ASTRONAUTICS AND AERONAUTICS: 

A CHRONOLOGY, 2001–2005 

NASA SP-2010-4031 

February 2010 

Authors: William Noel Ivey and Marieke Lewis 

Project Manager: Alice R. Buchalter 

Federal Research Division, Library of Congress 

NASA History Division 

Office of External Relations 

NASA Headquarters 

Washington, DC 20546 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

i

PREFACE 

This report is a chronological compilation of narrative summaries of news reports and 

government documents highlighting significant events and developments in U.S. and foreign 

aeronautics and astronautics. It covers the years 2001 through 2005. These summaries provide a 

day-by-day recounting of major activities, such as administrative developments, awards, 

launches, scientific discoveries, corporate and government research results, and other events in 

countries with aeronautics and astronautics programs. Researchers used the archives and files 

housed in the NASA History Division, as well as reports and databases on the NASA Web site. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

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TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PREFACE ........................................................................................................................................ i 

JANUARY 2001 ............................................................................................................................. 1 

FEBRUARY 2001 .......................................................................................................................... 5 

MARCH 2001 ................................................................................................................................. 9 

APRIL 2001 .................................................................................................................................. 14 

MAY 2001 .................................................................................................................................... 18 

JUNE 2001 .................................................................................................................................... 22 

JULY 2001 .................................................................................................................................... 27 

AUGUST 2001 ............................................................................................................................. 31 

SEPTEMBER 2001 ...................................................................................................................... 36 

OCTOBER 2001 ........................................................................................................................... 40 

NOVEMBER 2001 ....................................................................................................................... 45 

DECEMBER 2001 ........................................................................................................................ 49 

JANUARY 2002 ........................................................................................................................... 53 

FEBRUARY 2002 ........................................................................................................................ 58 

MARCH 2002 ............................................................................................................................... 62 

APRIL 2002 .................................................................................................................................. 66 

MAY 2002 .................................................................................................................................... 71 

JUNE 2002 .................................................................................................................................... 75 

JULY 2002 .................................................................................................................................... 79 

AUGUST 2002 ............................................................................................................................. 83 

SEPTEMBER 2002 ...................................................................................................................... 87 

OCTOBER 2002 ........................................................................................................................... 92 

NOVEMBER 2002 ....................................................................................................................... 97 

DECEMBER 2002 ...................................................................................................................... 101 

JANUARY 2003 ......................................................................................................................... 105 

FEBRUARY 2003 ...................................................................................................................... 112 

MARCH 2003 ............................................................................................................................. 117 

APRIL 2003 ................................................................................................................................ 124 

MAY 2003 .................................................................................................................................. 131 

JUNE 2003 .................................................................................................................................. 138 

JULY 2003 .................................................................................................................................. 145 

AUGUST 2003 ........................................................................................................................... 151 

SEPTEMBER 2003 .................................................................................................................... 156 

OCTOBER 2003 ......................................................................................................................... 163 

NOVEMBER 2003 ..................................................................................................................... 169 

DECEMBER 2003 ...................................................................................................................... 174 

JANUARY 2004 ......................................................................................................................... 179 

FEBRUARY 2004 ...................................................................................................................... 183 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

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MARCH 2004 ............................................................................................................................. 187 

APRIL 2004 ................................................................................................................................ 192 

MAY 2004 .................................................................................................................................. 196 

JUNE 2004 .................................................................................................................................. 199 

JULY 2004 .................................................................................................................................. 202 

AUGUST 2004 ........................................................................................................................... 205 

SEPTEMBER 2004 .................................................................................................................... 208 

OCTOBER 2004 ......................................................................................................................... 211 

NOVEMBER 2004 ..................................................................................................................... 214 

DECEMBER 2004 ...................................................................................................................... 217 

JANUARY 2005 ......................................................................................................................... 220 

FEBRUARY 2005 ...................................................................................................................... 225 

MARCH 2005 ............................................................................................................................. 231 

APRIL 2005 ................................................................................................................................ 238 

MAY 2005 .................................................................................................................................. 244 

JUNE 2005 .................................................................................................................................. 250 

JULY 2005 .................................................................................................................................. 253 

AUGUST 2005 ........................................................................................................................... 256 

SEPTEMBER 2005 .................................................................................................................... 259 

OCTOBER 2005 ......................................................................................................................... 262 

NOVEMBER 2005 ..................................................................................................................... 265 

DECEMBER 2005 ...................................................................................................................... 268 

APPENDIX A: TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS ....................................................................... 273 

APPENDIX B: BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................. 281 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

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JANUARY 2001 

3 January 

Using data from the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Infrared Space Observatory, a team of 

NASA and university researchers identified three stars that they believed contain enough 

hydrogen to create a Jupiter-like gas planet. The scientists, from Italy, the Netherlands, and the 

United States, indicated that the stars Beta Pictoris, 49 Ceti, and HD1235344 have particularly 

fertile environments, which might eventually form planets. Perhaps most significant, the 

researchers found a “thousand times more hydrogen” in several stars than scientists had 

discovered in earlier studies.1

8 January 

NASA astronomer Gerard M. Williger announced the discovery of a massive cluster of quasars 

and galaxies, a concentration presumed to be the largest structure ever observed in the universe. 

Collaborating with fellow NASA astronomers Luis E. Campusano, Roger G. Clowes, and Chris 

P. Haines, Williger had located the body approximately 6.5 billion light-years away from Earth, 

in the heart of the constellation Leo the Lion. Not prepared to state with certainty that the find 

was the largest ever discovered, Williger clarified, “We have found nothing bigger in the 

literature and nobody has brought to our attention anything bigger.” Moreover, he speculated that 

the enormous gathering of quasars might be “an artifact of the Big Bang.” Articles in scientific 

journals and in popular publications expressed excitement at the find.2

9 January 

A team of astronomers led by Geoffrey W. Marcy of the University of California at Berkeley and 

R. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution of Washington announced that, during a long-term 

project to search for planets that orbit stars residing within 300 light-years of Earth, they had 

discovered two new planetary systems. Astronomers had already discovered dozens of planetary 

systems, but Marcy and Butler had found the first and second examples ever observed of systems 

with more than one planet orbiting a star. Furthermore, one of the planets discovered was so 

massive that it defied the parameters that scientists had previously used to define planets. In 

response to the discovery, one of Butler’s colleagues stated simply, “I am astonished.” Marcy 

admitted that he and his team did not know how to classify their discovery, saying, “The outer 

companion (of this star) is so massive, between 17 and 40 times the mass of Jupiter, that it seems 

too large for a conventional planet. We frankly don’t know what name to give it!”3

10 January 

At the American Astronomical Society convention, astronomers Victoria M. Kaspi and Mallory 

S. E. Roberts of McGill University presented evidence dating a known pulsar to 386 AD. 

Because scientists consider it quite difficult to determine the age of particular pulsars or of any 

astronomical body, the scientific community regarded the find as especially significant. The 

 

1

 W. F. Thi et al., “Substantial Reservoirs of Molecular Hydrogen in the Debris Disks Around Young Stars,” Nature

409, no. 6816 (4 January 2001): 60–63; Associated Press, “Study Finds Nearby Star Systems Capable of Making 

Big Planets,” 3 January 2001. 

2 New York Times, “Bigger Than A Breadbox, or Anything Else,” 8 January 2001; Reuters, “Quasars May Point To 

Universe’s Biggest Structure,” 8 January 2001. 

3

 Kathy Sawyer, “A Giant Find Startles Astronomers,” Washington Post, 10 January 2001; Reuters, “Astronomers 

Find Two New Planetary Systems,” 9 January 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

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researchers had used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to locate the pulsar exactly at the 

center of a supernova remnant known as G11.2-0.3, which astronomers had already definitively 

dated. Scientists believed that both the pulsar and the supernova had formed during an explosion 

in 386 ADan event that early Chinese astronomers had recorded. Astronomers have 

experienced difficulty tracking and interpreting the patterns of pulsars, because the formations 

spin and move rapidly. In light of the successful dating, many scientists hoped that the discovery 

might help them understand how pulsars develop.4

11 January 

The People’s Republic of China launched a robotic spacecraft from the Gobi desert, a significant 

step in the country’s long-term plan to join the United States and Russia as one of the only 

nations capable of sending humans into space. The Shenzhou 2 craft reached orbit about 10 

minutes after launch. China had shrouded its 31-year-old space program in secrecy, releasing 

few details about funding or about China’s future goals. People’s Daily, however, called the 

launch “an important step in realizing manned spaceflight.” President Jiang Zemin urged 

Chinese space officials to further accomplishments, saying, “I hope you will work persistently 

and unremittingly to achieve even greater victory.” Space experts speculated that a successful 

Shenzhou 2 mission could mean that China would be ready to send a man or woman to space in 

the next two to five years. Chinese officials remained circumspect regarding their exact plans.5

20 January 

Administrator Daniel S. Goldin became NASA’s first head to serve three different presidents 

when George W. Bush assumed the presidency of the United States. Although some had 

speculated that Goldin’s tenure would end when President William J. Clinton left office, 

President George W. Bush asked Goldin to remain in his position indefinitely, while the new 

administration reviewed possible candidates to replace him. Originally appointed by President 

George H. W. Bush in 1992, Goldin had instituted vast changes at NASA with his “faster, better, 

cheaper” approach. During his tenure, Goldin had reduced the number of NASA employees from 

24,000 to 18,000 while overseeing the successful building and deployment of the International 

Space Station (ISS).6 

24 January 

The Russian Space Agency launched a cargo ship headed for the aging Mir space station. The 

mission’s aim was simple: to remove the 15-year-old space station from orbit safely, by 

propelling it into Earth’s atmosphere. To accomplish the task, Russia selected an unpiloted 

Progress M1-5 cargo ship, carrying enough fuel for its own journey and to fire Mir’s thrusters. A 

series of mechanical problems, including a fire and a collision with another cargo craft in 1997, 

combined with Russia’s shortage of funds for space endeavors, had led to the Russian 

government’s decision to end Mir’s successful run. With the launch of the Progress craft, some 

cosmonauts and Russian space officials protested the destruction of the last remaining symbol of 

 

4

 NASA, “Chandra Links Pulsar to Historic Supernova,” news release 01-02, 10 January 2001. 

5

 Associated Press, “Rocket Launch Aids New Space Program,” 11 January 2001; Associated Press, “Second 

Unmanned Chinese Spacecraft Returns to Earth,” 16 January 2001. 6

 Frank Morring Jr., “Goldin Sees Station, Innovation as Legacies of His NASA Tenure,” Aerospace Daily, 8 

January 2001; Brian Berger, “Goldin Responds to Presiding over NASA Through Bush Team Transition,” Space 

News, 23 January 2001; Bryant Jordan, “NASA’s Goldin Likely Gone,” Federal Computer Week, 11 January 2001, 

http://www.fcw.com (accessed 11 January 2001). 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

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the space heyday of the Soviet Union. Amateur astronomers aimed their telescopes toward the 

skies to glimpse Mir one last time as it orbited Earth.7

DiversityBusiness.com named NASA one of the United States’ top 50 organizations for 

providing multicultural business opportunities. Sparked by the efforts of its Office of Small and 

Disadvantaged Business Utilization, NASA had awarded more than US$2 billion in contracts to 

minority-owned and women-owned businesses during 2000. NASA joined companies such as 

Cisco Systems Inc., Microsoft Corporation, and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. among those honored. 

NASA’s hiring of disadvantaged businesses had more than doubled during Administrator Daniel 

S. Goldin’s tenure.8

Michael A. Chowdry, the founder and chairperson of Atlas Air Inc., and Jeff Cole, the aerospace 

editor for the Wall Street Journal, died in a plane crash, which occurred minutes after takeoff 

from the Front Range Airport in Watkins, Colorado. Chowdry had formed Atlas Air in 1992, to 

lease jumbo cargo jets and to provide flight crews to the airfreight industry. Since 1999, readers 

of the Wall Street Journal had known Cole for his detailed and insightful coverage of the defense 

and aerospace industries. After interviewing Chowdry, Cole had accepted his invitation to ride 

aboard a Czech fighter jet. Chowdry was piloting the jet when it crashed.9

25 January 

NASA made available the first large-scale images revealing a tail of electrified gas streaming 

from Earth toward the Sun. One of the images, which NASA’s Imager for Magnetopause to 

Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) spacecraft had produced, appeared on the cover of Science. 

The IMAGE technology had captured new views of previously unverifiable gas trapped within 

Earth’s magnetic field, known as the magnetosphere. The images placed in the context of the 

solar system the vast reach of the region affected by Earth’s magnetosphere, which extends past 

the Moon on the night side of Earth. Astronomers compared the perspective the new images 

provided them, to the perspective satellite images of Earth provide to scientists researching 

hurricanes.10

30 January 

Presiding over the launch of a Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite, Major Nina M. 

Armagno became the first female launch director at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. 

Armagno assumed responsibility for a 400-person crew and for making the final decision about 

whether to proceed with launch plans.11

 

7

 Associated Press, “Cargo Ship Intended To Dump Mir Blasts Off Successfully,” 24 January 2001; Reuters, 

“Kazakhstan: Russia To Launch Ship To Bring Mir Era to End,” 17 January 2001; Agence France-Presse, “Russia 

Sets January 18 as Date for Mir’s Final Appointment in Space,” 4 January 2001; Michael Alicea, “See Mir in 

FlightBefore It’s Gone,” Palm Beach Post (FL), 21 January 2001. 8

 NASA, “NASA Makes the A-Team for Multicultural Contract Awards,” news release 01-10, 24 January 2001. 9 Wall Street Journal, “Crash Kills Atlas Air Chairman and Journal’s Aerospace Editor,” 25 January 2001. 10 NASA, “NASA’s Image Reveals Earth’s Invisible Magnetic Tail,” news release 01-08, 25 January 2001; cover of 

Science 291, no. 5504 (26 January 2001). 11 Kelly Young, “First Woman Directs Launch,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 31 January 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

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31 January 

NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft completed its primary mission, having collected more 

information about Mars than all of the previous missions combined had acquired. “By any 

conceivable measure the scientific impact of Mars Global Surveyor has been extraordinary,” said 

Global Surveyor Project Scientist Arden L. Albee. Since reaching the Red Planet in 1998, Global 

Surveyor had gathered data on Mars’s climate, topography, and geology, as well as mapping the 

entire planet. The orbiter, which launched in November 1996, had provided a steady stream of 

invaluable data. Among the most significant findings of the primary mission had been the 

detection of significant evidence of liquid water, the detection of a magnetized crust on the 

planet’s southern hemisphere, and the discovery of new information about seasonal changes on 

the planet. The spacecraft had gathered the data in the course of more than 8,500 orbits of the 

planet, during which it had collected 58,000 images. With Mars Global Surveyor still functioning 

effectively, NASA planned to extend its mission and continue its research.12

NASA’s Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Shoemaker spacecraft completed its primary 

mission to the asteroid Eros. NEAR was the first spacecraft successfully to orbit an asteroid and 

to provide detailed data about it. Even in its first year, the NEAR spacecraft had exceeded 

expectations, gathering 10 times more data than scientists had forecast. Traveling more than 2 

billion miles (3.2 billion kilometers), NEAR had captured 11 million laser pulses; x-ray, gammaray, and infrared readings; and approximately 160,000 images of Eros. With its initial objectives 

accomplished, the NEAR team focused on accomplishing another firsta controlled descent of 

the spacecraft onto the asteroid. Astronomers hoped that the landing would gather close-up 

images, otherwise impossible to obtain. With the low-cost and efficient spacecraft nearly out of 

fuel, NEAR Mission Director Robert W. Farquhar explained that NEAR’s landing was a final 

attempt to glean as much as possible from the endeavor. Said Farquhar, “With the spacecraft just 

about out of fuel and our science objectives met, this is a great way to end a successful mission. 

It’s all bonus science . . . at this point the only real risk is not taking one.”13

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced that Charles Elachi would become Director 

of its 5,000-employee, US$1.3 billion research facility in Pasadena, California. Elachi, an expert 

in the field of remote sensing best known for developing radar systems, had assumed JPL’s top 

post after 30 years of service with NASA. JPL had interviewed more than 70 candidates over 

eight months before selecting Elachi. Concerning JPL’s challenge to encourage further 

exploration while meeting tight budgets, Elachi remarked, “It’s basically striking a balance 

between faster implementation and cheaper implementation and making sure we have success.” 

Having lost two separate spacecraft headed for Mars in 1999, JPL stood at a critical juncture as 

Elachi assumed control.14

 

12 NASA, “New Era Begins as Mars Global Surveyor Completes Prime Mission,” news release 01-14, 31 January 

2001. 

13 NASA, “NEAR Mission Completes Main Task, Now Will Go Where No Spacecraft Has Gone Before,” news 

release 01-13, 31 January 2001. 

14 Associated Press, “New Director Named for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory,” 31 January 2001; Usha Lee 

McFarling, “30-Year Veteran of JPL Is Chosen as Its Leader,” Los Angeles Times, 31 January 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

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FEBRUARY 2001 

2 February 

NASA opened a new command and control center that would allow researchers on Earth to 

participate in scientific research conducted aboard the ISS. The new facility, located at NASA’s 

Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama, featured state-of-the-art 

communication and research technologies. Director of MSFC Arthur G. Stephenson described 

the new center as a significant part of NASA’s ongoing plan to make space research more 

efficient and useful: “From this facility we will manage fundamental scientific research that can 

only be done in spaceresearch that will lead to knowledge to benefit all humanity here on 

Earth.” NASA planned to staff the 13,000-square-foot (1,200-square-meter) facility 24 hours per 

day to support research aboard ISS. In addition to its link to the ISS, the new facility was 

equipped to monitor payload resources, facilitate data transfer, and communicate with 

universities and research centers throughout the world. The new command post opened only days 

before Space Shuttle Atlantis’s scheduled trip into space to carry the Destiny research laboratory 

module to the ISS.15

7 February 

Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-98/ISS-5A lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in 

Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying the most expensive and crucial component of the ISSthe 

United States–built Destiny science laboratory. Mark Stephenson of the Boeing Company, which 

had built the US$1.4 billion research module, called the vessel “the crown jewel” of the ISS. 

NASA had set high stakes on the Destiny laboratory, which was so expensive and complicated to 

build, that NASA could not afford to assemble a backup module. Therefore, any problem in the 

transport and connection of the Destiny module would set back the ISS several years. NASA had 

delayed Atlantis’s mission for three weeks when engineers discovered evidence that faulty 

wiring might compromise the Shuttle’s safety. The vital mission brought the ISS closer to 

becoming the permanent and highly functional research station that NASA and the international 

space community had long awaited. The Destiny laboratory measured 28 feet (9 meters) long, 

weighed more than 30,000 pounds (13,600 kilograms), and held 13 computers. NASA expected 

to control the ISS using the computers and communications equipment built into Destiny. 

Because of the Space Shuttle’s cargo, some officials speculated that Atlantis’s mission was the 

most important for NASA’s research agenda ever undertaken. One NASA spokesperson called 

the Destiny module “the cornerstone for space-based research aboard the orbiting platform.” The 

STS-98 crew consisted of Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell; Pilot Mark L. Polansky; and 

Mission Specialists Robert L. Curbeam Jr., Thomas D. Jones, and Marsha S. Ivins.16

 

15 NASA, “NASA Opens Space Station Command Post,” news release 01-15, 2 February 2001; Shelby G. Spires, 

“MSFC Opens Science ‘Mission Control’ Today,” Huntsville Times (AL), 2 February 2001. 16 NASA, “Space Shuttle Mission Archives: STS-98,” http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/ 

shuttlemissions/archives/sts-98.html (accessed 2 February 2009); William Harwood, “Atlantis Heads for Space 

Station; Shuttle Flight No. 102 Will Transport $1.4 Billion Lab Module,” Washington Post, 8 February 2001; Kelly 

Young, “Atlantis To Deliver Destiny,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 7 February 2001; Associated Press, “Shuttle 

Totes Space Station’s ‘Crown Jewel’,” 8 February 2001; Associated Press, “Countdown Begins for Launch of 

NASA Lab,” 5 February 2001; NASA, “Atlantis Set To Deliver International Space Station’s Destiny,” news release 

01-16, 5 February 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

6

Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed a new director of Russia’s largest manufacturer of 

spacecraft and rockets, the Khrunichev State Research and Production Company. Putin selected 

Alexander I. Medvedev to succeed Anatoly Kiselyov, who had headed the company for 26 years. 

At the time of the change in leadership, Kiselyov had reported failing health. Companies with 

interests in Russian space exploration continued to adjust to postcommunist operations. The 

Khrunichev State Research and Production Company, providing much of the revenue to keep 

Russia’s space projects alive, manufactured Proton booster rockets used to launch commercial 

and communication satellites.17

9 February 

Lieutenant Governor of Florida Frank T. Brogan and Roy D. Bridges Jr., Director of NASA’s 

KSC, broke ground on a new research facility located just south of KSC. The new project, 

officially named the Space Experiment Research and Processing Laboratory (SERPL), joined 

researchers from the state of Florida, NASA, the Florida Space Research Institute, and the 

University of Florida. The research center would devote significant resources to ISS research and 

to examining the commercial potential of space-related research. Bridges described the venture 

as widely beneficial, saying, “SERPL and the unprecedented opportunities for collaboration that 

it represents are key to Kennedy’s evolution to a recognized center for technology development. 

We expect this partnership to pay dividends to NASA, the State of Florida, and the space 

industry well into the future.18

10 February 

The crew of Space Shuttle Atlantis successfully installed the Destiny laboratory on the ISS. 

Using the Shuttle’s robotic arm, astronaut Marsha S. Ivins moved the module from the Shuttle’s 

payload area to its place on the side of the ISS. After patching up a small leak from one of the 

module’s coolant lines, two spacewalking astronauts connected electrical, fluid, and data lines 

between the ISS and the Destiny laboratory. After carefully completing the installation, 

astronauts opened a hatch connecting the new module to the rest of the ISS. The additional 3,750 

cubic feet (106 cubic meters) of space made the ISS the largest spacecraft ever. Astronaut 

Kenneth D. Cockrellalong with William M. Shepherd, the first to enter the Destiny

modulereported, “The lab looks and feels and smells great, and looks like all the hard work 

has really paid off. It’s a beautiful piece of hardware in here.”19

12 February 

The NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft landed on the 433 Eros asteroid, becoming the first probe ever 

to accomplish such a feat. The landing was a bonus. NEAR had already successfully completed a 

1 billion-mile mission, which had provided pictures of Earth, comet Hoylake, and the asteroid 

253 Mathilde. After a carefully scripted 5-hour descent, NEAR touched down safely, traveling at 

about 4 miles (6 kilometers) per hour. The spacecraft, which engineers had not designed for the 

impromptu landing mission, did not have a parachute to lessen its impact on the asteroid’s 

 

17 Associated Press, “New Chief for Russia Space Company,” 7 February 2001. 18 M2 Presswire, “NASA and Florida Join Forces To Develop Space Science Facility,” 9 February 2001. 

19 William Harwood, “Spacewalking Astronauts Attach Lab Module to Space Station,” Washington Post, 11 

February 2001; USA Today, “Space Station Module Gives Crew More Space,” 12 February 2001; Washington Post,

“Astronauts Open Hatch to Destiny Laboratory; Alpha Now Largest Orbiting Outpost,” 12 February 2001; 

Associated Press, “Astronauts Install Lab on Station,” 12 February 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

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unknown surface. By firing the spacecraft’s engines five times during descent, NASA controllers 

were able to slow the craft to a safe landing speed. As NASA’s Chief Scientist Edward J. Weiler 

explained, “If you were an Erosian watching this thing come in, it should have a velocity about 

that of a walking individual.” Scientists landed the craft to demonstrate that the landing was 

possible, as well as to gather additional information. NASA engineers reported detecting a faint 

signal from the probe even after it had landed. The environment is harsh on the asteroid, which 

measures 21 miles (34 kilometers) long and 8 miles (13 kilometers) wide. Moving through space 

at more than 40,000 miles (64,300 kilometers) per hour, Eros reaches a temperature of 400°F 

(204°C) daily and has only weak gravity. Researchers believed that the asteroid is composed of 

material older than Earth and might have been part of another planet at one time.20

14 February 

Astronauts Thomas D. Jones and Robert L. Curbeam Jr. made their third and final spacewalk 

from Space Shuttle Atlantis, finishing the installation of the ISS’s science laboratory Destiny. 

The spacewalk was the 100th in the history of U.S. space exploration. Two days earlier, Jones 

and Curbeam had conducted a spacewalk to install a window shutter for Destiny, allowing the 

astronauts residing inside the ISS an unparalleled view of Earth. Overall, the mission to install 

the vital and expensive Destiny module went smoothly. Atlantis’s crew worked quickly to 

connect the necessary cables, hatches, and wires to equip the new research center. The successful 

installation also allowed NASA to accept a transfer of leadership from the Russian Space 

Agency. Using the newly installed computers in the Destiny module, U.S. flight controllers took 

control of the ISS on 13 February 2001.21

NASA announced that it would extend the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft mission by 10 days to 

make the most of the first successful landing of a spacecraft on an asteroid. After conducting a 

complicated landing sequence and arriving safely on the surface of the asteroid Eros, the NEAR 

spacecraft relayed its signal to excited scientists on Earth. Called the “Surprisingly Sturdy Little 

Spacecraft” by the New York Times, NEAR survived its landing mission, surprising space 

officials and enthusiasts. NEAR had already spent a year orbiting the Eros asteroid, when the 

craft had run low on fuel. NASA’s mission team directed it to land on the asteroid’s surface. 

After NEAR’s successful landing, mission managers determined that the spacecraft merited 

additional funding. Although the details about where NEAR would touch down remained in 

doubt until the last moment, the craft had landed at a location ideal for Earth controllers to send 

and receive signals, facilitating an extended mission.22

 

20 Mike Toner, “Discover: Rendezvous with Eros Matchup Planned Monday for Asteroid, Spacecraft,” Atlanta 

Journal-Constitution (GA), 11 February 2001; Reuters, “Space Probe Set To Land on Asteroid Eros,” Washington 

Post, 12 February 2001; Dan Vergano, “Probe Lands on Gigantic Near-Earth Asteroid,” USA Today, 13 February 

2001; Regina Holtman, “Signals from Surface,” Washington Times, 13 February 2001; Kathy Sawyer, “Spacecraft 

Lands on Asteroid; NASA Probe’s Historic First May Yield Wealth of Data,” Washington Post, 13 February 2001. 21 Associated Press, “Atlantis Astronauts To Conduct 100th Spacewalk in U.S. History,” 14 February 2001; Los 

Angeles Times, “Spacewalk Improves View from Space Station Lab,” 13 February 2001; Dow Jones International 

News, “Window Shutter Gives US Spacewalkers Views of Earth,” 12 February 2001. 22 NASA, “Asteroid Mission Not Yet ‘NEAR’ an End,” news release 01-20, 14 February 2001; Warren Leary, 

“Mission Extended for Surprisingly Sturdy Little Spacecraft,” New York Times, 15 February 2001; Associated Press, 

“NASA Adds 10 Days to Asteroid Mission,” 15 February 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

8

20 February 

Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-98 landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California after three days of 

bad weather had prevented its planned landing at NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The 

crew received a congratulatory call from President George W. Bush, praising their successful 13-

day mission. By the time that Atlantis and its crew departed the ISS, the Shuttle had significantly 

boosted the space station’s orbit, leaving the ISS orbiting at about 237 miles (381 kilometers) 

above Earth. While attached to the space station, Atlantis had used a series of engine bursts to 

push the ISS approximately 16 miles (26 kilometers) higher than its previous position. Shuttle 

crew had also unloaded food and supplies, including an enormous Russian carbon-dioxide 

removal unit, for the use of the three-person ISS crew during their visit.23 

On the 15th anniversary of the launch of the Mir space station and with its doom imminent, 

Russian scientists and other space enthusiasts protested the plan to use a controlled descent to 

destroy the aging vessel. Once a point of pride for the Soviet space program, Mir had remained 

in use far beyond its planned lifespan and had fallen into disrepair. Russian Space Agency Chief 

Yuri Koptev attempted once again to explain why Mir had to come down: “The Mir has lived a 

wonderful life and must end it in a graceful way. We must discard it while we are still capable of 

controlling it, not turn its descent into roulette that threatens the entire global community.” 

Russia had planned to initiate Mir’s final descent in mid-March 2001.24

22 February 

A team of scientists led by Luann Becker of the University of Washington presented new 

evidence explaining what had precipitated the Permian-Triassic extinction of 250 million years 

ago, when 90 percent of life disappeared from Earth. Confirming a long-held hypothesis, the 

team of researchers had discovered, in ancient sediments spread across the planet, molecules of 

stardust that only could have come from space. This discovery led scientists to conclude that the 

impact of a massive comet had triggered the onset of dormancy of life on Earth. The scientists 

had examined samples from China, Japan, and Hungary, seeking to explain what had happened 

on Earth. NASA, which had contributed funding for the project, announced the team’s findings 

at a panel presentation in Washington, DC.25

25 February 

NASA’s Ultra-Long Duration Balloon (ULDB), a huge research balloon designed to ascend to 

altitudes of more than 20 miles (32 kilometers), took off from Alice Springs, Australia. The size 

of a domed football stadium, the vessel was constructed of ultra-thin plastic material, enabling it 

to float above 99 percent of Earth’s atmosphere. Scientists controlled the research craft from the 

ground, hoping that if it succeeded, this new type of balloon would provide a cost-effective 

method of gathering data. However, after a launch delay of several weeks, because of turbulent 

 

23 Associated Press, “Shuttle Back on Earth After Dismal Three Days,” 21 February 2001; Associated Press, 

“Atlantis Leaves Space Station in a Higher Orbit,” 16 February 2001. 24 Associated Press, “Report: Russia Puts Off Dumping of Mir for a Week,” 15 February 2001; Associated Press, 

“Russia Marks Mir’s 15th Anniversary by Assuaging Fears of Its Demise,” 19 February 2001; Associated Press, 

“Scientists Protest on Mir’s 15th Anniversary,” 20 February 2001. 25 Luann Becker et al., “Impact Event at the Permian-Triassic Boundary: Evidence from Extraterrestrial Noble Gases 

in Fullerenes,” Science 291, no. 5508 (23 February 2001): 15301533; Guy Gugliotta, “Comet Tied To a Mass 

Extinction; Sediments Show Earth Was Hit, Scientists Say,” Washington Post, 23 February 2001; NASA, “Next 

Space Science Update: Trigger Found for Largest Mass Extinction,” news release N01-10, 20 February 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

9

weather, the research balloon lasted aloft only a few hours before a leak forced it back to the 

ground. Once the balloon had reached 85,000 feet (26,000 meters), the flight controllers initiated 

a controlled descent, minimizing further damage to the craft and to the research instruments 

aboard. Engineers were optimistic that they could fix the balloon and that, once they had repaired 

and deployed it, the balloon would fly higher and longer than any previous research balloon. 

However, when the balloon landed approximately 132 miles (212 kilometers) away from its 

takeoff site, the launch-station director and crew remained uncertain of the nature and extent of 

the problem.26

MARCH 2001 

1 March 

NASA announced that it had canceled the X-33 rocket development project, an endeavor that 

many in the space industry had hoped would produce a vehicle to replace the Space Shuttle. 

NASA ended the five-year program after having invested nearly US$1 billion in developing a 

reusable launching vehicle. The X-33 program, contracted to Lockheed Martin Space Systems 

Company, had sought to build the world’s most technologically advanced space vehicleshaped 

like an arrowhead and protected by a heat-resistant metallic covering. Because of its capability to 

ascend to space without having to drop weight by discarding boosters after launch, the new 

vehicle would have significantly improved on the Shuttle. NASA officials had hoped that the X33 would lead to development of the VentureStar vehicle, for transporting people and cargo into 

space. Operating at considerably less expense to NASA than the Space Shuttles, the VentureStar 

would permit more space missions per year. NASA’s decision to cut funding for the X-33 was 

part of its general effort to reduce its budget. NASA officials in charge of the Space Launch 

Initiative (SLI) had determined that, although the X-33 program had yielded significant new 

knowledge, it had not advanced to a point at which NASA engineers could readily implement the 

new technology. Arthur G. Stephenson, the Director of NASA’s MSFC, which had managed the 

program, called the decision to deny further funding “a very tough decision.”27

2 March 

Wallace D. Hayes, an aeronautical engineer and longtime Princeton University professor, died at 

age 82 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. His colleagues referred to Hayes as “a giant 

in his field,” Hayes had helped design the first planes that could safely break the sound barrier. 

Hayes’s 1959 book Hypersonic Flow Theory had outlined the scientific principles behind 

hypersonic flight, as well as the necessary technology to accomplish it. Although decades passed 

before his theories produced functional aircraft, many consider Hayes the father of high-speed 

flight. According to Robert Probstein, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 

“Every supersonic aircraft, in my opinion, owes to him their design.” Hayes had worked with 

NASA and a handful of elite American universities during his stellar career. In his association 

 

26 NASA, “NASA Aborts Space Research Balloon Flight,” news release 01-28, 26 February 2001; Associated Press, 

“Leak Forces NASA Balloon To Land,” 25 February 2001; Associated Press, “Giant Balloon Launched After Long 

Delay,” 24 February 2001. 

27 NASA, “NASA Reaches Milestone in Space Launch Initiative Program; Also Announces No SLI Funding for X33 or X-34,” news release 01-31, 1 March 2001; Warren E. Leary, “NASA Ends Project on Rocket Meant To 

Replace Space Shuttle,” New York Times, 2 March 2001; Kathy Sawyer, “NASA Kills $1.3 Billion Space Plane 

Project,” Washington Post, 2 March 2001; Los Angeles Times, “NASA Ends X-33 Project that Sought To Cut 

Spaceflight Costs,” 2 March 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

10

with NASA, he had worked to limit sonic booms from supersonic jets, an achievement that 

enabled supersonic jets to travel freely over populated areas.28

7 March 

In preparation for the final descent of the Mir space station, the Russian Space Agency 

negotiated a US$200 million insurance policy covering any damage that might occur if pieces of 

the craft landed in populated areas. Russian officials planned to fire the engines of the cargo ship 

attached to the space station, thereby pulling Mir from orbit and sending the space station 

hurtling into Earth’s atmosphere. Scientists predicted that intense heat would destroy most of the 

station during reentry, but that some fragments would hit Earth. Although space agencies had 

successfully deorbited many rockets and satellites to final resting places in the ocean, Russia 

faced increasing international consternation regarding the damage Mir’s reentry might cause. 

Japan was at higher risk from fragments of Mir than other countries, because the space station 

would pass over Japan in its final, low orbit.29

8 March 

Space Shuttle Discovery STS-102/ISS-5.A.1―comprising Commander James D. Wetherbee, 

Pilot James M. Kelly, and Mission Specialists Andrew S. W. Thomas and Paul W. 

Richards―launched from NASA’s KSC carrying the three-person crew of Expedition 2 to the 

ISS for their four-and-one-half-month stay. The members of Expedition 2―Russian cosmonaut 

Yury V. Usachev and NASA astronauts James S. Voss and Susan J. Helms―would replace the 

first ISS research team. The transfer also entailed a change of command aboard the orbiting 

research center. American William M. Shepherd, Commander during the first research period, 

had led a crew of two Russian cosmonauts in installing and calibrating ISS equipment. With 

many of the initial installation problems resolved, the second crew planned to devote more time 

to research. The Russian cosmonaut who was to take command aboard the ISS had plenty of 

space experience. Commander Usachev had spent 376 days on Mir and had performed numerous 

spacewalks. Although Voss and Helms had both flown on Shuttle missions before, this voyage 

was their first time traveling to space for a significant research period. The primary purpose of 

the Shuttle’s 14-day mission was to deliver the new crew, but Discovery also carried, for the first 

time, the Leonardo Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM). The Italian Space Agency had 

constructed the module to serve as a “moving van” for carrying experiments and supplies back 

and forth between Earth and the ISS.30

11 March 

Astronauts James S. Voss and Susan J. Helms conducted the longest spacewalk in NASA 

historynearly 9 hours. After working to install hardware and equipment, the pair had to remain 

outside the ISS until NASA flight controllers had determined that the Italian module filled with 

 

28 Mark Mueller, “Aerospace Pioneer Wallace Hayes DiesObituary,” Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ), 11 March 2001. 

29 Vladimir Isachenkov, “Russia to Insure Mir Descent Negotiating $200 Million Spacecraft Policy,” Chicago SunTimes, 7 March 2001. 30 NASA, “Discovery Returns Expedition One to Earth; Launches Second Crew,” news release 01-34, 6 March 

2001; NASA, “Space Shuttle Mission Archives: STS-102,” http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages

shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-102.html (accessed 2 February 2009); Warren E. Leary, “Shuttle Primed for 

Crew-Exchange Mission to Station,” New York Times, 7 March 2001; Marcia Dunn for Associated Press, 

“Discovery Blasts Off with Next Space Station Crew,” 8 March 2001; Reuters, “USA: CorrectedShuttle 

Discovery Launched on Space Station Mission,” 8 March 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

11

supplies had found an ISS docking port. Voss and Helms spent 8 hours and 56 minutes on their 

spacewalk, eclipsing the record of 8 hours and 29 minutes set in 1992. The U.S astronauts 

conducted complex work, involving a series of slow, deliberate maneuvers. NASA’s flight 

director commented that the lengthy endeavor required stamina, remarking that the spacewalk 

pushed the two astronauts “right to the edge” of what they could handle. Early in the spacewalk, 

Voss and Helms each mishandled pieces of equipment, causing one device to float off into space 

and slowing the process by about 1 hour.31

13 March 

A team of astronomers released images taken by NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, revealing 

that black holes are present throughout the universe, across space and time, more pervasively 

than previously estimated. The researchers had found that black holes were even more common 

millions of years ago than they are today. The scientists had used new x-ray technology to 

examine galaxies several billion years old. The research had focused on a small sliver of the 

skya deep fieldthat the Chandra X-ray Observatory had probed looking for black holes and 

other bodies. Based on the findings in the relatively small sampling, the researchers had 

estimated that the universe might contain as many as 300 million black holes. Chandra had 

captured images using exposure times of up to 10 days and focusing on the same region of the 

sky for more than one year. The astronomers believed that their new images had exposed the 

early history of the universe, perhaps traveling as far back in time as 90 percent of the way to the 

Big Bang. In examining this distant patch of sky, the researchers had discovered black holes of 

all types and masses.32

14 March 

The first changing of the guard took place aboard the ISS Discovery when the crew of 

Expedition 2, which included astronauts James S. Voss and Susan J. Helms and cosmonaut Yury 

V. Usachev, replaced the first ISS research team, Expedition 1. The new crew planned to spend 

four and one-half months aboard the space station, with Usachev serving as the outpost’s 

Commander. With the official beginning of her mission on the ISS, Helms became the first longterm female occupant of the space station. The new crew anticipated working well together, 

having trained as a unit for nearly four years. Because the first crew had completed many of the 

ISS’s final construction tasks, crew of Expedition 2 looked forward to having more research time 

than their predecessors had enjoyed.33

NASA astronomers linked the world’s two largest telescopes, both located at the W. M. Keck 

Observatory in Hawaii. Using a process known as interferometry, the scientists used the two 

 

31 Marcia Dunn for Associated Press, “A Record Job, with Some Butterfingers,” 13 March 2001; CNN.com, 

“Astronauts Set Out-of-This-World Record,” http://archives.cnn.com/2001/TECH/space/03/11/ space.shuttle.02/

(accessed 18 July 2008); Associated Press, “2 Astronauts Walk in Space Almost 9 Hours,” 12 March 2001; Agence 

France-Presse, “Discovery Astronauts End Marathon Spacewalk To Add Leonardo to ISS Canvas,” 12 March 2001. 32 NASA, “Deepest X-rays Ever Reveal Universe Teeming with Black Holes,” news release 01-37, 13 March 2001; 

Kathy Sawyer, “Young Cosmos Was Full of Black Holes,” Washington Post, 14 March 2001; Associated Press, “Xray Telescope Finds Heavens Brimming with Black Holes,” 14 March 2001. 

33 Todd Halvorson, “Space Crews Ceremoniously Switch Places,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 15 March 2001; 

NASA, “Space Station ShiftChange Set with Next Shuttle Launch,” news release, 01-30, 28 February 2001; 

Marcia Dunn for Associated Press, “Space Station Alpha About To Get Its First Female Resident,” 5 March 2001; 

Juan A. Lozano for Associated Press, “New Space Station Crew Moves into Orbiting Outpost,” 14 March 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

12

telescopes to capture images of a faint star in the constellation Lynx. According to Anne L. 

