blasting off Thursday to build the Dudeship. Or the Milky Way Bar Stop. Or the Totally Rad Space Place. With hours remaining before the first space-station construction flight, the international space station still lacks an official name.
Probing the Milky Way's Black Heart | Astronomers have taken their closest look at the mysterious center of our galaxy--and uncovered a further mystery. At the very center of the galaxy lies a black hole with a mass millions of times greater than the sun's. The black hole is invisible, but just outside it, electrons torn from matter falling into the black hole gyrate around magnetic field lines, broadcasting radio waves.
Through a cosmic lens See also: 'Mirage' used to measure age of universe | An international team of astronomers have measured how fast the Universe is expanding and from that its age. They have found it to be larger and older than previously thought.
France and U.S. plan joint Mars probe | France and the United States plan a joint mission to send a robot to Mars to examine the planet's structure and bring back rock samples.
Space station means new role for shuttle | Poor weather is threatening to delay the Thursday launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour on its mission to deliver the next component for the International Space Station.
Endeavour's weather watch | Poor weather is threatening to delay the Thursday launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour on its mission to deliver the next component for the International Space Station.
Endeavor Set for ISS Launch | The astronaut crew for the first manned mission in the construction of the $60 billion International Space Station arrived at the Kennedy Space Center late on Sunday.
NASA's First Space Station Had More Amenities than New One Will | NASA's first space station, Skylab, had more perks 25 years ago than its new one will offer at the turn of the millennium.
Meteors over the desert | Award-winning astrophotographer Wally Pacholka has taken this spectacular Leonid image. Searching For ET From Home - UC Berkeley Launches Project To Draw Public Into The Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence | One hundred lucky pioneers will get the chance of a lifetime this month - the opportunity to participate in a unique search for extraterrestrial intelligence from their desktop computer. |
