The Year 2003 began quietly for the International Space Station Expedition 6 crew. Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin, and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit crossed the international date line 15 times during the last day of 2002, officially greeting the new year at midnight Greenwich Mean Time during their sleep shift. The first day of the new year involved only a few routine maintenance tasks, exercise and time off for the crew. Additional Details: here....

Coriolis was an Air Force Space Test Program three-year meteorological science mission to demonstrate the viability of using polarimetry to measure ocean surface wind speed and direction from space, and to demonstrate predictions of geomagnetic disturbances through continuous observation of Coronal Mass Ejections. Launch delayed from August 22, November 15, December 15, 16, 17 and 18, 2002 and January 5, 2003.

The spacewalk was originally planned for December 12 and a crew of Budarin and Bowersox. But Budarin was prohibited by NASA from further EVA's (at least using US spacesuits) for undisclosed medical reasons. It took over a month for the plans for the spacewalk to be revised (since Budarin was not qualified to operate the space arm, Petit and Bowersox would have to move around the outside of the gigantic station without its assistance). They deployed the 23 m high central radiator panel on the P1 struss, cleaned up a docking port, installed external lighting on the S1 truss, and retrieved tools left on the Z1 truss.

Space shuttle Columbia's astronauts pointed two Israeli cameras over the Atlantic and the Mediterranean today in search of small dust particles that might impact the weather and began experiments in human life sciences in the third day of the STS-107 scientific research flight. Additional Details: here....

"Fake Plastic Trees" by Radiohead. Dedicated to Willie McCool. Red Team -"Amazing Grace" by Black Watch and 51 Band of Highland Brigade. Dedicated to Laurel Clark - The same song on bagpipes was played at her wedding, for the wakeup in space, and at her funeral.

Columbia's astronauts conducted scientific studies ranging from the behavior of granular materials in weightlessness to the effects of microgravity on fungi, and filmed the sprites associated with thunderstorms across the globe as their scientific research flight continued in its fifth day. Additional Details: here....

The signal received was very faint with no telemetry received. NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) did not detect a signal during the final contact attempt on 7 February 2003. The last time a Pioneer 10 contact returned telemetry data was 27 April 2002. NASA had no additional contact attempts planned for Pioneer 10. Pioneer 10 was at 82 AU, or 12.3 billion km from Earth. The last signal took 11 hours and 20 minutes to reach earth. The spacecraft was headed in the direction of the star Aldebaran, 68 light-years away. It would reach the vicinity of the red giant star in about two million years.

"Burning Down the House" by Talking Heads in honor of combustion experiments on this flight Red Team -"Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas. The crew had a stuffed hamster toy which played that song. It was their 'mascot' and they took it everywhere during their training.

"Hotel California" performed by Pilot William McCool's family (Josie McCool, Shawn McCool) The family members were Sean McCool on the guitar, his former girlfriend (but still friend) Josee Julian, and Josee's father Frank also on guitar. (Reference - an email to me from Lani McCool) Red Team -"The Prayer" by Celine Dion. Dedicated to Rick Husband.

"When Day is Done" by Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli. Dedicated to Dave Brown. Capcom Charlie Hobaugh said,"We're doing great down here, and I feel cultured" Dave replied,"It's about time" Red Team -"Love of My Life" by Queen. Dedicated to Ilan Ramon. A videotape of the wakeup activities survived the accident.

"Imagine" by John Lennon. McCool and Ramon said their observations from orbit reveal no borders on the Earth below and reiterated in both English and Hebrew their hopes for peace in the world. Dedicated to Willie McCool. Red Team -"Yaar ko hamne ja ba ja dekha" by Abita Parveen. Dedicated to Kalpana Chawla. A videotape of the crew activities during this wakeup call survived the accident.

On-orbit servicing technology demonstrator. XSS-10, a 28 kilogram microsatellite, was launched as a secondary payload aboard the Delta 2 launch vehicle carrying a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) satellite. The mission demonstrated the complex interactions of line-of-sight guidance with basic inertial maneuvering. The micro-satellite was attached to the Delta 2 second stage. Once the second stage separated from the GPS satellite, the microsatellite waited for a sunlit Air Force Space Control Network pass before ejecting from the second stage. Once ejected, the microsatellite commenced an autonomous inspection sequence around the second stage, and live video was transmitted to ground stations. The entire mission lasted only 24 hours. Launch delayed from June 11 and August 16, 2001; March 6, April 29, August 11 and November 7, 2002.

"Silver Inches" by Enya. Dedicated to Dave Brown. Red Team -"Shalom lach eretz nehederet" by Yehoram Gaon. Dedicated to Ilan Ramon - The tune is the same as Arlo Guthrie's"City of New Orleans" Ilan said,"Good morning, Stephanie, it was wonderful to hear your voice in Hebrew. It was perfect timing while we flew over Israel to hear this song, which says I've been to the North Pole and to everywhere but there's no place better than Israel"

The shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas during re-entry at an altitude of 63.15 km and a speed of Mach 18. All hands aboard were lost. The loss grounded the shuttle fleet pending a failure investigation and left the crew of Bowersox, Pettit and Budarin aboard the International Space Station with a Soyuz emergency return vehicle but without means of major station resupply.