Kinney, Director of NASA’s Astronomical Search for Origins program, “combining the light 

from the two largest telescopes on Earth is a fabulous technical advancement.” Using a tunnel 

that collects light waves that the telescopes have captured, to combine the images, the two 

telescopes worked together to allow astronomers to peer farther and more clearly into space than 

ever before. Scientists hailed the achievement as a significant step toward creating a new class of 

astronomical telescopes.34

16 March 

NASA commemorated the 75th anniversary of the first successful launch of a liquid-fueled 

rocket. On 26 March 1926, Robert H. Goddard had launched a 10-foot-long (3-meter-long) 

rocket fueled by gasoline and liquid oxygen. The rocket flew just over 40 feet (12 meters) high 

using the same technology that would one day launch massive rockets carrying Space Shuttles 

and other research craft into space. NASA had named Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) after 

Robert H. Goddard. At the anniversary celebration, NASA’s Chief Historian Roger D. Launius 

called Goddard the forefather of American space exploration: “Dr. Goddard was a true visionary, 

having already visualized flight in outer space by the time he was 21.” Goddard had turned 21 in 

1903, some 50 years before space exploration began in earnest. Even 75 years after Goddard’s 

successful test, NASA continued to use liquid-propulsion systems to launch most of its 

spacecraft and satellites.35

17 March 

Responding to the ongoing reductions in the budget for NASA and for the ISS, the Boeing 

Company announced that it would lay off 400 workers who had been working on the 

development of ISS modules, including those workers who would have built the living quarters 

for the space station’s researchers. At the time of Boeing’s cuts, NASA had trimmed nearly 

US$1 billion from its ISS funding.36

19 March 

Russian cosmonauts training at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, staged 

a one-day walkout to protest NASA’s rejection of millionaire Dennis A. Tito as a member of the 

Russian crew that would travel aboard the Soyuz to the ISS on 30 April. Space enthusiast Dennis 

Tito had paid the cash-strapped Russian Space Agency a reported US$20 million to make the 

trip. Russia’s agreement with the untrained Tito had sparked debate over the proper use of the 

ISS and over so-called space tourism. Talgat A. Musabayev, the Kazakh cosmonaut who was to 

command Tito’s crew, removed his men from the training program in Houston after learning that 

NASA would not allow Tito to participate in the exercises. NASA argued that allowing a person 

who had not trained as an astronaut to travel to space would pose safety risks, especially since 

the ISS remained a work-in-progress. Russian officials contended that they had the right to 

 

34 NASA, “An Astronomy First: Telescopes Double-Team Hawaiian Night Sky,” news release 01-42, 14 March 

2001; Associated Press, “World’s Strongest Telescope Link Created,” 15 March 2001. 

35 NASA, “March 16 Marks 75th Anniversary of First Liquid-Fueled Rocket Launch,” news release 01-35, 12 March 

2001. 

36 Associated Press, “Boeing Laying Off 400 on NASA’s International Space Station,” 17 March 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

13

transport aboard their spacecraft any person they deemed fit for the mission. Both sides pledged 

to find a resolution to the disagreement.37

21 March 

NASA announced that its X-40A aircraft, built by the Boeing Company and on loan from the 

U.S. Air Force, had successfully passed a test flight, giving the X-37 program a major boost. 

NASA had designed the X-37, a reusable craft that could launch into space and return safely, for 

use in testing NASA technologies. To test the flight-control system planned for the X-37, an 

Army Chinook helicopter lifted the X-40A aircraft to 15,000 feet (4,570 meters) and then 

released it to a safe landing. NASA’s director of the X-37 program called the successful test, “a 

cause for celebration,” saying that incremental tests on prototype airplanes would ultimately 

make the X-37 program both cost-efficient and successful. Scientists hailed the safe landing of 

the X-40A as a triumph of cooperation among the U.S. military, NASA, and the Boeing 

Company, with each of the three playing a vital role in the development of the successful craft.38

Space Shuttle Discovery landed at NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, returning to Earth 

the crew of Expedition 1―Commander William M. Shepherd, Flight Engineer Sergei K. 

Krikalev, and Soyuz Commander Yuri P. Gidzenko. The Expedition 1 crew had lived and 

worked aboard the ISS since 31 October 2000. Commander James D. Wetherbee and Pilot James 

M. Kelly guided Discovery to a smooth night landing, the 17th night landing in the history of the 

Space Shuttle program and the 12th in the history of KSC.39

22 March 

Members of the Landsat 7 project, involving scientists from NASA and the U.S. Geological 

Survey (USGS), announced that, in the course of mapping Antarctica, the team had discovered a 

giant new crack in one of the world’s largest ice sheets. The team believed that the crack, formed 

within the past five weeks, would result in the calving of the Pine Island Glacier, creating a 

major new iceberg within 18 months. NASA had obtained the image from the Landsat 7 satellite, 

which had passed over Antarctica 16 times daily since its 1999 launch.40

23 March 

After months of debate over whether Russia should bring Mir out of orbit and what damage the 

space station might cause when it fell to Earth, the 15-year-old Mir space station plunged into 

Earth’s atmosphere, spraying some of its remnants into the Pacific Ocean. The splashdown 

marked the end of a 2.2 billion-mile journey for Mir. Witnesses in Fiji reported seeing streaks of 

gold and silver lights across the sky when Mir fell, but nobody reported any damage from pieces 

of the falling space station. U.S. officials at the Pentagon tracked the descent, while Japan’s 

 

37 Kathy Sawyer, “Space Tourism Sparks U.S.-Russian Standoff,” Washington Post, 20 March 2001; Warren E. 

Leary, “NASA Opposing Russian Plan for Tourist on Space Station,” New York Times, 21 March 2001; Marcia 

Dunn, “Cosmonauts to NASA: Millionaire Comrade Trains with Us or Nobody Trains,” 20 March 2001. 

38 NASA, “Successful X-40A Test Flight Gives Major Boost to NASA’s X-37 Program,” news release 01-51, 21 

March 2001; M2 Presswire, “X-40A Flight Test Successful; Major Milestone in X037 Space Plane Project,” 15 

March 2001. 

39 NASA JSC, “STS-102, Mission Control Center Status Report # 27,” 21 March 2001, 

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/reports/sts102/STS-102-27.html (accessed 2 February 2009). 40 NASA, “NASA Image Reveals Giant Chip Off the Antarctic Ice Block,” news release 01-50, 22 March 2001; 

Reuters, “Satellite Spies Crack in Antarctica Glacier, 23 March 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

14

public safety chief urged people to stay indoors to avoid falling debris. Anatoly Y. Solovyev, a 

Russian cosmonaut who had spent 651 days aboard Mir, remarked that he was sad to see the end 

of the pathbreaking space station: “An entire era of our Soviet space program is ending, into 

which we invested not only our money, but what is more important, our intellectual potential.” 

Once Mir had descended safely, officials of the Russian Space Agency praised the precise 

sequence of maneuvers that had brought the space station safely from orbit.41

30 March 

NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin received the Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy 

presented by the National Space Club, one of the United States’ most prestigious space awards. 

Leaders from the aerospace industry, governmental space programs, and academics had selected 

Goldin for the award. “I am both honored and humbled by the award which validates and 

supports NASA’s continuing mission to pioneer the frontiers of space,” Goldin remarked upon 

receiving the honor.42

APRIL 2001 

2 April 

NASA announced that astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) had discovered a 

supernova blast located farther away from Earth than any previously observed object. The 

discovery provided support for the theory that the universe might be expanding more rapidly 

than in the past. The supernova, approximately 10 billion light-years away from Earth, was 

relatively bright. According to Adam Riess of the Space Telescope Science Institute, the 

researcher who made the find, the discovery was significant because scientists would now be 

able, not only to observe the activities of the universe, but also to understand why it behaves as it 

does. “This supernova shows us the universe is behaving like a driver who slows down 

approaching a red stoplight and then hits the accelerator when the light turns green,” Riess 

explained.43

3 April 

At 4:51 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT), the Sun released one of the most powerful flares of 

the past 25 years. The flare originated from a region of the Sun known as active region 9393 and, 

almost immediately after its generation, began orbiting with the Sun. The flare, equal to the wellknown X-20 flare of 16 August 1989, resulted from an explosion within the Sun’s atmosphere. 

Both the 1989 and 2001 solar flares disrupted radio communications. The flare of 3 April 2001 

caused an R4 radio blackout on the sunlit side of Earth and released energy equal to 1 billion 

megatons (907 trillion tonnes or 907 quintillion kilograms) of TNT. Had it occurred on the side 

of the Sun facing Earth, it would probably have caused major power failures on Earth. ESA’s 

 

41 Patrick E. Tyler, “Mir Space Station Sizzles To Ending Over Pacific,” New York Times, 23 March 2001; Vladimir 

Isachenkov for Associated Press, “Russian Space Officials Exultant After Flawlessly Bringing Down Mir,” 23 

March 2001; Peter Baker, “Mir’s Fall to Earth Marks a Fiery End to Bumpy Mission,” Washington Post, 23 March 

2001; Associated Press, “Japan’s Public Safety Chief Urges People To Stay Inside To Avoid Mir Debris,” 16 March 

2001; World Reporter, “Pentagon To Track Mir Station’s Descent from Orbit,” 10 March 2001. 

42 NASA, “NASA Administrator Receives Premier Space Honor,” news release 01-61, 30 March 2001. 43 NASA, “Farthest Supernova Ever Seen Sheds Light on Dark Universe,” news release 01-58, 2 April 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

15

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spotted the record-setting sun flare and several 

smaller X-class flares, which occurred during the following days.44 

7 April 

The Mars Odyssey spacecraft launched successfully aboard a Delta 2 rocket. The craft, built by 

Lockheed Martin Space Systems and controlled by scientists at NASA’s JPL, had headed to orbit 

Mars in search of evidence of water on the Red Planet. NASA officials expected the trip to Mars 

to take more than six months and the data collection to continue for more than two years. NASA 

had designed Mars Odysseyequipping it with a thermal-emissions imaging system, a gammaray spectrometer, and a radiation monitorto investigate further the question of whether Mars 

might have once supported life. By collecting data about the climate and geology of Mars’s 

surface, scientists hoped to explore theories regarding the planet’s seemingly harsh climate 

change. NASA and members of the scientific community watched the US$300 million craft 

closely, hoping for success. In 1999 Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander had both failed 

to accomplish their missions. Upon the successful launch, NASA’s chief Mars program scientist 

celebrated: “We’ve got a program! This is the next step . . . It’s kind of like setting off on the 

Lewis and Clark voyage across North America. We’re bound for a new frontier.”45

18 April 

India successfully launched its first experimental geosynchronous satellite (GSAT-1) aboard the 

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV). The successful test suggested that India was 

poised to launch its own communication satellites. In a previous trial, India had halted a GSLV 

launch only moments before liftoff, when sensors indicated that the booster had insufficient 

power. Subsequent tests remedied the problem, enabling the successful 18 April launch. The 

Indian government praised the mission as the culmination of a decade of research and 

development aimed at achieving Indian launch capability.46

19 April 

Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-100/ISS-6A launched into orbit carrying a Canadian-built robotic 

arm for the ISS and one of the most diverse crews ever assembled. The Canadian Space Agency 

had developed and built Canadarm2 at a cost of nearly US$1 billion. With a reach extending to 

57 feet (17 meters), Canadarm2 was the centerpiece of Canada’s contribution to the ISS. Once in 

place, the new robotic arm would allow the ISS crew to lift spacewalkers to every part of the 

ISS’s exterior to perform maintenance and repairs. During the mission, the crew planned to 

install the arm, as well as to transport to the ISS a logistics carrier developed by the Italian Space 

 

44 NASA, “Sun Unleashes Record Superflare, Earth Dodges Solar Bullet,” news release 01-66, 3 April 2001; NASA, 

“Sun Takes Another Solar Shot, This Time at Earth,” news release 01-71, 11 April 2001. 

45 Lockheed Martin Space Systems, “Lockheed Martin-Built 2001 Mars Odyssey Successfully Launched, Begins 

Journey to Mars,” news release, 7 April 2001, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2001/ 

LockheedMartinBuilt2001MarsOdysseyS.html (accessed 28 January 2010); William Harwood, “Mars Odyssey 

Takes Off for Red Planet; NASA’s Stalled Exploration Program Resumes with $297 Million Mission,” Washington 

Post, 8 April 2001; Mark Carreau, “Flawless Odyssey Launch Fuels Hoe: Three-Year Mission to Mars Follows Pair 

of NASA Failures,” Houston Chronicle, 8 April 2001; Marcia Dunn for Associated Press, “NASA Succeeds in 

Launching Craft To Survey Mars Anxious Time Ahead for Scientists,” 8 April 2001. 

46 Indian Embassy, “GSLV Launched Successfully,” news release, 18 April 2001, 

http://www.indianembassy.org/press_release/2001/april/apr_18.htm (accessed 1 July 2008); Spacewarn Bulletin, 

no. 570, 1 May 2001, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx570.html (accessed 24 July 2008). 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

16

Agency. The seven-person crew―Commander Kent V. Rominger, Pilot Jeffrey S. Ashby, and 

Mission Specialists Chris A. Hadfield, Scott E. Parazynski, John L. Phillips, Umberto Guidoni, 

and Yuri V. Lonchakov―included astronauts representing the space agencies of Canada, 

Europe, and Russia. STS-100 was the Shuttle’s fifth flight in six months, setting a record for the 

most spaceflights performed during such a short period in NASA’s history.47

NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin and President of the Italian Space Agency Sergio DeJulio 

signed a framework for cooperation agreement for the construction of the habitation module for 

the ISS. The ISS partners planned the module to house the ISS crew, providing a galley and a 

Treadmill Vibration Isolation System among other features. In exchange for designing and 

manufacturing the habitation module, the Italian Space Agency received a commitment from 

NASA to provide Italian astronauts with access to the Shuttle and the ISS, as well as to help train 

Italian astronauts for their time in space. The bilateral agreement continued the trend of 

cooperation among nations, making the ISS a truly international endeavor.48

23 April 

The crews of Shuttle Endeavour and the ISS conducted the first successful test of the massive 

Canadarm2. Because of the size and weight of the robotic arm, the crew had never moved the 

completely assembled Canadarm2 until its arrival at the ISS. However, they installed the arm, 

composed of high-strength metals and weighing 3,618 pounds (1,640 kilograms), without any 

problems. Astronauts James S. Voss and Susan J. Helms, both in the middle of a four-month stay 

aboard the ISS, led the test of the new instrument. Voss explained that the robotic arm was vital 

to the station: “This was one of those linchpins that had to work, and it looks like it’s going to 

work. We’re looking forward to using it to keep building the station.” As testing continued, the 

ISS crew was troubled with some computer malfunctions. However, cooperating with NASA’s 

engineers, the astronauts eventually solved the problems.49

NASA released the first images taken by the recently launched Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Headed 

for the Red Planet, Odyssey pointed its camera Earthward to take calibrating shots as it traveled 

around the South Pole. Among the first images the vessel captured were the first thermal-infrared 

views ever taken of Earth and its Moon. The photographs demonstrated the technological 

sophistication of the instruments for the mission to Mars, which allowed close observation, 

producing images even with very little available light. The clarity of the images of Earth, 

particularly those of Antarctica, boded well for the success of the Mars mission. Mars Odyssey 

 

47 NASA, “Space Shuttle Mission Archives: STS-100,” http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/

shuttlemissions/archives/sts-100.html (accessed 2 February 2009); NASA, “Endeavour’s International Crew 

Delivers Space Station Helping Hand,” news release 01-73, 16 April 2001; Mark Carreau, “Endeavour Lifts Off To 

Attach Arm to Space Station,” Houston Chronicle, 20 April 2001; NASA, “Endeavour’s Mission Will Extend Space 

Station’s Reach with Next-Generation Robotics; Launch Set for April 19,” news release 01-67, 6 April 2001. 

48 NASA, “NASA Administrator Goldin and ASI President Dejulio To Sign Framework for Cooperation,” news 

release N01-24, 19 April 2001; NASA Watch, “NASA/ASI International Space Station Habitation Module Project 

Framework for Cooperation,” http://www.nasawatch.com/iss/04.19.01.nasa.asi.hab.html (accessed 24 July 2008). 

49 Marcia Dunn for Associated Press, “Space Station Robot Comes to Life: With ‘Inchworm’ Moves, 58-Foot Arm 

Passes Test,” 24 April 2001; Marcia Dunn for Associated Press, “Astronauts Get Robot Arm Going After 4 Days,” 

29 April 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

17

measured surface temperatures in Antarctica as low as minus 58°F (14°C), similar in range to 

temperatures the craft would experience during its survey of Mars.50

24 April 

The ISS Partnership agreed to allow space tourist Dennis A. Tito to travel to the ISS aboard the 

Russian Soyuz TM-32, scheduled to launch at the end of April. The agreement among the space 

agencies of Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia, and the United States followed months of 

disagreement regarding the safety and propriety of allowing the wealthy American businessman 

to purchase passage into space for US$20 million. Without conferring with NASA or with other 

members of the ISS Partnership, the Russian Space Agency had made an agreement with Tito 

permitting him to take a place on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft. NASA had protested against 

including an individual who was not a trained astronaut on the spaceflight at such an early point 

in the ISS’s development. After Russia had reached the agreement with Tito, he had undergone 

months of training. The ISS Partnership required Tito to sign a waiver absolving NASA of any 

liability for his safety and required him to promise that he would pay for anything he damaged. 

The ISS Partnership also announced plans to formalize the criteria for future visits to the 

station.51 

26 April 

Engineers at NASA’s KSC completed the installation of a new main engine for Space Shuttle 

Atlantis. Modifications of previous engine designs included a new high-pressure fuel turbopump, 

strengthened and made more durable by a casting process, rather than by welding. During the 

roughly 81⁄2 minutes that the engines operate during a Shuttle launch, they must perform at 

temperatures reaching 6,000°F (3,300°C). The improvements continued NASA’s practice of 

regularly updating the Shuttle’s components.52

28 April 

The Russian spacecraft Soyuz lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan propelled 

by a Soyuz-U rocket. The spacecraft carried one of the most controversial space travelers in 

historyAmerican businessman Dennis A. Tito. Tito had paid the Russian Space Agency for the 

opportunity to accompany cosmonauts Talgat A. Musabayev and Yuri M. Baturin on the mission 

to the ISS. Many space officials, regarding the endeavor as unsafe and capricious, had opposed 

Tito’s presence on the flight. Only days before the launch, Tito had gained the final approval of 

the consortium of nations building the ISS, becoming the highest profile space tourist to fly into 

orbit.53

 

50 NASA, “Earth Day Portrait Is First One Snapped by NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey,” news release 01-81, 23 April 

2001. 

51 Warren E. Leary, “Deal Reported in Long-Running Dispute on Putting Tourist on Space Station,” New York 

Times, 21 April 2000; NASA, “International Space Station Partnership Grants Flight Exemption for Dennis Tito,” 

news release 01-83, 24 April 2001; Marcia Dunn for Associated Press, “NASA Continues To Resist Visit by First 

Tourist,” 15 April 2001; Kathy Sawyer, “Financier’s Spaceflight Gets Final Clearance,” Washington Post, 25 April 

2001. 

52 NASA, “New Main Engine Promises Even Safer Shuttle Ride,” news release 01-79, 26 April 2001. 53 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 570, 1 May 2001, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx570.html (accessed 24 July 

2008); Warren E. Leary, “Russia Wins Fight To Be First Space Travel Agent,” New York Times, 25 April 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

18

29 April 

At the American Physical Society Spring Meeting, a team of cosmologists announced that they 

had discovered the “music of creation,” using an extremely sensitive microwave telescope. The 

researchers presented their discovery of the sound waves that had rippled through the universe 

some 14 billion years ago. The team of the Balloon Observation of Millimetric Extragalactic 

Radiation and Geophysics (BOOMERANG) project had gathered the data from a telescope 

aboard a balloon, which circumnavigated Antarctica at an altitude of 23 miles (37 kilometers). 

According to Team Leader Paolo deBernardis, the beginning of the universe left behind a residue 

of light and sound, providing scientists with hints about the details of the Big Bang: “The early 

universe is full of sound waves compressing and rarefying matter and light, much like sound 

waves compress and rarefy air inside a flute or trumpet.” The BOOMERANG team’s findings 

provided a new means of examining the early universe and new evidence to use in calculating 

how it changed. Scientists praised the discoveries as “stunning and humbling” evidence that 

cosmologists were using the correct model to describe the early universe.54

30 April 

The Soyuz spacecraft, carrying space enthusiast Dennis A. Tito, arrived safely at the ISS, having 

completed a two-day journey from Kazakhstan. The successful docking took place only 14 hours 

after Shuttle Endeavour left the ISS, with the crew having completed its mission of installing a 

Canadian-built robotic arm. Tito arrived at the ISS in good health. Appearing through grainy 

footage provided by the Russian Space Agency, Tito floated into the space station with arms 

outstretched and proclaimed, “I love space.” The Soyuz mission mandated that the RussianAmerican crew remain aboard the ISS for six days.55

MAY 2001 

1 May 

Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-100 landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California, when wind 

and rain caused the diversion of the Shuttle and its seven-person crew from its planned landing at 

NASA’s KSC in Florida. The completed mission had been unique, with NASA deliberately 

paring down its research goals because of the anticipated arrival during Endeavour’s stay at the 

ISS of the Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying space tourist Dennis A. Tito. Shuttle Commander 

Kent V. Rominger greeted the press upon landing, commenting on the crew’s installation of the 

ISS’s robotic arm and the computer problems that had plagued the space station during the visit. 

Rominger explained that he and the other astronauts had worked with 500 computer experts on 

the ground to achieve partial restoration of the ISS’s hard drives and software applications.56

 

54 NASA, “New Boomerang Findings Reveal ‘Music’ of the Early Universe,” news release 01-87, 29 April 2001; 

Kathy Sawyer, “Astronomy Peers into Face of Infant Universe,” Washington Post, 30 April 2001. 55 Mark Carreau, “Shuttle Leaves Space Station After 8 Days,” Houston Chronicle, 30 April 2001; Marcia Dunn for 

Associated Press, “Tito’s ‘Taxi’ Drops Fare at Station, ‘I Love Space’, Says the American Cosmonaut, Who Faces 

Strict NASA Limits,” 30 April 2001. 

56 Warren E. Leary, “As Shuttle Returns to Earth, Tourist Adjusts to Space Station,” New York Times, 2 May 2001; 

Associated Press, “Space Shuttle Diverted to California Due to Bad Weather,” 1 May 2001; Mark Carreau, 

“Endeavour Lands in Clear California/Cloud Hangs Over Russia Relations,” Houston Chronicle, 2 May 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

19

6 May 

A research team led by John Bally of the University of Colorado and Henry Throop of the 

Southwest Research Institute announced that the team had used the HST to observe the first 

direct evidence of the snowballing theory of planet birth. According to the scholars’ findings, 

later released in Science, dust grains in the midst of a cloud of dust and gas located in the Orion 

Nebula, which is approximately 1,500 light-years from Earth, had accreted into a single nucleus 

of gas and dust, thereby forming an embryonic planet. The researchers observing the occurrence 

speculated that a similar process might have formed the known planets of the universe. In 

describing the volatile environment in which the snowballing process occurs, Throop used the 

analogy of “trying to build a skyscraper in the middle of a tornado.” The researchers surmised 

that, although snowballing may have caused many embryo planets to begin forming, the 

complete process of forming a full-fledged planet might have occurred more rarely than 

scientists previously had speculated.57

8 May 

The American geosynchronous relay satellite XM 1, often referred to as Roll, launched into 

space aboard a Russian Zenit rocket, from a floating launchpad in the Pacific Ocean. The launch 

of Roll followed on the heels of the March 2001 delivery to space of XM 2, known as Rock. 

With both Rock and Roll in orbit, XM Satellite Radio became available to subscribing listeners 

in the United States. The president of the company XM Satellite Radio, based in Washington, 

DC, called Rock and Roll the “newest power couple” in Washington, DC, declaring that his firm 

was ready to compete with Sirius Radio for subscribers. Boeing Satellite Systems had designed 

and built the satellites.58

NASA collaborated with George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute to host a 

symposium commemorating 40 years of human spaceflight, an era that had dawned with Alan B. 

Shepard Jr.’s 15-minute suborbital flight on 5 May 1961. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin 

opened the conference, followed at the speaker’s podium by astronauts and space experts. The 

conference, “Looking Backward, Looking Forward,” provided a valuable forum, not only for 

discussing the accomplishments of the United States’ space program, but also for considering 

space exploration’s possible future evolution.59

NASA announced a partnership with John Deere and Company of Moline, Illinois, to allow 

farmers to use NASA’s global positioning technology to navigate their fields and monitor their 

 

57 Kathy Sawyer, “Astronomers Observe Forming of Infant Planet for First Time,” Houston Chronicle, 6 May 2001; 

Henry B. Throop et al., “Evidence for Dust Grain Growth in Young Circumstellar Disks,” Science 292, no. 5522 (1 

June 2001): 16861689. 58 The Boeing Company, “Sea Launch on a Mission To Launch XM’s ‘Roll’ Satellite,” 1 May 2001, 

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2001/q2/news_release_010501s.html (accessed 28 January 2010); Spacewarn 

Bulletin, no. 571, 1 June 2001, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx571.html (accessed 28 July 2008); Jim 

Banke, “Sea Launch Sends ‘Roll’ Spacecraft into Orbit for XM Satellite Radio,” Space.com, 8 May 2001, 

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/launches/zenit_launch_010508.html (accessed 28 July 2008). 

59 NASA, “NASA Conference To Commemorate 40 Years of Human Space Flight,” news release N01-28, 1 May 

2001; NASA and Space Policy Institute, “Looking Backward, Looking Forward: Forty Years of U.S. Human 

Spaceflight,” (program, symposium organized by Space Policy Institute, Elliott School of International Affairs, 

George Washington University, in collaboration with NASA History Office, NASA Office of Policy and Plans, 

American Astronautical Society, and National Space Society, Washington, DC, 8 May 2001), 

http://history.nasa.gov/40hsconf.pdf (accessed 29 July 2008). 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

20

soil. Using a system developed at NASA’s JPL, farmers would be able to access GPS data to 

locate points as small as 4 inches (10 centimeters) wide. Specifically, according to the 

agreement, NASA and John Deere’s NavCom Technology Inc. had created a partnership to 

explore further the uses of GPS in farming. Scientists in NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise 

believed that GPS might prove especially useful in the area of natural hazard monitoring, 

providing farmers with images of their land in the event of a tornado, fire, or other disaster. The 

pathbreaking agreement resulted from the activities of the Commercial Technology Office at 

JPL, which focused on exploring new ways that technologies developed by American space 

programs could benefit other American industries.60

11 May 

With resident astronaut James S. Voss performing most of the work, the ISS crew completed 

repairs on the space station’s computers and installed a replacement for the most damaged of the 

three command and control machines. With the repairs completed, the ISS regained the 

unfettered ability to steer, regulate, and communicate for the first time since the computer 

breakdown had occurred during the installation of the Canadian robotic arm in April 2001. 

NASA experts believed that the complex computer problems had stemmed from a failed hard 

drive but could not rule out software problems as the root cause. The computer outages had 

delayed testing of the new 57-foot (17-meter) arm; NASA resumed the testing only after officials 

had determined that they had corrected the computer malfunctions.61

17 May 

NASA announced the first significant group of awards for its Space Launch Initiative (SLI)a 

program dedicated to finding safer and more cost-effective modes of sending humans into space. 

NASA’s SLI board had awarded a total of US$767 million in contracts to 22 groups. NASA 

clarified that the purpose of the contracts was to find a long-term solution to replace the costly 

Shuttle program. Therefore, NASA intended that grantees focus on conceptual designs rather 

than on vehicle specifics. NASA had designed the program to facilitate the development of a 

new space vehicle by the middle of the 21st century. Those receiving the funds had to meet 

ambitious standards; NASA wanted awardees to design a craft that would be 10 times safer than 

the Space Shuttle, with 100 times higher rates of crew survival, at a 10th of the cost of the 

current Shuttle program. The SLI board had consulted more than 100 experts to determine which 

proposals should receive funding.62

Continuing its effort to support science-related education, NASA announced that in May 2001 it 

would welcome to its facilities the first participants in the Undergraduate Student Research 

Program (USRP), designed to expose 100 students, selected from a pool of more than 1,000 

applicants, to the level of math, science, and technological research necessary to propel new 

discoveries in space exploration. The Virginia Space Grant Consortium coordinated the pilot 

 

60 NASA, “NASA Satellite Technology Goes Down on the Farm,” news release 01-62, 8 May 2001. 

61 Mark Carreau, “Astronauts Complete Repairs to Computers/ Station Equipment Back at Full Force,” Houston 

Chronicle, 12 May 2001. 62 Marshall Star (NASA MSFC), “NASA Awards $767 Million in SLI Contracts,” 24 May 2001, 1, 6; Warren E. 

Leary, “NASA Begins Bid To Improve Its Launchings,” New York Times, 18 May 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

21

program. Frank Owens, Director of NASA’s Education Division, expressed optimism that the 

program would fuel increased interest in vital scientific fields.63

An international team of astronomers presented compelling new evidence that comet impacts had 

played a significant role in the formation of life on Earth. The researchers, led by Michael J. 

Mumma of NASA’s GSFC and Hermann Boehnhardt, working at the European South 

Observatory in Chile, presented their findings in an issue of Science devoted to the burgeoning 

field of comet research. The astronomers had used orbiting space telescopes, as well as 

telescopes throughout the world, to provide unprecedented coverage of comets passing Earth. In 

the course of their observations, the team had witnessed the breakup of the Comet LINEAR, 

thereby gaining new knowledge about the organic materials contained in comets. This new 

understanding of the composition of comets led to new information about the impact of comets 

on Earthespecially during the collisions between comets and planets that occurred long ago. 

Mumma explained the significance of the new discoveries about the composition of comets: 

“The idea that comets seeded life on Earth with water and essential molecular building blocks is 

dramatic, and for the first time, we have seen a comet with the right composition to do the job.” 

The researchers concluded that comets had formed from dust, ice, and glass, and that, in 

colliding with other celestial bodies, comets had transferred fundamental building blocks to 

them.64

21 May 

The Russian cargo craft Progress M1-6 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, 

carrying 2.5 tons (2.3 tonnes or 2,300 kilograms) of supplies for the ISS crew. Along with food, 

research materials, and a new computer system to replace the damaged control machines, the 

cargo carrier also hauled 1 ton (0.9 tonnes or 907 kilograms) of extra fuel to the space station, so 

that Progress M1-6 could push the ISS into a higher orbit. Russian Space Agency officials 

planned for the spacecraft to dock with the ISS two days after launch. The launch was the first 

using the newly improved Soyuz-FG rocket, a booster designed to use 5 percent less fuel than 

previous models.65

24 May 

NASA announced the inauguration of a program focused on designing a probe that could collide 

with a comet traveling at speeds of more than 22,000 miles (35,000 kilometers) per hour. 

Researchers had created the Deep Impact Mission program in the belief that the collision might 

enable measurement of the materials comprising the comet. The plan called for a 770-pound 

(349-kilogram) impactor, featuring cameras and an infrared spectrometer, to collect data from 

the comet. NASA selected Michael A’Hearn of the University of Maryland as Project Leader, 

with NASA’s JPL and Ball Aerospace Technology Corporation as the designers of the probe. 

The effort targeted Comet Tempel 1, discovered in 1867, which orbits Earth every five and onehalf years. Following in the wake of several comet-related discoveries, the Deep Impact Mission 

 

63 NASA, “NASA Introduces Pilot Undergraduate Student-Research Program,” news release 01-95, 17 May 2001. 

64 Hermann Boehnhardt, “The Death of a Comet and the Birth of Our Solar System,” Science 292, no. 5520 (18 May 

2001): 13071308; NASA, “In Coming Apart, Comet Linear Exposes Its Deepest Secrets,” news release 01-94, 17 

May 2001; Peter N. Spotts, “Comets Give Clues to Solar System’s Infancy: New Studies Chronicle the Break Up of 

a Comet That Sheds Light on Early Planet Information,” Christian Science Monitor, 18 May 2001. 65 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 571; Mark Wade, “Progress M1,” Encyclopaedia Astronautica, 

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/proessm1.htm (accessed 29 July 2008). 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

22

focused on analyzing the composition of comets and determining how they might have affected 

the rest of the universe. NASA had designated a budget of US$279 million for the project.66

25 May 

Continuing to gather data long after it had completed its original mission, the Galileo spacecraft 

made the closest ever pass of Jupiter’s largest moon, Callisto. Although regarded as the ugly 

duckling of Jupiter’s moons because it does not appear to have ever had liquid water present, 

Callisto still interested scientists who hoped to gather enough data to determine the size and 

number of craters on the moon’s surface. In the days leading up to the close pass of Callisto, 

problems with Galileo’s cameras had worried NASA controllers. Galileo scientists had 

anticipated the complications, however, predicting that the flyby, within 100 miles (161 

kilometers) of the moon, would expose the probe to strong gravitational pulls and radiation belts. 

Galileo had originally begun orbiting Jupiter in 1995 and had already made 30 flybys of Jupiter’s 

largest moons.67

30 May 

For the first time, NASA and the Canadian Space Agency made available the data gathered by 

the Terra spacecraft, carrying the technologically advanced Measurements of Pollution in the 

Troposphere (MOPITT) experiment. The data, released at the American Geophysical Union 

meeting, revealed more clearly than any previous readings the presence of immense clouds of 

carbon monoxide over Africa and South America. The readings also charted dense air-pollution 

plumes over Southeast Asia. The MOPITT data pointed to natural factors such as forest fires, as 

well as human contributors such as industrial pollution, as causes of the increased carbonmonoxide readings. The scientific community greeted the release of the new data, and the 

promise of more to come, with excitement, because the MOPITT data would be vital in the quest 

to understand Earth’s changing climate. According to one researcher who was already mining the 

MOPITT data for an extensive study, the new data had the potential “to improve our 

understanding of the linkages between air pollution and global environment change.”68

JUNE 2001 

1 June 

NASA announced that it would delay Shuttle Missions STS-104 and STS-105 for several weeks 

because of a series of computer problems on the ISS. The computer difficulties had limited the 

control of the new robotic arm delivered to the ISS in April 2001. Despite the efforts of the 

astronauts aboard the ISS and of hundreds of experts on the ground, the malfunctions had 

continued to render control of the Canadian-built robotic arm impossible. NASA officials had 

determined that, until the situation was resolved, NASA would have to delay an Atlantis mission, 

scheduled for 20 June, and a Discovery mission, scheduled for 12 July, both carrying cargo that 

 

66 NASA, “NASA Gives Green Light for Deep Impact Mission Development,” news release 01-99, 24 May 2001. 

67 SpaceRef.com, “Galileo Millennium Mission Status,” 24 May 2001, http://www.spaceref.com/news/

viewsr.html?pid=2913 (accessed 30 July 2001); NASA, “Galileo Gets One Last Close Encounter with Jupiter’s 

Callisto,” news release 01-97, 22 May 2001. 

68 NASA, “NCAR NASA/CSA Monitor Provides Global Air Pollution View from Space,” news release 01-102, 30 

May 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

23

the arm must move. The delay also meant that the ISS crewYury V. Usachev, James S. Voss, 

and Susan J. Helmswould remain aboard ISS longer than originally planned.69

Abe Silverstein, the former Director of NASA’s Lewis Research Center (LeRC), died at age 92. 

Silverstein’s work in the aerospace industry predated NASA itself; he had begun his research 

career in 1929, working for NASA’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for 

Aeronautics. After serving in World War II, Silverstein had played a leading role in constructing 

the United States’ first supersonic propulsion wind tunnel. He had contributed to the Mercury 

and Apollo missions before 1969, when he assumed the head position at LeRC, today known as 

Glenn Research Center (GRC). During his career, Silverstein had received the Guggenheim 

Medal for “technical contributions and visionary leadership in advancing technology of aircraft 

and propulsion performance.” NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin called Silverstein one of 

NASA’s “true founding members,” who had made possible NASA’s robotic and human space 

programs. NASA also remembered Silverstein for his naming of the Mercury and Apollo 

missions. In addition, Silverstein had successfully promoted the liquid propulsion techniques 

pioneered at LeRC for use in the Apollo missions. Two sons and five grandchildren survived 

him.70

2 June 

NASA, conducting a test over the Pacific Ocean, aborted a planned attempt at the speed record 

for aircraft when the Pegasus rocket carrying a prototype X-43A jet veered out of control. NASA 

had employed a B-52 to carry the X-43A and the Pegasus rocket to 45,000 feet, where the test 

was to begin. According to the plan, the plane would release the Pegasus, which would then 

carry the X-43A to 100,000 feet (30,500 meters) before releasing the jet. Instead, however, the 

Pegasus rocket had gone out of control almost immediately after its release. NASA spokesperson 

Alan Brown explained: “The Pegasus went out of control. It appeared parts were breaking off of 

it.” NASA ordered the Pegasus destroyed after only a few seconds, and the ensuing explosion 

resulted in the loss of the scramjet as well. NASA officials and flight enthusiasts had hoped that 

the US$185 million experimental plane would top speeds of Mach 7. Instead, engineers 

scrambled to determine the cause of the accident.71

5 June 

At a meeting of the American Astronomical Society, NASA scientists Patricia T. Boyd and Alan 

P. Smale, both working at NASA’s GSFC, announced that they had uncovered a predictable 

mathematical pattern governing the release of x-ray light from binary star systems. Boyd and 

Smale had tracked the emission of x-rays from three binary star systems over a period of several 

years, determining that the number of days between the low points of emission in each binary 

system was always based on multiples of a single constant number. The discovery countered the 

common perception among scientists that flares and bursts happen completely at random, 

 

69 Warren E. Leary, “Problems with Space Station’s Robotic Arm Delay Shuttle Visits,” New York Times, 1 June 

2001; Mark Carreau, “Glitch Postpones 2 Space Station Missions,” Houston Chronicle, 31 May 2001. 70 NASA, “Dr. Abe Silverstein, Early Architect of the Apollo Moon Landing, Dies,” news release 01-109, 1 June 

2001; Wolfgang Saxon, “Abe Silverstein, 92, Engineer Who Named Apollo Program,” New York Times, 5 June 

2001; Associated Press, “Abe Silverstein, 92, Pioneer in Space Research at NASA,” 4 June 2001. 71 Peter Pae, “Hypersonic Aircraft Test Fails; Plane Is Destroyed,” Los Angeles Times, 3 June 2001; New York 

Times, “NASA Halts Scramjet Test,” 3 June 2001; Washington Post, “NASA Aborts Bid for Speed Mark, Blows Up 

Rocket,” 3 June 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

24

suggesting that a repeatable process occurs when swirling matter pours into a black hole, thereby 

creating an emission. According to Smale, the ongoing challenge would be to combine this 

knowledge of a pattern, while still considering the many random factors. “The interplay between 

periodic and random components in these systems is a puzzle,” Smale concluded.72

6 June 

NASA announced several new findings made possible by the Chandra X-ray Observatory. 

Farhad Zadeh of Northwestern University had used Chandra to locate “a cauldron of 60 million 

degree gas enveloping a cluster of young stars.” The discovery marked the first time that 

scientists had located such high-energy x-rays surrounding young stars. Zadeh also noted that the 

newly discovered cluster, located some 25,000 light-years from Earth and estimated at 1 to 2 

million years old, had provided evidence in support of the theory that stellar winds generated by 

stars can produce very hot gas. In addition to Zadeh’s find, Andreas Zezas of the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics announced that his team of scientists had found new 

midmass black holes in several starburst galaxiesregions where stars form and explode 

frequently. Researchers had long hypothesized that such an environment might exist but had 

previously been able to locate only a few midmass black holes. Zezas credited the powerful 

Chandra X-ray Observatory with allowing astronomers to examine far-flung galaxies more 

closely than before. Kimberly A. Weaver of NASA’s GSFC, who had contributed to Zezas’s 

project, hypothesized that the concentration of midsize black holes could possibly lead 

eventually to the formation of a single, massive black hole.73

7 June 

After months of deliberation and years of planning, NASA gave the official approval for 

developing a spacecraft for the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and 

Ranging (MESSENGER) mission. The plan called for the MESSENGER to launch in March 

2004 and to begin orbiting Mercury in April 2009. NASA selected Sean C. Solomon of the 

Carnegie Institution of Washington as the “principal investigator and lead scientist” for the 

mission, choosing the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University to build and 

operate the MESSENGER spacecraft. Preparations for the new mission had begun 26 years after 

NASA’s last spacecraft had circled the Mercury in a 1975 flyby producing data for half of the 

planet. Moreover, some officials viewed the MESSENGER mission as the resumption of a longstalled research endeavor. Solomon described the task ahead as “an opportunity to complete the 

detailed exploration of the inner solar system, on a planet where we’ve never even seen half the 

surface.”74

NASA named Nelson H. Keeler Director of its Independent Verification and Validation Facility 

(IVVF) in Fairmont, West Virginia, giving Keeler the responsibility for safeguarding the 

facility’s mission-critical software. Keeler also assumed the task of evaluating the costeffectiveness of NASA’s technology and software. Before joining NASA, Keeler had served in 

 

72 NASA, “Method Uncovered in Madness of Black Hole and Neutron Star Eruptions,” news release 01-111, 5 June 

2001. 

