News From Space!

The Original Space Weblog

March 2nd, 2007

Total lunar eclipse Saturday night

The moon will turn shades of amber and crimson Saturday night as it passes behind the Earth’s shadow in the first total lunar eclipse in three years. Total eclipse will take place at 5:44 p.m. ET and last for more than an hour.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/03/02/lunar.eclipse.ap/

March 2nd, 2007

‘Breathtaking’ new view of Saturn

With pastel blues, pinks, greens and golds, Saturn displays a dazzling diversity of colors and hues. NASA PHOTO NO: PIA08359The Cassini spacecraft has beamed back to Earth never-before-seen angles of Saturn from high above and below its majestic rings.

More images at http://ciclops.org/ .

March 2nd, 2007

STS-117: Rollback Scheduled For March 4th

The Shuttle stack will be rolled back to the VAB this Sunday in order to inspect and repair hail damage to the external tank and wing. NASA reports…

Space Shuttle Poised for Inspection

03.02.07
Space Shuttle Atlantis will be rolled back from the launch pad to evaluate the damage caused by a severe thunderstorm with hail on Feb. 26 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

But before returning the shuttle to the Vehicle Assembly Building, NASA managers have decided to remove the propellants that were already loaded.

This work is progressing and should be completed for the rollback to take place March 4.

When the damage is assessed, type of repairs determined and time to make the repairs are evaluated, a new targeted launch date will be announced.

The next launch window opportunity opens around April 20 and extends to late May.

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