Launch delayed from original schedule of January 30, and was made just one day after the Columbia disaster resulted in a suspension of shuttle flights. Docked successfully with the ISS on 14:49 GMT on 4 February 2003. Undocked from Zvezda on August 27 and deorbited later the same day.

Successful first launch of the prototype of the three-stage version of the Taurus launch vehicle being developed by Orbital Sciences for Boeing for use in the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system. The vehicle launched the dummy payload on a trajectory over the Pacific Ocean, reaching an altitude of 2100 km and traveling 6500 km down range.

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe reported today approximately 12,000 pieces of debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia have been collected along a 500-mile swath between Ft. Worth, Texas, and the Louisiana-Texas border. The debris is being tagged for identification and transported to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla., for use in the on-going investigation. Additional Details: here....

Columbia debris recovery efforts continued today centered in areas of eastern Texas and western Louisiana. More than 1,600 recovered items are at Barksdale Air Force Base, Shreveport, La. Barksdale is the central field collection point for debris being shipped to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla., to begin Shuttle Columbia reconstruction. Additional Details: here....

A Space Shuttle contingency has been declared in Mission Control, Houston, as a result of the loss of communication with the Space Shuttle Columbia at approximately 9 a.m. EST Saturday as it descended toward a landing at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. It was scheduled to touchdown at 9:16 a.m. EST. Communication and tracking of the shuttle was lost at 9 a.m. EST at an altitude of about 203,000 feet in the area above north central Texas. Additional Details: here....

Approaching three months into their stay in space aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition 6 crewmembers continued unpacking newly arrived supplies this week, watched their home's altitude rise, held a news conference and operated the station's robotic arm. Additional Details: here....

Final Ariane 4 launch. Intelsat 907 was scheduled to be in service March 2003 and provide enhanced C-band coverage for the Americas, Africa and Europe and high-power Ku-band spot beam coverage for Europe and Africa. The satellite replaced Intelsat 605 at 332.5 deg E. With more than twice the Ku-band power, Intelsat 907 would support corporate broadcast distribution and broadband applications including high speed Internet access, multicasting and streaming. Users of the new satellite would require 1.0 m Ku-band antennae to access the satellite. Flexible transponder activation allowed use of Ku-Band for 14 out of 16 channels. With a total of up to 76 C-Band 36 MHz equivalent unit transponders, Intelsat 907 provided 19% more capacity than the satellite it replaced. C-band footprints included full coverage of South and Central America, broad coverage over Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and connectivity to North America. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 27.53W drifting at 0.006W degrees per day.

Flight Time: 2.8 hours Pilot: Binnie Copilot: Melvill. Objectives: Evaluate performance of updated engines. Measure effect of new canted wingtips. Test new landing gear doors and upgraded INS hardware. Results: New and different engine irregularities at highest altitudes. Further mods are needed for adequate ECS humidity control. Canted wingtips solved the dihedral effect problem. No flying qualities issues remain.

Approaching their 100th day in orbit, the International Space Station's Expedition 6 crewmembers completed an important test of on-orbit spacewalk preparation this week, while program managers cleared the way for a crew rotation scenario that will bring the three-man crew back to Earth in Kazakhstan in May. Additional Details: here....

Flight Time: 3.3 hours Pilot: Melvill Copilot: Cory Bird. Objectives: Revised ECS configuration evaluation. Multiple SFO (simulated flame out) approaches to assess updated flight director steering cues. Results: New ECS configuration results encouraging. Engines returned to depot facility for second overhaul repair.

The Expedition 6 crew aboard the International Space Station, Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit, spent their week doing routine maintenance, completing the troubleshooting of the Microgravity Science Glovebox and continuing a survey of the outside of the station using the Canadarm2 robotic arm. Additional Details: here....

Optical reconnaisance satellite. First Japanese military space mission. Dual payload. Delayed from February 2003. The Tanegashima facility was under strict security, guarded by 400 police officers wearing bullet-proof vests. Waters near the pad were patrolled by the coast guard.

International Space Station crewmembers, Commander Ken Bowersox, Flight Engineer Nikolai Budarin and NASA ISS Science Officer Don Pettit, spent much of this week preparing for their spacewalk next Tuesday. The 61/2-hour spacewalk is scheduled to begin about 7:30 a.m. CDT, with NASA Television coverage slated to start at 6 a.m. Additional Details: here....

The Quest airlock was depressurized at 1236 GMT. Cosmonaut Budarin supported the operations from inside the station. One of the more important tasks was to reroute power cables for two of the station's critical control moment gyros, so that the pair could not be disabled by any single power disruption. This was important to provide extra redundancy, since one of the four total gyros has already failed and could not be replaced due to the grounding of the shuttle fleet after the STS-107 disaster.

Delayed from May 28, 2002, and January 13, February 5, and April 11, 2003. AsiaSat 4 was designed to provide broadcast, telecommunications and broadband multimedia services to the Asia Pacific region, and direct-to-home broadcast servic-es to Hong Kong, from its orbital position of 122 deg É East longitude.The satellite generated up to 9,600 watts using two sun-tracking four-panel solar wings covered with triple-junction gallium arsenide solar cells. AsiaSat 4 was to operate in C-band and Ku-band. The satellite carried 28 active transponders with six spares in C-band, powered by 55-watt traveling-wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs), and 20 active transponders with four spares in Ku-band, powered by 140-watt TWTAs. The C-band payload was designed to offer pan-Asian coverage, similar to AsiaSat 3S, also a 601HP model. The Ku-band payload provided high power, and spot beams for selected areas in either the Fixed Satellite Service frequency band or in the Broadcast Satellite Service frequency band. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 122.23E drifting at 0.011W degrees per day.