73 NASA, “Star Factory near Galactic Center Bathed in High-Energy X-rays,” news release 01-113, 6 June 2001; 

John Noble Wilford, “Hot Stellar Winds Captured by X-ray Orbiter,” New York Times, 12 June 2001; NASA, 

“Chandra Sees Wealth of Black Holes in Star-Forming Galaxies,” news release 01-110, 6 June 2001. 74 NASA, “NASA Gives Official Nod to First Mercury Orbiter Mission,” news release 01-118, 7 June 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

25

the U.S. Coast Guard, amassing more than 6,000 flight hours in search-and-rescue and lawenforcement missions. During a stint at the U.S. Coast Guard’s Research and Development 

Center, he had won the Legion of Merit medal. Keeler had served in NASA’s Space Station 

Freedom program, in the NASA Office of Space Flight’s Advanced Launch Technology and 

Advanced Flight Systems programs, as well is in private industry, before becoming Director of 

the IVVF.75

14 June 

Herbert V. Frey of NASA’s GSFC revealed a fundamental new finding about the complexion of 

Mars’s surface. According to Frey and his team of researchers, data gathered by Mars Global 

Surveyor had corrected a commonly held belief about the topography of the Red Planet and the 

age of its crust. Most scientists had believed that the crust covering the relatively smooth 

northern lowlands of the planet was much younger than that of the rest of the planet. However, 

Frey’s research using Surveyor’s pathbreaking instruments had shown that the lowlands are not 

actually smooth at all. Using the measurements obtained by the spacecraft’s laser altimeter, Frey 

and his team had documented more than 600 ancient craters lying just beneath a layer of dust on 

the lowlands, many of the craters larger than 30 miles (48 kilometers) in diameter. From this 

finding, the team had concluded that the crust of the northern lowlands is older than scientists 

had expected. According to James W. Head of Brown University, who was not a member of 

Frey’s research contingent, the findings would “push the reset button” on ideas about how Mars 

had evolved as a planet.76

15 June 

Shang-Ping Xie of the University of Hawaii’s International Pacific Research Center and 

Meteorology Department and W. Timothy Liu of NASA’s JPL published in the journal Science

the results of their study of Hawaii’s so-called tail, demonstrating that a strong ocean current 

connects Hawaii with Asia. The researchers had concluded that the current was the result of the 

wind whipping around the small Pacific Islands and creating wakes eastward toward Asia. 

Scientists had long recognized that the Hawaiian Islands cause an eastward current, but common 

knowledge had suggested that the current’ reaches less than 200 miles (322 kilometers). 

However, using data from NASA’s QuikSCAT satellite, the European Sensing Satellites, and the 

United States-Japan Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, Xie and Lie had traced the eastwardflowing current farther, discovering that it actually extends nearly 5,000 miles (8,000 

kilometers). From an historical perspective, the discovery provided evidence in support of the 

tradition that early Hawaiian settlers had sailed to the islands from the Far East.77

21 June 

NASA released new images gathered by the Terra satellite’s instrumentsClouds and the 

Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES)which revealed shrinking glaciers, as well as the 

 

75 NASA, “NASA Names Nelson Keeler Independent Verification and Validation Facility Director,” news release 

01-117, 7 June 2001. 

76 Robert C. Cowen, “Red Planet Still a Mystery, but Mars Global Surveyor Makes It Less So,” Christian Science 

Monitor, 14 June 2001. 77 Shang-Ping Xie et al., “Far-Reaching Effects of the Hawaiian Islands on the Pacific Ocean-Atmosphere System,” 

Science 292, no. 5524 (15 June 2001): 20572060; NASA, “Satellites Reveal Hawaii’s Long Tail of Wind and 

Water,” news release 01-121, 14 June 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

26

most accurate global radiation measurements ever captured. Launched in December 1999, Terra 

monitored most of the world’s major glaciers. The CERES instruments had captured the highresolution images from 440 miles (708 kilometers) above Earth’s surface. Initial analysis of the 

new data had revealed that most glaciers had shrunk considerably since previously measured. For 

example, the glaciers in the mountains of Patagonia had receded about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) 

over the course of 13 years. CERES had also provided the first complete year of radiation 

readings since 1987, capturing readings from the May 2001 heat wave, which had produced 

record temperatures in the United States.78

27 June 

An international team of astronomers led by Kailash C. Sahu of the Space Telescope Science 

Institute reported the discovery of what appeared to be planet-like celestial bodies clustered 

around a group of 10 million stars some 8,500 light-years from Earth. The team had used the 

HST to make their discovery, which formed the basis of their hypothesis that the strong 

gravitational force of the dense star cluster might have pulled the quasi-planets away from their 

parent stars. The researchers’ article in Nature prompted both skepticism and praise. Stephen P. 

Maran, an American Astronomical Society spokesperson, summarized the reason for the 

excitement surrounding the find: “If it is confirmed, the finding suggests there is something big 

here that we don’t understand.” In addition, Sahu’s research team reported that they had 

observed six microlensing events during their study, thereby focusing the attention of the 

scientific community on Albert Einstein’s theory of microlensing that the gravity of a celestial 

body can bend the light of a more distant object, thereby acting as a magnifying glass for space 

exploration.79

John F. Yardley, who had worked at the McDonnell Aircraft Corporation, serving as the Launch 

Operation Manager for the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft and the Technical Director for the 

Gemini program before joining NASA in 1974, died at the age of 76. NASA had awarded 

Yardley its Public Service Medal in 1963 and in 1966 for his work on the Mercury and the 

Gemini. From 1981 to 1989, Yardley had been President of McDonnell Douglas Astronautics 

Company. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin called Yardley “as responsible as any 

individual for getting the Space Shuttle Program off the ground.80

30 June 

The Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) launched aboard a Delta 2 rocket from Cape 

Canaveral, Florida. MAP carried two Gregorian telescopes, designed to record temperatures in 

selected locations throughout the sky. MAP’s broad mission was to provide further insight into 

how the universe formed. The spacecraft cost US$95 million to build.81

 

78 NASA, “NASA’s Terra Satellite Captures a World of Sunlight and Heat,” news release 01-123, 21 June 2001; 

Kenneth Chang, “Spacecraft’s Supercamera Captures Earth in All Its Detail,” New York Times, 19 June 2001. 79 Kailash C. Sahu et al., “Gravitational Microlensing by Low-Mass Objects in the Globular Cluster M22,” Nature 

411, no. 6841 (28 June 2001): 10221024; Kathy Sawyer, “A Dim Discovery in a Bend of Light; Celestial Orbs 

Detected Through Microlensing May Hold Clues to Stars’ Birth,” Washington Post, 28 June 2001. 80 NASA, “John F. Yardley, Human Space Flight Pioneer, Dies,” news release 01-130, 27 June 2001; Wolfgang 

Saxon, “John Yardley, 76, Dies; Had Central Role in Space Flight,” New York Times, 28 June 2001. 81 The Boeing Company, “Boeing Delta II Helps Unlock Secrets of the Universe,” news release, 30 June 2001, 

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2001/q2/news_release_010630h.html (accessed 28 January 2010); Peter N. 

Spotts, “Latest NASA Launch Aims To Take Cosmic Baby Picture,” Christian Science Monitor, 29 June 2001; 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

27

JULY 2001 

6 July 

Researchers based at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center announced that they had delineated 

the mechanism by which the universe favors matter instead of empty space. The team of 

scientists had used Stanford University’s 1,200-ton (1,090-tonne or 1.1 million-kilogram) 

particle detector to study the process of charge-party violation (CP violation) the interactions 

and relationships between matter and antimatter. Although scientists had long believed that 

matter and antimatter are distinctly different, obtaining proof of this had proved difficult. The 

new discovery provided significant support for the hypothesis, exciting the scientific community. 

As physicist Stewart Smith, spokesperson for the research group, explained: “After 37 years of 

searching for further examples of CP violation, physicists now know that there are at least two 

kinds of subatomic particles that exhibit this puzzling phenomenon, thought to be responsible for 

the great preponderance of matter in the universe.”82

11 July 

NASA announced that images provided by the Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite 

(SWAS), which NASA had launched in December 1998, showed new evidence that extraplanetary systems contain water. In particular, astronomers had studied the giant IRC+10216 

star, also known as CW Leonis, and had located water vapor surrounding the celestial body. 

Scientists had never considered the giant star, located some 500 light-years from Earth, as a 

likely host of water because of its high levels of carbon. Gary Melnick of the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics led the SWAS study, which concluded that the most viable 

explanation for the “substantial concentrations of water vapor” around the star was that the star’s 

gravity had pulled the water vapor from the icy surfaces of nearby comets. The discovery had 

broad implications for scientists’ theories about how Earth might eventually end. “We think we 

are witnessing the type of apocalypse that will ultimately befall our own planetary system,” said 

one SWAS researcher. “Several billion years from now, the Sun will become a giant star and its 

power output will increase five thousand fold. As the luminosity of the Sun increases, a wave of 

water vaporization will spread outwards through the solar system, starting with Earth’s oceans 

and extending well beyond the orbit of Neptune.”83

12 July 

Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-104/ISS7A lifted off from NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, 

bound for the ISS. Steven W. Lindsay served as Flight Commander, Charles O. Hobaugh piloted 

the spacecraft, and Mission Specialists Janet L. Kavandi, Michael L. Gernhardt, and James F. 

Reilly rounded out the crew. The launch was the first using NASA’s upgraded hydrogen 

turbopumps in the Shuttle’s three main engines. The pump was the last in a series of Shuttle 

improvements that NASA had made to reduce maintenance and improve safety of the Shuttle. 

 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 572, 1 July 2001, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ spacewarn/spx572.html (accessed 4 August 

2008). 

82 Kathy Sawyer, “New Insight into Reason Matter Exists; Studies Confirm Cosmic Mechanism,” Washington Post,

7 July 2001. 

83 Gary J. Melnick et al., “Discovery of Water Vapour Around IRC+10216 as Evidence for Comets Orbiting 

Another Star,” Nature 412, no. 6843 (12 July 2001): 160163; NASA, “Stellar Apocalypse Yields First Evidence of 

Water-Bearing Worlds Beyond Our Solar System,” news release 01-140, 11 July 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

28

The mission called for the astronauts to attach the new American-made Joint Airlock to the ISS 

and to conduct important repairs to the station during three separate spacewalks. The design of 

the new airlock permitted the ISS crew access to and from space, wearing either Russian or 

American spacesuits. During the days leading up to the launch, Mission Specialist Michael L. 

Gernhardt explained: “The term Joint Airlock means that it’s applicable to both the U.S. 

[space]suit, the EMU [Extravehicular Mobility Unit], and to the Russian suit, the Orlan suit. The 

main objectives of our flight are to install four High Pressure Gas Tanksthat would be two 

oxygen, two nitrogento activate and check out the airlock and then to make the first spacewalk 

from the Joint Airlock and demonstrate the viability of the whole process and sort of usher in the 

space station era of EVA.”84

16 July 

Crew members of Space Shuttle Atlantis accomplished the primary objective of Mission STS104, successfully installing the Joint Airlock on the ISS. The crew used the space station’s 

massive, Canadian-made robotic arm, which had not operated properly for several months, to 

hoist the enormous entryway out of the Shuttle’s cargo bay and to move it into position for 

installation. Astronaut Susan J. Helms commanded the robotic arm, while spacewalking 

astronauts Michael L. Gernhardt and James F. Reilly helped line up the hatch for its final 

installation. The robotic arm successfully accomplished its first construction task, drawing 

applause from NASA’s Mission Control, as did the opening of the US$164 million Joint Airlock. 

Although the ISS Partnership planned improvements and additions to the space station far into 

the future, the mission marked the end of a major stage of assembly for the ISS.85

19 July 

Daniel Wang, a University of Massachusetts professor and leader of a study team of 

astronomers, announced that his team had discovered a giant halo of hot gas spiraling a galaxy 

similar to the Milky Way and relatively near Earth. The researchers had used the Chandra X-ray 

Observatory and the HST to observe galaxy NGC 4631, some 25 million light-years from Earth. 

The discovery not only revealed the increasing power of the astronomical tools at the disposal of 

scientists, but also contributed to astronomers’ knowledge about the structure and evolution of 

galaxies. Wang explained the significance of the discovery: “Scientists have debated for over 40 

years whether the Milky Way has an extended corona, or halo, of hot gas . . . by studying similar 

galaxies like NGC 4631, we can get an idea of what’s going on within our own galaxy.” The 

study’s results also provided new information about how energy and mass spin around galaxies, 

as well as about the possible effects of rapid star formation.86

Arthur F. Davidsen, an astrophysicist who had helped found the Space Telescope Science 

Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, died at age 57. Davidsen had 

served for many years as a professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins, focusing much 

of his research on the missing mass or dark matter of the universe. His findings had led to the 

 

84 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 573, 1 August 2001, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx573.html (accessed 11 

August 2008); William Harwood, “Atlantis Heads for Space Station; Crew To Install Airlock, Expanding 

Capabilities,” Washington Post, 13 July 2001; NASA, “NASA Prepares To Open a New Doorway to Space,” news 

release 01-138, 9 July 2001. 

85 New York Times, “2nd Entry Installed on Space Station,” 16 July 2001. 86 NASA, “Chandra Detects Halo of Hot Gas Around Milky Way–Like Galaxy,” news release 01-146, 19 July 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

29

development of the theory that, because of the reflecting light of other bodies, we are able to 

observe only about 1 percent of the universe’s matter. Davidsen’s work indicated that, although 

the remaining matter exists, it remains hidden from us. Not only had Davidsen led his colleagues 

in establishing the Space Telescope Science Institute, but he had also encouraged the Institute to 

participate in operating the HST. In his later years, Davidsen had even begun planning for the 

instrument that would eventually supplant the HST as the world’s foremost astronomical tool. 

Davidsen had trained at Princeton University and at the University of California at Berkeley. In 

1979 he had won the American Astronomical Society’s Helen B. Warner Prize for his work 

using a rocket to obtain the first ultraviolet spectrum of a quasar.87

20 July 

NASA commemorated the 25th anniversary of Viking 1 Lander’s safe descent to the surface of 

Mars. The successful mission, marking the first time that humankind had sent a spacecraft to the 

Red Planet and the first landing of an American probe on another planet, inaugurated a series of 

research-oriented missions to Mars. In celebrating this banner day in its history, NASA looked 

forward to new challenges and opportunities for the study of Mars. NASA Administrator Daniel 

S. Goldin delivered a keynote address, “Continuing the QuestCelebrating Viking and Looking 

to the Future of Mars Exploration,” at the National Geographic Society’s Grosvenor Auditorium 

in Washington, DC. Viking 1 Lander had remained on Mars for six years, gathering images and 

data invaluable for scientists. Following up on the success of the first probe, Viking 2 Lander had 

arrived on Mars’s Plain of Utopia in September 1976. The two probes had taken more than 4,500 

pictures while slowly crawling over Mars’s surface. Perhaps as significant as the finds of Viking 

1 and 2 on Mars was the fact that the probes did not find any evidence of life on the Red Planet. 

NASA’s Langley Research Center (LaRC) had equipped both probes with biological sensors, 

setting a precedent for future probes to other planets to continue the search for signs of life 

outside of Earth. As NASA celebrated the pathbreaking Viking missions, the 2001 Mars 

Odyssey traveled toward the Red Planet to continue the tradition of exploring Mars’s hostile but 

fascinating landscape.88

23 July 

In the midst of increased concerns over the long-term effects of the depletion of Earth’s ozone 

layer and concerns over global warming, scientists learned that Mars’s average global 

temperature had increased 50°F (10°C) in one month. A research team at Arizona State 

University analyzed and made public data that Mars Global Surveyor had collected, indicating 

the planet’s drastic change in climate. Scientists concluded that a massive dust storm, originating 

in Mars’s lower latitudes, had caused the increase in temperature. The researchers believed that 

the dust had trapped sunlight, eventually causing a heat wave to envelope the Red Planet; they 

predicted, however, that the planet’s temperature would cool when the dust particles began 

reflecting sunlight.89

Diplomats from 178 nations reached a compromise agreement to enact the Kyoto Protocol, a 

pact designed to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases, which scientists believed 

 

87 Martin Weil, “Hopkins Astrophysicist Arthur Davidsen Dies,” Washington Post, 22 July 2001; Los Angeles 

Times, “Obituaries: Arthur Davidsen; Astrophysicist Led Work To Build Knowledge of Universe,” 23 July 2001. 88 NASA, “NASA Celebrates 25th Anniversary of Mars Landing,” news release 01-143, 17 July 2001. 

89 Los Angeles Times, “Science File in Brief; Global Warming Strikes Another Planet: Mars,” 23 July 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

30

were contributing to global warming. The United States, represented by Undersecretary of State 

Paula J. Dobriansky, had rejected the final agreement. Calling the agreement “fatally flawed,” 

President George W. Bush expressed concern over the effect of the treaty on the U.S. economy. 

Although Russia and Japan had also expressed major reservations, the two countries had 

eventually signed the Kyoto Protocol when negotiators included language in the final draft 

delaying the date of compliance. The treaty called for industrialized nations to limit the 

emissions released by automobiles, plants, and factories, but the mechanisms for enforcement 

defied easy solutions. However, according to final rules, each nation must reduce its carbondioxide emissions or pay fines for violations. Nations throughout the world criticized the United 

States’ rejection of the treaty. For example, the chief negotiator for the European Union 

expressed disappointment at the United States’ decision, saying, “Almost every single country 

stayed in the protocol. There was one that said the Kyoto Protocol was flawed.” Although an 

international consensus had emerged, the treaty still required the ratification of the 55 nations 

responsible for 55 percent of the world’s carbon-dioxide emissions in 1990.90

24 July 

After a one-day delay because of rain, Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-104 landed safely at KSC in 

Cape Canaveral, Florida, having completed its mission successfully. The crew had installed a 

new hatch, allowing spacewalkers easier access in and out of the ISS. Officially called the ISS 

Airlock and also known as the Joint Airlock, the new pressurized unit gave ISS spacewalkers a 

portal that oxygen-nitrogen tanks could quickly pressurize. NASA planned for all future 

spacewalks on ISS to begin and end at the new site. In addition to installing the airlock, 

Atlantis’s crew delivered to the ISS the EarthKAM, a new camera that U.S. high school and 

middle school students could direct from the ground, enabling them to take pictures of some 

2,000 points of interest on Earth, thus, participating in ISS research.91

25 July 

Scientists at NASA’s JPL became the first researchers to observe a star spinning so rapidly that 

its midsection had stretched out. Using an ultra-high–resolution telescope located at Palomar 

Mountain in California, the JPL team measured the shape of the star Altair and found that it was 

not round. Although scientists had often suspected that the revolutions of a star might cause its 

shape to change, the JPL team was the first to take measurements to confirm the hypothesis. 

Altair’s diameter at its equator measured about 14 percent greater than the diameter at the poles. 

The findings had implications far beyond determining the shape of one star. As Charles A. 

Beichman, Chief Scientist on the project explained, “Determining the shape of another star helps 

us learn about the forces that control the shape and structure of all stars, including our star, the 

Sun. This tells us more about the Sun’s behavior and ultimate fate.”92

31 July 

A research team announced the results of a NASA-funded study using microgravity to 

investigate the properties of everyday materials. Led by Jennifer A. Lewis, the team of 

 

90 Traci Watson, “Compromise Rescues Kyoto Protocol; Nations Hope Global Warming Treaty Will Take Effect in 

2002; U.S. Says Pact ‘Is Not Sound Policy’,” USA Today, 24 July 2001; Peter N. Spotts, “Global Climate Treaty 

Moves Ahead, Without US,” Christian Science Monitor, 24 July 2001. 

91 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 573; Washington Post, “Shuttle Lands After Extra Day in Space,” 25 July 2001. 

92 NASA, “Star with Midriff Bulge Eyed by Astronomers,” news release 01-150, 25 July 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

31

researchers had pioneered a new approach to stabilizing particles in fluids, a process they termed 

nanoparticle haloing. By suspending movement of fine particles in fluids such as paint, Lewis 

and her colleagues had succeeded in manipulating the complexion of the liquid. Perhaps of 

greater significance, they had been able to ensure that the fluid did not break down as quickly as 

it would have done otherwise. The researchers believed that nanoparticle haloing would have 

wide application, such as in making the fluids more useful and long lasting. As Lewis said, “This 

designer capability will assist us in developing improved materials.” NASA’s Office of 

Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) made the project possible, offering grants for studies 

that might benefit from the use of a microgravity or low-gravity environment to examine the 

fundamental states and characteristics of materials.93

Russia launched the Coronas-F solar observatory satellite aboard a Tsiklon 3 rocket. The launch 

took place from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. Engineers had designed the 

satellite to monitor light intensity, solar bursts, and several solar radii. The satellite carried 13 

separate instruments, to gather data as the spacecraft orbited while pointing toward the Sun. The 

Coronas-F satellite was Russia’s second attempt to place in orbit such a complicated research 

craft. The Coronas-I, launched in 1994, had operated for only a couple of months before a 

control failure had caused it to lose its functionality.94

AUGUST 2001 

2 August 

NASA and the National Commission for Space Activities of the Argentine Republic signed a 15-

year extension of an existing agreement on cooperation in civil uses of space. Originally signed 

in August 1991, the accord had established the framework for the United States and Argentina to 

collaborate on space research projects in fields such as Earth science and global climate 

change.95

7 August 

NASA announced the selection of six new members and eight new consultants for the Aerospace 

Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP). The U.S. Congress had created ASAP to advise NASA on ways 

it could improve its safety performance, tasking ASAP with submitting annual reports of its 

findings to both NASA and Congress. The six newly selected members of the panel were Otto K. 

Goetz, Sidney M. Gutierrez, Shirley C. McCarty, J. Paul Reason, Roger D. Schaufele, and 

Robert B. Sieck. The new consultants were Wanda M. Austin, Richard R. Bruckman, Ulf G. 

Goranson, Bernard A. Harris Jr., Nancy G. Leveson, Forrest S. McCartney, and C. Julian May.96

 

93 NASA, “Suspended in Space: Researchers Make Important Discovery About Materials,” news release 01-154, 31 

July 2001. 

94 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 573. 

95 NASA, Aeronautics and Space Report of the President: Fiscal Year 2001 Activities (Washington, DC, 2002), pp. 

24–25, http://history.nasa.gov/presrep01/2001report.pdf (accessed 29 July 2002); NASA, “U.S. and Argentina Sign 

Space Cooperation Agreements,” news release 91-126, 8 August 1991. 96 NASA, “NASA Announces New Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Members,” news release 01-159, 7 August 

2001; NASA, “Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel,” http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oer/asap/ index.html (accessed 7 

November 2008). 
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32

8 August 

NASA launched the Genesis solar research spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in 

Florida. Genesis would collect samples of solar wind to assist scientists in studies of the 

formation of Earth’s solar system. Scientists believed that the plasma in solar wind might contain 

material similar to or identical with the material that formed the solar system. The 633-kilogram 

(1,400-pound) spacecraft was equipped with four instruments: a wide-angle ion collector, a 

concentrated ion collector, an ion spectrometer, and an electron spectrometer. Donald S. Burnett 

of California Institute of Technology was Principal Investigator and Project Scientist for 

Genesis.97

NASA suspended indefinitely the launch of the climate-monitoring satellite Triana, which 

NASA had designed to provide imagery of entire hemispheres from nearly 1 million miles away 

in space. By contrast, weather satellites often remain in low Earth orbit and, therefore, are only 

able to provide images of continents. Triana was also called GoreCam or GoreSat, because 

former Vice President Gore had originated the project. Gore had conceived of the satellite in 

March 1998, choosing to name it in honor of Rodrigo de Triana, the sailor on Columbus’s ship 

who had first sighted land. NASA had planned to launch the US$120 million Earth-observation 

satellite by the end of 2001. However, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives 

had voted to eliminate the project’s funding from NASA’s fiscal year (FY) 2000 appropriation. 

A conference committee of the House and the Senate had later agreed to suspend funding for 

Triana and to delay its launch, so that the National Academy of Sciences could review the 

project’s merits. Although the National Academy of Sciences had strongly endorsed the project, 

NASA had decided to shelve the satellite project indefinitely, as part of its effort to prioritize 

scientific expenditures and concentrate its resources on projects such as the HST and the ISS.98

9 August 

NASA and the Russian Space Agency agreed to allow the transport of space tourists to the ISS. 

Although the two agencies did not sign a formal agreement on the matter, media reported that 

they had agreed to the procedures and standards that spaceflight participantsindividuals who 

are not professional astronauts or cosmonautsmust satisfy when they visit the space station. 

NASA and the Russian Space Agency agreed that such visitors must demonstrate foreign 

language ability, undergo specified physical training, and pass a personal suitability test. The 

issue of spaceflight participants had become a source of contention between NASA and the 

Russian Space Agency after American businessman Dennis A. Tito had paid the Russian Space 

Agency to transport him to the ISS in April 2001.99

 

97 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 574, 1 September 2001, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx574.html (accessed 7 

November 2008); NASA JPL, “Genesis, Search for Origins: Why Study the Sun?” 

http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/gm2/science/solarwind.htm (accessed 7 November 2008). 

98 Joel Achenbach, “For Gore Spacecraft, All Systems Aren’t Go; Earth Observation Satellite Shelved,” Washington 

Post, 8 August 2001. 99 Peter Baker, “U.S., Russia Agree To Allow ‘Space Tourists’,” Washington Post, 10 August 2001; ESA, 

Multilateral Crew Operations Panel, “Principles Regarding Processes and Criteria for Selection, Assignment, 

Training and Certification of ISS (Expedition and Visiting) Crewmembers” (statement of criteria, Paris, November 

2001), http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/isscrewcriteria.pdf (accessed 5 November 2008). 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

33

10 August 

NASA launched Space Shuttle Discovery STS-105/ISS-7A.1 at 4:10 p.m. Central Daylight Time 

(CDT). Shuttle crew consisted of Mission Commander Scott J. Horowitz, Pilot Frederick W. 

“Rick” Sturckow, Mission Specialists Daniel T. Barr and Patrick G. Forrester; and Expedition 3 

crew members, Frank L. Culbertson Jr., Vladimir N. Dezhurov, and Mikhail Tyurin. One of the 

main purposes of the mission was to transport the Expedition 3 crew to the ISS, returning 

Expedition 2 crew members to Earth. Another objective was to use an Italian-built, 9,000-pound 

(4,100-kilogram) Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) called Leonardo to deliver supplies 

to the ISS. Leonardo would deliver six resupply stowage racks, four resupply stowage platforms, 

and two scientific experiment racks for the station’s laboratory. Discovery’s payload also 

included NASA’s scientific project, the Materials International Space Station Experiments 

(MISSE).100

Gerard A. Kriss of Johns Hopkins University led a group of astronomers using NASA’s Far 

Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite to obtain the best observations to date of 

helium gas remaining from the Big Bang. The observations provided information about the 

universe’s architecture millions of years ago, giving empirical support for theories about how 

matter in the expanding universe had condensed into a structure that permeated space between 

galaxies. The FUSE satellite had observed the light of the distant quasar HE2347-4342, and 

scientists had used the data it produced to make comparative analyses of the light’s absorption by 

helium and hydrogen gas on its trajectory to Earth. The astronomers had compared the ionization 

of the helium and hydrogen, the result of the gases’ absorption of light, to determine the most 

likely source of the energy that had heated the universe during its early formation. They 

concluded that, most likely, a combination of quasars and newly formed stars had produced the 

ionization of helium and hydrogen gases. Moreover, the presence of helium, in regions with no 

hydrogen, supported the theory that the universe’s architecture resulted from extensive 

gravitational instabilities during the chaos after the Big Bang.101

14 August 

NASA’s Helios aircraft set a world record for the highest altitude ever attained by an aircraft 

without rocket power. The solar-powered, propeller-driven aircraft reached an altitude of 96,500 

feet (30,000 meters), eclipsing the previous record by more than 10,000 feet (3,000 meters). The 

remotely piloted aircraft took off from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) in 

Hawaii at 8:48 a.m. local time on 13 August, staying aloft for nearly 17 hours before landing at 

1:43 a.m. on 14 August. Fuel cells on the aircraft’s wings provided electrical power during the 

daylight hours, when the aircraft achieved the record altitude; at night, the plane’s propellers 

acted as generators, providing electrical power to control the aircraft. According to NASA, an 

aircraft operating at such an altitude would be able to monitor the environment, improve 

 

100 NASA, “STS-105: A New Crew Arrives at the International Space Station,” http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/

shuttle/archives/sts-105/ (accessed 7 November 2008); NASA KSC, “STS-105,” 

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-105/mission-sts-105.html (accessed 7 November 2008). 101 NASA, “New View of Primordial Helium Traces Structure of Early Universe,” news release 01-160, 9 August 

2001; G. A. Kriss, “Resolving the Structure of Ionized Helium in the Intergalactic Medium with the Far Ultraviolet 

Spectroscopic Explorer,” Science 293, no. 5532 (10 August 2001): 1112–1116. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

34

communications on Earth, and simulate the conditions of flight within the atmosphere of 

Mars.102

15 August 

Astronomers led by Debra A. Fischer of the University of California at Berkeley announced the 

discovery of a planetary system similar to Earth’s solar system, located in the Big Dipper. The 

team of astronomers had found a planet about the size of Jupiter, orbiting the star 47 Ursae 

Majoris. Scientists had already known about one planet orbiting 47 Ursae Majoris, but the 

second planet’s discovery provided the first example of two planets orbiting in near-perfect 

circles around a single star outside of Earth’s solar system. Astronomers had previously 

discovered other planets orbiting stars outside of Earth’s solar system, but those planets either 

were orbiting perilously close to the host star or had eccentric orbits. The astronomers had used 

University of California’s Lick Observatory near Santa Cruz, California, to find the planets, 

which they had detected by observing the planets’ gravitational effects upon the star 47 Ursae 

Majoris.103

16 August 

During the first spacewalk for Mission STS-105, astronauts Daniel T. Barry and Patrick F. 

Forrester affixed an ammonia coolant canister and two boxes containing hundreds of samples of 

prospective spacecraft materials to the exterior of the ISS. The ammonia canister would function 

as a backup coolant system in the event of a problem with the ISS’s primary coolant system. The 

samples, part of the MISSE experiment, would remain attached to the ISS for almost two years, 

so that scientists could examine how the materials performed during prolonged exposure to solar 

storms, cosmic radiation, and other aspects of the space environment. The experiment was a 

cooperative research effort of Boeing Phantom Works, the Materials Laboratory at the U.S. Air 

Force Research Library, and several NASA centers.104

17 August 

NASA announced the selection of crew members for three missions to the ISS scheduled for 

2002. Mission STS-112, scheduled for launch in July 2002, would comprise Commander Jeffrey 

S. Ashby and crew members Sandra H. Magnus, Pamela A. Melroy, Piers J. Sellers, David A. 

Wolf, and Fyodor N. Yurchikhin. The crew for STS-113, scheduled to depart in August 2002, 

would consist of Commander James D. Wetherbee and crew members John Bennett Herrington, 

Michael Lopez-Alegria, and Christopher J. Loria. The mission would also transport Expedition 6 

crew members Valery G. Korzun, Sergei Y. Treschev, and Peggy A. Whitson to the ISS, 

returning to Earth Expedition 5 crew members Kenneth D. Bowersox, Nikolai M. Budarin, and 

Donald A. Thomas. Finally, the crew of STS-114 would include Commander Eileen M. Collins 

and crew members James M. Kelly, Soichi Noguchi, and Stephen K. Robinson. STS-114, 

 

102 NASA, “NASA Solar Aircraft Sets Altitude Record; Communications, Environmental Breakthroughs Expected,” 

news release 01-165, 14 August 2001. 

103 John Noble Wilford, “Planet System with Earth-Like Orbits Is Found,” New York Times, 16 August 2001; Debra 

A. Fischer et al., “A Second Planet Orbiting 47 Ursae Majoris,” Astrophysical Journal 564, no. 2 (10 January 2002): 

1028–1034. 

104 Marcia Dunn, “Spacewalking Astronauts Attach Ammonia Canister, Science Experiments to Space Station,” 

Associated Press, 16 August 2001; NASA, “Materials International Space Station Experiment: Introduction,” 

http://misseone.larc.nasa.gov/ (accessed 13 November 2008). 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

35

scheduled to leave for the ISS in November 2002, would transport Expedition 7 crew members 

Edward T. Lu, Yuri I. Malenchenko, and Sergei I. Moschenko.105

18 August 

During the second spacewalk for Mission STS-105, astronauts Daniel T. Barry and Patrick G. 

Forrester attached two 45-foot (13.7-meter) power cables and two handrails to the exterior of the 

ISS’s Destiny laboratory module. The cables would provide a secondary power supply for a 44-

foot (13.4-meter) external truss, scheduled for installation in 2002. The truss, which would 

contain a satellite navigation system and other electronic components, would be the first of 

several parts of the ISS’s Integrated Truss Structure, which would support new components, such 

as solar arrays.106

21 August 

The ISS Management and Cost Evaluation Task Force (IMCE) held its first meeting on 20 and 

21 August at NASA Headquarters. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin had created the IMCE 

in July 2001 to consider the ISS program’s budget and management challenges and to determine 

a more efficient and effective method for NASA and its partners to construct the orbiting space 

station. Goldin had appointed A. Thomas Young, former president of Martin Marietta, to chair 

the 20-member Task Force, composed of Nobel Laureates and a highly regarded surgeon. In 

addition, a Financial Management Team and a Cost Analysis Support Team would support the 

IMCE in its efforts. On 1 November 2001, the Task Force would report its findings to the NASA 

Advisory Council, which would, in turn, present its recommendations to the NASA 

Administrator for NASA’s official response.107

The Russian Space Agency launched a crewless logistics and resupply mission to the ISS. The 

Progress automatic cargo spacecraft launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 

9:32 a.m., Universal Time (UT),108 on a Soyuz-U rocket. The mission, officially designated as 

M-45, carried to the ISS 2.5 tonnes (2,500 kilograms, 2.8 tons, or 5,512 pounds) of fuel, oxygen, 

equipment, and other supplies.109

22 August 

Space Shuttle Discovery landed at NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 1:23 p.m. 

(CDT), marking the end of Mission STS-105. During the mission, the Shuttle crew had delivered 

supplies and equipment to the ISS, carried Expedition 3 crew members to the ISS, and 

transported the Expedition 2 crew back to Earth. In addition, astronauts Daniel T. Barry and 

 

105 NASA JSC, “NASA Names 23 Astronauts and Cosmonauts to Shuttle Flights in 2002,” news release H01-167, 

17 August 2001. 

106 NASA, “Mission Archives: STS-105,” http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/ 

archives/sts-105.html (accessed 13 November 2008); Mark Carreau, “Discovery Astronauts Connect Power Flow 

During Spacewalk,” Houston Chronicle, 19 August 2001. 107 NASA, “Space Station Program Review Team To Meet Aug. [20–21]; Reporters Invited To Attend,” news 

release N01-047, 16 August 2001; NASA, “NASA Administrator Announces Distinguished Team To Review 

International Space Station Program,” news release 01-152, 31 July 2001. 108 NASA GSFC Solar System Exploration Division, “Time Zones and Universal Time,” 

http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEhelp/TimeZone.html (accessed 5 December 2008). 

109 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 574; Jesco von Puttkamer, “Space Flight 2001: The Year in Review,” 

http://spaceoperations.nasa.gov/2001/yearinrev/01YearReview.html (accessed 10 November 2008). 
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36

Patrick G. Forrester had each performed two spacewalks to attach equipment to the exterior of 

the ISS, spending a total of 11 hours and 45 minutes outside the space station. STS-105’s total 

duration was 11 days, 21 hours, and 13 minutes.110

29 August 

Japan’s National Space Development Agency (NASDA) launched the first of its HII-A vehicles 

at 4:00 p.m., Japan Standard Time (JST), from Tanegashima Space Center. The HII-A carried 

two payloads, the Doppler Ranging Equipment and the Laser Ranging Equipment, both 

instruments designed to monitor the rocket during and after launch. Observers regarded the 

launch as a major success for the Japanese space program, which had designed the rocket as the 

country’s primary large-scale launch vehicle.111

31 August 

Scientists led by Ken Ebisawa of NASA’s GSFC published research that helped resolve a longstanding question about whether the emission of x-rays from the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy 

was truly diffuse or derived from numerous discrete sources. The scientists had used the Chandra 

X-ray Observatory to carry out an unprecedented survey of a region of the galactic plane that had 

no known x-ray point sources, in the deepest examination ever made of hard x-rays in the region 

referred to as the zone of avoidance. Chandra had revealed 36 new x-ray point sources and an 

area of diffuse emission. Properties of the new point sources had indicated that they were 

probably located outside the Milky Way. In addition, Chandra’s survey had indicated that the 

diffuse x-ray emission revealed the galactic omnipresence of hot plasma with a higher energy 

density than any other substance in interstellar space.112

SEPTEMBER 2001 

4 September 

The National Academy of Sciences released a report criticizing a White House proposal 

directing NASA to assume responsibility for research in astronomy and astrophysics managed by 

the National Science Foundation (NSF). The White House had made the proposal as a costreduction measure in its proposed budget for FY 2002. At the request of NASA and the NSF, a 

National Research Council (NRC) panel had assessed the proposal and concluded that NASA 

should not assume this responsibility. According to the panel, the NSF’s relations with the 

academic community and its commitments to investigator-initiated and interdisciplinary research 

made the NSF better suited than NASA to sponsor ground-based astronomy and astrophysics 

research. The panel also concluded that the federal government could maximize the benefits of 

astronomy and astrophysics research by creating an interagency astronomy and astrophysics 

planning board to develop an integrated research strategy. The NRC panel’s report suggested that 

such a strategy should include ways of supporting ground- and space-based facilities and 

 

110 NASA, “STS-105: A New Crew Arrives at the International Space Station,” 

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/archives/sts-105/ (accessed 10 November 2008). 111 Puttkamer, “Space Flight 2001”; Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), “H-IIA Launch Vehicle,” 

http://www.jaxa.jp/projects/rockets/h2a/index_e.html (accessed 10 November 2008); JAXA, “LRE (Laser Ranging 

Equipment),” http://god.tksc.jaxa.jp/lr/lre.html (accessed 10 November 2008). 112 NASA, “Astronomers Go Behind the Milky Way To Solve X-ray Mystery,” news release 01-161, 9 August 

2001; Ken Ebisawa et al., “Origin of the Hard X-ray Emission from the Galactic Plane,” Science 293, no. 5535 (31 

August 2001): 1633–1635. 
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37

missions, and that NASA and the NSF should create formal mechanisms to implement the 

planning board’s recommendations.113

5 September

For the first time, astronomers detected a supermassive black hole consuming material in the 

Milky Way. Frederick K. Baganoff of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a team of 

scientists using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to observe a source of radio emissions 

called Sagittarius A* had noticed a rapid rise and decline in x-ray emissions in its vicinity. The 

scientists, who believed that Sagittarius A* is connected to a black hole in the center of the 

galaxy, speculated that the emissions emanate from matter falling into the black hole. The 

Chandra observations had provided the best view yet of the area just outside of the black hole’s 

event horizon―the point of no return for all matter falling into a black hole. The discovery 

added significantly to previous research indicating that the Milky Way Galaxy contains a black 

hole or some other large, dark object.114

6 September 

Lockheed Martin confirmed that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) had decided not to fund 

the company’s development of the X-33 space plane, a possible replacement vehicle for the 

Space Shuttle. Since 1996, Lockheed Martin had been developing a pilotless prototype of the X33, a reusable spacecraft that would be able to launch without shedding fuel tanks or boosters 

and to land like an airplane. However, the development of lightweight fuel tanks had taken the 

project off schedule and over budget, and NASA had decided in March 2001 to forego continued 

funding for the X-33, although it was, reportedly, 75 percent complete. When Lockheed Martin 

had subsequently attempted to secure another government sponsor for the project, the U.S. Air 

Force had expressed interest in the project and submitted to the Pentagon a proposal to fund the 

space plane. However, the DOD had since determined that the project was too costly to 

undertake.115

The U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Science, Technology, 

and Space held a hearing on safety and workforce issues related to NASA’s Space Shuttle 

Program. According to newspaper reports, much of the testimony addressed the effects of budget 

cuts on the safety improvements for the Space Shuttles. Subcommittee members and witnesses 

reportedly were critical of the budget cuts and concerned about their possibly detrimental effects 

on Shuttle safety. Individuals providing testimony at the hearing were NASA Deputy Associate 

Administrator William F. Readdy, Allen Li of the General Accounting Office (GAO), Michael 

James McCulley of United Space Alliance, Richard D. Blomberg, chair of the ASAP, and Bryan 

D. O’Connor, former chair of the NRC’s Committee on Space Shuttle Upgrades.116

 

113 NRC, U.S. Astronomy and Astrophysics: Managing an Integrated Program (Washington, DC: National Academy 

Press, 2001); James Glanz, “Report Warns Against Plan for Changes in Astronomy,” New York Times, 5 September 

2001. 

