Universe Today - October 30, 2000 |
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the U N I V E R S E T O D A Y Space Exploration News From Around the Internet, Updated Every Weekday. October 30, 2000 - Issue #331 http://www.universetoday.com info@universetoday.com An HTML version of this newsletter including pictures is available at: http://www.universetoday.com/html/misc/today.html ************************************** A note from the publisher As suspected, my Internet provider made my life interesting over the weekend. When I say "interesting", I actually mean "infuriating". But, we're back. As long as I promise not to touch anything, including my computer, the Internet should work properly. Ah well, enough whining. SPACE.com announced on Thursday that it had acquired the magazine Space News, as well as the space media properties from Gannett Co.. Specifically, that's Florida Today's Space Online (http://www.flatoday.com/space/today/) website. So, in the last year and a half, SPACE.com has acquired explorezone.com, Starport, SpaceViews, Space Online, Space News, Space Business International, SpaceWatch (they also provide all the news for MSNBC) - essentially, they've acquired everyone but SpaceDaily, SpaceRef and Spaceflight Now... and not through lack of trying. Oh, and they haven't acquired me. I wonder what form that would take if they did? Would they send an employee here to Vancouver to live in our apartment with us to manage the site? Would I have to move to New York City? Would I still be allowed to update the site in my pajamas? Maybe I could become SPACE.com: Vancouver? Would Universe Today only be able to review SPACE.com sites? I'm ready for my closeup Mr. Dobbs. So, take a moment's silence for the loss of Space Online, until Thursday it was the best independent provider of space news. Resistance is futile. Fraser Cain Publisher Universe Today P.S. The Expedition 1 Soyuz rocket is expected to launch tomorrow morning at 7:53am GMT. Watch the launch on the web from any of the places listed at this site: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv/ntvweb.html ************************************** -- UNIVERSE TODAY STORY SUMMARY -- * First Station Crew Ready for Launch * NASA Announces New Mars Strategy * NEAR Gets Really Close to Eros * Arianespace launches 100th Rocket FIRST STATION CREW READY FOR LAUNCH ------------------------- Expedition 1, the first crew long term crew destined for the International Space Station is all set to launch tomorrow at 7:53 GMT on board a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur cosmodrome. The crew consists of Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko and their American commander Bill Shepherd, and they will remain on the station until next spring when they will be replaced by another three-man team. Original Source: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/reports/issreports/2000/iss00-42.html Internet Coverage: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/spacestation001030.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_998000/998663.stm http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/10/30/space.station.02/index.html http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20001030/sp_reu_station.html Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/spacestation.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/nasa.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/spacestations.html NASA ANNOUNCES NEW MARS STRATEGY ------------------------- NASA announced that it plans to send six major missions to Mars over the next ten years, using a series of robotic explorers. At an annual cost of $450 million, the agency will dispatch a combination of orbiting spacecraft and landers until 2010, when it will attempt a sample return mission, to bring pieces of the Red Planet back home to Earth. The announcement revealed nothing about the possibility of human exploration of Mars. Original Source: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/marsnews/newmarsprogram.html Internet Coverage: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/mars_strategy001026.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_993000/993509.stm http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/10/26/mars.announce.02/index.html http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/102600/mars.sml Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/mars.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/mars.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/mars.html NEAR GETS REALLY CLOSE TO EROS ------------------------- The NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft descended to an altitude of only 5kms above the surface of Asteroid Eros to take the most detailed pictures yet of the asteroid - the latest photographs show objects with four times the resolution of the best photos so far. Scientists at NASA hope to see small clues on the surface of the asteroid to help understand the processes that shaped the surface of Eros. After the close visit, NEAR fired its thrusters and raised itself to a higher, safer orbit. Original Source: http://near.jhuapl.edu/">NEAR Home Page Internet Coverage: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_993000/993970.stm http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/10/26/eros.flyby.folo/index.html http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0010/26marsfuture/ Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/asteroids.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/asteroids.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/asteroids.html ARIANESPACE LAUNCHES 100TH ROCKET ------------------------- An Ariane 44LP rocket carrying a Europe+Star-1 telecommunications satellite launched from the European Space Agency's launch centre in Kourou, French Guiana on Sunday at 5:59am GMT. The launch was originally planned for Saturday, but bad weather delayed it one day. This is the 100th launch for the Ariane 4 class of rockets, and the 58th consecutive success. Original Source: http://press.arianespace.com/cgi-bin/pbcgi60.exe/press/u_ariane/f_pr?00277 Internet Coverage: http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/10/29/euro.rocket/index.html http://spaceflightnow.com/ariane/v134/status.html http://www.spaceviews.com/2000/10/29a.html Similar Stories: http://www.universetoday.com/html/topics/ariane.html Related Sites: http://www.universetoday.com/html/directory/satellites.html Related Books: http://www.universetoday.com/html/books/satellites.html ------------------------- To unsubscribe from this newsletter, just reply with only the subject line "UNSUBSCRIBE !*EMAIL*!". All contents copyright (c) 2000 Universe Today |