Scaled Composites (Mojave, California, USA) rolls out their X-Prize vehicle, consisting of the White Knight carrier aircraft and SpaceShipOne spaceplane. This is followed by a demonstration flight by the White Knight carrier-launch aircraft. Flight Time: 0.2 hours Pilot: Melvill Copilot: Binnie. Objectives: Formal media rollout Results: Good show for the VIP/media audience

Ultraviolet space telescope. Much delayed launch (from January 19, May 19, July 16, 21 and 30, August 14 and October 17, 2002; January 27, March 25 and 30, April 15 and 26 2003). It was finally switched off on 28 June 2013, following an extra tenth year of observing funded by Caltech. Air dropped in Mayport DZ.

Flight Time: 2.3 hours Pilot: Melvill Copilot: Rick Aldrich. Objectives: Engine performance at altitude. New pilot masks and ECS airflow routing. Regulated bleed air control of the aft cabin temperature (to test the capability to heat SpaceShipOne's nitrous oxidizer. Appraisal of new traffic alert system. Results: Engines showed much improved performance up to 50,000 feet. ECS changes confirmed to assure clear windows for landing. Successful bleed air heating test: good control and sufficient energy for SS1 propellant heating.

The loss of the shuttle Columbia on the STS-107 mission grounded the shuttle fleet and meant that the Soyuz TMA-1 attached to the ISS would be used in its lifeboat role for the first time. Soyuz TMA-2 carried the EO-7 skeleton crew to the ISS with the mission of keeping the station in operation until shuttle flights could resume. This allowed the EO-6 crew, after their extended stay aboard the ISS, to finally return home. They readied the TMA-1 for landing and then undocked from the ISS at 22:40 GMT on 2 May. This marked the first return of American astronauts in a Soyuz capsule (though several had ridden Soyuz capsules to the Mir station). During the re-entry, the first for the Soyuz TMA-1 model, the guidance failed and the capsule reverted to a rolling ballistic re-entry. This subjected the crew to over 8 G's, as opposed to under 3 G's for a normal Soyuz lifting re-entry. It also resulted in a landing 460 km short of the target. Soyuz TMA-1 landed at 2:07 GMT, but htere was a delay of over two hours before recovery forces arrived at the capsule.

Experimental Rural Communications. Launch delayed from original target of late 2001, then October 2002, then February 2003. The satellite carried four C-band transponders, two Ku-band transponders and a Mobile Satellite Service (MSS) payload operating in S-band and C-band for forward link and return link respectively. GSAT-2 also carried four piggyback experimental payloads: Total Radiation Dose Monitor (TRDM), Surface Charge Monitor (SCM), Solar X-ray Spectrometer (SOXS) and Coherent Radio Beacon Experiment (CRABEX). As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 47.97E drifting at 0.005E degrees per day.

Pablo de León (Buenos Aires, Argentina tested his vehicle's life support systems, pressure suit, and environment controls using several high altitude glider flights to 30,000 feet using their space suit system. The suit also underwent several thermal tests in a cold chamber (-35 Centigrade) and external temperatures were sustained for more than 2 hours.

Objectives: First captive carry flight with mated White Knight and SpaceShipOne. Vibration and aerodynamic interface assessment. Mated handling qualities evaluation. Envelope expansion to 130 knots / Mach 0.5 above 45,000 feet. Stalls and 2/3-rudder sideslips. SpaceShipOne systems inactive, controls locked and cabin unmanned. Launch system was qualified and functional for this flight. Additional Details: here....

Four weeks into their mission, the two-man crew of the International Space Station has moved beyond an orientation and familiarization schedule and into an agenda of operations that reflects the range of activities they'll pursue on orbit during the remaining five months of their flight. Additional Details: here....

Navigation satellite, joined Beidou 1A and 1B launched in December 2000. This third satellite was considered a back-up element, Positioned at 110 deg E, still maintaining its position within 0.1 deg as of 2007. Retired after launch of the Beidou-2 geosynchronous satellites in 2010.

Europe's first probe to Mars. Mars Express had a mass of 637 kg dry, including science payload and Beagle separation device, together with 480 kg of propellant and the 69 kg Beagle 2 lander, for a total of 1186 kg. In addition to this a 37 kg adapter remained attached to the Fregat upper stage. Mars Express was placed into a 1.014 x 1.531 AU x 0.2 deg orbit around the Sun, following a course correction on June 5. The launch was first moved forward from June 1 and May 31 to May 23. Then delayed to June 6, then moved forward to June 2.

Launch delayed from December 2002, then to February 10, 2003, then to February 28, March 15, April 28 and May 19. Finally moved forward from June 12 and 7. Upper stage changed from DM3 after several failures. The fifth burn of the Briz-M upper stage placed the spacecraft in a geostationary transfer orbit of 6,445 km x 35,674 km x 17.2 deg. The satellite used its own engine to place itself in geosynchronous orbit at apogee. Alcatel Spacebus 3000B3 with C and Ku band communications for North America from a geotationary position of 72 deg W. Americom at the time of launch had become a subsidiary of Societe Europeene des Satellites (SES), Luxembourg, which operated the European Astra satellie constellation. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 83.02W drifting at 0.008W degrees per day.