114 NASA, “Chandra Catches Milky Way Monster Snacking,” news release 01-179, 5 September 2001. 115 Michael Cabbage, “Air Force Decides Not To Revive Lockheed’s X-33 Space Plane,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 7 

September 2001. 

116 U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Subcommittee on Science, 

Technology, and Space, Shuttle Safety, 107th Cong., 1st sess., 6 September 2001; Tamara Lytle, “Experts Fear for 

Shuttle Safety as NASA Budget Is Trimmed,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 7 September 2001. 
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38

11 September 

Terrorists hijacked four U.S. planes, subsequently crashing them in New York City, 

Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC. The incidents led to the deaths of nearly 3,000 people. The 

federal government immediately responded by grounding all commercial air traffic, and NASA 

closed its major facilities throughout the country.117

13 September 

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta allowed commercial aircraft to resume 

flying in the national airspace system, the first time that the Department of Transportation had 

permitted aircraft to fly since the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. However, Secretary 

Mineta also announced that the government would permit airports to reopen and flights to 

resume only on a case-by-case basis, pending airports’ implementation of stricter security 

measures. Before reopening, airports would have to clear all individuals from terminals and 

conduct security searches. After reopening, airports would have to increase the number of law 

enforcement personnel at their facilities. Secretary Mineta had made the decisions after 

consulting with the White House and with intelligence and law enforcement officials. On the 

previous day, he had only allowed aircraft to use the nation’s airspace if flight controllers had 

diverted them from their original destination or had repositioned them so that they could resume 

flying upon government approval.118

14 September 

The Russian Space Agency launched a module of the ISS designed to expand the space station’s 

size and provide other capabilities. The module, called Docking Compartment One (DC-1) or 

Pirs (Russian for pier), launched at 11:44 p.m. (UT), on a Soyuz-U rocket, from Baikonur 

Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. A cargo craft called Progress M-SO1 would transport the module to 

the ISS. The Russian Space Agency intended the DC-1 to provide additional stowage space for 

the ISS, an airlock for spacewalks, and an additional docking port for future Soyuz and Progress 

vehicles. The 8,000-pound (3,600-kilogram), 16-foot-long (4.9-meter-long) module would 

increase the total mass of the space station to 303,500 pounds (138,000 kilograms).119

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta allowed privately owned and operated 

aircraft to use the nation’s airspace as part of a phased restoration of the national airspace 

system. However, the Department of Transportation would allow this category of aircraft―often 

referred to as general aviation―to resume flights only if they complied with certain restrictions. 

For example, general aviation flights would have to operate according to the Instrument Flight 

Rules, which required certified pilots to operate under direction from air traffic controllers 

subsequent to filing specific flight plans with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). 

 

117 Mark Carreau, “Cautious NASA Shuts Down Johnson Space Center, Other Major Facilities,” Houston Chronicle, 

12 September 2001; U.S. Department of Transportation, “Statement of Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. 

Mineta,” news release 93-01, 11 September 2001. 

118 Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), “Statement of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y. Mineta,” 

news release, 13 September 2001, http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsid=5431 (accessed 

28 January 2010). 

119 Puttkamer, “Space Flight 2001”; Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 575, 1 October 2001,

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx575.html (accessed 14 November 2008). 
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39

In addition, the Department of Transportation would not permit general aviation flights to fly 

within 25 nautical miles of New York City or Washington, DC.120

16 September 

A group of scientists led by Liming Zhou of Boston University published research indicating that 

substantial portions of the northern hemisphere had experienced effects of global warming. The 

scientists, who were studying the responses of vegetation to temperature changes, had used 

satellite data collected from July 1981 to December 1999 and had found a persistent increase in 

the length of the growing season in the majority of vegetated areas in the northern latitudes of 

Asia and Europe. A similar trend was evident in North America, but in a relatively lower 

proportion of land area. The data had also revealed declines in vegetated area in Alaska, Canada, 

and some parts of Asia, which may have resulted from temperature-induced drought in those 

areas. In addition, the scientists discovered a statistically significant relationship between 

changes in vegetated area and increasing land surface temperatures, indicating that climatic 

changes may have led to changes in vegetative activity in much of the world.121

21 September 

A rocket carrying a NASA satellite and other payloads failed to reach orbit. The 91-foot (27.7-

meter) Taurus rocket launched at 11:49 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) from Vandenberg Air 

Force Base in California, and within minutes, NASA observed indications of problems with the 

rocket, including a skewed trajectory near the time of the first-stage separation. The rocket’s 

manufacturer Orbital Sciences Corporation was uncertain about the exact details of the launch 

problem but presumed that the rocket had not reached orbit. The rocket was carrying NASA’s 

ozone-analyzing Quick Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (QuikTOMS) satellite, a private 

imaging satellite called OrbView-4, and a private payload with the cremated remains of 

individuals who had paid to have their remains launched into orbit.122

26 September 

At a news conference, NASA scientists announced the preliminary findings of Deep Space 1’s 

22 September flyby of Comet Borrelly, a type of comet that originates in a region near Pluto. 

NASA’s Deep Space 1 spacecraft, operating two years past its planned mission duration, had 

passed within 1,400 miles (2,250 kilometers) of Borrelly, returning the best images and data of a 

comet ever captured. The encounter was only the second time that a spacecraft had come within 

such a distance of a comet’s nucleus, as well as the first close flyby of a comet of Borrelly’s 

type. In 1986 ESA’s Giotto spacecraft had flown within 373 miles (600 kilometers) of Halley’s 

comet, which belongs to a category of comets that originate from outside Earth’s solar system. In 

addition, NASA scientists reported that the data captured by Deep Space 1 had substantially 

enhanced existing scientific knowledge of comets. Scientists found a number of Deep Space 1’s 

observations surprising, including the discoveries that the comet’s icy jets discharge in tall 

 

120 FAA, “Secretary Mineta Re-opens Skies to General Aviation,” news release DOT 97-01, 14 September 2001, 

http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsid=5432 (accessed 28 January 2010). 121 NASA, “Earth’s Becoming a Greener Greenhouse,” news release 01-178, 4 September 2001; L. Zhou et al., 

“Variations in Northern Vegetation Activity Inferred from Satellite Data of Vegetation Index During 1981 to 1999,” 

Journal of Geophysical Research 106, no. D17 (16 September 2001): 20069–20083. 122 Associated Press, “Rocket Launch with NASA, Orbital Sciences Payload Goes Awry, Satellites Probably Lost,” 

21 September 2001. 
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40

columns rather than in a diffuse spray, that a cloud of charged particles emanates from off the 

comet’s center, and that solar wind flows asymmetrically around the particle cloud.123

27 September 

The New York Times revealed that, in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 11 September, the U.S. 

government had changed the rules of engagement regarding the circumstances in which the U.S. 

military could shoot down civilian aircraft. The newspaper had interviewed U.S. Air Force 

General Ralph E. Eberhart, who had provided some cursory details of the military’s rules of 

engagement for civilian aircraft. Before 11 September, the DOD had no formal rules concerning 

military engagement of a hijacked airplane when the flight had originated within the United 

States. However, on an unnamed date after 11 September, White House officials and the Joint 

Chiefs of Staff had approved new rules, stipulating that the U.S. military could down an aircraft 

that presented a security threat, but that the President of the United States or one of four specified 

U.S. Air Force generals must authorize such an action. The new rules also detailed measures 

taken by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the FAA for better 

joint surveillance of the nation’s airspace. Those measures included NORAD’s positioning of 

mobile ground radars around the country and a direct telephone line between the two agencies.124

29 September 

NASA launched the Kodiak Star from Kodiak Island in Alaska at 2:40 a.m. (UT), NASA’s first 

mission ever launched into Earth orbit from that location. The Kodiak Star’s payload consisted 

of four small satellites: PCSAT, PICOSat 9, Sapphire, and Starshine 3. The PCSAT and 

Starshine 3 would serve amateur radio operators; Sapphire carried a voice synthesizer to convert 

text messages into human voice; and PICOSat 9 would test electronic components and systems 

in space conditions. NASA had funded the Starshine 3, and the DOD had sponsored the other 

three satellites.125

OCTOBER 2001 

3 October 

NASA announced the selection of Lockheed Martin to construct Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 

(MRO), scheduled to launch in August 2005. Under the US$145 million contract, Lockheed 

Martin would be responsible for building the orbiter and for integrating and testing six scientific 

instruments and two engineering payloads. In addition, Lockheed Martin would provide 

operations support for spacecraft during its five and one-half year mission. Odyssey, designed 

for low-altitude remote sensing of Mars, would include an atmospheric sounder; a context 

imager; a high-resolution camera; a shallow, subsurface, sounding radar; a visible, near-infrared 

imaging spectrometer; and a wide-angle color imager. NASA engineers planned to use 

Odyssey’s images to help determine landing sites for future Mars missions. NASA also planned 

 

123 Warren E. Leary, “Probe Sends Postcards from Comet’s Core,” New York Times, 26 September 2001; NASA, 

“Deep Space 1,” http://nmp.nasa.gov/ds1/ (accessed 17 November 2008). 124 Eric Schmitt, “Generals Given Power To Order Downing of Jets,” New York Times, 27 September 2001. 125 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 575; NASA KSC, “Kodiak Star Scheduled for Launch from Alaska Sept. 17,” news 

release 101-01, 22 August 2001. 
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41

for the spacecraft to provide telecommunications and navigation relay capability for future 

missions to the planet.126

8 October 

Russian cosmonauts Vladimir N. Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin performed a spacewalk outside 

of the ISS, the first time ISS crew had walked in space without a Shuttle present. Two tethers 

attached each cosmonaut to the ISS as the pair departed and reentered the station through the 16-

foot (4.9-meter) Russian module Pirs, added to the ISS in September 2001. During the 5-hour 

spacewalk, the two cosmonauts hooked up a 40-foot (12.2-meter) crane, a ladder, handrails, and 

other equipment to the exterior of the ISS. American astronaut Frank L. Culbertson Jr. monitored 

the two cosmonauts’ work from inside the station, and Mission Control Center in Moscow 

supervised the spacewalk.127

9 October 

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics to former NASA 

scientist Wolfgang Ketterle and two other scientists, Eric A. Cornell and Carl E. Wieman. 

Ketterle was a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Principal Investigator 

for NASA’s Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) in Washington, DC. The three 

scientists received the Nobel Prize for their work in discovering a new state of matter called 

Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), named after the two physicists who had made the initial 

theoretical calculations of such matter. BEC consists of atomic particles that all have the same 

energy and that researchers can oscillate in a controlled manner. Cornell and Wieman had 

created a pure condensate of rubidium atoms, and Ketterle had independently produced BEC 

with sodium atoms. However, Ketterle’s condensates had also enabled further investigation of 

the new type of matter, because his condensates contained more atoms than those of Cornell and 

Wieman. In addition, Ketterle had produced other research that further advanced understanding 

of the phenomenon.128

11 October 

NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin announced that, to honor the victims of the 11 September 

terrorist attacks, NASA would carry American flags into space and give the flags to survivors of 

the attacks and families of the victims. NASA called the memorial to the people who had lost 

their lives in the events of 11 September “Flags for Heroes and Families.” Space Shuttle 

Endeavour, scheduled to launch on 29 November 2001, would carry nearly 6,000 flags. NASA 

would later have the flags mounted on specially designed memorial certificates and would 

distribute them to survivors and to victims’ families.129

 

126 NASA, “NASA Selects Spacecraft Contractor for 2005 Mars Mission,” news release c01-w, 3 October 2001; 

Lockheed Martin, “Lockheed Martin Chosen by NASA and JPL to Build the 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter,” 3 

October 2001, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2001/LockheedMartinChosenByNASAJPL 

Build2.html (accessed 28 January 2010). 127 Marcia Dunn, “Cosmonauts Work Outside on Station; Spacewalk from New Module Is First Without Shuttle 

Present,” Washington Post, 9 October 2001. 128 Nobel Foundation, “The Nobel Prize in Physics 2001,” http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/ 

laureates/2001/press.html (accessed 23 November 2008). 

129 NASA, “NASA Administrator Launches ‘Flags for Heroes and Families’ Campaign,” news release 01-195, 11 

October 2001. 
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42

NASA revealed time-lapse images of the biggest dust storm on Mars to occur in nearly 30 years. 

The HST and Mars Global Surveyor had captured the images, which showed that the storms had 

begun as a local event in the Hellas region of Mars and had rapidly propagated throughout the 

planet. The storms had obscured the surface of Mars and dramatically affected temperatures in 

the planet’s atmosphere, including heating the upper portions of its atmosphere to as much as 

80°F (26.7°C). NASA scientists hoped that data about the storms would help them learn more 

about sediments on Mars, as well as helping them plan future missions to the Red Planet.130

17 October 

NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin announced his resignation, effective 17 November 2001. 

Goldin, who had become the head of NASA on 1 April 1992, was NASA’s longest-serving 

Administrator. During his tenure, Goldin had overseen numerous successes for NASA, including 

the launch of Mars Pathfinder, the repair of the HST, and the redesign of the ISS. Goldin stated 

that he was leaving for personal reasons and that he had accepted an interim position at the 

Council on Competitiveness, an organization promoting U.S. economic competitiveness, both at 

home and abroad. However, newspapers noted that Goldin had made the announcement during a 

time of budgetary difficulties for NASA. Moreover, media reported that White House officials 

had already sought candidates to replace Goldin, although, according to NASA, President 

George W. Bush had not yet selected his replacement.131

NASA formally accepted the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite–H (TDRS-H) from Boeing 

Satellite Systems. TDRS-H was part of a constellation of satellites that formed a communicationsignal relay system, providing tracking and data-acquisition services between low Earth-orbiting 

spacecraft and ground-based control and data-processing facilities. The TDRS satellites served 

the HST, the ISS, and other NASA programs. Boeing had built TDRS-H under contract from 

NASA, which had launched the satellite in June 2000. However, NASA had delayed its formal 

acceptance of the spacecraft, after Boeing engineers had found that the satellite’s multipleaccess, phased-array antenna did not meet contractually specified performance standards. On 10 

August 2001, NASA and Boeing had announced that they had tentatively agreed to a settlement 

and were finalizing negotiations for NASA to accept the satellite.132

20 October 

Scientists reported that, for the first time, they had used an innovative technique known as 

gravitational lensing, combined with data that telescopes had obtained, to observe light from 

extremely distant stars, which may have formed in the early stages of the universe’s creation. 

Gravitational lensing is a technique of detecting distant and otherwise unobservable objects by 

observing light from these distant background objects, while the gravity of galaxy clusters in the 

viewable foreground magnifies the background objects’ emitted light. The team of scientists, led 

 

130 William Harwood, “Mars Wearing Veil of Dust; Biggest Storm in Three Decades Obscures Surface, Alters 

Temperatures,” Washington Post, 12 October 2001; NASA, “Scientists Track ‘Perfect Storm’ on Mars,” news 

release 01-193, 11 October 2001. 

131 NASA, “NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin Announces Resignation,” news release 01-191, 17 October 

2001; William Harwood, “NASA Chief to Step Down,” Washington Post, 18 October 2001. 132 The Boeing Company, “NASA To Take Control of TDRS-H Satellite,” news release 10 August 2001, 

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2001/q3/nr_010810t.html (accessed 28 January 2010); NASA, “Media Kit: 

TDRS-J Mission,” http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/earth/pictures/20021127tdrs_j/ 

tdrs_jmedia.htm (accessed 25 November 2008). 
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43

by Richard S. Ellis of the California Institute of Technology, had combined the natural 

magnifying power of galaxy cluster Abell 2218 with observations from the HST and the W. M. 

Keck Observatory in Hawaii to execute the technique successfully. As a result, the team had 

been able to detect faint light emitted by a small cluster of stars located nearly 13.4 billion lightyears from Earth. Based on detectable characteristics of the stars, the scientists believed that a 

star cluster in its early formation stages had produced the detected light, and that, during the 

early formation of the universe, the infant star cluster may have combined with other star groups 

to create galaxies.133

21 October 

The Russian Space Agency launched the Soyuz TM-33 to the ISS on a Soyuz-U rocket from 

Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4 a.m. (CDT). The mission’s crew members consisted 

of Russian cosmonauts Viktor M. Afanasyez and Konstantin M. Kozeev and French astronaut 

Claudie André-Deshays Haigneré; Afanasyez was also Mission Commander. The spacecraft 

carried supplies and equipment for the ISS. The crew members planned to conduct joint 

operations and scientific research with the crew of Expedition 3. In addition, one of the main 

purposes of the mission, designated Soyuz 3 Taxi Flight, was to deliver the Soyuz spacecraft to 

the ISS, so that the ISS crew could use it as an emergency escape vehicle. The new Soyuz would 

remain at the ISS, and the spacecraft’s crew would return to Earth in the older Soyuz TM-32, 

which was already docked at the station.134

22 October 

A team of European and American astronomers announced that they had obtained the first 

observations of energy leaving a black hole. The scientists, who had used ESA’s XMM-Newton 

satellite to observe a supermassive black hole in the center of galaxy MCG-6–30–15, had 

detected an x-ray glow emanating from iron gas that was moving at half the speed of the light 

that was close to the black hole. The scientists believed that the x-ray glow resulted from friction 

produced by matter rotating around a black hole before falling into it. Because the black hole’s 

gravity is sufficiently intense to wrap magnetic field lines around it, the entwined magnetic fields 

tighten around the black hole, slowing its rotation, and, as a result, increasing the temperature of 

the region surrounding the black hole. Observed gravity-stretching particles of light in the iron 

gas, the scientists had discovered unexpectedly that the total energy output of the gas was too 

high for only gravity and the descent of matter into the black hole to be providing the power 

source. The scientists had concluded that an additional power source must be increasing the 

energy output of the gas to the observed intensity.135

 

133 Richard Ellis et al., “A Faint Star-Forming System Viewed Through the Lensing Cluster Abell 2218: First Light 

at z ~ 5.6?” Astrophysical Journal Letters 560, no. 2 (20 October 2001): L119–L122; William Harwood, “PreGalactic Star Cloud Is Discovered,” Washington Post, 6 October 2001. 134 NASA, “Soyuz 3 Taxi Flight Crew,” http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/crew/exp3/taxi3/index.html (accessed 26 

November 2008); Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 576, 1 November 2001, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/

spacewarn/spx576.html (accessed 26 November 2008). 135 NASA, “New Energy Source ‘Wrings’ Power from Black Hole Spin,” news release 01-200, 22 October 2001; 

Jörn Wilms et al., “XMM-EPIC Observation of MCG-6-30-15: Direct Evidence for the Extraction of Energy from a 

Spinning Black Hole,” Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 328, no. 3 (11 December 2001): 

L27–L31. 
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44

23 October 

NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft maneuvered into Mars’s orbit after a six-month, 286 millionmile (460 million-kilometer) voyage from Earth. Newspapers described the event as a major 

success for NASA, which had lost three previous spacecraft destined for Mars during the years 

from 1993 to 1999. NASA planned for Odyssey to orbit Mars for two and one-half years, 

mapping the mineral composition of Mars and searching for evidence of water ice beneath the 

planet’s surface. Toward the end of Odyssey’s orbital reconnaissance mission, the spacecraft 

would also function as a communications satellite for two robotic landers that NASA planned to 

launch to Mars in 2003.136

26 October 

Spain’s Prince of Asturias Foundation granted the Prince of Asturias Award for International 

Cooperation to the ISS partnership, in recognition of the cooperation among the partnering space 

agencies that had created the orbiting space station. The Prince of Asturias Felipe de Borbón was 

the heir to the throne of Spain. The foundation granted the Award for International Cooperation 

to recognize the cultural, humanitarian, scientific, social, and technical efforts of individuals, 

groups, and institutions. The prince presented the award to officials representing the space 

agencies participating in the ISS, namely the Canadian Space Agency, ESA, NASA, Japan’s 

NASDA, and the Russian Space Agency. Earlier in the day, the prince had called the astronauts 

at the ISS to congratulate them on their efforts.137

The Pentagon selected an international team of contractors, led by Lockheed Martin, to build the 

Joint Strike Fighter (JSF), a multi-role fighter plane that the United States, the United Kingdom, 

and other countries planned to use. The Pentagon planned for the JSF to function as a single, 

fungible, low-maintenance replacement for the various aircraft that different military branches in 

the United States and elsewhere had been using. The program, valued at approximately US$200 

billion, included three versions of the JSF, to fulfill the different requirements of the various 

military branches in the United States and Europe. All of the versions would have stealth and 

supersonic capabilities. BAE Systems, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman would initially 

produce 22 aircraft during the system design and development phase; the companies expected to 

construct nearly 3,000 aircraft under the program.138

31 October 

NASA’s Mars Odyssey provided its first image from its orbit around the Red Planet. Odyssey 

took the image as part of a calibration process for the spacecraft’s thermal-emission imaging 

system, which NASA had designed to observe the surface of Mars in both light and darkness. 

The initial image, a thermal infrared image of the planet’s southern polar carbon-dioxide ice cap, 

 

136 Mark Carreau, “Odyssey Slips into Orbit, Breaks String of Failures,” Houston Chronicle, 24 October 2001; New 

York Times, “At Last a Success on a Mars Mission,” 24 October 2001. 137 NASA, “International Space Station Receives 2001 Prince of Asturias Award,” news release 01-206, 26 October 

2001; Fundación Príncipe de Asturias, “The Aims of the Foundation,” 

http://www.fundacionprincipedeasturias.org/ing/00/objetivos.html (accessed 28 November 2008). 138 Lockheed Martin, “Lockheed Martin Team Wins Joint Strike Fighter Competition, Pledges Full Commitment to 

This Cornerstone of Future Defense Capability,” news release, 26 October 2001, 

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2001/LockheedMartinTeamWinsJointStrikeFi.html (accessed 

28 January 2010). 
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45

covered an area greater than 6,500 kilometers (3,900 miles) at a resolution of approximately 5.5 

kilometers (3.4 miles) per pixel.139

The government of France named NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin as Officer of the 

Legion of Honor, the country’s highest award. Napoleon had created the Legion of Honor in 

1802 to honor civil and military service to France. The award honored Goldin for his 

contribution to the cooperation of France and the United States in space endeavors. NASA and 

the French space agency, Centre National d’Études Spatiales, had collaborated on Earth 

observation and Mars exploration, and French astronauts had flown on the Space Shuttle. 

Ambassador François Bujon de l’Éstang presented the award to Goldin at the residence of the 

French Ambassador.140

NOVEMBER 2001 

1 November 

The Task Force assigned to assess NASA’s management of the ISS program released a report of 

its findings and recommendations. NASA and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had 

established the ISS Management and Cost Evaluation (IMCE) Task Force to analyze the space 

station’s cost, budget, and management and to recommend how the numerous space agencies 

supporting the project could derive maximum benefit from their investment. The Task Force’s 

report stated that, although the ISS program’s technical achievements to date had been 

extraordinary, problems concerning the program’s budget, management, and other matters 

threatened future development of the ISS. In addition, the IMCE Task Force recommended 

numerous changes to establish a core-complete program for the ISS, including altering program 

management; identifying and applying additional funding; and implementing more clearly 

defined programs to build the ISS so that its crew would be able to conduct high-priority 

research at the space station. With regard to maximizing research under the proposed FY 2002 

budget, the Task Force recommended establishing research priorities, implementing a plan to 

execute them, and allocating more ISS crew time to high-priority research.141

5 November 

Researchers from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 

published research indicating that, during the 20th century, the world’s average temperatures had 

increased, and the United States’ average temperatures had declined. Using data from satellites 

and 7,200 weather stations worldwide, NASA and NOAA scientists had found that the global 

mean surface air temperature had increased by 1oF (0.6oC) during the 20th century. However, 

temperatures had not increased consistently but had undergone successive periods of warming 

(from 1900 to 1940), cooling (1940 to 1965), and warming again (1965 to 2000). The evidence 

also indicated that these temperature changes had not been uniform throughout Earth. For 

example, although the average surface air temperature in the United States had increased during 

 

139 NASA, “Mars Odyssey’s First Look at Mars Is All Treat, No Trick,” news release 01-214, 31 October 2001. 140 NASA, “NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin Receives French Legion of Honor Award,” news release 01-202, 

31 October 2001. 

141 NASA, “Report by the International Space Station Management and Cost Evaluation (IMCE) Task Force to the 

NASA Advisory Council” (report, Washington, DC, 1 November 2001), http://history.nasa.gov/youngrep.pdf 

(accessed 26 November 2008). 
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46

the latter part of the 20th century, it had remained at a level comparable to average U.S. 

temperatures during the 1930s. In addition, the researchers had discovered evidence that humans 

had influenced surface air temperatures on a local scale in large urban areas, suburbs, and even in 

small towns. However, the data also indicated that this effect had been of modest magnitude and 

might reflect problems with data measurement.142

6 November 

A group of scientists from Stanford University and NASA’s GSFC published research providing 

the first clear evidence of the causes of sunspots. Sunspots are large dark areas on the surface of 

the Sun that can last for weeks or longer. The scientists had used the Solar and Heliospheric 

Observatory (SOHO)―a project of NASA and ESA―to conduct an acoustic tomography of a 

large sunspot on 18 June 1998. This technique, much like medical ultrasound diagnostics, had 

enabled the scientists to conduct subsurface observations of the sunspot, whereas previous 

research had relied only on surface observations. Researchers had already known that material 

flows out of sunspots and that the magnetic field below sunspots obstructs the upward flow of 

energy from the solar interior, thus making the sunspot cooler than its surroundings. However, 

the SOHO data revealed that material also flows into sunspots, because the cooler material at the 

sunspot’s top condenses and flows downward, pulling the surrounding plasma and magnetic field 

inward with it. This concentration of material leads to further cooling of plasma, which, in turn, 

flows downward and draws in more plasma in a self-perpetuating cycle. These findings also 

clarified the previously unexplained attraction of magnetic fields with like polarities in sunspots. 

This characteristic had puzzled scientists because such magnetic fields generally repel rather than 

draw towards each other.143

7 November 

Scientists announced the first confirmed observation of the optical afterglow of a gamma-ray 

burst (GRB). GRBs are the most energetic phenomenon in the universe. NASA’s High Energy 

Transient Explorer (HETE) had observed a GRB―dubbed GRB 010921―occurring nearly 5 

billion light-years from Earth in the constellation Lacerta. The astronomers had coordinated the 

HETE data with observations that Italy’s BeppoSAX satellite and ESA’s Ulysses spacecraft had 

captured, enabling them to find the afterglow in optical light and to measure its redshift―the 

warping of electromagnetic radiation by gravity. The measurement of the redshift helped them 

determine the GRB’s distance from Earth. The observation was a special opportunity to obtain 

information on GRBs. Scientists hoped that with additional observations they could begin to 

understand the causes of this frequent, but enigmatic phenomenon.144

 

142 J. Hansen et al., “A Closer Look at United States and Global Surface Temperature Change,” Journal of 

Geophysical Research 106, no. D20 (2001): 23947–23963; NASA, “Satellites Shed Light On Warmer World,” news 

release 01-212, 5 November 2001. 

143 Junwei Zhao, Alexander G. Kosovichev, and Thomas L. Duvall Jr., “Investigation of Mass Inflows Beneath a 

Sunspot by Time-Distance Helioseismology,” Astrophysical Journal 557, no. 1 (10 August 2001): 384–388; NASA, 

“The Sun’s Dark Secret: How Sunspots Pull Themselves Together,” news release 01-216, 6 November 2001. 

144 NASA, “NASA’s HETE Spots Rare Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow,” news release 01-218, 7 November 2001; P. 

A. Price et al., “GRB 010921: Discovery of the First High Energy Transient Explorer Afterglow,” Astrophysical 

Journal Letters 571, no. 2 (1 June 2002): L121–L125; G. Ricker et al., “GRB 010921: Localization and Observation 

by the High Energy Transient Explorer Satellite,” Astrophysical Journal Letters 571, no. 2 (1 June 2002): L127–

L130. 
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47

10 November 

Maxwell W. Hunter II, one of the world’s leading rocket designers and space engineers, died at 

the age of 79. Hunter had graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1944 and 

had worked for Douglas Aircraft. While at Douglas, he had designed several of the company’s 

missiles, including the Nike and the Thor, as well as many of its space projects, including the 

Delta rocket and the Saturn S-IV stage of the Apollo Moon rocket program. Hunter had later 

worked for Lockheed Missiles and Space Company. Among his achievements with Lockheed 

was the design of the Space Shuttle. Hunter had also advised Presidents John F. Kennedy and 

President Lyndon B. Johnson on space programs and space policy and had been a noted 

proponent of nuclear-powered spacecraft and a space-based laser defense program. In addition, 

Hunter had authored nearly 60 technical papers and had received the National Space Society’s 

Wernher von Braun Memorial Award in recognition of his contributions to the development of 

missiles, rockets, and spaceflight.145

12 November 

Two members of the ISS crew performed a spacewalk to complete installation of the Russian 

Pirs docking compartment. During the 5-hour spacewalk, American astronaut Frank L. 

Culbertson Jr. and Russian cosmonaut Vladimir N. Dezhurov connected communications cables 

between the Pirs module and the adjoining crew-habitation and command module. The pair also 

tested an external construction crane and photographed an askew solar array attached to the 

crew-habitation module, so that ground-based experts in Russia could determine whether the 

array would require repair in the future.146

14 November 

President George W. Bush nominated Sean O’Keefe to succeed Daniel S. Goldin as NASA’s 

Administrator. At the time of his nomination, O’Keefe was Deputy Director of OMB and had 

previously served as Secretary of the Navy for former President George H. W. Bush. Major 

newspapers emphasized that O’Keefe had received the nomination because of his experience in 

financial management and that, during his tenure at OMB, O’Keefe had worked on a task force 

that had recommended scaling back the ISS because of NASA’s inability to manage the project 

within budget. If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, O’Keefe, who was 45 years old at the time of the 

nomination, would be the youngest person to serve as NASA Administrator.147

15 November 

Roy Estess, Acting Director of NASA’s JSC, appointed Randy Stone as Deputy Director of JSC. 

As Deputy Director, Stone would be responsible for planning, organizing, and controlling 

activities necessary to meet the Center’s goals and objectives. Stone had worked for Mission 

Control in Houston and for JSC for 34 years and, before his appointment as Deputy Director, had 

served as JSC’s Acting Associate Director of Management. He had begun his career with NASA 

in 1967, developing equipment for the lunar landings of the Apollo program. During his tenure 

 

145 Dennis McLellan, “Maxwell Hunter II, 79; Pioneer Rocket Scientist,” Los Angeles Times, 17 November 2001. 146 Mark Carreau, “International Crew Completes Cable Task on Final Spacewalk,” Houston Chronicle, 13 

November 2001. 

147 Mark Carreau and Karen Masterson, “Bush Names ‘Key Advisor’ To Lead NASA,” Houston Chronicle, 15 

November 2001; Kristen Mack and Mark Carreau, “Senate Approves O’Keefe as NASA Administrator, Hammond 

as NEA Head,” Houston Chronicle, 21 December 2001. 
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48

with NASA, he had worked on numerous programs, including Skylab, the Space Shuttle, and the 

ISS.148

19 November 

NASA named Daniel R. Mulville as Acting Administrator, to serve until the U.S. Senate had 

officially confirmed a new Administrator. Mulville was to replace previous NASA Administrator 

Daniel S. Goldin while Sean O’Keefe―President George W. Bush’s nominee for the 

position―was awaiting Senate confirmation. Before becoming Acting Administrator, Mulville 

had served as Associate Deputy Administrator for NASA since the beginning of 2000. Mulville, 

who had a PhD in structural mechanics, had begun working at NASA in 1986.149

26 November 

The Russian Space Agency launched an automatic cargo carrier to the ISS from Baikonur 

Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:24 p.m. (UT). A Soyuz-FG booster lifted the Progress M1-7 

cargo carrier. Progress M1-7 was to deliver 2.5 tonnes (2.8 tons or 5,511 pounds) of equipment, 

food, and fuel to the space station, as well as a microsatellite called Klibri, which the crew would 

release after the carrier had docked with the ISS.150

27 November 

A team of astronomers using the HST published results of the first direct detection and chemical 

analysis of the atmosphere of a planet located outside of the solar system. The scientists had used 

Hubble to examine the planet’s atmosphere as it passed in front of its parent star―called HD 

209458―a technique that enabled them to see the star’s light filtered through the planet’s 

atmosphere. During the analysis, the astronomers had detected sodium in the planet’s 

atmosphere. They hoped that the observation was a harbinger of a new phase in analyses of 

extrasolar planets, often referred to as exoplanets. Scientists also hoped that this type of analysis 

would enable them to measure any unusual abundance of atmospheric gases created by living 

organisms, thereby offering them a method of acquiring direct evidence of life on other 

planets.151

The GAO released a generally positive assessment of NASA’s efforts to meet its FY 2002 

performance planas required by the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 

1993and to overcome its major management challenges, which GAO and NASA’s Office of 

Inspector General (OIG) had previously identified. The GPRA required each government agency 

to develop an annual plan, which must include its performance goals, the resources required to 

achieve them, and the measures it would use to assess its performance. In its examination of 

NASA’s FY 2002 performance plan, GAO had determined that NASA had successfully met its 

stated goals. NASA’s goals for the fiscal year had included expanding commercial development 

of space and deploying and operating the ISS safely and cost-effectively. However, GAO’s 

 

148 NASA JSC, “Mission Control Veteran Randy Stone Named Johnson Space Center Deputy Director,” news 

release J01-111, 15 November 2001. 

149 NASA History Division, “Biographies of NASA Administrators: Daniel R. Mulville,” 

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/mulville.htm (accessed 19 December 19, 2008). 150 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 577, 1 December 2001, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx577.html (accessed 12 

December 2001). 

151 NASA, “Hubble Measures Atmosphere on World Around Another Star,” news release 01-232, 27 November 

2001. 
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49

report also stated that NASA’s performance plan had not explained the reasons that NASA had 

changed its previous performance goals to those stated in the FY 2002 performance plan. In 

addition, GAO questioned NASA’s measurements of its performance in meeting the stated goals 

and gave mixed assessments of NASA’s performance in the areas of human-capital management 

and information security. In its response to the report, NASA concurred with GAO’s findings but 

it also defended the explanations and measurements of its performance goals, as outlined in its 

FY 2002 performance plan.152

29 November 

Konrad Dennerl, of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany, and his 

team of astronomers announced that they had performed the first x-ray observations of the planet 

Venus. The team had used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to conduct the observations, 

which revealed new information about the planet’s atmosphere. The x-ray observations of Venus 

were different from views of the planet made in visible light, because fluorescence, rather than 

reflection, produced the x-rays from the planet. Most of the fluorescent x-rays come from oxygen 

and carbon atoms located 120 to 140 kilometers (74 to 87 miles) above the surface of Venus, 

whereas clouds that are 50 to 70 kilometers (31 to 43 miles) above the surface reflect optical 

light. The observations represented a technological breakthrough. Other x-ray astronomy 

satellites had been unable to point steadily in the direction of Venus, because the planet’s relative 

proximity to the Sun had prevented them from locking onto guide stars that were visually distinct 

from the Sun.153

DECEMBER 2001 

3 December 

Cosmonauts Vladimir N. Dezhurov and Mikhail Tyurin performed a spacewalk outside of the 

ISS to clear an obstruction that had prevented the pilotless Progress Russian supply ship from 

docking securely to the space station. The crew believed that the obstruction was a rubber seal 

from a supply ship that had left the ISS on 22 November. NASA had delayed the launch of 

Space Shuttle Endeavour for five days because of concern that Endeavour’s arrival at the space 

station could cause the insecurely docked supply ship to wobble, possibly damaging the ISS. 

However, Dezhurov and Tyurin were able to remove the obstruction during their 3-hour 

spacewalk, thereby clearing the way for Endeavour to launch on 5 December.154

5 December 

Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-108/UF-1 launched at 5:19 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) 

from NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The crew members were Commander Dominic 

L. Gorie, Pilot Mark E. Kelly, and Mission Specialists Linda M. Godwin and Daniel M. Tani; 

and ISS Expedition 4 crew members, Daniel W. Bursch, Carl E. Walz, and Yuri I. Onufrienko. 

One of the main objectives of the mission was to transport the Expedition 4 crew to the ISS and 

 

152 U.S. General Accounting Office, “NASA: Status of Plans for Achieving Key Outcomes and Addressing Major 

Management Challenges” (report no. GAO-02-184, Washington, DC, November 2001),

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/ d02184.pdf (accessed 8 December 2008). 153 NASA, “Chandra Captures Venus in a Whole New Light,” news release 01-236, 27 November 2001. 154 Warren E. Leary, “Endeavour Is Set for Launching After Docking Problem Is Solved,” New York Times, 4 

December 2001; Los Angeles Times, “With Space Debris Cleared, Shuttle Launch Set,” 4 December 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

50

return Expedition 3 crew members to Earth. Another mission objective was to transport 

approximately 3 tons (2.7 tonnes or 2,700 kilograms) of supplies to the ISS. Much of the payload 

was contained in an Italian-built Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) called Raffaello. In 

addition, Endeavour carried a host of scientific payloads, including some experiments created by 

schools and universities in the United States and numerous other countries.155

7 December 

NASA launched the Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED) 

spacecraft on a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The purpose of the 

mission was to study a region called the Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere/Ionosphere 

(MLTI), located 40 to 110 miles (60 to 180 kilometers) above Earth. The Johns Hopkins 

University Applied Physics Laboratory had designed the spacecraft to produce the first set of 

comprehensive, global measurements of the MLTI, a region that scientists had not yet 

thoroughly analyzed, in which electrical currents surge and auroras create a glow over the 

northern and southern hemispheres of Earth. TIMED, which launched on the same rocket as the 

Jason-1 oceanography satellite, was the first in a series of six spacecraft that NASA intended to 

send to observe the MLTI from a 388-mile (625-kilometer) orbit of Earth. NASA’s GSFC would 

manage the TIMED spacecraft for the Office of Space Science in Washington, DC; the Johns 

Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory would operate the spacecraft for NASA during 

the mission.156

NASA launched the Jason-1 oceanography satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base in 

California. The satellite launched on the same rocket as the TIMED spacecraft, but the two 

spacecraft were part of separate missions. Jason-1 belonged to a joint U.S.-French mission to 

monitor global climate interactions between Earth’s atmosphere and seas, continuing the mission 

that the TOPEX/Poseidon spacecraft had begun in 1992. The 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) Jason1 weighed about 1/5th of the TOPEX/Poseidon and carried its predecessor’s main 

instrument―the Poseidon 2 altimeter―as well as other, more advanced instruments that would 

provide Jason-1 with improved operational utility.157

NASA researchers with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of California 

at San Diego published research indicating that particles from human-produced pollution might 

significantly contribute to weakening the planet’s hydrological cycle. The hydrological cycle is 

the circulation of water between Earth’s atmosphere and its surface water and soils. Specifically, 

water precipitates from the atmosphere into surface water or soils and later evaporates from 

surface water, soils, and plants back into the atmosphere. The researchers had examined satellite 

data indicating aerosol distribution in the Indian Ocean region and had found that the aerosols, 

 

155 NASA KSC, “STS-108 (107),” http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-108/mission-sts-108.html

(accessed 12 December 2008); NASA KSC, “Space Shuttle, Mission Archives: STS-108,” 

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-108.html (accessed 12 December 2008). 156 NASA, “It’s About TIMED: NASA Spacecraft Will Use Lofty Perch To Study Gateway to Space,” news release 

01-226, 19 November 2001; Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, “TIMED: A Mission To 

Explore One of the Last Frontiers in Earth’s Atmosphere: Mission,” 

http://www.timed.jhuapl.edu/WWW/mission/mission.php (accessed 6 January 2009). 157 NASA, “NASA/French Ocean-Observing Satellite Set To Soar,” news release 01-225, 19 November 2001; 

NASA JPL, “Ocean Surface Topography from Space: Missions―Jason-1 Launch,”29 July 2008, http://topexwww.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/jason-1-launch.html (accessed 12 December 2008). 
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51

primarily composed of black carbon, could weaken the hydrological cycle in two ways. The 

aerosols could reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the ocean, thereby decreasing the amount 

of water evaporating into the atmosphere. In addition, when particulates enter clouds, they 

reduce the size of cloud droplets, thereby reducing the amount of rain over polluted regions. The 

particulates in aerosols comprise a mixture of substances formed by the burning of fossil fuels 

and rural biomass. The new research was significant because it suggested that aerosols might be 

more environmentally harmful than scientists had previously understood and that air pollution is 

both an urban and a rural phenomenon.158

10 December 

Endeavour crew members Linda M. Godwin and Daniel M. Tani completed a 4-hour spacewalk 

to repair the rotating mechanisms on the solar arrays attached to the outside of the ISS. The 

solar-powered module provided electrical power for the space station’s communications, lifesupport, and steering systems, as well as for scientific experiments conducted aboard the ISS. 