Resupply of International Space Station. Additional water carried to meet needs of skeleton crew. Successfully docked with the nadir port on Pirs at 1115 GMT on June 11. It undocked from the station on September 4 to clear the port for Soyuz TMA-3 but then unusually spent a month on an autonomous earth observation mission. The deorbit engine ignited at 11:26 GMT on October 3 from a 247 x 340 km x 51.6 deg orbit, reducing the perigee to 69 km. Progress M1-10 reentered the atmosphere over the Pacific at 11:58 GMT and broke up around 12:05 GMT.

Satellite jointly owned by Singtel Optus Pty and the Australian Dept. of Defense. Previous satellites in the series were purely civilian and didn't carry the dedicated defence communications equipment. Prime contractor for the satellie was Mitsubishi, using a Loral FS-1300 bus with UHF, X-band and Ka-band communications transponders. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 109.87E drifting at 0.009W degrees per day.

The satellite entered a 211 x 559 km x 62.8 deg parking orbit, and then the Blok ML upper stage fired to put it in a 604 x 40578 km x 62.7 deg drift orbit with a 734 minute period. The orbit was later adjusted to 717.8 minutes (semi-synchronous) with an onboard engine. The special orbital inclination of 63 degrees minimizes the rotation of the orbit in its plane due to the oblateness of the Earth, keeping the apogee in the same apparent position over the northern hemisphere.

Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA International Space Station Science Officer Ed Lu donned Hawaiian aloha shirts this week to show off some of the clothing they had unpacked from a newly arrived Russian resupply craft. They wore the red and white, flowered shirts - complete with the Expedition 7 crew patch - in downlink television interviews. Additional Details: here....

One-meter-resolution commercial imaging satellite. Orbview-3 used an Orbital Leostar bus and had a launch mass of 304 kg (including ca. 50 kg of hydrazine for orbit raising and the 66 kg science instrument). Launch had been delayed from September 2002, April 30, May 9 and 23 Air dropped in Point Arguello WADZ.

Expedition 7 Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA International Space Station Science Officer Ed Lu today wrapped up a busy week of station and science activities as they approached the end of their eighth week on the ISS. Lu performed another run of the InSPACE experiment in the Microgravity Science Glovebox while Malenchenko spent some time loading the Progress 10, docked to the rear of the Zvezda Service Module, with station discards. Additional Details: here....

MOST (Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars) was a Canadian Space Agency project with a 0.15m telescope which would make photometric observations of stars down to mag 6 with 1 part per million accuracy in the 3500-7000 Angstrom band. Canada's tiny "humble space telescope", celebrated its tenth anniversary of operations in 2013.

Flight Time: 2.2 hours Pilot: Binnie Copilot: Siebold. Objectives: First glide flight profile rehearsal / two ship checklist flow / airspace coordination / Command and Control responsibilities and handoffs. Results: Good exercise of all involved parties and agencies including the Edwards air Force Base, Joshua Control and Scaled Composites, Utility Mobile ground station.

NASA's second Mars Exploration Rover, MER-B (MER-1) 'Opportunity', was launched by a Delta 7925H, which was similar to the standard 7925 model but with larger GEM-46 solid strapon motors previously used only on the Delta III 8930. MER-B separated from the Delta third stage at 0436 UTC and was then on its way to Mars. The launch had been delayed from June 26, 29 and 30, July 3, 6 and 7. Mass included cruise stage, lander and rover. Rover mass was 170 kg, lander 360 kg.

Flight Time: 0.5 hours Pilot: Siebold Copilot: Binnie Flight Engineer: Losey. Objectives: Pilot proficiency. First flight for SpaceShipOne crew chief. Results: Made several practice SpaceshipOne approaches using various configurations and runways. Good exposure for SS1 crewchief Steve Losey on cockpit workload / crew coordination / cabin environment and human factors for Tier-1 mission.

Flight Time: 0.7 hours Pilot: Binnie Copilot: Siebold Flight Engineer: Stinemetze. Objectives: Pilot proficiency. First flight for SpaceShipOne lead engineer. Results: Made several simulated captive carry low sink rate landings as well as practice SpaceshipOne approaches to various runways. Good exposure for Matt Stinemetze on cockpit workload / crew coordination / cabin environment and human factors for Tier-1 mission

Flight Time: 2.0 hours Pilot: Melvill Copilot: Binnie Flight Engineer: Rutan. Objectives: First glide flight profile rehearsal / two ship checklist flow / airspace coordination / Command and Control responsibilities and handoffs. First flight for Burt in the White Knight. Results: Exercised all current checklists and SpaceShipOne first flight test cards. Simulated emergencies handled successfully. Good exposure for Burt on cockpit workload / crew coordination / cabin environment and human factors for Tier-1 mission. Flew eleven practice SpaceShipOne approaches from above high key, three with simulated failed avionics and some with other emergencies and runway changes. All were successful.

Starchaser Industries (Hyde, England, UK) conducted two manned capsule drop tests from a C-123K transport aircraft at an altitude of 14,000 feet over the Red Lake Drop Zone in Kingman, Arizona, in order to practice landing the reusable craft. The main purpose of the tests was to ensure that the parachute, navigation, and landing systems function properly.