However, flight-control personnel had found that the solar arrays were consuming more 

electrical power than expected. Project engineers attributed this to temperature-induced 

contraction and expansion in the bearings within the motors that rotated the solar arrays. 

Contraction and expansion was occurring because of the temperatures outside of the ISS, which 

ranged from 200oF to 200o below 0oF (93.3oC to -128.9oC), during each orbit of Earth. Therefore, 

Godwin and Tani were installing insulation around the motors in an effort to stop the bearings 

from undergoing contraction and expansion.159

11 December 

Crew members aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour and the ISS held a brief ceremony to mark the 

three-month anniversary of the 11 September terrorist attacks. The tribute included playing both 

the Russian and U.S. national anthems in the Space Shuttle and at ISS Mission Control Centers 

at NASA’s JSC in Houston. Moreover, Endeavour carried U.S. flags and Marine Corps flags that 

had flown at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and the Pennsylvania State Capitol; shields 

and patches worn by New York City police officers; a New York Fire Department flag; and a 

poster with pictures of the firefighters who had died in the attacks. Also aboard the Shuttle were 

6,000 American flags, which Endeavour would return to Earth, and NASA would distribute to 

the victims of the 11 September terrorist attacks and their families.160

17 December 

Space Shuttle Endeavour landed at NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 12:55 p.m. 

(EST), bringing to an end Mission STS-108. During the mission, Endeavour had transported 

crew members of Expedition 4 to the ISS to begin their residency on the orbiting space station 

and had returned to Earth the Expedition 3 crew members, ending their 117-day stay aboard the 

ISS. In addition, astronauts Linda M. Godwin and Daniel M. Tani had completed numerous tasks 

during a 4-hour spacewalk, including installation of insulation on mechanisms that rotated the 

 

158 NASA, “Tiny Pollution Particles May Carry Large Consequences for Earth’s Water Supply,” news release 01-

239, 6 December 2001; V. Ramanathan, “Aerosols, Climate, and the Hydrological Cycle,” Science n.s. 294, no. 

5549 (7 December 2001): 2119–2124. 

159 Mark Carreau, “Astronauts Make Breathtaking Repair Trip,” Houston Chronicle, 11 December 2001. 160 NASA, “Shuttle, Station Crewmembers To Honor September 11 Victims,” news release N01-74, 10 December 

2001. 
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52

station’s main solar arrays. The crews of Endeavour and the ISS had collectively transferred 

more than 5,000 pounds (2,270 kilograms) of crew provisions, experiments, and other supplies to 

the ISS from Endeavour’s mid-deck and from the Raffaello MPLM. The mission’s total duration 

had been 11 days, 19 hours, and 55 minutes.161

18 December 

NASA officially ended the operation of spacecraft Deep Space 1 when engineers at NASA’s JPL 

sent a signal to the spacecraft to shut down its engine and cease communications with Earth. 

NASA had launched Deep Space 1 in October 1998, to test 12 technologies for use in future 

spacecraft. Although NASA had planned for the spacecraft’s mission to conclude in September 

1999, NASA had continued operating Deep Space 1 for more than two additional years with 

results that were highly beneficial and sometimes unexpected. Most notably, during a close flyby 

of the Comet Borrelly on 25 September 2001, Deep Space 1 had provided the most detailed 

pictures ever taken of a comet. In addition, experts stated that, at a cost of approximately 

US$160 million, the spacecraft’s mission had been the least expensive interplanetary mission 

ever conducted by the United States.162

Researchers published findings from an unprecedented analysis of NASA-produced satellite data 

of carbon absorption by northern hemisphere forests. The researchers had used the satellite data 

to study the extent to which forests had absorbed carbon released into Earth’s atmosphere in the 

form of carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel combustion. Many scientists consider atmospheric 

accumulation of carbon dioxide to be a primary cause of global climate change, because forests 

act as “sinks,” absorbing carbon dioxide, thereby reducing its atmospheric accumulation. The 

researchers had found that forests in Europe, Russia, and the United States annually absorbed 

almost 700 million tonnes (771 million tons or 1.5 trillion pounds) of carbon from 1981 to 1999. 

They had also found geographic variations in carbon absorption, with Russian forests accounting 

for nearly 40 percent of the carbon sink and Canadian forests losing carbon. The findings were 

significant, because they indicated which forests had lost carbon and which had stored it. The 

findings also validated relationships between satellite measurements and ground-based 

measurements of carbon absorption, demonstrating the crucial importance of satellites in 

monitoring forests. NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise, dedicated to understanding humaninduced and natural changes in Earth’s environment, had funded the research.163

19 December 

In a letter to Acting NASA Administrator Daniel Mulville, NASA Advisory Council (NAC) 

issued its recommendations on the management and future development of the ISS. NAC 

provided the recommendations two weeks after it had received an assessment created by the ISS 

Management and Cost Evaluation (IMCE) Task Force. NASA and the OMB had created the 

IMCE to perform an independent external review of the ISS. In its letter, NAC stated that NASA 

needed to resolve budgetary and management problems with the space station. NAC also 

 

161 NASA KSC, “Space Shuttle, Mission Archives: STS-108,” http://www.nasa.gov/

mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-108.html (accessed 12 December 2008). 162 Warren E. Leary, “Deep Space 1 Ends Mission, but Triumphs Are Clear,” New York Times, 19 December 2001. 163 NASA, “Satellite Data Help Researchers Track Carbon in Northern Hemisphere Forests,” news release 01-242, 

11 December 2001; Ranga B. Myneni, “A Large Carbon Sink in the Woody Biomass of Northern Forests,” 

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 98, no. 26 (18 December 2001): 14784–14789. 
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53

recommended that NASA clarify its scientific priorities for the ISS and focus on a reduced 

configuration of the ISS that could serve three crew members. However, NAC also 

recommended that NASA continue funding components of the ISS that could serve a larger 

crew, such as a lifeboat vehicle and crew quarters.164

20 December 

The U.S. Senate confirmed Sean O’Keefe as NASA’s Administrator. With the confirmation, 

O’Keefe replaced Daniel S. Goldin as Administrator and, at the age of 45, became the youngest 

person ever to lead NASA. Before becoming NASA’s Administrator, O’Keefe had served as 

Deputy Director of OMB, a post he had held since March 2001. O’Keefe had also served as 

Secretary of the Navy under former President George H. W. Bush.165

21 December 

NASA announced the selection of two missions as part of its Discovery Program, which had as 

its objective low-cost, highly focused scientific missions using innovative methods to enhance 

scientific understanding of the solar system. One of the missions NASA had selected was Dawn, 

a spacecraft that would orbit the solar system’s two largest asteroids, Vesta and Ceresto, to help 

scientists understand early planetary formation in the solar system. The other mission, Kepler, 

was a space-based telescope that would search for Earth-like planets outside of the solar system, 

to help scientists learn more about planetary formation and the possibility of life on other planets. 

NASA had selected the missions―both scheduled to launch in 2006―from a pool of 26 

proposals made earlier in 2001.166

JANUARY 2002 

3 January 

Arnold Torres retired as Senior Manager of NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) and Director 

of NASA’s GSFC Suborbital and Special Orbital Projects Directorate, positions that he had held 

since January 1995. Among the changes that had occurred under Torres’s tenure, WFF had 

begun to manage small payloads for Space Shuttles and had developed the Ultra-Long Duration 

Balloon (ULDB), capable of flying for 100 days. Torres had begun working at NASA in 1978 as 

an atmospheric scientist, and in 1985 GSFC had awarded him an Exceptional Achievement 

Award.167

6 January 

Burton I. Edelson, who influenced NASA’s space science and Earth science programs, died at 

the age of 75. Edelson had served as NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Science and 

 

164 New York Times, “NASA Report Endorses Cuts at Space Station,” 21 December 2001; NASA, “NASA Advisory 

Council Releases Space Station Recommendations,” news release N01-76, 20 December 2001. 165 Kristen Mack and Mark Carreau, “Senate Approves O’Keefe as NASA Administrator, Hammond as NEA Head,” 

Houston Chronicle, 21 December 2001. 166 NASA, “NASA Selects Missions To Explore Two Large Asteroids and Search for Earth-Like Planets,” news 

release 01-254, 21 December 2001; NASA Discovery Program, “Discovery Mission: Kepler,” 

http://discovery.nasa.gov/kepler.html (accessed 19 December 2008). 167Inside Wallops, “Congratulations to Our Newest Retirees,” 14 January 2002, http://www.nasa.gov/

centers/wallops/news/newsletters_archive.html#y2002 (accessed 28 July 2008); NASA Goddard Space Flight 

Center, “Wallops Senior Manager Announces Retirement,” news release W01-29, 13 July 2001. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

54

Applications from 1982 to 1986, and in 1987 NASA had awarded him its Exceptional Service 

Medal. He had helped to establish and direct several programs at NASA, including missions to 

explore Mars and a program developing instruments for the HST. After leaving NASA, Edelson 

had managed the COBE (Cosmic Background Explorer) satellite program, which had received 

international acclaim when it began measuring radiation from the Big Bang. Edelson had won 

several major awards, as well as the high regard of his peers and the public, for founding 

international space programs such as the Japan-United States Science Technology and Space 

Applications Program.168

8 January 

Using images from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, scientists found evidence that an 

ancient eruption had burst through a cluster of galaxies, which could explain why those galaxies 

act like massive magnetic fields. Scientists believed that the universe’s largest known structures 

bounded by gravity―called galaxy clusters―might be the source of highly energetic and 

recurring explosions, which cause the clusters to behave like huge cosmic magnets. Chandra’s 

images of the galaxy cluster Abell 2597 had revealed a cloud of hot gas with two dark circular 

cavities called ghost cavities, containing little x-ray or radio emissions. The images suggested 

that powerful explosions around a black hole in the cluster’s center might have occurred when 

these ghost cavities expelled material from the black hole’s vicinity, creating gaps in the cluster’s 

hot gas. Scientists believed that these cavities might eventually move to the edge of the cluster, 

similar to the movement of air bubbles to the surface of water, thereby transporting magnetic 

fields to the cluster gas. The images suggested that these explosions are recurring. If the 

recurring explosions continue to create more cavities, this could explain the strong magnetic field 

of the extremely hot gas throughout the cluster.169

Using the most sensitive images ever taken by the HST, scientists found new evidence of star 

creation, challenging the findings of much of the existing research on the origin of the universe. 

Although the HST had captured images of portions of the skies that appear empty to the naked 

eye, the images revealed nearly 5,000 galaxies. Led by Kenneth M. Lanzetta of the State 

University of New York at Stony Brook, a team of scientists had examined approximately 150 of 

those galaxies spectroscopically, inferring from color variations their actual distance from Earth, 

as well as the properties of less visible light from even fainter and more distant galaxies. The 

scientists had also conducted spectroscopic analysis of remote quasars to measure the early 

universe’s gas density, because high gas density implies high creation rates of stars, which are 

the building blocks of galaxies and the birthplaces of solar systems. The new images indicated 

that countless stars had begun forming at a period closer to the birth of the universe than 

previous research had suggested. Although the HST had captured the images in 1995 and 1998, 

using the most advanced available technology, the findings suggested that the peak of star 

creation had occurred earlier than Hubble’s ability to detect it. However, the scientists believed 

that they could date the peak of star creation to within a few hundred million years after the Big 

Bang.170

 

168 NASA, “Death of Burt Edelson Highlights His NASA Legacy,” news release 02-06, 9 January 2002; Anahad 

O’Connor, “Burton I. Edelson Dies at 75; NASA Space Science Leader,” New York Times, 14 January 2002. 

169 NASA, “Chandra Finds Ghosts of Eruption in Galaxy Cluster,” news release 02-02, 8 January 2002. 170 NASA, “Hubble Suggests First Stars Opened in a Blaze of Glory,” news release 02-01, 8 January 2002; William 

Harwood, “Stars May Have Brightened Infant Universe,” Washington Post, 9 January 2002. 
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55

9 January 

Researchers at NASA’s JPL successfully demonstrated the first use of robotic rovers capable of 

cooperating to perform tasks together while navigating uneven natural terrain. The researchers 

hoped that the rovers would be able to perform sustained research on Mars and to assemble and 

maintain orbiting spacecraft. In outdoor tests, JPL researchers had used two rovers to simulate 

the deployment of a solar power station. In these simulations, the two robots had grasped and 

carried a container measuring 2.5 meters (8 feet) long, for more than 50 meters (160 feet). The 

project had used new software called the Control Architecture for Multi-Robot Planetary 

Outposts, which equipped the rovers with a distributed and autonomous intelligence producing 

instinctively reactive behaviors, shared sense and control, and collective decision making. This 

new technology, along with other innovations, had developed rovers―referred to as the Robotic 

Work Crew―capable of sharing both work and thinking. Project scientists hoped these 

capabilities would enable the rovers to collaborate in performing designated tasks, while coping 

with the unknown and unpredictable surface of Mars and encountering other scenarios 

unforeseen by scientists on Earth.171

10 January 

In an article in the journal Nature, scientists reported that they had used images from NASA’s 

Chandra X-ray Observatory to reveal how objects in the most active area of the Milky Way 

Galaxy affect each other and other parts of the galaxy. The scientists had used 30 separate 

images from Chandra to construct a montage of the Milky Way’s central regions, revealing 

hundreds of white dwarf stars, neutron stars, and black holes, shrouded by the extremely hot gas 

around a massive black hole. The researchers found that emissions from highly ionized iron, 

previously attributed to diffuse hot gas, had actually originated from discrete sources in the 

Milky Way’s white dwarf stars, neutron stars, and black holes. The findings helped clarify the 

relative contributions of diffuse and discrete sources of x-rays emitted from the galaxy.172

13 January 

NASA appointed John H. Campbell as Senior Manager at WFF and Director of GSFC Suborbital 

and Special Orbital Projects Directorate. In 1987 Campbell had begun his NASA career as a 

Systems Engineering Manager for the Flight Systems Software Branch, at GSFC in Greenbelt, 

Maryland. In the years before his appointment at WFF, NASA had awarded Campbell its 

Distinguished Service Medal, Outstanding Leadership Medal, and Exceptional Achievement 

Medal.173

16 January 

The United States launched the fifth Milstar satellite on a Titan 4B-Centaur from Cape 

Canaveral, Florida, completing a fleet of communications satellites designed to provide 

 

171 NASA, “Robotic Construction Crew Rolls Up Its Sleeves,” news release 02-04, 9 January 2002; NASA JPL, 

“TechnologyFeature: Researchers Toy with New Rover Designs,” 21 December 2001, 

http://jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=489 (accessed 28 July 2008). 172 NASA, “Chandra Takes In Bright Lights, Big City of Milky Way,” news release 02-03, 9 January 2002; Q. D. 

Wang, E. V. Gotthelf, and C. C. Lang, “A Faint Discrete Source Origin for the Highly Ionized Iron Emission from 

the Galactic Centre Region,” Nature 415, no. 6868 (10 January 2002): 148–150. 173 Inside Wallops, “Wallops Senior Manager Appointed,” 14 January 2002, http://www.nasa.gov/centers/

wallops/news/newsletters_archive.html#y2002 (accessed 29 July 2002). 
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56

government leaders and military troops with jam-resistant transmission nearly anywhere on 

Earth.174

17 January 

NASA’s Galileo spacecraft took its last pictures, images of Io, a planet-sized moon orbiting 

Jupiter. Galileo had launched in 1989 from Space Shuttle Atlantis and had entered Jupiter’s orbit 

six years later. The spacecraft had eventually made 33 orbits around Jupiter, capturing nearly 

14,000 images of the planet and the objects around it.175

18 January 

NASA and the USGS announced a partnership to acquire data from the Earth Observing-1 (EO1) satellite and to provide that data to the private sector for applications such as land-cover 

analysis, ecosystem monitoring, and petroleum prospecting. NASA and the USGS made the 

announcement one year after the launch of EO-1, a year in which the spacecraft’s nine 

breakthrough instruments had all successfully satisfied test objectives. The instruments included 

Earth-viewing technologies, such as a hyperspectral imager that could view Earth’s surface with 

unprecedented spectral discrimination and an Advanced Land Imager that could provide better 

views of Earth than NASA’s Landsat, at a lower cost. Under the terms of the agreement, NASA 

would maintain command and control of the EO-1, and the USGS would take orders for 

spacecraft data at prices set to cover the nearly US$5 million annual cost of operating the 

satellite, processing data, and interacting with customers.176

21 January 

A NASA scientific balloon established a new flight-duration record of 31 days and 20 hours in a 

flight that included two orbits of the South Pole. The previous record for long-duration balloon 

flight was 26 days. Weighing 3,687 pounds (1,670 kilograms) and expanding to a diameter of 

nearly 424 feet (130 meters), the balloon was larger than a football field and taller than the 

Washington Monument but constructed of a polyethylene material of the same thickness as 

ordinary sandwich wrap. The pilotless, helium-filled balloon carried the 2-ton (1.8-tonne or 

1,814-kilogram) Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder (TIGER) experiment to approximately 

125,000 feet (38,000 meters), traveling nearly 8,800 miles (14,000 kilometers) before landing 

284 miles (4,460 kilometers) from its launch point in McMurdo Station, Antarctica. NASA had 

designed TIGER to search for the origin of cosmic rays and their propagation throughout the 

galaxy.177

 

174 NASA, Aeronautics and Space Report of the President: Fiscal Year 2002 Activities (Washington, DC, 2002), p. 

114, http://history.nasa.gov/presrep2002.pdf (accessed 29 July 2002); Jesco von Puttkamer, “Space Flight 2002: 

The Year in Review,” NASA, http://spaceoperations.nasa.gov/2002/yearinrev/ 02YearReview.html (accessed 23 

July 2002). 

175 NASA, “Farewell, Io; Galileo Paying Last Visit to a Restless Moon,” news release 02-10, 15 January 2002; 

NASA, “Solar System ExplorationGalileo: Overview,” http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/galileo/ /index.cfm (accessed 

31 July 2008); Andrew Bridges, “NASA Awaits Last Photographs from Jupiter Probe’s Long Trip,” Houston 

Chronicle, 16 January 2002. 176 NASA, “Technology Mission Accomplished, NASA Goes for More,” news release 02-12, 18 January 2002. 177 NASA, “NASA Balloon Makes Record-Breaking Flight,” news release 02-13, 22 January 2002; Warren E. 

Leary, “Shuttle’s Cameras Offer New Views of the World,” New York Times, 29 January 2002. 
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57

22 January 

Scientists from NASA’s JPL announced the release of high-resolution topographic data of the 

continental United States acquired during the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) on 

Space Shuttle Endeavour in February 2000. Project scientists planned to process the digitalelevation-model (DEM) data, sampled at an interval of one measurement every 30 meters (98 

feet), into the most detailed three-dimensional topographic maps ever made of Earth. The SRTM 

data would eventually include 1 trillion measurements, representing nearly 80 percent of Earth’s 

landmass between 60° north and 56° south of the equator, a mapped area in which nearly 95 

percent of the world’s population resides. SRTM project scientists anticipated that the maps 

produced from the mission would provide the most valuable and universally beneficial data 

produced by any scientific mission. Scientists would be able to use the data in applications 

ranging from flood control to transportation and urban planning.178

29 January

In a meeting with reporters, newly appointed NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe emphasized 

that, although he wanted NASA to remain at the forefront of science and technology, he also 

wanted to address NASA’s financial and management problems. O’Keefe, who had received the 

U.S. Senate’s confirmation on 20 December 2001, said he would spend the next few months 

learning about NASA. Explaining that he wanted both to refocus NASA and to keep it within its 

budget, O’Keefe did not rule out the possibility of closing field centers and laying off employees 

to achieve his objectives. However, he stressed that he considered the budgetary problems of the 

ISS his immediate concern, and that he would first devote his attention to implementing the ISS 

Management and Cost Evaluation Task Force’s (IMCE’s) recommendation to scale back the ISS, 

at least temporarily, to reduce costs.179

30 January 

GAO released a report examining NASA’s established mechanisms for learning lessons from 

past failures. The report, “NASA: Better Mechanisms for Sharing Lessons Learned,” noted that 

NASA’s investigations of its past failures and its evaluations of its programs had led it to 

establish various mechanisms to ensure that NASA’s personnel had learned from past successes 

and failures and had applied their knowledge to future programs and projects. These mechanisms 

included a Web-based database of lessons learned, program reviews, and the development of a 

business strategy called knowledge management. However, GAO’s report also noted that, 

according to interviews with NASA managers, NASA’s established policies, procedures, and 

systems were not facilitating the use of lessons learned. GAO indicated that this was largely 

because managers faced challenges, such as lack of time to note, submit, and share lessons 

learned, and cultural barriers, such as reluctance to discuss mistakes for fear of their colleagues’ 

disapproval. Among the report’s main recommendations were that NASA develop a strong 

 

178 NASA, “Pictures from the Real Edge: NASA Posts U.S. Topography Data,” news release 02-15, 22 January 

2002. 

179 Warren E. Leary, “New NASA Administrator Says Money Troubles Are Solvable,” New York Times, 9 January 

2002; William Harwood, “Panel Urges Space Station Reforms,” Washington Post, 3 November 2001; NASA, 

“People: Former NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe,” http://www.nasa.gov/about/

highlights/AN_Feature_Administrator.html (accessed 31 July 2008). 
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58

managerial commitment to sharing knowledge and create technological systems capable of 

facilitating access to this information.180

NASA’s Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) reentered Earth’s atmosphere nearly 10 years 

after its launch on 7 July 1992. NASA had initially planned for the spacecraft to operate for 

only three years but had extended the EUVE’s scientific mission twice, ending operations on 

26 January 2001. The EUVE did not have an on-board propulsion system, and NASA scientists 

had not designed it to survive reentry intact. Thus, in February 2001, mission engineers had left 

the spacecraft in a decaying orbit, so that it would destruct upon reentering Earth’s atmosphere. 

The EUVE, the first astrophysics mission to explore the extreme ultraviolet spectrum (the 

energy range between 70 and 760 Å), had examined nearly 1,000 sources near Earth, including 

three-dozen objects outside of the Milky Way Galaxy.181

31 January 

The United States, Russia, and other partners and sponsoring agencies of the ISS released a ninepage document, “Principles Regarding Processes and Criteria for Selection, Assignment, 

Training and Certification of ISS (Expedition and Visiting) Crewmembers,” defining the 

partners’ agreed-upon procedures for staffing the ISS. Among the acceptable categories of ISS 

crew members, the international partners included nonprofessional spaceflight participants, such 

as American space tourist Dennis A. Tito, who had reportedly paid the Russian Space Agency 

US$12 to US$20 million to visit the ISS. Tito’s visit had created tension among ISS partners, 

who hoped that the new agreement would clarify the selection criteria for individuals traveling to 

the ISS, while continuing to enable space programs to raise funds from nonprofessional space 

travelers.182

FEBRUARY 2002 

5 February 

NASA’s KSC launched the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI) 

on a Pegasus XL rocket from a Lockheed L-1011 aircraft. The purpose of HESSI’s two-year 

mission was to analyze particle acceleration and explosive energy released in solar flares, using 

imaging and spectroscopic instruments. Solar flares can release in a few minutes, or even just a 

few seconds, an amount of energy nearly equal to that released by the explosion of 1 billion 

megatons (907 trillion tonnes or 907 quintillion kilograms) of TNT, disrupting communications 

 

180 U.S. General Accounting Office, “NASA: Better Mechanisms Needed for Sharing Lessons Learned” (report no. 

GAO-02-195, Washington, DC, January 2002), http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02195.pdf (accessed 31 July 2002). 181 NASA, “Aging NASA Spacecraft To Reenter Earth’s Atmosphere,” news release 02-16, 29 January 2002; 

NASA, “EUVE Spacecraft Re-enters Earth’s Atmosphere,” news release 02-19, 31 January 2002; NASA Goddard 

Space Flight Center, “EUVE Guest Observer FacilityThe Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer Mission,” 

http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/euve/euvegof.html (accessed 30 July 2002). 182 ESA, Multilateral Crew Operations Panel, “Principles Regarding Processes and Criteria for Selection, 

Assignment, Training and Certification of ISS (Expedition and Visiting) Crewmembers”; William Harwood, 

“NASA Approves Space Visitor Rules,” Washington Post, 1 February 2002; Mark Carreau, “New NASA Policy 

Opens the Way for More People To Go into Space,” Houston Chronicle, 1 February 2002. 
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59

satellites and power grids. Scientists at the University of California at Berkeley, which would 

manage the US$85 million mission, had designed the 645-pound (290-kilogram) probe.183

The Office of Space Flight at NASA Headquarters decided that Palmdale Manufacturing Facility 

in California would no longer perform major modifications to Space Shuttle orbiters. Instead, 

NASA’s KSC, already responsible for preparing the Shuttles for launching, would also provide 

the modifications. The Palmdale facility had served as the manufacturing site for all orbiters 

since the Space Shuttle program’s inception, as well as providing periodic maintenance and 

safety upgrades. Based on cost and risk assessments, the Office of Space Flight had determined 

that maintaining two modification facilities for four Shuttle orbiters was no longer financially 

feasible, and that performing such work at KSC would minimize associated costs and risks. The 

change was part of NASA’s effort to absorb President George W. Bush’s proposed budget cuts. 

Because it overhauled one of the four Shuttle orbiters every two to three years, NASA estimated 

that transferring this work to KSC would save approximately US$30 million per overhaul.184

7 February 

NASA awarded Boeing Information, Space, and Defense Systems a US$936 million 

modification to its contract for the ISS. Under the contract, which had commenced in 1995, 

Boeing was providing construction, integration, and operations for the ISS. The modification 

extended Boeing’s integration and operation work until 31 December 2003 and increased the 

total contract value to US$10.7 billion.185

12 February 

Administrator Sean O’Keefe selected astronaut Shannon W. Lucid as NASA’s Chief Scientist. In 

this post, Lucid became responsible for ensuring that NASA’s programs were of scientific merit. 

At the time of the selection, Lucid was a spacecraft communicator supporting the Space Shuttle 

and ISS missions. A veteran of five Space Shuttle flights, Lucid had been one of the first six 

women selected to become an astronaut and the only woman awarded the Congressional Space 

Medal of Honor. Lucid replaced Kathie L. Olsen, who had occupied the position since May 

1999. Olsen had accepted an appointment as the Associate Director of the Office of Science and 

Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President.186

15 February 

Scientists found that a bright blue ring of dust surrounds Earth’s solar system, beginning outside 

of Saturn’s orbit and extending beyond the orbit of Neptune. However, viewed from outside the 

solar system, this band of dust appears to surround the Sun. The discovery of the dust ring 

provided empirical support for the idea that this feature around a mature star indicates that the 

star harbors a planetary system. Therefore, researchers planning missions would be able, based 

on whether the star has a dust ring, to narrow down the list of which stars to study in their search 

 

183 Houston Chronicle, “New NASA Probe To Analyze High-Energy Flares from Sun,” 5 February 2002; 

Puttkamer, “Space Flight 2002.” 

184 NASA, “Kennedy Space Center To Perform Shuttle Modifications,” news release 02-22, 5 February 2002; Mark 

Carreau, “NASA To Overhaul Shuttles in Florida,” Houston Chronicle, 6 February 2002. 185 NASA, “NASA Awards $936 Million Modification to Boeing Space Station Contract,” news release c02-d, 7 

February 2002. 

186 NASA, “NASA Astronaut, Dr. Shannon Lucid, Selected as Chief Scientist,” news release 02-27, 12 February 

2002. 
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60

for planets and planetary systems. ESA scientist Markus Landgraf had led the research team, 

which had made the discovery using data collected by Pioneer 10 and 11.187

16 February 

The American Association for the Advancement of Science named Senior Research Scientist 

David Halpern of NASA’s JPL a fellow, in recognition of his work on air-sea interactions in 

tropical oceans and on satellite measurements of ocean-surface quantities.188

22 February 

The United States and Europe began incorporating data about wind speed and direction into their 

operational global weather analysis and forecast systems. NASA’s Quick Scatterometer 

(QuikSCAT) spacecraft had gathered the data, which forecasters would use to predict, 6 to 12 

hours earlier than before, hazardous weather events occurring over the oceans. QuikSCAT was 

orbiting Earth every 100 minutes, using its SeaWinds scatterometer to collect approximately 

400,000 measurements over 90 percent of Earth’s surface within each 24-hour period. Although 

the spacecraft had launched in 1999, a series of collaborative research efforts, among 

organizations including NASA, NOAA, and numerous European agencies, had only recently 

enabled scientists to take advantage of the data’s full potential. The QuikSCAT program’s 

participants included the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and the 

National Centers for Environmental Prediction, a branch of the National Weather Service.189

25 February 

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the world’s leading professional society 

in the field, elected Charles Elachi, Director of NASA’s JPL, as a fellow in the society. In his 

research concerning geological analysis of Earth, Elachi had developed 45 flight missions and 

instruments, including radar remote-sensing techniques used to study Venus.190

26 February 

NASA named 16 crew members for two Space Shuttle missions to the ISS, scheduled for 2003. 

Mission STS-115 would carry Commander Brent W. Jett Jr. and crew members Daniel C. 

Burbank, Christopher J. Ferguson, Steven G. MacLean, Heidemarie M. Stefanyshyn-Piper, and 

Joseph R. Tanner. Mission STS-116 would carry Commander Terrence W. Wilcutt and the 

crew―American astronauts Robert L. Curbeam Jr. and William A. Oefelein, and Swedish ESA 

astronaut Christer Fuglesang. NASA planned for STS-115 to deliver a second port truss segment 

to the ISS. Later, crew would attach the second port truss segment to a third port truss, which 

STS-116 would deliver. STS-116 would also involve rotation of the crew: the Shuttle would 

carry ISS Expedition 8 Commander C. Michael Foale, astronaut William S. McArthur, and 

Russian cosmonaut Valery I. Tokarev to the ISS, for a long-term stay, and would return ISS 

 

187 ESA, “ESA Scientist Discovers a Way To Shortlist Stars That Might Have Planets,” ESA news release SNR 1-

2002, 15 February 2002. 

188 NASA JPL, “JPL Researcher Honored by Largest Scientific Discovery,” news release, 28 February 2002. 

189 NASA, “NASA’s QuikSCAT Spacecraft Turns Operational,” news release 02-33, 22 February 2002; NASA JPL, 

“MissionsSeaWinds on QuikSCAT,” http://winds.jpl.nasa.gov/ missions/quikscat/index.cfm (accessed 1 August 

2008). 

190 NASA JPL, “JPL Director Honored by Leading Aeronautic Institute,” news release, 25 February 2002. 
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61

Expedition 7 Commander Yuri I. Malenchenko and crew members Edward T. Lu and Sergei I. 

Moschenko to Earth.191

27 February 

Administrator Sean O’Keefe testified before the U.S. House Committee on Science and 

Technology concerning NASA’s FY 2003 budget. Administrator O’Keefe also reported a recent 

independent audit of NASA’s finances, which NASA planned to release to the public the next 

day. According to newspaper reports, the lawmakers questioned O’Keefe in a tone that was 

frequently skeptical and even critical. At the time of O’Keefe’s testimony, NASA was already 

under public scrutiny regarding its budget overruns and financial accounting procedures, and 

critics had proposed reductions in its budget for human space travel.192

For the first time, scientists made combined internal and external observations of Jupiter’s 

magnetosphere, the biggest object with distinct boundaries within the solar system. In the first 

conjunction of two spacecraft at an outer planet, the Galileo spacecraft conducted observations 

from inside Jupiter’s magnetosphere, a comet-shaped region of space filled by the planet’s 

magnetic field. Meanwhile, on the outside of the magnetosphere, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft 

monitored the effects of solar windparticles that flow from the Sun through the solar system. 

Scientists augmented the data gathered during these observations with data from nearsimultaneous observations collected from radio telescopes on Earth and from spacecraft orbiting 

Earth, namely the HST and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Researchers found that, although 

Jupiter’s magnetosphere deflects solar winds, shock waves carried by solar winds compress the 

magnetosphere, stimulate radio emissions from within it, and brighten auroras at the planet’s 

poles. The observations helped bolster researchers’ confidence in their understanding of Earth’s 

own protective magnetosphere.193

Researchers using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory found a substantial, pulsating 

source of x-rays in Jupiter’s atmosphere near the planet’s north magnetic pole. Existing theories 

could not explain either the pulsations or the location of the x-ray source. Scientists had posited 

that energetic oxygen and sulfur ions steadily precipitate from Jupiter’s inner magnetosphere, 

entering the planet’s polar regions and producing a northern aurora of x-rays. However, images 

from Chandra revealed that most of Jupiter’s northern auroral x-rays originate at latitudes that 

only ions precipitating from Jupiter’s outer magnetosphere could reach. In addition, researchers 

found that the hot-spot source of the x-rays was pulsating at 45-minute intervals, contradicting 

scientists’ theory that the x-ray emissions originate from a steady precipitation of ions in the 

inner magnetosphere. Although this discovery invalidated previous theories, scientists were not 

yet able to explain the process they had observed. Specifically, according to Chandra’s 

measurements, the researchers found insufficient energetic oxygen and sulfur ions within the 

required distance of the ion source―at least 30 times Jupiter’s radius―to account for the 

observed x-ray emissions.194

 

191 NASA, “Astronauts Named to Key Space Station Missions,” news release 02-35, 26 February 2002. 

192 Karen Masterson, “Skeptical Lawmakers Quiz NASA Chief About Budget,” Houston Chronicle, 28 February 

2002. 

193 NASA JPL, “Solar Wind Buffets Vast Jupiter Region, Team Approach Reveals,” news release, 27 February 

2002; Thomas W. Hill, “Magnetic Moments at Jupiter,” Nature 415, no. 6875 (28 February 2002): 965–966. 

194 NASA, “Jupiter Hot Spot Makes Trouble for Theory,” news release 02-34, 28 February 2002; G. R. Gladstone et 

al., “A Pulsating Auroral X-ray Hot Spot on Jupiter,” Nature 415, no. 6875 (28 February 2002): 1000–1003. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

62

28 February 

NASA released two reports of an audit conducted by the independent firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, noting several problems with NASA’s system of financial management and record 

keeping. In one report, PricewaterhouseCoopers stated that NASA had not provided auditors 

with timely and sufficient documentary evidence of its financial transactions. Thus, auditors 

could not determine the accuracy and completeness of NASA’s reported financial obligations, 

expenses, and equipment, including those related to the ISS and Space Shuttle programs. The 

audit did not state that waste or fraud characterized NASA’s financial management; rather, the 

report concluded that NASA’s incomplete financial records obviated any definitive assessment 

of its finances. In the second report, the auditors enumerated several problems with NASA’s 

internal controls over financial reporting, but also stated that they would not provide an opinion 

on the merit of those internal controls.195

MARCH 2002 

1 March 

Space Shuttle Columbia launched from NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 6:22 a.m. 

(EST). Weather, mechanical issues, and other concerns had prompted NASA to postpone 

Columbia’s launch several times, from its original launch date of 19 November 2001. Officially 

designated STS-109, the mission’s objective was to service the HST, the fourth such mission 

(designated Mission SM3B) for the HST. The payload consisted of various technology updates 

for the HST, including a new camera and solar arrays. In addition, Columbia carried seven crew 

members: Mission Commander Scott D. Altman and astronauts Duane G. Carey, Nancy J. 

Currie, John M. Grunsfeld, Richard M. Linnehan, Michael J. Massimino, and James H. 

Newman.196

ESA launched the environmental satellite Envisat on an Ariane-5 rocket. The primary mission of 

Envisat, designed to provide continuous monitoring of Earth’s atmosphere, ice caps, and land, 

was to measure sea color in coastal areas and in oceans. To perform this monitoring, Envisat was 

equipped with 10 optical and radar instruments, including the Advanced Synthetic Aperture 

Radar and the Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer. ESA planned for the satellite to orbit 

Earth every 100 minutes, examining each region of Earth once every 35 days.197

Engineers succeeded in returning NASA’s Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) 

spacecraft to full operational status. Some of the satellite’s guidance components had failed in 

December 2001, and engineers had feared that the mission would terminate prematurely. Mission 

engineers on Earth had been able to revive FUSE with a new, innovative guidance system, which 

 

195 Karen Masterson and Mark Carreau, “NASA Bookkeeping in Disarray,” Houston Chronicle, 1 March 2002; 

PricewaterhouseCoopers, “Report of Independent Accountants” (report, Washington, DC, 22 February 2002), 

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq/igfy01fsaudit.pdf (accessed 5 August 2008); PricewaterhouseCoopers, “Report 

of Independent Accountants on Internal Control” (report, Washington, DC, 22 February 2002), 

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oig/hq/lrreport022602.pdf (accessed 5 August 2008). 

196 NASA, “STS-109,” http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-109/mission-sts-109.html (accessed 10 

August 2008); William Harwood, “Cooling Glitch Mars Shuttle’s Hubble Trip,” Washington Post, 2 March 2002. 

197 Puttkamer, “Space Flight 2002”; ESA, “Envisat Overview,” 

http://www.esa.int/esaEO/SEMWYN2VQUD_index_0_m.html (accessed 10 August 2008). 
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63

used the satellite’s electromagnets to push and pull on Earth’s magnetic field, thereby pointing 

the satellite in the desired direction. Engineers had originally developed the innovative guidance 

system as a contingency for a failure of this type, but NASA had never before used the system to 

navigate a satellite with the accuracy required for scientific observations.198

2 March 

Scientists with NASA’s JPL made contact with Pioneer 10, the first object made by humans to 

leave the solar system. NASA scientists had last made contact with the space probe on 9 July 

2001 but had lost contact with Pioneer 10 from August 2000 to April 2001. Pioneer 10, launched 

on 2 March 1972, had been the first spacecraft to pass through an asteroid belt, the first to make 

direct observations of Jupiter, and in 1983, became the first object made by humans to leave the 

solar system. After Pioneer 10’s mission had ended on 31 March 1997, scientists with JPL’s 

Deep Space Network had continued to track the spacecraft’s signal as part of a study of 

communications technology. In addition, NASA had used the probe for training flight controllers 

in the acquisition of radio signals from space.199

8 March 

James Bock, an astrophysicist at NASA’s JPL, received the Presidential Early Career Award for 

Scientists and Engineers. Bock had begun his career with JPL in 1994, developing detectors and 

instruments for far-infrared, millimeter-wave astrophysics. The award is the U.S. government’s 

highest honor for scientists and engineers commencing their careers.200

NASA successfully launched the second spacecraft for its Tracking and Data Relay Satellite 

(TDRS) fleetcalled the TDRS-9 or TDRS-Ifrom Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 10:59 p.m. 