Objectives: First manned captive carry flight of SpaceShipOne. A man-in-loop launch rehearsal and inflight checkout of all ship systems including flight controls and propulsion sytem plumbing. Results: Complete full up rehearsal for SS1's first glide flight, including airspace, range control, Scaled mission control, data and video TM and high and low chase platforms. Additional Details: here....

Objectives: First glide flight of SpaceShipOne. Results: The space ship was launched at 47,000 feet and 105 knots, 10 nm east of Mojave. Separation was clean and positive with no tendency to roll off or pitch bobble. An initial handling qualities evaluation was very positive, supported close correlation to the vehicle simulator and with that confidence, the first flight test cards were executed as planned. Additional Details: here....

Originally to have launched December 2002. Echostar 9 carried a Ku and Ka band communications payload for Echostar, and a C-band payload owned by Loral Skynet but about to be sold to Intelsat. Loral called the satellite Telstar 13. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 121.04W drifting at 0.007W degrees per day.

Originally to have launched September 2002; June 2003. A Russian newspaper report (Kommersant, 13 August) stated that Cosmos 2399 was a Neman (Yantar-4KS1M) imaging satellite, which used data relay satellites to return CCD imagery rather than physically recovering film. However some Western observors, when Cosmos 2399 raised its perigee on August 14 to 205 km and lowered the apogee to 330 km, believed this was more like the standard operational orbit for an Orlets-1 Don 17F12 film-return capsule imaging satellite. This seemed confirmed when debris was tracked around the satellite later on, which was then said to be due to a failed film capsule recovery attempt. Destroyed in orbit on December 9 after completing its mission.

Canadian Space Agency spacecraft which carried the ACE-FTS spectrometer to study the chemistry of the upper troposphere and stratosphere and the MAESTRO instrument to study ozone and aerosol levels in the atmosphere. Originally to have launched June 25, 2002. Delayed five more times. Air dropped in Point Arguello WADZ.

The Orbital Sciences Corperation booster was successfully tested with a mock EKV after a one-day launch delay. Shock and vibration environments were measured and compared to previous test levels. Preliminary analyses suggest that the new booster produced lower than expected vibrations at the EKV.

Launch was due on August 25. Was to have been on third qualification flight after two previous failures. The launch had already been delayed from October 2002, then May 7 and June 20 2003. It appeared that one of the strapon boosters ignited by accident. The two satellite payloads were also destroyed in the blast, as was the launch pad.

Originally to have launched January 9, 2003. Delayed six times. The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) was the last of NASA's 'Great Observatories'. It had a 0.85-meter infrared telescope, with a liquid-helium cooled focal plane carrying the three main instruments. SIRTF was launched by the second Delta II Heavy. The second stage entered a 166 x 167 km x 31.5 deg Earth parking orbit, and after about 33 minutes of coast, passing south of Madagascar, restarted at 0613 UTC to enter a hyperbolic orbit with a perigee of 170 km, an eccentricity of 1.0061, and a velocity of 11.05 km/s. This placed it in a solar orbit of 0.996 x 1.019 AU x 1.14 deg with a year about 4 days longer than Earth's.

Objectives: Second glide flight of SpaceShipOne. Flying qualities and performance in the space ship feather mode. Pilot workload and situational awareness while transitioning and handling qualities assessment when reconfigured. As a glider, deep stall investigation both at high and low altitude and envelope expansion out to 200 kts and 4 G's. Lateral directional characteristics including adverse yaw, roll rate effectiveness and control including aileron roll and full rudder side slips. Results: The flight was aborted about 20 minutes before launch, after a GPS navigation malfunction occurred in the SpaceShip avionics system. The mated pair continued to test other systems including Spaceship fuselage heating, then returned for a mated landing.

Flight Time: 1.1 hours White Knight Pilot: Binnie Copilot: Bird SpaceShipOne Pilot: Melvill High Chase-Starship Pilot: Siebold Low Chase-Duchess Pilot: Karkow

Objectives: Same objectives as the aborted flight 31LC/04GC earlier today. Second glide flight of SpaceShipOne. Flying qualities and performance in the space ship re-entry or "feather" mode. Pilot workload and situational awareness while transitioning and handling qualities assessment when reconfigured. As a glider, stall investigation both at high and low altitude and envelope expansion out to 200 kts and 4 G's. More aggressive, lateral directional characteristics including adverse yaw, roll rate effectiveness and control, including 360 degree aileron roll, and full rudder side slips. Additional Details: here....

Delayed from July 30, moved up from September 18 and August 30. Docked with the Zvezda module of the ISS on August 31. Undocked from the station at 08:36 GMT on 28 January 2004 after being filled with trash and unneeded equipment. Deorbited and reentered over the Pacific at 13:46 GMT.

An unpiloted Russian resupply craft successfully docked to the International Space Station tonight, delivering nearly three tons of food, fuel, water, supplies and scientific gear to the Expedition 7 crew aboard the complex and for the next crew to launch in October. Additional Details: here....

With a newly arrived Russian Progress cargo vehicle at the aft end of the Zvezda Service Module awaiting unloading and a just-vacated Pirs Docking Compartment awaiting their successors, International Space Station Expedition 7 crewmembers, Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu, spent much of Friday doing scheduled spacesuit maintenance. Additional Details: here....