(UT). The TDRS satellite system provided tracking and data-acquisition services between low 

Earth-orbiting spacecraft and ground-based control and data-processing facilities. In addition, the 

TDRS satellite system served numerous NASA programs, including the HST, the ISS, and the 

Space Shuttle. NASA had launched the first TDRS satellite in 1983.201

9 March 

Crew of Space Shuttle Columbia STS-109 finished installing several new instruments on the 12-

year-old HST and sent the observatory back into orbit. During a series of five spacewalks 

conducted in as many days, Columbia’s crew had installed a new power-shunting unit, an 

improved solar panel, and a cooling unit that would restore the Near-Infrared Camera and MultiObject Spectrometer (NICMOS) to operational status. In addition, Columbia’s crew had installed 

 

198 NASA, “NASA’s FUSE Satellite Lit Again,” news release 02-45, 6 March 2002; Johns Hopkins University 

Department of Physics and Astronomy, “Fuse Mission Status Report” (mission status report no. 56, Johns Hopkins 

University, Baltimore, MD, 25 March 2002), http://fuse.pha.jhu.edu/facts/ miss_rep56.html (accessed 10 August 

2008). 

199 NASA, “An Early NASA Pioneer Still on the Job in Deep Space,” news release 02-44, 4 March 2002. 200 NASA JPL, “JPL Astrophysicist Receives Presidential Award,” news release, 8 March 2002. 201 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 581, 1 April 2002, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx581.html (accessed 31 

October 2008); NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, National Space Science Data Center, “NASA’s Tracking and 

Data Relay Satellites (TDRS),” http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/multi/tdrs.html (accessed 31 October 2008). 
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64

a new main camera, the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), which NASA had designed to 

give the telescope unprecedented ability to observe distant galaxies and other objects.202

12 March 

Space Shuttle Columbia STS-109 landed at NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 4:32 

a.m. (EST). During the 11-day mission, the Shuttle crew had conducted five spacewalks and 

performed several significant modifications of the HST, including the installation of an ACS and 

an experimental cryocooler, which had restored the operation of the NICMOS. The mission’s 

total duration was 10 days, 22 hours, and 11 minutes.203

13 March 

The White House informed NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe that it was withdrawing Major 

General Charles F. Bolden as its nominee for NASA’s Deputy Administrator. According to a 

White House spokesperson, President George W. Bush had withdrawn the nomination so that 

Bolden could serve the military in the war on terrorism. At the time of the nomination, Bolden, a 

former astronaut, was the commanding general for the Third U.S. Marine Aircraft Wing, which 

had nearly 11,000 U.S. Marines in Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.204

17 March 

Two spacecraft comprising the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) launched 

on a single rocket vehicle from Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The five-year mission’s main 

purpose was to map variations in Earth’s gravity field, using the GPS and a microwave ranging 

system to measure the distance between the mission’s two identical satellites―nicknamed Tom 

and Jerry. The two craft were to monitor each other while flying in a polar orbit 500 kilometers 

(311 miles) above Earth. This mission, to study measurements of gravity variations, could help 

scientists understand better the changes in the transport of mass around the planet. Changes in 

mass, such as ocean currents, ground-water storage, and mass within Earth, can affect climate 

and other aspects of the planet’s environment. The GRACE mission was a partnership between 

NASA and the Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (the German Aerospace Center).205

18 March 

Citing terrorism concerns, NASA officials stated that NASA planned to change the manner in 

which it released information about launch times to the public. NASA officials said that NASA 

would no longer publicize launch times until 24 hours before liftoff, at which time NASA would 

announce a 4-hour time slot during which liftoff would occur. The change was a reversal of 

NASA’s previous practice of announcing specific launch times months in advance of liftoff.206

 

202 Warren E. Leary, “Hubble Returning to Mission Able To Peer Deeper Into Space,” New York Times, 10 March 

2002. 

203 NASA, “STS-109,” http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-109/mission-sts-109.html (accessed 11 

August 2002); Puttkamer, “Space Flight 2002.” 204 NASA, “Deputy Administrator Nomination Withdrawn,” news release 02-49, 13 March 2002; Mark Carreau and 

Bennett Roth, “Nomination Is Withdrawn for Deputy’s Post at NASA,” Houston Chronicle, 14 March 2002. 205 University of Texas Center for Space Research, “GRACE: Mission Overview,” 

http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/overview.html (accessed 11 August 2002); Warren E. Leary, “New Satellites To 

Map Gravity More Precisely,” New York Times, 19 March 2002. 206 Steve Siceloff, “NASA To Withhold Shuttle Launch Times,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 19 March 2002. 
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65

NASA announced the assignment of three crew members to begin training for the ninth 

expedition to the ISS. The three were Station Commander Gennady I. Padalka and crew 

members E. Michael Fincke and Oleg D. Kononenko. NASA assigned American astronaut 

Daniel M. Tani to serve as backup for his fellow compatriot Fincke and selected cosmonauts 

Alexander F. Poleschuk and Roman Y. Romanenko to serve as backups for fellow Russians 

Kononenko and Padalka.207

20 March 

The U.S. House Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial 

Management, and Intergovernmental Relations held a hearing, “Financial Management at 

NASA: What Went Wrong?” Stephen Varholy and Alan Lamoreaux of NASA and Gregory D. 

Kutz and Allen Li of GAO provided testimony to the Subcommittee. The hearing focused on 

NASA’s methods of financial accounting and on the role of its former auditor, Arthur Andersen 

LLP, in assessing those methods. Kutz reported that NASA’s system of accounting had made it 

difficult for GAO to assess NASA’s financial records and questioned Arthur Andersen LLP’s 

ability to assess those records accurately.208

23 March 

Thomas J. Kelly, designated by NASA as father of the lunar module, died at the age of 72 in 

Cutchogue, New York. Kelly had led a team of engineers at Grumman Aircraft Corporation in 

designing and building the Lunar Excursion Module known as the Eagle. Apollo 11 astronauts 

had used the Eagle to land on the Moon and to return to the orbiting command module for the 

trip back to Earth. In 1972 NASA had awarded Kelly with its Distinguished Public Service 

Medal for his work on the Apollo program. Kelly’s wife, six children, and 10 grandchildren 

survived him.209

27 March 

The National Weather Service Aviation Weather Center in Kansas City, Missouri, placed in 

operation a computer-based warning system called the Current Icing Potential (CIP), designed to 

alert aviation controllers to the potential for icing along flight routes. The National Center for 

Atmospheric Research had developed the warning system with funding from the FAA. The CIP 

used information from satellite data, ground observations, and other sources to produce 

information on the likelihood of airplanes experiencing icing along flight routes. The FAA had 

supported the development of the CIP to improve flight planning and aircraft safety.210

29 March 

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe announced his selection of an independent task force to 

assess the productivity and priorities of the research produced by NASA’s Office of Biological 

 

207 NASA, “Astronauts Assigned for Space Station Expedition Training,” news release 02-55, 18 March 2002. 208 U.S. General Accounting Office, “National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Leadership and Systems 

Needed to Effect Financial Management Improvements” (testimony of Gregory D. Kutz and Allen Li before U.S. 

House Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on Government Efficiency, Financial Management, and 

Intergovernmental Relations; report no. GAO-02-551T, Washington, DC, 20 March 2002), 

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02551t.pdf (accessed 12 August 2002). 

209 Warren E. Leary, “T. J. Kelly, 72, Dies; Father of Lunar Module,” New York Times, 27 March 2002. 210 Federal Aviation Administration’s R&D Review, Spring 2003, 2, 6, 11,

http://www.airporttech.tc.faa.gov/RD/2003_spring.pdf (accessed 3 March 2009). 
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66

and Physical Research (OBPR) and to provide a report to the NASA Advisory Council. O’Keefe 

expected the task force, designated the Research Maximization and Prioritization Task Force 

(ReMAP), to recommend strategies the OBPR could use to achieve its research goals and still 

remain within President George W. Bush’s requested budget. In addition, O’Keefe requested the 

task force to offer assessments and recommendations to guide NASA in maximizing the 

scientific returns of the ISS’s missions and of its other programs. O’Keefe selected Rae Silver, 

the Helene L. and Mark N. Kaplan Professor of Natural and Physical Sciences at Columbia 

University, as the chairperson of ReMAP.211

APRIL 2002 

1 April 

Jefferson Davis Howell Jr. became the eighth Director of NASA’s JSC, replacing Acting 

Director Roy S. Estess, who resumed his position as Director of NASA’s Stennis Space Center 

(SSC). Before assuming the post, Howell had worked for Science Applications International 

Corporation (SAIC) administering its safety, reliability, and quality-assurance contract with 

NASA, to provide safety and mission assurance for the Space Shuttle and ISS programs.212

4 April 

In an article in the journal Nature, astronomers at ESA reported that they had found evidence 

indicating which specific type of stellar object produces gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), the 

universe’s most energetic phenomena. Prevailing hypotheses had posited that, either GRBs 

originate from the merger of two neutron stars, or they form from the collapse of one massive 

star, but researchers had discovered no conclusive proof to support either of these ideas. 

However, based on their analysis of the speed, temperature, and chemical elements of a GRB 

that had occurred on 11 December 2001, ESA astronomers found evidence supporting the latter 

hypothesis. The research team examined two sequential observations of the GRB, both taken by 

ESA satellites: the BeppoSAX satellite had made the first observation, and, nearly 11 hours later, 

the XMM-Newton satellite had made the second. The team had found large quantities of argon, 

calcium, magnesium, silicon, and sulphur, moving at 1/10th the speed of light. These findings 

supported the idea that a supernova explosion from a single massive star produces GRBs. If the 

merger of two neutron stars had produced the burst, astronomers would have expected the stars 

to produce large amounts of elements other than those observed―particularly iron―and to emit 

those elements at a slower velocity.213

5 April 

NASA’s JPL researchers identified a 1-kilometer-long (0.62-mile-long) asteroid that might 

possibly crash into Earth in the future―although such an event would be highly unlikely. In the 

report published in the journal Science, the scientists suggested that asteroid 1950 DA would 

come close to Earth in 2880, but that the probability of a collision would be low. The study had 

 

211 NASA, “NASA Administrator Names Task Force To Review Biological and Physical Research Programs,” news 

release 02-61, 29 March 2002. 

212 NASA JSC, “Jefferson Davis Howell Jr. Named as Johnson Space Center Director,” news release J02-17, 12 

February 2002. 

213 J. N. Reeves et al., “The Signature of Supernova Ejecta in the X-ray Afterglow of the γ-ray Burst 011211,” 

Nature 416, no. 6880 (4 April 2002): 512–515; ESA, “ESA’s X-ray Space Telescope Proves Supernovae Can Cause 

Mysterious Gamma-Ray Bursts,” ESA news release 22-2002, 4 April 2002. 
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67

incorporated radar and optical measurements of the asteroid collected over 51 years and had used 

analytical techniques unprecedented in asteroid-trajectory predictions and hazard studies. Based 

on their analysis, JPL scientists had identified a 20-minute window on 16 March 2880, in which 

“there could be a non-negligible probability of the 1-kilometer [0.62-mile] object colliding with 

Earth.” However, they clarified that the odds of a collision were at most 1 in 300 and possibly 

even more remote, considering how little they knew about the asteroid. The research results 

indicated that, despite the remote possibility of such a collision, 1950 DA poses a relatively 

greater potential hazard to Earth than any other known asteroid.214

8 April 

Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-110 lifted off at 4:44 p.m. (EST) from NASA’s KSC in Cape 

Canaveral, Florida. The object of STS-110/ISS Assembly Flight 8A was to attach to the ISS a 

43-foot-long (13-meter-long) truss structure called the Starboard Zero (S Zero or S0). The 

mission’s payload included several science payloads, the S0 Truss, and the Mobile Transporter 

(MT). NASA had designed the MT to move the completed truss and to act as a work platform for 

a mechanical arm, which the crew would install in the future. The crew included Mission 

Commander Michael J. Bloomfield and astronauts Stephen N. Frick, Lee M. E. Morin, Ellen 

Ochoa, Jerry L. Ross, Steven L. Smith, and Rex J. Walheim.215

10 April 

Two separate teams of astronomers reported that NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and the 

HST had observed two stars, possibly composed of a form of matter unknown to scientists. 

Researchers examining data from Chandra and the HST had noted that the neutron star RX 

J1856.5–3754 was far smaller than expected and, therefore, had concluded that the star might be 

composed, not of neutrons, but of quarkscomponents of protons and neutrons that scientists 

had never before observed outside of the nucleus of an atom in laboratories on Earth. Another 

team of astronomers had analyzed Chandra’s observations of neutron star 3C 58 and had found 

that the star’s temperature was less than 1,000,000°C (1,800,032°F), a far lower temperature than 

scientists would expect for a star composed of pure neutrons. Thus, that star also appeared to be 

composed, either of quarks, or of another form of matter unknown to scientists.216

In a letter to the congressional committees overseeing NASA’s budget requests, the GAO stated 

that it could not verify NASA’s accounting of amounts charged against cost limits for the ISS 

and Space Shuttle programs, as reported to Congress in NASA’s FY 2003 budget. Federal law 

required GAO to provide verification of these amounts to the U.S. House Committee on Science 

and Technology and to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. 

However, GAO said that NASA’s lack of an integrated financial management system had 

 

214 J. D. Giorgini, “Asteroid 1950 DA’s Encounter with Earth in 2880: Physical Limits of Collision Probability 

Prediction,” Science 296, no. 5565 (5 April 2002): 132–136; NASA JPL, “Radar Pushes Limits of Asteroid Impact 

Prediction,” news release, 4 April 2002. 

215 NASA, “Framework for Expanding Station Research: STS-110,” press kit, 20 March 2001, 

http://www.shuttlepresskit.com/STS-110/spk-110.pdf (accessed 12 August 2008); William Harwood, “Shuttle on 

Haul to Space Station,” Washington Post, 9 April 2002. 216 NASA, “Cosmic X-rays Reveal Evidence for New Form of Matter,” news release 02-65, 10 April 2002; Jeremy 

J. Drake, “Is RX J1856.5-3754 a Quark Star?” Astrophysical Journal 572, no. 2 (20 June 2002): 996–1001; Patrick 

O. Slane, David J. Hefland, and Stephen S. Murray, “New Constraints on Neutron Star Cooling from Chandra

Observations of 3C 58,” Astrophysical Journal Letters 571, no. 1 (20 May 2002): L45–L49. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

68

prevented NASA from providing GAO with details of costs charged against these programs. 

GAO reported that NASA’s 10 centers operated separate accounting systems, each with its own 

policies and practices, and that some centers could not provide complete and detailed 

documentation of accounts covering several fiscal years. GAO also reported that NASA officials 

had responded that NASA’s accounts were verifiable, stating that the verification problems lay in 

GAO’s auditing methodology rather than in NASA’s system of accounting.217

11 April 

Astronauts aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-110 attached a 44-foot (13-meter) truss, 

containing computers, coolant lines, electrical cables, and other components to the ISS. The 

27,000-pound (12,250-kilogram) beam, dubbed Starboard Zero or S0, was the first of nine truss 

segments that would form a 356-foot (110-meter) exterior spine, supporting new solar arrays, 

heat radiators, and laboratory modules. The installation, involving the first use of the 58-foot 

(18-meter), Canadian-built robotic arm designed for the station, required two separate 

spacewalks, performed by two different pairs of astronauts.218

U.S. Navy officials announced that the Navy had been using NASA satellite data in combat, the 

first time the military had done so. The officials stated that the Navy had used unclassified 

NASA data to help guide ships and planes engaged in combat operations in Afghanistan. Major 

media reported that members of Congress had voiced mixed reactions to the announcement, with 

some members expressing their concern that the cooperation between NASA and the military 

would overstep the bounds of NASA’s civilian charter.219

12 April 

In his first major speech as NASA’s Administrator, Sean O’Keefe announced his strategic vision 

for the future of NASA. In his speech, “Pioneering the Future,” at Syracuse University’s 

Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, O’Keefe stated that NASA’s new vision was 

“to improve life here, to extend life to there, and to find life beyond.” In addition, O’Keefe said 

that NASA’s mission was “to understand and protect our home planet, to explore the universe 

and search for life, to inspire the next generation of explorers . . . as only NASA can.” O’Keefe 

also emphasized that NASA would carry out its mission with a commitment to fiscal 

responsibility and to working with academia, government agencies, and private industry.220

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe announced that, after international partners had completed 

certain portions of the ISS, former schoolteacher Barbara R. Morgan would fly on a Space 

Shuttle mission to the station. NASA had selected Morgan as a mission specialist in the astronaut 

class of 1998. She had subsequently worked in ISS Mission Control, relaying instructions 

between ISS Mission Control and the crew of Expedition 4 aboard the ISS. Morgan had 

previously served as a backup candidate for the Teacher in Space Program, training with Christa 

McAuliffe and the STS-51L crew of Space Shuttle Challenger. At the time of O’Keefe’s 

 

217 U.S. General Accounting Office, “NASA Space Station Cost Limits” (report no. GAO-02-504R, Washington, 

DC, 10 April 2002), http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d02504r.pdf (accessed 12 August 2008). 218 Warren E. Leary, “Major Component of Space Station Is Attached,” New York Times, 12 April 2002; Puttkamer, 

“Space Flight 2002.” 

219 Houston Chronicle, “NASA Satellite Guides Navy Warplanes, Ships,” 12 April 2002. 220 NASA, “Administrator Unveils Future NASA Vision and a Renewed Journey of Learning,” new release 02-66, 

12 April 2002. 
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announcement, Morgan was part of a new Educator Astronaut Program administered by NASA 

and the Department of Education, designed to attract students to engineering, math, and 

science.221

14 April 

James S. Martin, former NASA Manager of the Viking missions to Mars, died at the age of 81. 

Martin had led the nationwide team of 750 engineers, scientists, and technicians that had 

developed the Viking 1 and Viking 2 spacecraft. The two craft had launched in 1975 and landed 

on Mars a year later, making Viking the first mission to successfully soft-land on the surface of 

another planet. Martin had joined NASA in 1964 as an Assistant Project Manager for the Lunar 

Orbiter, and in 1967 he had received NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal for his contribution to 

that project. He had departed from NASA in 1976 to work for Martin Marietta Aerospace, and in 

2000 NASA had asked him to leave retirement to lead its effort to restructure its Mars 

Exploration Program.222

17 April 

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe testified before the U.S. House Appropriations 

Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies, which has primary jurisdiction for 

setting NASA’s annual funding levels. The subcommittee hearing was held in preparation for 

markup of FY 2003 appropriations legislation. Major media reported that subcommittee 

members were critical of NASA’s plans to eliminate certain programs to achieve President 

George W. Bush’s proposed reduction of US$1 billion in funding from NASA’s human 

spaceflight programs. In response to the comments of some members of the subcommittee, 

O’Keefe noted that, because NASA planned to complete its review of human spaceflight 

programs later in the year, he could not yet identify the programs that the budget cuts would 

affect. O’Keefe also said that NASA would provide Congress with a review of its scientific 

priorities by June and an independent cost assessment by August.223

18 April 

Using images from the HST, astronomers reported their analysis of a new class of objects in the 

solar system. The researchers reported that Kuiper Belt object 1998 WW31 is binarycomposed 

of two objects that orbit around a common center of mass as they both orbit the Sunwith a 

highly eccentric orbit and a long period. However, they had found that 1998 WW31 is very 

different from the Pluto/Charon system, which was previously the only known binary in the 

Kuiper Belt. The Kuiper Belt is the region of space that extends from Neptune, at 30 AU 

(astronomical units)the approximate mean distance between Earth and the Sun) to more than 

100 AU. Since its discovery in 1992, the Kuiper Belt has helped scientists understand the solar 

system’s formation. Although scientists had discovered 1998 WW31 in 1998, they had reported 

it as a single Kuiper Belt object. However, analysis of observations made in 2000 indicated that 

 

221 NASA, “Press Briefing Scheduled with NASA Administrator and Astronaut Barbara Morgan,” news release 

N02-28, 15 April 2002; William Harwood, “McAuliffe’s Backup Will Go to Space in 2004,” Washington Post, 13 

April 2002. 

222 NASA, “Mars Viking Leader, James S. Martin Jr. Dies,” news release 02-72, 18 April 2002. 223 Karen Masterson, “DeLay Calls Plans for NASA ‘Timid’,” Houston Chronicle, 18 April 2002; U.S. Congress, 

House of Representatives, Committee on Apropriations, Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies, 

Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies Appropriations 

for 2003, Part I, 107th Cong., 2nd sess., 17 April 2002. 
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70

the object might contain two components. Further analysis, using ground-based and HST 

observations made in 2001 and 2002, confirmed 1998 WW31’s binarity.224

19 April 

Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-110 landed at NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 10:27 

a.m. (EST). While in orbit, the Shuttle’s crew had performed four spacewalks to connect the S0 

Truss to the ISS and to prepare the MTa track-mounted platformfor use. The crew had used 

the robotic arms of both Atlantis and the ISS to install the truss. STS-110 was the first mission in 

which the crew had used the ISS’s robotic arm to maneuver crew members around the station as 

they performed spacewalks. In addition, it was the first mission in which the crew’s base for all 

of its spacewalks was the ISS’s Quest Airlock. The Shuttle’s crew had also engaged in joint 

operations with the ISS’s Expedition 4 crew. The total duration of STS-110 was 10 days, 19 

hours, and 42 minutes.225

24 April 

Scientists announced an estimate of the universe’s age based on new HST images of very faint 

white dwarf stars in Messier 4 (M4), a cluster of stars in the constellation Scorpius. The 

researchers had closely examined M4’s white dwarf starslow-mass stars that have exhausted 

their fuel sources for thermonuclear fusion. Although white dwarfs cool at a predictable rate, 

enabling scientists to estimate their age, they become progressively fainter as they cool, making 

them difficult to observe. The HST had provided the first deep exposures of these dim stars, 

which the astronomers discovered were M4’s oldest white dwarf stars, at around 12 to 13 billion 

years old. Earlier Hubble observations had revealed that the first stars in the universe had formed 

less than 1 billion years after the universe’s emergence from the Big Bang. Thus, the researchers 

had discovered that the age of these M4 white dwarfs supported the previous estimates that the 

universe’s age is 13 to 14 billion years old. The use of this new methodology to estimate the 

universe’s age represented a major departure from those used previously.226

25 April 

The Russian Soyuz TM-34 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:27 a.m. 

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)1:27 a.m. (EST). The mission, designated Soyuz 4 Taxi Flight, 

carried three crew membersCommander Yuri P. Gidzenko of Russia, Italian astronaut Roberto 

Vittori, and South African businessman Mark Shuttleworth. The mission’s main purpose was to 

deliver a new Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS for use as an emergency lifeboat for the ISS’s 

permanent three-member crew. In addition, major media noted that Shuttleworth had paid the 

Russian Space Agency a fee of approximately US$20 million to fly on Soyuz to the ISS.227

 

224 Christian Veillet, “The Binary Kuiper-Belt Object 1998 WW31,” Nature 416, no. 6882 (18 April 2002): 711–

713; NASA, “Hubble Hunts Down Odd Couples at the Fringes of Our Solar System,” news release 02-70, 17 April 

2002. 

225 NASA, “STS-110 Extravehicular Activities,” http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/archives/sts-110/eva/index.html

(accessed 12 August 2002); NASA, “STS-110: A Framework for Station Expansion,” 

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/archives/sts-110/ (accessed 12 August 2002). 226 NASA, “Hubble Uncovers Oldest ‘Clocks’ in Space To Read Age of Universe,” news release 02-73, 24 April 

2004; Brad M. S. Hansen et al., “The White Dwarf Cooling Sequence of the Globular Cluster Messier 4,” 

Astrophysical Journal 574, no. 2 (1 August 2002): L155–L158. 227 NASA, “Soyuz 4 Taxi Flight Crew,” http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/crew/exp4/taxi4/index.html (accessed 12 

August 2002); Houston Chronicle, “Space Tourist No. 2,” 25 April 2002. 
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71

30 April 

NASA released the first four images taken by the HST’s newly installed Advanced Camera for 

Surveys (ACS). During Mission STS-109 in March 2002, astronauts had installed the ACS, 

capable of providing images with double the area and resolution of those provided by the Wide 

Field Planetary Camera 2, which the ACS had replaced. The ACS had captured images of a 

turbulent galaxy, which scientists called Tadpole because of its long tail of stars; of two colliding 

spiral galaxies known as the Mice; of the Cone Nebula, which looks like a red volcano; and of 

the M17 Swan Nebula, a richly colored, cloudy-looking nebula containing newly forming 

planetary systems.228

MAY 2002 

3 May 

NASA awarded a US$1.14 billion contract to the Boeing Company’s Rocketdyne Propulsion and 

Power division for maintenance and support of the Space Shuttle’s main engine during the 

ensuing five years. Under the terms of the contract, Rocketdyne was to provide flight and test 

engineering; engine refurbishment; and manufacture, assembly, test, and delivery of three 

additional Space Shuttle main engines. The contract also required Rocketdyne to provide 

engineering support for NASA’s main engine facilities at NASA’s KSC and SSC. From 1972 

until the company signed the contract, Rocketdyne had assembled 106 main engines for NASA’s 

Shuttles.229

4 May 

The Earth observation satellite Aqua launched aboard a Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg Air 

Force Base in California. The satellite Aqua was a component of the Earth Observing System 

(EOS), which also included the Terra satellite launched in December 1999. Aqua’s primary 

purpose was to acquire information about the effects of climate change on the water cycle. The 

satellite would also collect data to help scientists examine biological systems dependent upon 

water and improve long-term forecasts of weather and climate. Brazil, Japan, and the United 

States planned for their joint project Aqua to continue for six years.230

7 May 

In an article published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, scientists using data from 

NASA’s high-altitude research balloon reported a discovery that, potentially, could improve the 

research methodology for studying gases that contribute to ozone-layer depletion. Although 

scientists already knew that reactive hydrogen gases destroy stratospheric ozone and were able to 

detect hydrogen peroxide from space, they had problems with computer models used to analyze 

hydrogen-peroxide concentration in the atmosphere. However, in the reported study, researchers 

funded by NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise had compared a new predicted rate of hydrogen-

 

228 NASA, “Hubble’s New Camera Delivers Breathtaking Views of the Universe,” news release 02-74, 30 April 

2002; Warren E. Leary, “Telescope Opens Window on Dawn of the Universe,” New York Times, 1 May 2002. 

229 NASA, “NASA Awards $1.14 Billion Space Shuttle Main Engine Contract to Boeing Rocketdyne,” news release 

c02-h, 3 May 2002. 

230 NASA JPL, “Aqua Launched To Study Earth’s Water Cycle,” news release, 4 May 2002; Warren E. Leary, 

“NASA To View Interaction of Earth’s Water and Climate,” New York Times, 30 April 2002. 
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72

peroxide formation with the levels of the gas measured by two instruments on board NASA’s 

high-altitude research balloons. The new data had revealed a high degree of agreement between 

the actual and the predicted measurements. The researchers noted that, although their newly 

discovered rate of hydrogen-peroxide formation had no appreciable impact on rates of 

stratospheric ozone loss, they expected the findings would help to analyze the deleterious effects 

on Earth’s ozone of other, less easily measured, hydrogen gases.231

8 May 

The U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space began hearings 

on legislation to reauthorize NASA programs. Subcommittee chairman Ron Wyden (D–OR) 

expressed concern about the agency’s financial management, particularly cost overruns for the 

ISS. He also urged NASA to maintain the excellence of the Shuttle program while research 

continued on a next-generation space vehicle. Members of the subcommittee heard testimony 

from NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe, who addressed them for the first time, and from 

William F. Readdy, Deputy Associate Administrator of the NASA Office of Space Flight. The 

members of the subcommittee questioned O’Keefe about his vision for NASA and his plans to 

reduce NASA’s budget by ending particular programs. In his prepared statement, O’Keefe 

discussed the status of the ISS and Space Shuttle programs.232

10 May 

Using data from NASA’s Deep Space 1, astronomers uncovered unexpected findings about the 

surface of comets, suggesting that comets might have brought to Earth material necessary for the 

beginning of life. The astronomers had examined images gathered in 2001, during the 

spacecraft’s flyby of the 8-kilometer-long (5-mile-long) comet 19P/Borrelly, the only other 

comet besides 1P/Halley that a spacecraft had examined at such close proximity. Borrelly, the 

first comet of its type examined in this manner, is a short-period comet of the Jupiter family, 

compositionally different from intermediate-period comets such as 1P/Halley. The research, 

published in the journal Science, revealed no water ice or hydrated minerals on the comet’s 

surface, which scientists had unexpectedly found to be hot and dry. Deep Space 1 had also 

revealed that a dark dust, possibly containing biological material, covered the comet, which had 

a far darker surface than most objects in the inner solar system. According to the scientists, this 

finding suggested that comets might have provided a transport mechanism, supplying the organic 

materials required for the beginning of life on Earth.233

12 May 

NASA officials stated that NASA had used Web sites such as Yahoo! and eBay to find 

discontinued electronic equipment. NASA had continued to use electronic components such as 

8-inch-floppy-disc drives, circuit boards, and computer chips, not in the Space Shuttles 

 

231 NASA JPL, “NASA Study Leads to Better Understanding of Ozone Depletion,” news release, 9 May 2002; L. E. 

Christensen et al., “Kinetics of HO2 + HO2 → H2O2: Implications for Stratospheric H2O2,” Geophysical Research 

Letters 29, no. 9 (7 May 2002): 1299. 232 U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Subcommittee on Science, 

Technology, and Space, NASA Reauthorization, 107th Cong., 2nd sess., 8 May 2002; Karen Masterson, “JSC Mission 

May Hit Detour,” Houston Chronicle, 9 May 2002. 233 L. A. Soderblom, “Observations of Comet 19P/Borrelly by the Miniature Integrated Camera and Spectrometer 

Aboard Deep Space 1,” Science 296, no. 5570 (10 May 2002): 1087–1091; NASA JPL, “NASA Spacecraft Finds 

Comet Has Hot, Dry Surface,” news release, 5 April 2002. 
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73

themselves, but in equipment used to service and support the Shuttles. For example, NASA had 

purchased outdated medical equipment to acquire the increasingly scarce Intel 8086 computer 

chip, a variant of the chip used in IBM’s first personal computers in 1981. NASA had continued 

to use the Intel 8086 chip in diagnostic equipment for the Space Shuttle booster rockets, also 

developed in the early 1980s. Although NASA planned to develop various systems with new 

hardware, some crucial systems remained dependent on antiquated electronic parts.234

14 May 

NASA selected the National Consortium for Aviation Mobility (NCAM)a consortium of more 

than 100 public and private entities involved in transportation issuesas its partner in a joint 

venture to develop air-mobility technologies for small aircraft and small airports. By mid-2005 

NASA and NCAM intended to create a flight demonstration, called a proof-of-concept, of 

NASA’s Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS). Engineers planned for the system to 

provide on-demand, point-to-point transportation with 4- to 10-passenger aircraft operating from 

nearly 5,400 public-use landing facilities. NASA officials hoped SATS would improve the 

affordability, efficiency, reliability, and safety of small aircraft servicing small communities 

throughout the United States. However, NASA wanted to determine the project’s feasibility and 

to share its costs through partnerships with public and private entities. NASA expected that 

funding from the Department of Transportation and other federal agencies, along with its own 

contributions, would total nearly US$40 million for research over four years.235

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe named Michael C. Kostelnik as Deputy Associate 

Administrator for the ISS and Space Shuttle, a newly established senior management position in 

the Office of Human Space Flight. Kostelnik assumed responsibility for corporate-level 

management of the two programs’ budgetary, performance, safety, and scheduling requirements. 

Before his retirement from the U.S. Air Force, Kostelnik had served as commander of the Air 

Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.236

16 May 

The International Astronomical Union announced that astronomers had found 11 new moons 

around the planet Jupiter. The discovery increased the total number of known satellites around 

Jupiter to 39, more than any other planet in the solar system. Using the Canada-France-Hawaii 

telescope, astronomers from Cambridge University and the University of Hawaii had first 

detected the moons in December 2001. At 1- to 2-miles (1.6- to 3.2-kilometers) across, the newly 

discovered moons were far smaller than some of Jupiter’s other moons, which are thousands of 

miles (or kilometers) wide. In addition, the astronomers had discovered that the satellites have 

irregular orbits and, unlike the planet’s largest moons, spin in the opposite direction of Jupiter. 

The moons’ irregular orbits around Jupiter indicate that they may have originally orbited the 

Sun.237 

 

234 William J. Broad, “For Parts, NASA Boldly Goes . . . on Ebay,” New York Times, 12 May 2002. 235 NASA, “NASA Selects Partner for Aviation Research,” news release 02-89, 14 May 2002. 236 NASA, “NASA Administrator Names New Deputy Associate Administrator for International Space Station and 

Space Shuttle,” news release 02-79, 14 May 2002; Florida Today (Brevard, FL), “NASA Chief Creates New Space 

Station Post,” 16 May 2002. 

237 Usha Lee McFarling, “11 New Moons of Jupiter Found,” Los Angeles Times, 17 May 2002; NASA JPL, 

“Astronomers Discover 11 More Small Moons of Jupiter,” news release, 17 May 2002. 
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74

21 May 

NASA and U.S. Air Force officials announced that they had agreed with a study team’s 

recommendation that NASA and the Air Force continue to assess the construction of a joint 

reusable launch vehicle (RLV) demonstrator. After spending 120 days examining the two 

organizations’ shared requirements and their technologies to access space, the team’s most 

critical recommendation had been that NASA and the Air Force should cooperate in assessing 

the construction of an RLV demonstrator for their joint operations. In addition, the study team 

had recommended that engineers eventually develop the demonstrator into a crew-operated 

vehicle for NASA and a cargo vehicle for the Air Force. NASA and the Air Force also agreed 

that experienced Air Force personnel should continue to work with NASA in joint study efforts, 

to refine their concepts of operations, requirements, and figures of merit, and to design reference 

missions.238

23 May 

In an article in the journal Nature, scientist Paul M. Schenk provided evidence that Jupiter’s 

moon Europa might not be able to support life, challenging many scientists’ previous 

assessments about the potential for life on the moon. Astrobiologists had theorized that Europa 

might be able to support life, based on the possibility that it might possess a heat source, liquid 

water, and organic material, all necessary for life to exist. However, researchers had also known 

that Europa is covered with a shell of ice, which might be sufficiently thick to prevent sunlight 

and oxygen from reaching water below the icy surface, thereby impeding Europa’s ability to 

support life. Using data obtained from NASA’s Galileo and Voyager spacecraft, Schenk had 

calculated the thickness of Europa’s ice shell by comparing the depths of impact craters on 

Europa with those on Callisto and Ganymede, two other moons of Jupiter. Schenk’s analysis 

indicated that Europa’s ice shell is at least 19-kilometers (12-miles) thick―nearly twice that 

suggested by previous studies and thick enough to prevent the existence of life.239

24 May 

Radar images of near-Earth asteroid 2000 DP107 revealed that it is a binary system, composed of 

two objects orbiting each other. The finding suggested that many near-Earth asteroids could be 

binaries. The images, taken by NASA’s Goldstone telescope facility and the National Science 

Foundation’s Arecibo Observatory, revealed that the asteroid was not one, but two objects, a 

nearly 800-meter-diameter (2,625-foot-diameter) primary and an almost 300-meter-diameter 

(985-foot-diameter) secondary, revolving around their common center of mass. The researchers 

suggested that approximately 16 percent of near-Earth asteroids larger than 200 meters (655 feet) 

in diameter could be binary systems. In addition, the analysis suggested that binaries with similar 

orbits might result from a close encounter of an asteroid and a planet, in which the planet’s 

gravitational pull breaks off a portion of the asteroid. Scientists consider binary asteroids 

potential hazards to Earth and worthy of further study.240 

 

238 NASA, “NASA and Air Force Forge Ahead with Reusable Launch Technology,” news release 02-87, 21 May 

2002. 

239 Usha Lee McFarling, “Life on Jupiter Moon Likely on Thin (or Thick) Ice,” Los Angeles Times, 23 May 2002; 

Paul M. Schenk, “Thickness Constraints on the Icy Shells of the Galilean Satellites from a Comparison of Crater 

Shapers,” Nature 417, no. 6887 (23 May 2002): 419–421. 240 J. L. Margot et al., “Binary Asteroids in the Near-Earth Object Population,” Science 296, no. 5572 (24 May 

2002): 1445–1448; NASA JPL, “Some Asteroids Have Astronomers Seeing Double,” news release, 11 April 2002. 
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28 May 

Using data gathered by NASA’s Mars Odyssey spacecraft, scientists discovered direct evidence 

of water ice on Mars. NASA scientists were using the Odyssey to measure and map soils in 

Mars’s polar regions when the spacecraft’s gamma-ray spectrometer detected hydrogen, 

indicating the presence of substantial, subsurface water ice in the upper meter of soil in a region 

surrounding Mars’s south pole. Scientists had already suspected that Mars possessed large 

quantities of water near its surface, but the Odyssey’s new information was the first direct 

evidence supporting this hypothesis. Scientists also found that large areas in Mars’s low and 

middle latitudes contained “slightly enhanced amounts of hydrogen.” However, their report did 

not indicate whether the hydrogen was in the form of water ice or chemically bound to minerals 

in the soil.241

JUNE 2002 

3 June 

The leaders of the space agencies participating in the ISS met at ESA’s headquarters in Paris to 

discuss the program’s status. The attendees included representatives of NASA, the Canadian 

Space Agency, ESA, Japan’s NASDA, and the Russian Space Agency. All of the agencies 

reaffirmed their commitment to work on developing, assembling, and using the ISS for both 

applied and scientific research. In addition, the agencies agreed on a timeline for the next 

measures they would undertake to ensure that the construction and operation of the ISS met 

system engineering and safety requirements, so that participants could use it for various research 

objectives.242

5 June 

Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-111 launched from NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 

5:22 p.m. (EDT). NASA had originally scheduled the mission to lift off on 30 May but had 

delayed the launch because of mechanical and weather concerns. The Shuttle’s crew included 

Commander Kenneth D. Cockrell and astronauts Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, Valery G. Korzun, 

Paul S. Lockhart, Philippe Perrin, Sergei Y. Treschev, and Peggy A. Whitson. Korzun, Treschev, 

and Whitson were also members of ISS Expedition 5, which was to remain at the ISS when 

Endeavour returned to Earth. STS-111 had several objectives. The Shuttle was transporting to 

the ISS the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM), which contained racks for experiments, 

stowage, and resupply. The crew would also install a component called the Mobile Base System 

(MBS) to service the ISS’s robotic arm. Both the MPLM and the MBS were part of the payload 

of the mission, also designated ISS Utilization Flight 2. A further objective of the mission was to 

transport the crew of Expedition 5 to the ISS and to return the members of Expedition 4 to 

Earth.243 

 

241 NASA, “Odyssey Finds Water Ice in Abundance Under Mars’s Surface,” news release 02-99, 28 May 2002. 242 NASA, “Joint Statement: International Space Station Heads of Agency Meeting,” news release 02-105, 3 June 

2002. 

243 NASA, “STS-111 (110),” http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-111/mission-sts-111.html (accessed 17 

August 2008); NASA, “STS-111: A New Crew for the International Space Station,” 

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/archives/sts-111/ (accessed 17 August 2008). 
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NASA announced the release of the first test images from the HST’s recently reactivated NearInfrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). The test images of galaxies in 

various stages of development included the NGC 4013 and the Cone Nebula galaxies. The 

NICMOS had remained inactive for three years, until the crew members of Space Shuttle 

Columbia STS-109 had installed a new cooling system for the instrument on 3 March 2002 as 

part of HST Servicing Mission 3B. The new NICMOS Cooling System (NCS) had been a joint 

project of NASA and the U.S. Air Force; NASA’s GSFC and the Creare Corporation had built 

the NCS.244

10 June 

NASA announced the selection of the instrument and science teams that would provide 

instruments for NASA’s Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST), the intended successor of 

the HST. The team selected to provide the primary near-infrared science camera comprised 

engineers and scientists from the project team’s leader, the University of Arizona at Tucson, as 

well as from Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, EMS Technologies of Canada, and 

COM DEV Limited, also of Canada. The team selected to build the NGST’s mid-infrared 

instrument included engineers and scientists from NASA’s JPL, NASA’s Ames Research Center 

(ARC), ESA, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the University of Arizona at 

Tucson. In addition to the principal instrument scientists, NASA had selected scientists to serve 

on the NGST Science Working Group, including Heidi B. Hammel, Simon Lilly, Jonathan 

Lunine, Mark McCaughrean, Massimo Stiavelli, and Rogier Windhorst.245

12 June 

NASA announced the extension of its existing six-year contract with Lockheed Martin Space 

Systems to build 35 super-lightweight external tanks for the Space Shuttle program. The 

modified agreement extended the contract to September 2008, adding US$341 million to the 

original contract of US$1.15 billion, which NASA had awarded to Lockheed Martin in October 

2000. Under the contract, Lockheed Martin would construct, test, and deliver the tanks; maintain 

and operate NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans; and provide services at 

NASA’s KSC and its MSFC. Furthermore, under the terms of the extension, Lockheed Martin 

agreed to provide at least six tanks per year, instead of the eight tanks per year stipulated in the 

original agreement. 246

13 June 

Scientists announced the discovery of a planetary system with architecture similar to Earth’s 

solar system, including multiple planets revolving around a parent star, at great distances and in 

nearly circular orbits. The discovery, the first confirmation that other planetary systems had 

evolved much like Earth’s solar system, also raised the possibility of the existence of other 

Earth-like planets in the universe. The scientists who had spearheaded the research 

effort―Geoffrey W. Marcy of the University of California at Berkeley and R. Paul Butler of the 

 

244 NASA, “Hubble’s Infrared Camera Is Back in Business―New Images Released,” news release 02-104, 5 June 

2002; NASA, “SM3B,” http://hubble.nasa.gov/missions/sm3b.php (accessed 17 August 2008). 245 NASA, “NASA Selects Instruments and Science Team for Next Generation Space Telescope,” news release 02-

109, 10 June 2002. 

246 NASA, “NASA Extends Shuttle External Tank Contract with Lockheed Martin to September 2008,” news 

release c02-m, 12 June 2002. 
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Carnegie Institute of Washington―announced the discovery of a planet nearly the size of 

Jupiter, orbiting a star at approximately the same distance as that of Jupiter from the Sun. Just as 

significantly, the astronomers reported that the planet was orbiting its parent star at a distance 

relatively farther than that of most planets previously observed. In addition, they had found that 

the newly discovered planet has a circular orbit like Jupiter, whereas most other planets observed 

had elongated, eccentric orbits. The planet was the second discovered orbiting the star 55 Cancri. 

The scientists explained that, although the planetary system they had observed was not directly 

analogous to Earth’s solar system, its discovery signaled that they were closer to finding a 

system similar to that of Earth.247

Two astronauts from Space Shuttle Endeavour undertook an extravehicular activity (EVA) to 

repair the ISS’s robotic arm, Canadarm2. American astronaut Franklin R. Chang-Diaz and 

French astronaut Philippe Perrin replaced one of seven joints on the US$600 million, Canadianbuilt robotic arm, which was critical to the continued construction of the ISS. To repair 

Canadarm2, the astronauts first removed its 450-pound (205-kilogram), hand-like, latching-end 

effector (LEE); loosened six bolts connecting the problematic “wrist roll” joint to the arm; and 

disconnected power, data, and video lines. They then installed the replacement joint, tightened 

the bolts to secure the new joint to the arm, restored the power and other lines, and reaffixed the 

LEE. Subsequent tests of the Canadarm2 confirmed the success of the repairs. The EVA, lasting 

7 hours and 17 minutes, was the third for Mission STS-111.248

15 June 

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe named Jeremiah F. Creedon, Director of NASA’s LaRC, as 

the new Associate Administrator for the Office of Aerospace Technology at NASA 

Headquarters. Creedon had begun working at LaRC in June 1963 as an engineer, eventually 

succeeding Paul F. Holloway to become LaRC’s seventh director. Delma C. Freeman Jr., 

LaRC’s Deputy Director, became its Acting Director.249

19 June 

Space Shuttle Endeavour landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 2:58 p.m. (EDT), 

ending a mission of 13 days, 20 hours, and 35 minutes. During STS-111, the crew had used the 

ISS’s robotic arm, Canadarm2, to move the MBS from Endeavour to the Mobile Transporter 

(MT) on the ISS’s Destiny laboratory module. In addition, crew members Franklin R. ChangDiaz and Philippe Perrin had performed three EVAs lasting a total of 19 hours and 31 minutes. 

During the first EVA, the astronauts had installed a Power and Data Grapple Fixture to the ISS’s 

P6 Truss, the sixth truss segment on the port side of the ISS’s Integrated Truss Structure, and 

moved six micrometeoroid debris shields from the Shuttle to a portion of the ISS called the 

PMA-1 (Pressurized Mating Adapter-One) for eventual installation on the Russian-made Zvezda

service module. During the second spacewalk, the crew had connected data, power, and video 

cables between the MT rail car and the MBS; positioned the Payload Orbital Replacement Unit 

 

247 NASA, “Newfound Planetary System Has ‘Hometown’ Look,” news release 02-111, 13 June 2002. 248 William Harwood, “Spacewalkers Continue Space Station Repairs; Joint on Robotic Arm Is Replaced,” 

Washington Post, 14 June 2002; NASA JSC, “STS-111, Mission Control Center Status Report no. 18,” 13 June 

2002, http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/spacenews/reports/sts111/STS-111-18.html (accessed 18 August 2008). 

249 NASA LaRC, “NASA Administrator Names Langley Director Associate Administrator of Aerospace 

Technology,” news release 02-037, 14 May 2002; NASA History Division, “NASA Center Directors,” 

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/director.html (accessed 18 August 2008). 
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78

Accommodation (POA) on the MBS; and completed the installation of the MBS platform. In the 

final EVA, Chang-Diaz and Perrin had performed repairs on the ISS’s Canadarm2, restoring the 

instrument to full operational status. In addition, STS-111 had returned the members of 

Expedition 4Daniel E. Bursch, Yuri I. Onufrienko, and Carl W. Walzto Earth.250

24 June 

NOAA’s Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite (POES), NOAA-M, launched on a Titan 2 

rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. NOAA intended the satellite, which was 

renamed NOAA-17 upon reaching orbit, to collect meteorological data to improve weather 

forecasting. The satellite was the third in a series of five satellites collectively referred to as the 

POES system. NOAA planned to transmit the satellite’s data to its National Weather Service, as 

well as to organizations in other countries. Lockheed Martin Space Systems had built and 

launched the satellite for NOAA, with NASA’s GSFC managing the project and providing 

technical guidance.251

25 June 

NASA announced that it had grounded all four Space Shuttles because of newly discovered 

mechanical problems, postponing indefinitely the launch of Space Shuttle Columbia. Previously, 

NASA had scheduled Columbia’s launch for 19 July 2002. According to NASA officials, 

engineers had found small fissures in metal liners within the fuel pipes of the main engines of 

Shuttles Atlantis and Discovery. If left unrepaired, the cracks could cause pieces of the liners to 

break off, possibly damaging a Shuttle’s engine while in flight.252

27 June 

NASA’s Office of Space Science announced that it had selected one team to lead the 

development of an advanced ion-propulsion system and another to develop advanced ion optics. 

The Office of Space Science had selected NASA’s GRC to develop the NASA Evolutionary 

Xenon Thruster (NEXT) system, which would use xenon gas and electrical power to drive 

spacecraft. NASA intended the NEXT system as an alternative to conventional chemical 

propulsion systems. Furthermore, NASA had selected Boeing Electron Dynamic Devices to lead 

the development, fabrication, and testing of carbon-based ion optics, important components of 

ion engines, which, historically, had possessed limited thruster lifetimes.253

28 June 

President George W. Bush signed National Security Presidential Directive-15 (NSPD-15), 

initiating a review of all U.S. space policies. According to NSPD-15, the review’s purpose was 

 

250 NASA, “Space Shuttle Mission Archives: STS-111,” http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/

shuttlemissions/archives/sts-111.html (accessed 18 August 2008); NASA, “Continuing the Human Presence in 

Space: STS-111,” press kit, 16 May 2001, 24–29, http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/history/shuttle_pk/ pk/Flight_110_STS111_Press_Kit.pdf (accessed 2 January 2009). 251 NASA, Aeronautics and Space Report of the President: Fiscal Year 2002, p. 46; NOAA, “NOAA-M 

Environmental Satellite Successfully Launched,” 24 June 2002, http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories/s929.htm

(accessed 18 August 2008); NOAA, “Polar Operation Environmental Satellite: Polar Orbiting Satellites,” 

http://www.oso.noaa.gov/poes/ (accessed 18 August 2008). 252 Warren E. Leary, “Shuttle Fleet Is Grounded To Fix Cracks,” New York Times, 26 June 2002. 253 NASA, “NASA Selects Teams To Lead Development of Next-Generation Ion Engine and Advanced 

Technology,” news release 02-118, 27 June 2002. 
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to update the country’s National Space Policy―last revised in 1996―to better address domestic 

and international developments affecting the nation’s space capabilities. The review provided 

recommendations in three specific areas: commercial remote sensing and foreign access to 

remote-sensing space capabilities; space transportation policy; and existing national policy 

statements related to space activities. The National Security Council (NSC) was to chair the 

review with support from the Office of Science and Technology Policy. In addition, the NSC had 

established the Space Policy Coordinating Committee (Space PCC), which would include 

representatives from federal agencies with roles in the formation of U.S. space policy, such as 

the International Trade Administration and NOAA.254

JULY 2002 

1 July 

NASA announced the extension of its existing contract with ATK Thiokol Propulsion for the 

production and refurbishment of reusable solid rocket motors (RSRM) for the Space Shuttle 

program. Shuttle launches required two RSRMs and three main engines to provide sufficient 

thrust for the Shuttle to attain orbit. Under the modified agreement, ATK Thiokol would produce 

and refurbish 70 RSRMs and three flight-support motors. The US$429 million modification 

extended to May 2007 the original US$2.4 billion contract, which NASA and ATK Thiokol had 

agreed on in October 1998. The original contract had been the sixth agreement between ATK 

Thiokol Propulsion and NASA’s MSFC in Huntsville, Alabama.255

The FAA announced a major operational enhancement to its Automatic Dependent Surveillance 

Broadcast (ADS-B), a surveillance technology enabling aircraft pilots and air flight controllers to 

share a common picture of airspace and air traffic. The FAA announced that it had selected new 

surveillance data links for the ADS-B, including a Universal Access Transceiver link for general 

aviation users and a 1,090 megahertz Extended Squitter ADS-B link for air carriers and for both 

commercial and private aviation operators. The FAA’s selection of these data links was part of 

an effort to coordinate ADS-B operations between the United States and Europe.256

3 July 

NASA launched Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) on a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral 

Air Station in Florida. NASA scientists had created CONTOURscheduled to make close 

approaches to comets Encke, Schwassmann-Wachmann-3, and d’Arrestto analyze the 

composition of comets. Engineers had designed the spacecraft to capture 4-meter-resolution (13-

foot-resolution) images of the comets’ nuclei during its encounters and to perform spectral 

mapping of the nuclei at resolutions of 100 to 200 meters (328 to 656 feet). Astronomers planned 

to supplement the data obtained through CONTOUR’s observations with data captured by Earth-

 

254 NASA, Aeronautics and Space Report of the President: Fiscal Year 2002, p. 43; U.S. National Security 

Professional Development Integration Office, “National Space Policy Review: Fact Sheet” (report, National 

Security Presidential Directive/NSPD-15, Arlington, VA, 2002), http://www.nspd.gov/

rawmedia_repository/4ff02489171c66d9a66ae29824384025.pdf (accessed 18 August 2008). 255 NASA, “NASA Extends Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Contract with ATK Thiokol Through May 2007,” news 

release c02-q, 1 July 2002. 

256 FAA, “FAA Announces Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Architecture,” news release APA 27-02, 1 

July 2002. 
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based or Earth-orbital telescopes. In addition, NASA planned for CONTOUR to collect data on 

gas and dust from the environment near the comets’ nuclei.257

9 July 

NASA announced the selection of two proposals for space missions for its Earth System Science 

Pathfinder small-satellite program, developed to research Earth’s carbon cycle and the 

relationship of climate change and oceans. Specifically, the selected proposals would support the 

Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO), which would provide global measurements of carbon 

dioxide in the atmosphere, and the Aquarius mission, which would map salt concentrations on 

oceans’ surfaces to learn how they affect ocean circulation and global heat redistribution. NASA 

planned to provide up to US$175 million for each of the two proposals selected for the program. 

NASA appointed David Crisp of JPL as Principal Investigator for the OCO mission and Chester 

J. “Chet” Koblinsky of GSFC as Principal Investigator for the Aquarius mission. NASA had 

numerous university, corporate, and international collaborators for both missions, including the 

Argentine Space Program, a significant partner in the Aquarius mission.258

ESA reported research indicating that the universe might be older than scientists had previously 

estimated and that a common method of estimating the age of celestial bodies might be incorrect. 

A group of scientists had analyzed the XMM-Newton satellite’s x-ray observations of the distant 

but exceptionally luminous quasar APM 08279+5255 and found that the quasar contains three 

times more iron than the Sun. Because exploding stars release iron, which increases across the 

universe over time, the scientists had expected APM 08279+5255 to have less iron than Earth’s 

relatively older solar system. The scientists noted that the surprising quantity of iron in the 

distant quasar could be the result of an unknown phenomenon that produces iron very efficiently. 

However, they suggested that the more likely explanation for the finding was that the 

conventional method of measuring the age of celestial objects by estimating the objects’ 

redshifta property of the light emitted by such objectswas flawed.259

Data from NASA’s Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) satellite provided support for a decadesold, unproven theory that winds converge in two large areas near Earth’s equator, driving ocean 

circulation south of the equator. The two areas, known as the northern and southern portions of 

the Intertropical Convergence Zone, are part of a belt circling Earth near the equator, where trade 

winds of both the northern and southern hemispheres converge. The region affects north-south 

atmospheric circulation, significantly influencing precipitation and temperatures in many regions 

of the globe. Previously, researchers had identified the double Intertropical Convergence Zone as 

a limited seasonal phenomenon. However, since 1969 the zone’s existence, location, and 

seasonality had remained controversial. The QuikSCAT data confirmed, not only that the double 

Intertropical Convergence Zone exists all year long, but also that it is more extensive than 

scientists had suspected. The finding provided important information about how Earth’s 

 

257 NASA, Aeronautics and Space Report of the President: Fiscal Year 2002, p. 116; NASA Science Mission 

Directorate, “Missions: CONTOUR,” http://nasascience.nasa.gov/missions/contour (accessed 22 August 2008). 258 NASA, “Pathfinder Missions To Enhance Our Understanding of Earth,” news release 02-121, 9 July 2002. 

259 ESA, “Is the Universe Older Than Expected?” ESA news release, 10 July 2002; Günther Hasinger, Norbert 

Schartel, and Stefanie Komossa, “Discovery of an Ionized Fe K Edge in the z=3.91 Broad Absorption Line Quasar 

APM 08279+5255 with XMM-Newton,” Astrophysical Journal Letters 573, no. 2 (10 July 2002): L77–L80. 
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atmosphere and oceans interact near the equator, data that could assist scientists in climate 

modeling and weather forecasting.260

10 July 

The Research Maximization and Prioritization Task Force (ReMAP) presented the executive 

summary of its external review to the NASA Advisory Council. NASA Administrator Sean 

O’Keefe had created ReMAP in March 2002 to recommend strategies that NASA’s Office of 

Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) could use to achieve its research goals within 

budgetary limits. Among its recommendations, ReMAP suggested that the ISS include a chief 

science officer on board, and that NASA increase the ISS’s equipment, the ISS crew’s work 

time, and the frequency of Shuttle flights, to enable the crew to conduct first-rate research aboard 

the station.261

11 July 

NASA signed an agreement with the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) to provide 

researchers with mapping data collected during the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) 

in 2000. Specifically, the two agencies agreed to provide 90-meter-resolution (295-footresolution), digital-elevation-model (DEM) data for areas outside of the United States and 30-

meter-resolution (98-foot-resolution) data for the continental United States. According to the 

agreement, only qualified researchers would have access to the DEM data, although the public 

would have access to certain selected data. NASA’s JPL would process the 90-meter-resolution 

(295-foot-resolution) data into DEM data, and NIMA would provide additional finishing before 

sending it to the USGS’s Earth Resources Observation Systems Data Center for archiving and 

distribution. In addition, NASA and NIMA would process requests for the data. With regard to 

the 30-meter-resolution (98-foot-resolution) data, the two agencies agreed that NASA would 

have access to the data for scientific research, and that NIMA, at its discretion, would make the 

data available to other agencies.262

13 July 

NASA announced that it would keep all four Space Shuttles grounded until at least September 

2002 because of potentially dangerous fractures discovered in the fuel lines of all four Shuttles. 

NASA officials also reported that engineers now considered the cracks less of a safety concern 

than they had feared when NASA first discovered them in June 2002.263

17 July 

The GAO submitted a report to Congress examining the reasons for the increasing costs of the 

ISS and the potential effects of those costs on the station’s ability to conduct scientific research. 

The report stated that changes in the program, scheduling delays, and other issues had 

 

260 NASA JPL, “Satellite Sees Double Zone of Converging Tropical Winds Around the World,” news release, 9 July 

2002; W. T. Liu and X. Xie, “Double Intertropical Convergence Zones―A New Look Using Scatterometer,” 

Geophysical Research Letters 29, no. 22 (30 November 2002): 2072. 261 NASA, “ReMaP Task Force Recognized by NASA Administrator and NASA Advisory Council Chair,” news 

release 02-123, 10 July 2002; Warren E. Leary, “Panel Asserts Reduced Space Station Plans Will Limit Scientific 

Work,” New York Times, 11 July 2002. 262 NASA, “Seeing Clearly Now: Sharp New NASA Maps To Improve Lives Everywhere,” news release 02-122, 11 

July 2002. 

263 William Harwood, “NASA Grounds Space Shuttle Fleet over Fuel Line Cracks,” Washington Post, 13 July 2002. 
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substantially increased the program’s costs, and that NASA’s management had not taken steps to 

address cost growth. Consequently, the ISS’s scientific research capabilities had diminished, 

raising concerns among the station’s international partners. Although GAO made no formal 

recommendations, it cited NASA’s own newly established management and cost-estimation 

reforms, noted challenges NASA faced in implementing those reforms, and suggested that 

NASA develop a credible budget to complete the ISS. NASA formally responded that the report 

reasonably portrayed the problems with the ISS, as well as NASA’s efforts to address them.264

18 July 

The House Science Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics held a hearingNASA Workforce 

and Management Challengesto garner information about NASA’s efforts to address concerns 

regarding its human capital, competitive sourcing for the Space Shuttle program, and other 

matters. Committee members heard testimony from NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe; David 

M. Walker, Comptroller General of the United States; and Mark D. Roth, General Counsel of the 

American Federation of Government Employees. O’Keefe discussed NASA’s Strategic Human 

Capital Plan, a systemic method of managing human capital according to NASA’s vision and 

mission. In addition, O’Keefe announced the termination of the comprehensive Strategic 

Resources Review initiated during the Clinton administration to create a blueprint for NASA’s 

future facility, missions, and workforce requirements. Roth argued that, because NASA expected 

a high number of retirements in the near future, its existing and proposed personnel policies were 

inadequate to address the resulting loss in human capital. Walker discussed methods NASA 

could use to strengthen its human capital and to address its difficulties with contract 

management, as well as the increasing expense of the ISS program and of space exploration.265

20 July 

NASA officials announced the delay of the launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-113, 

scheduled for 21 July. Engineers had discovered fuel-line cracks, the same problem that had 

previously led NASA to ground some Space Shuttles. At the time of the announcement, NASA 

officials remained uncertain of the new date of Endeavour’s launch, suggesting that, although the 

Shuttle would be ready to fly by September 2002, NASA might delay the launch until at least the 

end of 2002.266

22 July 

The FBI and NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) announced the arrest of three students 

employed at NASA’s JSC. The FBI had charged the students with the theft of lunar and 

meteorite samples. According to the FBI, the three student employees and another man had 

 

264 U.S. General Accounting Office, “Space Station: Actions Under Way To Manage Cost, But Significant 

Challenges Remain” (report no. GAO-02-735, Washington, DC, 17 July 2002), www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO02-735 (accessed 26 September 2008). 265 U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, 

NASA Workforce and Management Challenges, 107th Cong., 2nd sess., 18 July 2002, 

http://science.house.gov/publications/hearings_markups_details.aspx?NewsID=1424 (accessed 21 August 2008 

through Lexis-Nexis Congressional); Larry Wheeler, “O’Keefe Scraps Review of NASA,” Florida Today (Brevard, 

FL), 19 July 2002. 

266 Warren E. Leary, “Delay Likely for Shuttle Mission with Israeli,” New York Times, 20 July 2002. 
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stolen a safe containing the samples and had attempted to sell the specimens. JSC had notified 

the FBI and NASA’s OIG of the possible theft on 15 July.267

26 July 

NASA announced that Donald R. Pettit, a backup member of the crew of the Expedition 6 

Mission to the ISS, would replace Donald A. Thomas on the mission. NASA had reassigned 

Thomas, a veteran of four Space Shuttle flights, because of medical issues affecting his 

qualification for long-duration spaceflight. Pettit, a chemical engineer who had joined the 

astronaut corps in 1996, had previously served as a staff scientist at Los Alamos National 

Laboratory in New Mexico.268

AUGUST 2002 

1 August 

The U.S. Senate confirmed Frederick D. Gregory as NASA’s Deputy Administrator, making 

Gregory the first African American to serve as NASA’s second-in-command. Before becoming 

Deputy Administrator, Gregory had served as NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Flight 

from December 2001 to August 2002 and as Associate Administrator for the Office of Safety 

and Mission Assurance from June 1992 to December 2001. In addition, Gregory had been an 

astronaut on three Shuttle missions and had served in the U.S. Air Force for 30 years.269

Analyzing observations of the dwarf galaxy NGC 1569, a group of astronomers led by Crystal L. 

Martin of the University of California Santa Barbara found the first evidence that such galaxies 

produce most of the heavy elements in the universe. Heavy elements, defined as all elements 

other than hydrogen and helium, are essential for planet formation and can strongly influence 

astronomical phenomena such as the rate of galaxy formation. Scientists had theorized that, 

during the early development of the universe, heavy elements emanating from dwarf galaxies 

played a dominant role in enriching the intergalactic gas that formed other galaxies. Data from 

NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory enabled Martin and her team to test this idea. They found 

that NGC 1569 emitted large quantities of heavy elements in extremely hot x-ray winds, the first 

direct evidence of metal-enriched winds from dwarf galaxies. The researchers noted that the 

findings left open the question of whether or not dwarf galaxies or other galaxies dominate the 

intergalactic metallic enrichment process.270

2 August 

NASA scientists published research challenging prominent theories about the growth of the 

gravitational field at Earth’s equator, a phenomenon that began in 1998. Researchers had 

suggested that atmospheric change, or the melting of glaciers and polar ice, had caused a 

 

267 NASA, “NASA Cooperating in Investigation of Theft,” news release 02-133, 22 July 2002; Los Angeles Times, 

“4 Charged in Theft of NASA Moon Rocks,” 23 July 2002. 

268 NASA, “Backup Crew Member Assigned to Expedition Six,” news release 02-139, 26 July 2002. 

269 Kelly Young, “Senate Names New NASA Official,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 3 August 2002; NASA, 

“NASA Deputy Administrator Frederick D. Gregory,” http://www.nasa.gov/about/ highlights/gregory_bio.html

(accessed 26 September 2008). 

270 NASA, “Dwarf Galaxies Give Universe a Breath of Fresh Oxygen,” news release 02-134, 23 July 2002; Crystal 

L. Martin, Henry A. Kobulnicky, and Timothy M. Heckman, “The Metal Content of Dwarf Starburst Winds: Results 

from Chandra Observations of NGC 1569,” Astrophysical Journal 574, no. 2 (1 August 2002): 663–692. 
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geographic shift in the planet’s gravitational field, with a decline in upper latitudes and a 

corresponding increase in lower latitudes. However, NASA scientists Christopher M. Cox and 

Benjamin F. Chao discovered that the quantity, rate, and timing of atmospheric change and ice 

melt did not correspond to the magnitude and rate of gravitational shift. Based on their analysis 

of data that 10 satellites had acquired between 1979 and 2002, Cox and Chao found a more 

probable explanation of this phenomenon. The data suggested that the oceans had been rapidly 

transporting substantial quantities of water and ice from higher to lower latitudes, thereby 

shifting Earth’s mass and causing a corresponding alteration in the planet’s gravitational field 

from the higher to the lower latitudes. The scientists noted, however, that additional data and 

analysis were necessary to determine whether their interpretation of the data was correct.271

5 August 

Lockheed Martin, NASA, and the state of Mississippi opened the Lockheed Martin Mississippi 

Space and Technology Center at NASA’s SSC. Officials planned for the 220,000-square-foot 

(20,440-square-meter) facility to commence operations by the end of 2002. Lockheed Martin 

announced that its new facility would include a center for production of propulsion and thermal 

systems for spacecraft, as well as an integrated metrology center. The company also announced 

that it would provide engineering and manufacturing services at the facility. Lockheed Martin 

officials cited the location of NASA’s Center of Excellence for propulsion testing at SSC as a 

critical factor in their decision to consolidate the company’s capabilities at the single facility.272

NASA announced that its Stardust spacecraft had begun collecting interstellar dust 

grains―extremely small particles of solid matter that permeate the Milky Way Galaxy, 

providing clues to the galaxy’s formation and development. For use in comparative analyses, the 

spacecraft would collect both ancient dust grains, found in the interior of comets, and relatively 

young dust particles, produced by the current generation of stars. Stardust would encounter 

comet Wild 2 in early 2004. Project scientists, who planned to analyze the dust grains after the 

spacecraft’s scheduled return to Earth in 2006, hoped that their study would yield evidence about 

the composition of the early galaxy and its subsequent evolutionary changes.273

15 August 

NASA announced that it had lost contact with the US$159 million comet-exploring spacecraft 

Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR), launched on 3 July 2002. Ground controllers had lost 

contact with CONTOUR after a scheduled ignition of its solid-propellant rocket engine, designed 

to propel the spacecraft out of Earth-orbiting space and into a heliocentric trajectory where it 

would eventually encounter comets Encke, Schwassmann-Wachmann, and d’Arrest. At the time 

 

271 NASA, “Satellites Reveal a Mystery of Large Change in Earth’s Gravity Field,” news release 02-147, 1 August 

2002; Christopher M. Cox and Benjamin F. Chao, “Detection of Large-Scale Mass Redistribution in the Terrestrial 

System Since 1998,” Science 297, no. 5582 (2 August 2002): 831–833. 272 Lockheed Martin, “Lockheed Martin Mississippi Space and Technology Center Opens Doors at John C. Stennis 

Space Center, MS,” news release, 5 August 2002, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2002/ 

LockheedMartinMississippiSpaceTechn.html (accessed 28 January 2010). 273 NASA JPL, “Stardust Spacecraft Reaches for Cosmic Dust,” news release, 6 August 2002. 
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of its scheduled ignition, the spacecraft was orbiting Earth approximately 140 miles (225 

kilometers) above the Indian Ocean.274

Boeing and the U.S. Air Force signed a US$9.7 billion contract for 60 C-17 Globemaster III 

transport aircraft. The contract, an extension of previous agreements between the Air Force and 

Boeing, would increase the number of C-17s in the Air Force fleet to 180. The Air Force had 

been using C-17s to transport personnel, equipment, and supplies in support of combat and 

humanitarian missions.275

ESA announced that an international group of astronauts would attend a training session at the 

European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, to prepare for missions to the ISS. The 

specific objective of the training was to prepare the astronauts for the tasks they would need to 

accomplish when a Japanese experiment module and ESA’s Columbus laboratory docked with 

the ISS. Upon completing the training, the international ISS partners planned to assign the 

astronauts to specific, long-duration ISS missions. The training session, scheduled to last from 26 

August to 6 September, would include ESA astronauts Pedro Duque, Léopold Eyharts, Paolo A. 

Nespoli, and Thomas Reiter; Japan’s NASDA astronauts Takao Doi, Satoshi Furukawa, Aikihiko 

Hoshide, and Koichi Wakata; and NASA astronauts Nicole Passonno Stott and Stephanie D. 

Wilson.276

20 August 

NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft completed its 25th year of operation. As the probe reached its 

anniversary, Voyager 2 was 6.3 billion miles (10 billion kilometers) from the Sun and moving 

toward the edge of the solar system at more than 35,000 miles per hour (56,000 kilometers per 

hour). Since its launch on 20 August 1977, Voyager 2 had provided photographs of planets 

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and their respective moons, as well as other data. At 25 years 

old, the spacecraft continued to send data to Earth. Scientists estimated that Voyager 2 could 

reach the boundary of the solar system in another seven to 21 years. However, they also expected 

that, by 2020, the spacecraft might not have sufficient power to maintain contact with Earth.277

21 August 

The first Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV), the product of a long-term program 

designed to provide military and other satellites with enduring, reliable access to space, launched 

from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Lockheed Martin had developed the rocket, 

called the Atlas 5. The EELV placed the European television satellite Hot Bird 6 in its 

preliminary orbit 31 minutes after its launch, and the satellite’s thrusters later maneuvered it into 

its final orbit. The EELV program had resulted from the U.S. government’s research into the 

1986 Challenger disaster. The U.S. Air Force had reportedly paid Lockheed Martin and the 

Boeing Company more than US$500 million each to design an EELV. The U.S. Air Force had 

 

274 Warren E. Leary, “Comet-Exploring Spacecraft Has Disappeared, NASA Says,” New York Times, 16 August 

2002; NASA National Space Science Data Center, “CONTOUR,” http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/

nmc/masterCatalog.do?sc=2002-034A (accessed 26 September 2008). 275 The Boeing Company, “Boeing and U.S. Air Force Sign $9.7 Billion C-17 Contract,” news release, 15 August 

2002, http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2002/q3/nr_020815m.html (accessed 2 February 2010). 276 ESA, “Ten Astronauts Train in Europe for the International Space Station,” ESA news release 56-2002, 19 

August 2002. 

277 William Harwood, “Voyager Celebrates 25 Years of Space Discovery,” Washington Post, 19 August 2002. 
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requested an EELV that was an advanced version of existing rockets, rather than an entirely new 

system, estimating that, through 2020, the EELV could reduce the cost of placing military 

satellites into orbit by approximately US$10 billion. France-based Eutelsat (European 

Telecommunications Satellite Organization) owned the Hot Bird 6 broadcast satellite, which 

Alcatel Space had built.278

A team of NASA scientists using uninhabited aerial vehicles (UAVs) to research electrical 

storms achieved a flight-duration milestone. The research was part of the Altus Cumulus 

Electrification Study (ACES), a project that examined the causes of electrical storms and their 

effects on the planet. The ACES research team employed Altus II UAVs to study thunderstorms 

over Florida, capping off four weeks of research flights with the study’s longest flight, lasting for 

6 hours and 32 minutes and monitoring four successive thunderstorms. General Atomics 

Aeronautical Systems had built the Altus II, which could fly near thunderstorms for hours, at 

altitudes of up to 65,000 feet.279

25 August 

William W. Parsons Jr. replaced Roy S. Estess as Director of SSC. Parsons had joined NASA in 

1990 as a Launch Site Support Manager at NASA’s KSC, later serving in various positions at 

NASA’s KSC, SSC, and JSC. Estess had come to SSC in 1966 as a test engineer and had served 

as the Center’s Director from 1989 to 2002.280

29 August 

NASA’s KSC awarded the Boeing Company the checkout, assembly, and payload-processing 

services (CAPPS) contract for the Space Shuttle and the EELV. The CAPPS contract had a fouryear base period of performance valued at US$332 million. In addition, the contract had two 

three-year extension options, which could increase the contract’s total value to US$810 million. 

Under the contract, Boeing would perform payload-processing tasks, such as ensuring that 

payloads were compatible with launch vehicles and loading payloads into launch vehicles. 

Boeing had also held KSC’s previous payload-processing agreement, called the payload groundoperations contract.281

30 August 

NASA scientists Eric J. Rignot and Robert H. Thomas published results of one of the most 

detailed and widespread examinations of polar ice sheets ever performed. Researchers had 

already determined that changes in the thickness of polar ice correlated with changes in sea level 

 

278 William Harwood, “Into Space, A New Kind of Rocket,” Washington Post, 22 August 2002; Lockheed Martin, 

“Inaugural Atlas V Scores Success for ILS, Lockheed Martin,” news release, 21 August 2002, http://www. 

lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2002/InauguralAtlasVScoresSucceslForILSL.html (accessed 28 January 

2010). 

279 NASA MSFC, National Space Science and Technology Center, “NASA Lightning Study Achieves FlightDuration Milestone, Monitoring Four Storms in Single Mission,” news release N02-011, 23 August 2002. 

280 NASA, “NASA Center Directors,” http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/director.html (accessed 26 

September 2008); NASA SSC, “William (Bill) W. Parsons Jr. Director, 2002–2003,” 

http://www.ssc.nasa.gov/about/history/personalities/parsons.html (accessed 26 September 2008); NASA SSC, “Roy 

S. Estess, Director, 1989–2002,” http://www.ssc.nasa.gov/about/ history/personalities/estess.html (accessed 26 

September 2008). 

281 The Boeing Company, “Boeing Wins Major Space Payload Processing Contract,” news release, 29 August 2002. 
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but disagreed about the extent to which the thickness of the ice sheets was changing. Analyzing 

recent remote-sensing measurements of ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, Rignot and 

Thomas discovered that the thickness of the ice sheets was changing more rapidly than 

previously thought. Although the data was indeterminate concerning changes in some parts of 

the ice sheets, Rignot and Thomas found clear evidence that large regions of the polar ice sheets 

were rapidly changing, with accumulation of ice in some areas and attrition in others. Despite 

such variations, the scientists found that, overall, the major polar ice sheets were losing mass. 

Specifically, Greenland’s ice sheet was losing 50 cubic kilometers (12 cubic miles) of mass 

annually, and the West Antarctic ice sheet appeared to be losing nearly 48 cubic kilometers (11.5 

cubic miles) of mass per year.282

The ReMAP Task Force of NASA’s Office of Biological and Physical Research (OBPR) 

presented its final report to the NASA Advisory Council. NASA had charged the ReMAP Task 

Force with evaluating the research productivity and priorities of NASA’s OBPR and with 

providing a framework for prioritizing a research program for the OBPR and the ISS. ReMAP’s 

173-page report identified two major goals of these programs: research enabling human 

exploration of space and basic research of intrinsic scientific interest. In addition, the report 

made several recommendations, for example, that NASA increase the ISS’s facilities and 

equipment for scientific research, as well as the amount of time that ISS crew members dedicated 

to scientific operations. The report stated that, if NASA did not make these and other 

enhancements to the ISS, then NASA “should cease to characterize the ISS as a science driven 

program.”283

SEPTEMBER 2002 

3 September 

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded the Boeing Company a contract to 

design a fuel cell–based propulsion system for a pilotless, ultra-long-endurance UAV. According 

to Boeing, the UAV’s propulsion system would incorporate existing automotive–fuel cell 

technology, to create a vehicle with a variety of commercial and military applications.284

9 September 

The FAA announced plans to establish public use of a new method of air navigation that would 

significantly increase the capacity and efficiency of airways in the United States. The Required 

Navigation Performance (RNP) method would rely upon aircraft’s use of advanced, automated 

guidance technologies, both in terminal areas and en route. Specifically, RNP would incorporate 

advanced technologies in areas within a 40-mile (64-kilometer) radius of an airport, as well as in 

high-altitude areas. The use of RNP would have several potential benefits, including precise 

approach and departure paths at airports, accurate vertical and lateral guidance, and increased 

airspace capacity. In the United States, Alaska Airlines had pioneered the use of RNP in air 

 

282 NASA JPL, “NASA Study Finds Rapid Changes in Earth’s Polar Ice Sheets,” news release, 30 August 2002; Eric 

Rignot and Robert H. Thomas, “Mass Balance of Polar Ice Sheets,” Science 297, no. 5586 (30 August 2002): 1502–

1506. 

283 NASA ReMAP Task Force, “Report by the NASA Biological and Physical Research Maximization and 

Prioritization (ReMAP) Task Force to the NASA Advisory Council” (report, Washington, DC, August 2002). 284 The Boeing Company, “Boeing Receives Contract for UAV Advanced Propulsion System,” news release, 3 

September 2002, http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2002/q3/nr_020903m.html (accessed 2 February 2010). 
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carrier operations. The FAA stated that it was committed to establishing public RNP airspace 

and procedures over the United States.285

The Russian Space Agency notified NASA that it had abandoned its plan to transport singer 

Lance Bass of the popular music group ’N Sync to the ISS. Television producers had intended to 

sponsor Bass, featuring him in a television documentary about his trip to the ISS. However, the 

sponsors had failed to raise the estimated US$20 million needed to cover the singer’s fare. 

Therefore, Russian officials had decided to withdraw Bass as a member of the Soyuz crew 

scheduled to leave for the ISS on 28 October 2002. If the 23-year-old Bass had gone on the 

Soyuz mission, he would have become the youngest person ever to travel in space, as well as the 

third space tourist.286

10 September 

NASA announced the appointment of two senior managers as part of its new approach to 

program management. James W. Kennedy, Deputy Center Director of NASA’s MSFC, became 

Deputy Center Director of NASA’s KSC, and David A. King, Director of Shuttle Processing at 

KSC, assumed the post of Deputy Center Director of MSFC. The appointments were the result of 

Administrator Sean O’Keefe’s “One NASA” approach, a method of program management 

emphasizing enhanced collaboration, communication, and coordination among NASA’s 

facilities, to attain common goals. Deputy Center Directors Kennedy and King would share 

management responsibilities with the center directors of their respective facilities.287

NASA scientist Zdenek Sekanina published new findings challenging existing ideas about 

comets. Existing theory had posited that comets rarely break up and that, when they do, the 

fragmentation usually occurs in close proximity to the Sun. However, basing his research on the 

analysis of images taken by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), operated jointly by 

NASA and ESA, Sekanina had discovered that comets fragment throughout their lifetimes, often 

at distances far from the Sun. Moreover, Sekanina had found that such fragmentation generally 

occurs in a somewhat orderly pattern, with a single comet fragmenting into clusters of smaller 

comets. Sekanina had analyzed a type of very small comet called a sungrazer and discovered that 

sungrazers are actually fragments of other comets that have broken apart during a previous 

encounter with the Sun. Moreover, he had found that sungrazers continue to break into pieces 

throughout their orbits around the Sun. Sekanina had also examined another type of 

comet―57P/du Toit-Neujmin-Delaporte, finding that this type of comet shows the same pattern 

of fragmenting into smaller comets as it moves farther from the Sun.288

NASA announced the selection of TRW Inc. to lead the team to build the HST’s successor, a 

new space-based observatory planned to launch in 2010. NASA planned to call the new satellite 

 

285 FAA, “FAA To Establish New Air Navigation Concept Within a Year,” news release APA 39-02, 9 September 

2002. 

286 Marcia Dunn, “It’s Official: Russia Faxes NASA To Confirm Bass off Space Flight,” Houston Chronicle, 10 

September 2002. 

287 NASA, “NASA Senior Official Appointments Emphasize ‘One NASA’ Management Approach,” news release 

02-172, 10 September 2002. 

288 NASA, “Comets Break Up Far and Near,” news release 02-158, 5 September 2002; Zdenek Sekanina, “Runaway 

Fragmentation of Sungrazing Comets Observed with the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory,” Astrophysical 

Journal 576, no. 2 (10 September 2002): 1085–1089. 
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the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), in honor of former NASA Administrator James E. 

Webb. Under the US$824.8 million contract, TRW and its partner organizations would build an 

observatory capable of viewing deeper into space than the HST. The telescope’s main mirror 

would unfold to a diameter of at least 20 feet (6.1 meters), thereby providing six times more 

light-gathering area than the HST, which had an 8-foot (2.4-meter) primary mirror. The telescope 

would also have instruments highly sensitive to infrared light, which would help astronomers 

understand the universe’s creation and evolution. In addition, NASA planned for the new 

telescope to orbit 940,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth, within the second Lagrange 

point or L2, where a spacecraft maintains a balance between the gravity of the Sun and of Earth. 