American signals intelligence satellite placed into geostationary orbit. It was believed the payload was a successor to the USA-110 and USA-139 satellites launched in May 1995 and May 1998, referred to as 'Advanced ORION' by those not in the know. They were thought to be successors to the RHYOLITE missions of the 1970s. The satellite was originally to have launched April 28, 2002. Launch delayed seven times.

The Cassini probe to Saturn made a course correction burn at 2000 UTC, changing its velocity by 0.12m/s. At the time Cassini was 1284 million km from the Sun, in an orbit of 1.4462 AU x 9.2769 AU with an inclination of 0.81 deg to the ecliptic plane and the correction altered the orbit by about ten parts per million. On September 14 Cassini was 137 million km from Saturn; Saturn's nominal gravitational sphere of influence is 55 million km in radius and Cassini was to reach that point on 2004 March 10, 2004. The probe was to make a 2000 km flyby of the Saturnian moon Phoebe on June 11, 2004.

Flight Time: 2.7 hours. White Knight Pilot: Melvill. White Knight Copilot: Binnie White Knight Flt Engineer: Tighe. Objectives: SpaceShipOne approach and landing profile review Results: Evaluated a variety of different profiles to assess ease of set-up, forgiveness to off normal starts and pilot SA during the approach.

The unloading of nearly three tons of new supplies from a Progress cargo vehicle began in earnest this week aboard the International Space Station. Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA ISS Science Officer Ed Lu spent time each day unpacking, cataloging and stowing the equipment. Additional Details: here....

Flight Time: 2.7 hours. White Knight Pilot: Binnie. White Knight Copilot: Melvill White Knight Flt Engineer: Alsbury. Objectives: SpaceShipOne approach and landing profile review Results: Evaluated a variety of different profiles to assess ease of set-up, forgiveness to off normal starts and pilot SA during the approach.

Flight Time: 2.1 hours. White Knight Pilot: Siebold. White Knight Copilot: Binnie White Knight Flt Engineer: Nichols. Objectives: SpaceShipOne approach and landing profile review Results: Evaluated a variety of different profiles to assess ease of set-up, forgiveness to off normal starts and pilot situation awareness during the approach.

Although the antenna failed to deploy, NASA developed workarounds and the spacecraft cruised the Jovian system for eight years. Its propellant then depleted, it was maneuvered to enter the Jovian atmosphere on September 21, 2003, at 18:57 GMT. Entry was at 48.2 km/s from an orbit with a periapsis 9700 km below the 1-bar atmospheric layer. The spacecraft continued transmitting at least until it passed behind the limb of Jupiter at 1850:54 GMT, at which point it was 9283 km above the 1-bar level, surprising Galileo veterans who feared it might enter safemode due to the high radiation environment. On its farewell dive, it had crossed the orbit of Callisto at around 1100 on September 20, the orbit of Ganymede at around 0500 on September 21, Europa's orbit at about 1145, Io's orbit at about 1500, Amalthea's orbit at 1756, and the orbits of Adrastea and Metis at 1825. Galileo was destroyed to prevent the possibility that its orbit would eventually be perturbed in such a way that it would crash on and biologically contaminate Europa, which was considered a possible place to search for life. Light travel time from Jupiter to Earth was 52 min 20 sec at the time of impact, and the final signal reached Earth at 1943:14 GMT.

Objectives: Third glide flight of SpaceShipOne. Aft CG flying qualities and performance evaluation of the space ship in both the glide and re-entry or "feather" mode. Glide envelope expansion to 95% airspeed, 100% alpha and beta and 70% loadfactor. More aggressive post stall maneuvering and spin control as a glider and while feathered. Nitrous temperature control during climb to altitude and performance of upgraded landing gear extension mechanism and space-worthy gear doors. Additional Details: here....

European Space Agency satellite which was to use ion drive and gravity assists to reach lunar orbit. The spacecraft made its third lunar resonance gravity assist on October 12, 2004. The continued gravitational effect of the Moon resulted in lunar capture on November 15, 2004,, when SMART-1 entered a 4962 x 51,477 km orbit around the Moon inclined at 81 degrees to the lunar equator.

The 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) took the satellite from its Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) of 649 km perigee and 36,000 km apogee with an orbital inclination of 7 deg. The LAM was fired for a total duration of 121 minutes in three phases on September 29, September 30 and October 1. A total velocity of 1460 m/sec was added by LAM at apogee. INSAT-3E had 1592 kg propellant at the time of its injection into GTO by Ariane-5 launch vehicle on September 28. After orbit raising operations, it had 510 kg of propellant remaining that was sufficient to arrest the drift and park it at its orbital slot as well as maintain the satellite in its orbit and controlling its orientation during its design life of more than 12 years. After the completion of the third apogee motor firing, the Solar Arrays and Antennae of INSAT-3E were deployed. The Sun tracking solar array of INSAT-3E had a total area of 29.6 sq m and it is designed to generate 2.9 kW (BoL) of power in orbit. The satellite had two deployable antennas and one fixed antenna. The satellite was expected to reach its final orbital slot of 55 deg E and be put into operation by November 2003. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 54.97E drifting at 0.001W degrees per day. In 2014 the satellite was decommissioned; it began to slowly drift off station in late March and its orbit was lowered on April 4 to 35579 x 35693 km, drifting two degrees east per day.

Three disaster monitoring DMC satellites (BILSAT-1, NigeriaSat-1 and UK-DMC) were lofted in a single Kosmos launch. They joined the first DMC satellite, AlSAT-1, which was launched into a 686 km sun-synchronous low Earth orbit in November 2002, to provide a worldwide daily imaging capability. The spacecraft were 3-axis stabilised nadir-pointing. The imaging payload was a 32-metre resolution GSD multispectral wide-swath Earth imaging cameras and a12-metre GSD panchromatic camera. The Kosmos rocket delivered the satellites into orbit with a precision about an order of magnitude better than the maximum allowable - placing the satellites into orbit with a semi-major axis accurate to within 700 metres and just 300 metres from that of AlSAT-1. Bilsat 1 was built for TUBITAK-ODTU-BILTEN, the Information Technology and Electronics Research Institute of the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey

RUBIN-4-dsi remained attached to the Kosmos launch vehicle final stage. The orbital telematics experiment transmited information on the rocket's acceleration, vibration load and position via e-mail using the Orbcomm satellite communications system. In this way, it will be possible to track the rocket in orbit reliably and without any data loss. RUBIN-4-dsi was the fourth micro-satellite from the RUBIN series developed and maintained by OHB.

Last flight of the Ariane 5G. Launch delayed from July 15, August 22 and 28, September 3. The e-Bird was to service high-speed access networks providing both forward and return links via satellite. The spacecraft carried 20 active Ku-band transponders, each powered by a 33-watt traveling wave tube amplifier. The Ku-band transponders were connected to four spot beams that would provide coverage over Europe and Turkey. The spacecraft was to operate at 33 degrees East longitude, and had a contract life of 10 years.

Delayed from late 2002, September 27 2003. The satellite carried both C-band and Ku-band communications payloads. The C-band payload was referred to as Galaxy 13; the Ku-band payload was jointly owned by Panamsat and the Japanese JSAT company and was called Horizons-1. Horizons-1 was to provide digital data services between the Americas and Asia via a relay station in Hawaii. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 127.00W drifting at 0.002E degrees per day.

The Shenzhou 5 orbital module was essential an unmanned military reconnaisance satellite. It was never entered by the astronaut during the mission, and was equipped with two high resolution (1.6 m) surveillance cameras. It was expected to operate until at least spring 2004.

China's first manned spaceflight began with the lift-off of the CZ-2F booster into the clear blue morning sky. All went according to plan and China's first man in space, Yang Liwei, entered an initial 200 km x 343 km orbit ten minutes after launch. The naval vessels standing buy for rescue in the Sea of Japan were called back to port.

The highly conservative mission plan was for Yang to remain in the Shenzhou re-entry capsule for the entire 21-hour mission, and not to enter the orbital module. He had two rest periods of three hours each, and was scheduled to eat once or twice meals of what was said to be a superior form of Chinese space food. Frequent communications sessions, including colour television links to the spacecraft, were made possible by China's four tracking ships deployed in the oceans of the world.

As the spacecraft was in its 21st orbit, the orbital module separated. It would stay in the 343 km orbit for a planned six-month military imaging reconnaissance mission. Retrofire was commanded via a tracking ship in the Atlantic off the coast of Africa. Shenzhou-5 landed only 4.8 km from the aim-point in Inner Mongolia with the parachute being sighted by the ground recovery forces prior to landing. Yang landed after 21 hours 23 minutes aloft.

Objectives: Fourth glide flight of SpaceShipOne. Primary purpose was to examine the effects of horizontal tail modifications at both forward and mid-range CG locations (obtained by dumping water from an aft ballast tank between test points). The tail modifications included a fixed strake bonded to the tail boom in front of the stabilator and a span-wise flow fence mounted on the leading edge of each stab at mid-span. Additional Details: here....

The spacecraft carried the Expedition 8 crew of Mike Foale and Aleksandr Kaleri and the EP-5 (Cervantes) mission crewmember Pedro Duque. During the flight to the station spacecraft Commander was Aleksandr Kaleri . Soyuz TMA-3 docked with the Pirs module at 07:16 GMT on October 20. Once the EO-7 crew aboard the ISS was relieved, the roles switched, with Foale becoming the ISS Commander. Duque carried out out 24 experiments in the fields of life and physical sciences, Earth observation, education and technology. The experiments were sponsored by the European Space Agency and Spain. After ten days in space, Duque returned to earth with the EO-7 crew of Malenchenko and Lu aboard Soyuz TMA-2.

New residents arrived at the International Space Station Monday with the ISS Soyuz 7 spacecraft docking to the Station at 2:16 a.m. CDT (0716 GMT, 11:16am Moscow time). The arrival of Expedition 8 and a European Space Agency visiting researcher initiated a week of intense science operations and handover activities for the newest station crew, which will stay aboard the complex for nearly 200 days. Additional Details: here....

Chuangxin-1 (or Innovation-1) was China's first experimental small satellite for store-and-forward short message data communications in low Earth orbit. With a mass less than 100 kg, the Chuangxin-1 was developed in light of national strategic demands. Starting from 1999 with support of the national Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the project was carried out jointly by researchers from the CAS Shanghai Institute of Microsystem Information Technology and the CAS Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics. The satellite used spread spectrum communication and subsystems included a communication transponder, onboard computer, attitude control, energy source, thermal control, and structure. The mission was to demonstrate data communications for such sectors as traffic and transportation, environment protection, oil and gas transportation, flood and drought control, detection of forest fire and earthquake monitoring.

The Expedition 7 crew touched down in northern Kazakhstan in its Soyuz spacecraft about 8:41 p.m. CST, concluding a 183-day mission aboard the International Space Station and 185 days in space. Landing occurred on target, approximately 24 miles (38 kilometers) from Arkylyk in Kazakhstan. Additional Details: here....

The spacecraft returned with US astronaut Edward Lu, Russian Yuri Malenchenko and Spaniard Pedro Duque. The three astronauts aboard Soyuz TMA-2 landed at 02:14 GMT, 35 kilometers south of Arkalyk. Transfer of the astronauts was delayed when a snowstorm in Kazakhstan's capital Astana and heavy fog forced all of the rescue party's helicopters.

The mission of the 'Space Environment Reliability Verification of Integrated System' was to flight test a range of commerical-grade spacecraft components including a computer, star tracker, battery, and laser gyro. The objective was to lower the cost of future satellites.

International Space Station Expedition 8 Commander and NASA ISS Science Officer Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri wound up their first full workweek in space Friday. Science activities, Station maintenance, exercise and more familiarization with their new home were their focus. Additional Details: here....

Flight Time: 1.5 hours. White Knight Pilot: Siebold. White Knight Copilot: Binnie. Objectives: Avionics upgrade evaluation and landing pattern practice. Results: Satisfactory GPS-aided INS stability and position keeping through a normal launch and glide flight profile. Flight 36

Soyuz TMA-3 was originally to switch lifeboats on the International Space Station. The crew would have returned to earth in the Soyuz TMA-2 already docked to the station. After the Columbia disaster, the remaining shuttles were grounded. The Soyuz was then the only means of keeping the station manned. It was therefore decided that Soyuz TMA-3 would fly with the skeleton crew of Foale and Kaleri.

Objectives: The fifth glide flight of SpaceShipOne. New pilot checkout flight. Stability and control testing with the new extended horizontal tails. Tests included stall performance at aft limit CG and evaluation of the increased pitch and roll control authority. Other objectives included additional testing of the motor controller (MCS) and handling qualities in feathered flight. Results: Launch conditions were 47,300 feet and 115 knots. Satisfactory stability and control at aft limit CG. A notable improvement in control power, particularly in roll. Handling qualities into and out of feather remained excellent with good nose pointing ability. Adjusted landing pattern altitudes resulted in a touchdown at the targeted runway aim-point.

Flight Time: 1.4 hours / 19 mins 55 secs White Knight Pilot: Binnie White Knight Copilot: Stinemetze White Knight Flt Engineer: SpaceShipOne Pilot: Siebold High Chase-Starship Pilot: Karkow Low Chase-Duchess Pilot: Melvill/ Coleman

Objectives: The sixth glide flight of SpaceShipOne. Test pilot Mike Melvill's first flight with the enlarged tails. Emergency aft CG handling qualities eval and simulated landing exercise with the new tail configuration. Airspeed and G envelop expansion and dynamic feather evaluation. Additional Details: here....

Objectives: The seventh glide flight of SpaceShipOne and new pilot check out. Full functional check of the propulsion system by cold flowing nitrous oxide. Completed airspeed and positive and negative G-envelope expansion. Results: Launch conditions were 48,400 feet and 115 knots. All propulsion components, displays and functionality performed as designed. The feather was extended after a 4G pull-up to the vertical at 24,500 feet and rudder used to induce sideslip and yaw rates while "going-over-the-top". The vehicle recovered to a stable attitude and descent after only a single oscillation. The landing pattern was flown following established procedures resulting in a satisfactory touchdown.

Flight Time: 1.3 hours / 13 mins 14 secs White Knight Pilot: Siebold White Knight Copilot: Stinemetz White Knight Flt Engineer: SpaceShipOne Pilot: Binnie High Chase-Starship Pilot: Karkow Low Chase-Extra Pilot: Melvill / Coleman

The Japanese Mars probe, Nozomi, flew past the planet at a height of 1000 km. Attempts to operate the spacecraft's main propulsion system failed, and small thrusters were used to increase the flyby distance by about 100 km to ensure a clean miss. The mission was abandoned, and Nozomi entered a new orbit around the Sun.

White Knight/SpaceShipOne Flight 43L / 11P. Eighth flight of SpaceShipOne and first powered flight. 15 second burn of the rocket motor and supersonic flight. Motor light off at altitude and inflight engine performance. Vehicle handling qualities through transonics and feather performance from altitude. Launch conditions were 14.6 km and 207 kph. Motor light off was achieved at 13.5 km and 0.55M. Burnout occurred at 1.2M and apogee was 20.7 km. There was no noted flight control flutter or buzz during the climb. Feather recovery exhibited a +/-30 roll initially and then settled down into the familiar falling bathtub mode. The wing was de-feathered and locked by 10.6 km. A nominal landing pattern was flown but touchdown caused the left main gear to collapse and the vehicle rolled to a stop off the runway in the soft sand. Although the damage was not major, repairs were expected to take approximately three weeks to complete.