Although the L2 orbit would be too far from Earth to allow astronauts to service the observatory, 

it would enable the observatory to cool to very low temperatures without the use of complex 

refrigeration equipment.289

12 September 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced its first successful launch of a 

satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit. ISRO launched METSAT, a meteorological 

satellite, from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, India, using it own 

rocket, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The new version of the PSLV reflected a 

significant enhancement of the rocket’s capabilities and a substantial improvement in ISRO’s 

overall launch capabilities. Previous versions of the PSLV had been capable of placing 900-

kilogram (2,000-pound) satellites in a 900-kilometer (560-mile), polar Sun–synchronous orbit, 

whereas the PSLV-C4 had placed the 1,055-kilogram (2,325-pound) METSAT in a highly 

elliptical orbit with an apogee (the farthest point from Earth) of 34,700 kilometers (21,600 

miles).290

15 September 

The China National Space Administration’s (CNSA’s) Kaituozhe 1 rocket failed during launch, 

for reasons that remained unclear. Kaituozhe 1 was the first of the CNSA’s new all-solid-fuel, 

four-stage launch vehicles. CNSA and other Chinese government agencies apparently provided 

no information to the public about the event or about the reason the launch had failed.291

16 September 

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe announced that Peggy A. Whitson would be NASA’s first 

ISS Science Officer. In the future, NASA planned to assign one of its astronauts to the post for 

each ISS expedition crew. The objective of the assignment was to increase the ISS’s emphasis on 

research. According to NASA, the ISS Science Officer would focus initially on U.S. research 

conducted on the ISS. As the station’s research capabilities expanded in the future, NASA would 

discuss with the ISS’s international partners the possibility of expanding the ISS Science 

Officer’s role. NASA’s ISS Science Officer would be responsible for working with the U.S. 

research community on the requirements and objectives of ISS experiments, acting as the pointof-contact between ISS crew and NASA-sponsored principal investigators, payload developers, 

 

289 NASA, “NASA Announces Contract for Next-Generation Space Telescope Named After Space Pioneer,” news 

release 02-171, 10 September 2002. 

290 ISRO, “PSLV-C4 Launch Successful―Places METSAT in Orbit,” news release, 12 September 2002, 

http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Sep13_2002.htm (accessed 3 October 2008); Puttkamer, “Space Flight 2002.” 

291 Puttkamer, “Space Flight 2002.” 
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and other ISS stakeholders. As a crew member of Expedition 5 in June 2002, Whitson, who had 

a PhD in biochemistry, would become the first resident scientist on the ISS.292

17 September 

Observations from the HST revealed the existence of medium-sized black holes. According to 

scientists, the discovery provided important information about the creation of many types of 

celestial bodies. Scientists were surprised to find that the black holes in the cores of globular star 

clusters―bright clusters of stars that orbit galaxies, including the Milky Way―are nearly 10,000 

times less massive than galaxies. The HST data revealed that black holes in globular star clusters 

are proportionally smaller than massive black holes found in galaxies, demonstrating that the 

mass of a black hole is proportional to its stellar surroundings. The results also indicated that 

when the globular star clusters had formed they had black holes, suggesting that, to form large 

star clusters, black holes must act as gravitational anchors. Scientists believed these findings 

might illuminate the process by which galaxies and globular clusters formed. The discovery also 

suggested that black holes are more ubiquitous than scientists had previously thought.293

The GAO submitted a report to the House Science Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics on 

NASA’s progress toward developing a reusable launch vehicle (RLV), under the Space Launch 

Initiative (SLI) program, to replace the Space Shuttle. According to GAO, NASA needed to 

complete ongoing reassessment of its overall space transportation plans and of the future of the 

ISS. NASA also needed to determine whether it would develop the SLI program in cooperation 

with the DOD. To address these concerns, GAO recommended that NASA reassess the schedule 

for defining the SLI’s requirements and reach a consensus with the DOD on the program’s 

priorities and objectives. The report also recommended that NASA finalize the SLI’s basic 

requirements before implementing management controls on the program’s costs and risks. In its 

response, NASA concurred with GAO’s recommendations and outlined plans to implement 

them.294

18 September 

The National Research Council (NRC), the research arm of the National Academy of Sciences, 

released a report on the ISS, outlining NASA’s efforts to limit cost overruns on the project. The 

report concluded that, if NASA proceeded with its plans to halt construction, once the ISS’s core 

was complete, and to limit the station’s crew, equipment, and other components, the ISS would 

be unlikely to become a first-class laboratory. NRC reported that capping the crew to three 

persons would have a highly detrimental impact on the quality of scientific research conducted 

on board the ISS, because a crew of such a small size would have to devote most of its time to 

station maintenance and operation. In addition, NRC stated that NASA had made its decision to 

cancel or delay equipment for experiments without assessing scientific priorities or determining 

which research plans the curtailments would affect most. NASA’s official representative 

 

292 NASA, “NASA Administrator Names Whitson First NASA ISS Science Officer,” news release 02-175, 16 

September 2002. 

293 NASA, “Hubble Discovers Black Holes in Unexpected Places,” news release 02-174, 17 September 2002; 

William Harwood, “Finding May Connect Dots on How Galaxies Form; Mid-size Black Holes Are Discovered,” 

Washington Post, 18 September 2002. 

294 U.S. General Accounting Office, “Space Transportation: Challenges Facing NASA’s Space Launch Initiative” 

(report no. GAO-02-1020, Washington, DC, 17 September 2002), http://www.gao.gov/ new.items/d021020.pdf

(accessed 10 October 2008). 
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responded that NASA was committed to building the ISS beyond the core-complete stage. 

Moreover, NASA intended to continue developing the ISS based on decisions concerning the 

station’s scientific priorities and planned to take any steps necessary to achieve those goalsfor 

example, increasing the size of the station’s crew.295

19 September 

G. Scott Hubbard replaced Henry McDonald as Director of NASA’s ARC. Hubbard, ARC’s 

Deputy Director of Research at the time of the appointment, had served in a number of 

management roles at the Center since the beginning of his career with NASA in 1987. In 

addition, he had helped establish NASA’s Astrobiology Institute at ARC and had originated the 

Mars Pathfinder program. McDonald, who had served as Director of ARC from 1996 to 2002, 

had left the Center to become a professor of computational engineering at the University of 

Tennessee in Chattanooga.296

The General Services Administration (GSA) presented the Federal Aviation Award to the 

Aircraft Operations Division (AOD) of NASA’s JSC. The AOD, which provided astronauts with 

spaceflight training, had an exemplary safety record. In addition, GSA gave Chief of AOD 

Robert J. Naughton an Honorable Mention for the Federal Aviation Professional Award. GSA’s 

awards recognized effectiveness, efficiency, and safety in federal aviation operations, in the hope 

that honoring outstanding federal aviation programs and professionals would promote excellence 

in government aviation.297

23 September 

NASA awarded Boeing Space and Communications Group a US$200 million contract to 

perform payload and mission operations for the ISS. The contract, formally known as the ISS 

payload-integration contract (IPIC), stipulated that Boeing perform payload engineering 

integration, mission integration, and payload operations at NASA’s JSC and MSFC. Previously, 

Boeing had performed those operations under two separate contracts. The new IPIC contract 

covered operations until 30 September 2004, with an option to extend through 30 September 

2005.298

26 September 

NASA announced an agreement with the National Institute of Aerospace Associates (NIAA), an 

organization of universities and nonprofit organizations engaged in aerospace research, to create 

the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) at NASA’s LaRC. NASA described the agreement 

with NIAA as a long-term commitment to expand its collaboration with universities, industry, 

and other entities. The new NIA would host advanced aerospace and atmospheric research and 

the development of related technologies, offering graduate degrees in engineering and science, 

facilitating the growth of new business opportunities, and stimulating the commercialization of 

 

295 Warren E. Leary, “Cuts Lessen Space Station’s Value to Science, Report Says,” New York Times, 20 September 

2002. 

296 NASA History Division, “NASA Center Directors,” http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/ director.html

(accessed 3 October 2008); NASA ARC, “G. Scott Hubbard Named NASA Ames Research Center Director,” news 

release 02-103AR, 19 September 2002. 

297 NASA JSC, “JSC’s Aircraft Operations Division Wins Top Federal Aviation Award,” news release J02-93, 19 

September 2002. 

298 NASA, “NASA Awards Contract to Boeing,” news release c02-dd, 8 October 2002. 
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new intellectual property. The basic five-year cooperative agreement was valued at US$69 

million, and the contract’s total value could increase to US$379 million with the acceptance of 

three five-year options.299

30 September 

NASA awarded contracts to four companies to develop technology to prevent the flammability 

of airliner fuel tanks. The research plan was a response to the National Transportation Safety 

Board’s (NTSB’s) findings concerning the problem of flammability and explosiveness in the 

center wing tanks of airplanes, a vulnerability that had destroyed airliners such as TWA Flight 

800. NASA’s GRC awarded the contracts to Creare Engineering, Essex Cryogenics, Honeywell 

Environmental Controls Systems, and Valcor Engineering, stipulating that the companies 

research how they might replace the oxygen in fuel tanks with a noncombustible gas. The 

companies would determine the feasibility of improving the methods of on-board systems of 

inert gas generation and of on-board oxygen generation. If the researchers found potential means 

of improving the systems, the awardees would fabricate and test hardware during the contract’s 

second phase.300

The FAA released an enhanced version of the Emissions and Dispersion Modeling System 

(EDMS), a computer program that the FAA had developed in the mid-1980s to assess the effects 

of aircraft, ground-support equipment, and other sources of airport emissions on air quality. The 

new version, referred to as EDMS 4.1, included a number of features enabling analysts better to 

examine local concentrations of pollutants, including diagrams of specific airports and 

mathematical models of aircraft-exhaust dispersion.301

OCTOBER 2002 

4 October 

Astronomers used images from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and Rossi X-ray Timing 

Explorer to observe, for the first time, the life cycles of x-ray jets ejected from a black hole. 

Scientists considered x-ray jets an extremely important phenomenon to understand, because they 

could reveal information about the dynamics of matter that accumulates in intense gravitational 

fields. From 1998 to 2002, the two satellites had collected the images showing the progressive 

changes of two jets of high-energy particles emitted from a black hole, microquasar XTE J1550-

564. The images revealed that the jets had initially traveled at nearly half the speed of light, later 

decelerating and eventually disappearing. Astronomers were surprised to discover that the x-ray 

 

299 NASA, “NASA Selects Corporation To Lead Innovative Research Institute,” news release c02-aa, 26 September 

2002. 

300 NASA, “Studies Aim to Reduce Airliner Fuel Tank Flammability,” news release 02-186, 30 September 2002. 301 Federal Aviation Administration’s R&D Review, Spring 2003, 14, http://www.airtech.tc.faa.gov/

RD/2003_spring.pdf (accessed 3 March 2009); FAA, “EDMS Reference Manual SupplementModel Changes 

between EDMS 4.05 and EDMS 4.1” (manual, Washington, DC, September 30, 2002), 

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/aep/models/edms_model/previous_edms/media/410-

sup_rev.pdf (accessed 3 March 2009). 
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jet farthest from Earth was three times brighter than the jet that traveled closer to Earth, a finding 

that was not explained by existing models of x-ray jets.302

7 October 

Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-112 launched from NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 2:46 

p.m. (CDT). The Shuttle’s crew included Commander Jeffrey S. Ashby, Pilot Pamela A. Melroy, 

and crew members Sandra H. Magnus, Piers J. Sellers, David A. Wolf, and Fyodor N. 

Yurchikhin. STS-112’s major objective was to deliver and install the Starboard One (S1) Truss, 

the second segment of the ISS’s Integrated Truss Structure. Astronauts Sellers and Wolf planned 

to make three spacewalks during the installation missiondesignated ISS Assembly Mission 

9Ato install and activate the truss. Other mission objectives included transferring experiments 

and payloads from Atlantis to the ISS, deploying the station’s second S-Band communications 

system, and installing external camera systems.303

Scientists from California Institute of Technology announced that they had used NASA’s HST to 

measure the true size of an orbiting, planet-like body beyond Pluto. The sphere was the most 

distant object that a telescope had measured within Earth’s solar system. Like its neighbor Pluto, 

the object, which is nearly 4 billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) from Earth, lies in the Kuiper 

Belt, an icy debris field that extends 7 billion miles (11.3 billion kilometers) beyond the orbit of 

Neptune. Using the HST, scientists Michael E. Brown and Chadwick A. Trujillo were able to 

determine several properties of the sphere, including its diameter of 780 miles (1,250 

kilometers). Although too small to be a planet, the sphere, which Brown and Trujillo named 

Quaoarafter a creation deity of the Native American Tongva peoplehas planet-like traits that 

Pluto lacks. For example, Brown and Trujillo found that Quaoar has a circular orbit around the 

Sun and is in the same plane as the other planets in Earth’s solar system. Brown and Trujillo 

announced their findings at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division 

for Planetary Sciences.304

8 October 

Astronomer Riccardo Giacconi received the Nobel Prize in physics for research on cosmic x-ray 

radiation. Giacconi’s projects had included NASA-funded research leading to his discovery of 

cosmic x-ray sources. A professor at Johns Hopkins University, Giacconi had been the first 

scientist to discover a source of x-rays outside Earth’s solar system and the first to prove that the 

universe contained background radiation of x-ray light. In addition, many astronomers believed 

that x-ray sources Giacconi had discovered contained black holes. Giacconi had also been 

responsible for the conception and design of the first x-ray satellite and the first operating x-ray 

telescope. Together with Harvey Tananbaum, he had proposed the design of the x-ray telescope 

that eventually became NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory. Moreover, Giacconi had been the 

first Director of the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute and the Principal Investigator for 

 

302 NASA, “Chandra Discovers the History of Black Hole X-ray Jets,” news release 02-189, 3 October 2002; S. 

Corbel et al., “Large-Scale, Decelerating, Relativistic X-ray Jets from the Microquasar XTE J1550-564,” Science

n.s. 298, no. 5591 (4 October 2002): 196–199. 

303 NASA, “STS-112: Extending the Space Station’s Backbone,” http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/ archives/sts112/ (accessed 17 October 2008); NASA, “STS-112 Overview,” http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/ shuttle/archives/sts112/mm-sts-112.pdf (accessed 17 October 2008). 304 NASA, “Hubble Spots an Icy World Far Beyond Pluto,” news release 02-190, 7 October 2002; Usha Lee 

McFarling, “Pluto’s Not So Alone Out There, It Appears,” Los Angeles Times, 8 October 2002. 
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the Chandra Ultra-Deep Survey, which had obtained the deepest x-ray exposures with a 

millionth-second observation.305

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe and U.S. Air Force Undersecretary Peter Teets jointly 

announced that NASA and the DOD would have closer links, beginning with the FY 2004 

budget. Major media reported that the two officials had not provided specific details concerning 

the association between NASA and the DOD. Although O’Keefe remarked that the collaboration 

might not require a formalized plan, the two officials stated that NASA and the DOD would 

integrate research and development efforts on projects such as space-based radar, 

communications satellites, and the Strategic Launch Initiative (SLI) to develop a reusable launch 

vehicle (RLV) to replace the Space Shuttle.306

10 October 

Crew members of Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-112 and the ISS installed the first Starboard truss 

segment, the S1 Truss, connecting it with the ISS’s Integrated Truss Structure. Installation of the 

45-foot-long (13.7-meter-long) S1 Truss was the mission’s main objective. Astronauts David A. 

Wolf and Piers J. Sellers accomplished the task during three spacewalks, with astronauts Peggy 

A. Whitson and Sandra H. Magnus operating the ISS’s robotic arm to attach the S1 to the central 

truss segment, the S0 Truss. The astronauts also installed the Crew and Equipment Translation 

Aid, a cart that runs on rails along the top of the truss.307

15 October 

A Russian Space Agency launch failed, when an uncrewed Soyuz-U rocket exploded after the 

rocket’s engine automatically shut down, 29 seconds after liftoff from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in 

Russia. The rocket was carrying a Foton-M1 spacecraft with 44 microgravity experiments that 

ESA, Japan, Russia, and the United States had intended for the ISS. ESA stated that it planned to 

rebuild the Foton-M1 spacecraft for a later launch.308

16 October 

NASA engineers completed a successful demonstration of a solar-powered UAV for remotesensing applications. Engineers with NASA’s Suborbital Airborne Sciences programs had 

guided the Pathfinder-Plus UAV throughout a flight lasting nearly 4 hours, during which the 

aircraft had captured more than 300 high-resolution digital images of a coffee plantation on the 

Hawaiian island of Kauai. NASA had developed the UAV for Earth science research, but project 

engineers described the flight demonstration as evidence that their integration of the UAV 

technology with decision-support systems would have additional practical applications. For 

example, project engineers hoped that the UAV technology might eventually enable farmers and 

ranchers to produce harvests more effectively and efficiently. The solar-powered UAV had a 

 

305 NASA, “Nobel Physics in Physics Awarded to Astronomer for NASA-Funded Research,” news release 02-197, 8 

October 2002; Nobel Foundation, “Advanced Information on the Nobel Prize in Physics 2002,” news release, 8 

October 2002, http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2002/phyadv02.pdf (accessed 17 October 2008). 306 Gwyneth K. Shaw, “Military Influence To Grow at NASA,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 9 October 2002. 307 Warren E. Leary, “Astronauts Install Girder on Space Station,” New York Times, 11 October 2002; NASA, “ISS 

Assembly Mission 9A,” http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/ iss_assembly_9a.html (accessed 17 

October 2008). 

308 ESA, “Foton,” http://www.spaceflight.esa.int/users/index.cfm?act=default.page&level=11&page=facfoton

(accessed 6 January 2009); Puttkamer, “Space Flight 2002.” 
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ground-controlled aerial imaging system. In fact, an undergraduate student nearly 2,500 miles 

(4,000 kilometers) away at California State University in Monterey Bay controlled one of the 

craft’s digital cameras during the demonstration.309

17 October 

ESA launched the International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) observatory 

from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 10:41 a.m., local time12:41 a.m. (EST). ESA had 

designed the satellite, and Italy’s Alenia Spazio had developed it, with support from more than 

30 European firms. INTEGRAL would study dense objects that are sources of high-energy 

radiation, such as neutron stars and black holes. Project scientists hoped that INTEGRAL would 

produce images that would help confirm the presence of black holes at the center of galaxies, 

beginning with the Milky Way. INTEGRAL had two main instruments for analyzing gamma-ray 

sources: the Spectrometer on INTEGRAL, or SPI spectrometer, and the Imager on Board the 

INTEGRAL Satellite, or IBIS imager. The spectrometer and imager had an extremely sharp 

angular resolution, enabling them to conduct spectral analyses with an energy resolution 40 times 

better than that provided by any previous satellite. INTEGRAL also carried an x-ray imager and 

a charged-coupled device (CCD) imager that operated within the visible spectrum waveband. 

Using the combined data from the four instruments, project scientists would be able to make 

simultaneous observations of high-energy phenomena, from visible light to gamma rays.310

NASA appointed Michael U. Rudolphi as Deputy Director for NASA’s SSC. NASA 

administrators stated that the selection was part of the “One NASA” initiative of enhancing 

partnerships among NASA’s various centers. Rudolphi would assume the post after the launch of 

Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-113, scheduled for liftoff in November 2002. Since January 

2000, Rudolphi had managed the Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Project at NASA’s MSFC. He 

had begun his career with NASA in 1998 as Facility Manager for MSFC’s Advanced Solid 

Rocket Motor Project. Before joining NASA, Rudolphi had been a manager of the contractor 

plant for the Solid Rocket Booster Project at NASA’s KSC.311

18 October 

Space Shuttle Atlantis landed at NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 10:44 a.m. (CDT), 

marking the end of STS-112. During the mission, Atlantis’s crew had conducted joint operations 

with the ISS Expedition 5 crew, including the installation of the S1 Truss to the ISS’s Integrated 

Truss Structure. Astronauts Piers J. Sellers and David A. Wolf had performed three spacewalks 

to install the truss. In addition, the Shuttle’s crew members had transferred cargo to the ISS and 

had used the Shuttle’s thruster jets to raise the station’s orbit. The mission’s total duration was 10 

days, 19 hours, and 58 minutes.312

 

309 NASA, “NASA Mission Demonstrates Practical Use of UAV Technology,” news release 02-200, 16 October 

2002. 

310 ESA, “Europe Opens a Window onto a Violent Universe,” ESA news release 66-2002, 17 October 2002, 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/ESAKXQTHN6D_index.0.html (accessed 2 February 2010). 311 NASA, “NASA Announces New Stennis Space Center Deputy Director,” news release 02-201, 17 October 2002. 312 NASA, “STS-112: Extending the Space Station’s Backbone,” http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/ shuttle/archives/sts112/ (accessed 17 October 2008). 
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22 October 

NASA announced that it would delay the selection of designs for the RLV that would replace the 

Space Shuttle under the US$4.8 billion SLI program. NASA had planned to select a pool of 

proposed designs in November 2002, eventually limiting the pool to two designs before 2006. 

However, a NASA official said that NASA had slowed the selection process while awaiting the 

results of studies on various unresolved issues with the SLI program. The results of those studies 

could affect the program’s objectives, as well as the design of the RLV that NASA planned.313

25 October 

A group of astronomers, including NASA’s Christophe Dumas, announced the discovery of a 

new moon orbiting the planet Uranus. S/2001 U 1 was Uranus’s 21st confirmed moon, one of six 

Uranian moons with an irregular orbit on a different orbital plane from that of the planet’s other 

moons. Moons with irregular orbits are hard to find, because they tend to be very distant from 

the planet they orbit and are so faint that they are difficult to distinguish from stars. The six 

Uranian moons with irregular orbits were the planet’s smallest moons, ranging in size from 10 to 

20 kilometers (6 to 12 miles) in diameter. Scientists theorized that these smaller moons were the 

result of collisions that had occurred during the early stages of planetary formation.314

28 October 

The ISS’s international partners made several decisions during a meeting held in Houston, 

Texas. The meeting’s purpose was to discuss the provision of crew return vehicles (CRVs) for 

the ISS and plans for the station’s construction, through 2008. NASA announced that the 

collaborating space agencies had agreed to a modified launch schedule for components provided 

by Canada, Japan, and ESA. In addition, they had discussed the possibility of Russia’s 

continuing to provide Soyuz CRVs until NASA had completed the construction of a replacement 

vehicle.315

31 October 

The Russian Space Agency launched the Soyuz TMA-1 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, 

Kazakhstan, at 8:11 a.m., local time10:11 p.m. (EST). The launch was officially designated 

ISS Mission 5S. Soyuz TMA-1 was the first of a newly modified version of the Soyuz spacecraft, 

offering improved safety features and accommodation for crew members of a larger range of 

sizes. In addition, Soyuz TMA-1 was an automatic passenger craft intended to replace Soyuz TM34 as the ISS’s escape craft. The Russian Space Agency had been sending Soyuz vehicles to the 

ISS every six months as CRVs for scientists residing on the ISS. Soyuz TMA-1’s crew consisted 

of Commander Sergei V. Zalyotin and two crew members, Russian cosmonaut Yuri V. 

Lonchakov and Belgian ESA astronaut Frank De Winne. The mission’s primary purpose was to 

provide a CRV for the ISS; however, Soyuz TMA-1’s crew also planned to conduct scientific 

experiments with the ISS Expedition 5 members. ISS crew would conduct most of these 

experiments under a commercial contract between Russia and ESA.316

 

313 Gwyneth K. Shaw, “NASA Taps Brakes on Shuttle Replacement,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 23 October 2002. 314 NASA JPL, “Scientists Boost Tally at Uranus,” news release, 25 October 2002. 315 John Kelly, “International Space Station Partners OK Modified Launch Schedule,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 

29 October 2002. 

316 Puttkamer, “Space Flight 2002”; NASA Mission Control Center, “Report #48,” http://quest.nasa.gov/

news/space/2002/10-29a.txt (accessed 17 October 2008). 
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NOVEMBER 2002 

6 November 

Scientists obtained the first measurements ever taken of the dimensions and compositional matter 

of a neutron star, providing important new information about the fundamental nature of matter 

and energy. Using ESA’s XMM-Newton space telescope, Jean Cottam of NASA’s GSFC and 

other researchers captured the first measurements of the gravitational redshift of a neutron star. 

Gravitational redshift occurs when an intense gravitational field such as that of a neutron star 

warps light or other electromagnetic radiation. Thus, by calculating the star’s redshift, the 

scientists were able to estimate its gravity, compositional material, and other characteristics. The 

researchers found that the star EXO 0748-676 is likely composed of normal nuclear matter, as 

scientists had previously theorized. The researchers’ observations regarding neutron stars, 

specifically, and matter and energy, generally, occurred under conditions that scientists are 

unable to replicate on Earth. The researchers thought that the findings might reveal new 

information about the creation of the universe, because, theoretically, the temperature and 

pressure of neutron stars is similar to the temperature and pressure that was present just one 

second after the Big Bang.317

7 November 

George W. S. Abbey, Special Assistant to NASA’s Administrator and former Director of 

NASA’s JSC, announced his retirement from NASA effective 3 January 2003. Abbey had begun 

his career at JSC in 1964 as a U.S. Air Force officer. He had served as Director of JSC and had 

become a high-level manager for the ISS project. In 2001 he had left the post because of the 

soaring costs of the ISS.318

11 November 

The U.S. Air Force chose Boeing Integrated Defense Systems to produce the first three satellites 

for the GPS IIF satellite program. The U.S. Air Force had designed the GPS IIF program to 

provide new capabilities for civilian and military GPS users―a new civilian signal within the 

protected Aeronautical Radio Navigation System frequency band and secure operational military 

codes for military aircraft. The Air Force had also intended the GPS IIF to be compatible with 

the U.S. Air Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV). Boeing had designed the 

GPS IIF to accommodate incremental technology upgrades, enabling the satellites to serve both 

the immediate needs of the GPS IIF program and the long-term needs of the planned next 

generation satellite system, GPS III.319

 

317 ESA, “XMM-Newton Closes In on Space’s Exotic Matter,” ESA news release 69-2002, 6 November 2002, 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/ESAK117708D_index_0.html (accessed 2 February 2010); NASA, “Exotic Innards of a 

Neutron Star Revealed in a Series of Explosions,” news release 02-214, 6 November 2002; Jean Cottam, Frederik 

Paerels, and Mariano Mendez, “Gravitationally Redshifted Absorption Lines in the X-ray Burst Spectra of a Neutron 

Star,” Nature 420, no. 6911 (7 November 2002): 51–54. 318 NASA JSC, “Statement by General Jefferson D. Howell Jr. on the Retirement of Former JSC Director George W. 

S. Abbey,” news release J02-111, 7 November 2002; Houston Chronicle, “Longtime NASA Official Retires,” 8 

November 2002. 319 The Boeing Company, “Boeing Receives GPS IIF Production Approval,” news release, 11 November 2002, 

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2002/q4/nr_021111t.html (accessed 28 January 2010); U.S. Coast Guard 
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13 November 

President George W. Bush released details of NASA’s new Integrated Space Transportation Plan 

(ISTP) in an amendment to his budget request for FY 2003. The ISTP included a number of 

changes in NASA’s spaceflight programs that, together, would encompass a comprehensive 

effort to coordinate NASA’s investments in the ISS, the Space Shuttle program, and the 

replacement vehicle for the Shuttle. The new plan would provide more resources for completing 

the assembly of the ISS, as well as an increase in the number of annual Shuttle flights to the ISS. 

Shuttle flights to the ISS would increase from four to five flights annually, enabling transport of 

more researchers and more science-based payloads. Moreover, the ISTP would restructure the 

Space Launch Initiative (SLI), making the program’s immediate objective the development of 

the Orbital Space Plane (OSP), rather than development of a replacement vehicle for the Space 

Shuttle. The OSP, which would be smaller than the Shuttle, would function as both the crew 

transport vehicle and the emergency escape vehicle for the ISS, and NASA would use the 

Shuttles for heavy cargo delivery. NASA stressed that, although the ISTP would change NASA’s 

five-year budget plan, the program’s costs would remain within the original FY 2003 budget.320

18 November 

The Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry released its final report 

on the industry’s health and future well-being. President George W. Bush had created the 

Commission, composed of aerospace industry executives, lawyers, and policy analysts, to 

analyze the U.S. aerospace industry’s stability, financial health, and relationship to national 

security. The Commission had concluded that the United States should establish a national 

aerospace policy; create a government-wide framework to implement that policy; reduce legal 

and regulatory barriers, to enable the industry to grow and become more internationally 

competitive; and increase investments in the nation’s aerospace industrial base, infrastructure, 

personnel, and long-term research. In addition, the Commission’s report provided numerous 

recommendations to the industry concerning how to meet those objectives, such as increasing 

and sustaining public and private investment in the aerospace industry and aerospace 

technologies, transforming the nation’s air transportation system, and enhancing the defense 

industrial base.321

19 November 

Astronomers discovered a phenomenon that they had previously postulated in theory, but had 

never actually observeda black hole in motion, likely propelled by the explosion of a 

supernova. Using the HST, I. Felix Mirabel, of France’s Atomic Energy Commission and 

Argentina’s Institute of Astronomy and Space Physics, and other scientists had determined that 

the black hole GRO J1655-40 was traveling toward Earth at approximately 250,000 miles per 

hour (400,000 kilometers per hour) as it consumed a companion star locked in gravitational orbit 

around the black hole. Although astronomers could not observe the black hole directly, they were 

 Navigation Center, “The Global Positioning System,” http://www.gps.gov/ systems/gps/index.html (accessed 12 

December 2008). 

320 NASA, “NASA’s Integrated Space Transportation Plan Released,” news release 02-220, 13 November 2002; 

Warren E. Leary, “NASA To Delay Decision on Shuttle Replacement,” New York Times, 14 November 2002. 321 Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry, Final Report (Arlington, VA, November 

2002); The Boeing Company, “Boeing Supports Recommendations of U.S. Aerospace Commission,” news release, 

18 November 2002, http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2002/q4/nr_021118a.html (accessed 28 January 2010). 
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able to infer its velocity, orbit, and other characteristics by observing its companion star and the 

effects of the black hole’s immense gravity on that star. The scientists were able to use the 

calculations of the black hole’s velocity and orbit to determine that a supernova explosion was 

most likely the event that had propelled the black hole into motion.322

20 November 

NASA awarded SLI contracts to Boeing and Lockheed Martin for flight-demonstrator 

technologies. The flight-demonstrator contracts would support development of the future OSP, 

which would serve as both the transport vehicle and the escape vehicle for astronauts assigned to 

the ISS. NASA awarded a contract valued at US$301 million (including options through 2006) 

to Boeing’s Phantom Works Division, to continue developing its X-37 test vehicle. The purpose 

of the X-37 was to test technologies that, eventually, NASA could use in the OSP. NASA 

awarded another contract worth US$53 million (including options through 2006) to Lockheed 

Martin, to develop a reusable, launchpad-abort demonstrator. The demonstrator, an escape 

module capable of recognizing problems and evacuating crew within seconds, would assist 

crews to escape emergencies occurring on the launchpad.323

Boeing successfully launched its first Delta 4 rocket, which the U.S. Air Force would use in 

2003 in the EELV program. The purpose of the EELV program was to develop reliable and costefficient launch capabilities for commercial and government payloads. The launch occurred at 

5:39 p.m. (EST) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Delta 4, a “Medium+” 

configuration of Boeing’s five-member Delta 4 family of rockets, deployed Eutelsat’s (European 

Telecommunications Satellite Organization’s) commercial telecommunications satellite W5 into 

geosynchronous transfer orbit. During the next scheduled Delta 4 launch―the first mission for 

the EELV program―the Air Force planned to use a Delta 4 Medium rocket to deploy the DSCS 

III A3 satellite for the Defense Satellite Communication System.324

23 November 

Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-113 launched from NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 

6:50 p.m. Central Standard Time (CST). The Shuttle’s crew members comprised Commander 

James D. Wetherbee and astronauts Kenneth D. Bowersox, Nikolai M. Budarin, John Bennett 

Herrington, Paul S. Lockhart, Michael Lopez-Alegria, and Donald R. Pettit. The primary 

objective of STS-113, also designated as Station Assembly Flight 11A, was to transport the crew 

of Expedition 6―Bowersox, Budarin, and Pettit―to the ISS and return the crew of Expedition 5 

to Earth. Another major objective was to install the Port 1 (P1) Truss segment on the ISS’s 

Integrated Truss Structure. The structure would eventually house the ISS’s solar arrays and 

would carry power, data, and temperature controls for the station’s electronics. In addition, STS-

 

322 William Harwood, “Black Hole’s Velocity Links It to Supernova,” Washington Post, 19 November 2002; I. F. 

Mirabel et al., “The Runaway Black Hole GRO J1655-40,” Astronomy and Astrophysics 395, no. 2 (19 November 

2002): 595–599. 

323 NASA, “NASA Awards Contracts for Flight Demonstrators,” news release c02-gg, 20 November 2002; Chris 

Kidler, “NASA Awards X-37 Contracts,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 27 November 2002. 324 The Boeing Company, “Successful First Launch for Boeing Delta IV,” news release, 20 November 2002, 

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2002/q4/nr_021120s.html (accessed 28 January 2010); U. S. Air Force, “U.S. 

Air Force Fact Sheet: Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle,” http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/space/factsheets/eelv.htm

(accessed 28 October 2008). 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

100

113 would transport several experiments to the ISS, returning to Earth with several experiments 

that the crew of Expedition 5 had conducted.325

26 November 

NASA completed an agreement with California Institute of Technology for the university to 

continue operating NASA’s JPL. The cost-plus-award-fee contract, valued at approximately 

US$8 billion, extended an existing agreement with California Institute of Technology for five 

years beyond its planned expiration date of 30 September 2003. The agreement also contained a 

provision to extend the contract performance period for an additional five years based on 

performance reviews. In addition, NASA and the California Institute of Technology restored full 

management of the Deep Space Network to JPL, allowing JPL to review and comment on any of 

NASA policies that affected JPL’s performance. According to NASA, the new contract reflected 

its “One NASA” initiative, intended to align JPL’s policies and procedures more closely with 

those of other NASA centers.326

28 November 

A Russian Kosmos-3M rocket launched the first Algerian spacecraft, AlSAT-1, from Plesetsk 

Cosmodrome in Russia. The Algerian Space Agency (Agence Spatiale Algérienne) had designed 

the 92-kilogram (202-pound), imaging microsatellite to provide multispectral, mediumresolution images for remote-sensing purposes, particularly the monitoring of natural disasters. 

The Algerian Space Agency intended AlSAT-1 as the first of five microsatellites for a program 

called the Disaster Monitoring Constellation.327

30 November 

Crew members of STS-113 completed the installation of the P1 Truss segment, attaching it to the 

ISS’s Integrated Truss Structure. The installation entailed the use of the Shuttle’s and the ISS’s 

robotic arms, as well as three spacewalks, which astronauts John Bennett Herrington and 

Michael Lopez-Alegria performed. STS-113’s crew attached the 45-foot-long (13.7-meter-long), 

14-ton (12,700-kilogram or 12.7-tonne) P1 Truss to the port side of the Starboard Zero (S0) 

Truss, the centerpiece of the Integrated Truss Structure. The P1 was the third segment of planned 

ISS equipment that would eventually include 11 contiguous truss structures. This particular truss 

segment contained the ISS’s Active Thermal Control System, scheduled for activation in 2003; 

one of two Ultra High Frequency Communications systems on the ISS; and a Thermal Radiator 

Rotary Joint intended to provide mechanical and electrical energy to rotate the ISS’s heatrejecting radiators.328

 

325 NASA, “STS-113: A New Crew for the International Space Station,” http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/ 

archives/sts-113/ (accessed 29 October 2008); NASA, “STS-113 Shuttle Press Kit” press kit, 25 October 2002, 

http://www.shuttlepresskit.com/STS-113/SPK_sts-113.pdf (accessed 29 October 2008). 326 NASA, “NASA Awards JPL Contract,” news release c02-hh, 26 November 2002. 327 Agence Spatiale Algérienne [Algerian Space Agency], “Lancement AlSAT-1,” http://www.asal-dz.org/ 

lancement.php (accessed 29 October 2008); Agence Spatiale Algérienne [Algerian Space Agency], “Mission 

AlSAT-1,” http://www.asal-dz.org/mission.php (accessed 29 October 2008). 328 NASA, “STS-113 Overview,” http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/archives/sts-113/mm-sts-113.pdf (accessed 29 

October 2008); Puttkamer, “Space Flight 2002.” 
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DECEMBER 2002 

1 December 

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s Office of Space Commercialization (OSC) published a 

report on potential markets for suborbital reusable launch vehicles (RLVs). The study was a 

follow-up to earlier OSC efforts concerning commercial space opportunities, efforts that had 

identified suborbital space transportation as a potentially viable market. The report examined 14 

different suborbital RLVs and the existing and emerging markets those systems could create. The 

authors had determined that the advent of an operational suborbital RLV could create numerous 

new markets in fields such as military surveillance and commercial Earth-imaging. In addition, 

the advent of suborbital RLVs with dual-use capabilities could serve multiple emerging markets, 

offering customers significantly lower costs. Moreover, the expansion of such markets could 

contribute to lower operating and manufacturing costs for RLVs. The Aerospace Corporation 

had written the report under contract with the OSC, submitting it in October 2002.329

Astronomers from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the European Southern 

Observatory published research detailing their discovery of a diffuse emission of x-rays from a 

cluster of forming stars known as RCW 38. The new discovery contrasted with astronomers’ 

conventional understanding of bodies that commonly emit high-energy particles, namely 

supernovas and exploding stars in the intense magnetic fields surrounding neutron stars and 

black holes. The astronomers, using NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, had discovered that 

neither type of body was evident in the RCW 38 stellar region, which is, instead, an area of 

active star formation. Although the scientists remained uncertain about the source of the x-rays, 

as well as the effects of the x-rays on the star cluster, they hypothesized that these x-rays could 

affect the chemistry of the bodies that would form planets around the stars in the cluster.330

3 December 

NASA announced that Russian cosmonaut Alexander Y. Kaleri would replace Sergei I. 

Moschenko as a member of the ISS Expedition 7 crew. Russian officials had proposed the 

change to the Multilateral Crew Operations Panel, which formally certified and assigned ISS 

crew, and the panel had formally approved the proposal on 10 October 2002. Kaleri had served 

three separate missions on the Russian space station Mir between 1992 and 2000. In addition to 

Kaleri, the Expedition 7 crew would include U.S. astronaut Edward T. Lu and Russian 

cosmonaut Yuri I. Malenchenko.331

 

329 J. C. Martin and G. W. Law, “Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicles and Applicable Markets” (report, Aerospace 

Corporation for Office of Space Commercialization, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, DC, October 

2002), http://www.space.commerce.gov/library/reports/2002-10-suborbital-LowRes.pdf (accessed 5 November 

2008); NASA, Aeronautics and Space Report of the President: Fiscal Year 2003 Activities (Washington, DC, 2003), 

p. 51, http://history.nasa.gov/presrep2003.pdf (accessed 5 November 2008). 330 NASA, “Young Star Cluster Found Aglow with Mysterious Cloud,” news release 02-251, 18 December 2002; 

Scott J. Wolk et al., “Discovery of Nonthermal X-ray Emission from the Embedded Massive Star-Forming Region 

RCW 38,” Astrophysical Journal Letters 580, no. 2 (1 December 2002): L161–L165. 331 NASA, “Expedition Five Backup Crewmember Named to Expedition Seven,” news release 02-235, 3 December 

2002; NASA, “Memorandum of Understanding Between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the 

United States of America and the Russian Space Agency Concerning the Cooperation on the Civil International 

Space Station” (MOU, Washington, DC, 29 January 1998), Article 11.3, 

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/reports/1998/nasa_russian.html (accessed 5 November 2008). 
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4 December 

NASA successfully launched the third replenishment spacecraft for its Tracking and Data Relay 

Satellite (TDRS) fleet. The TDRS-J satellite launched aboard an Atlas 2A rocket from Cape 

Canaveral, Florida, at 9:42 p.m. (EST). TDRS satellites comprised a communication-signal relay 

system providing tracking and data-acquisition services between low Earth-orbiting spacecraft 

and ground-based control and data-processing facilities. The TDRS satellite system served 

numerous NASA programs, including the HST, the ISS, and the Space Shuttle. NASA had 

launched the first TDRS satellite in 1983.332

6 December 

The five partner space agencies of the ISSthe Canadian Space Agency, ESA, NASA, Japan’s 

NASDA, and the Russian Space Agency approved the 2002 Program Action Plan for the ISS 

at a meeting held in Tokyo, Japan. The partner agencies agreed to expand the station’s 

capabilities, to increase the number of permanent ISS crew members, and to provide additional 

crew rescue vehicles. They also agreed to a process for selecting an ISS configuration, once the 

ISS had accommodated the remaining components. In this process, each of the station’s partner 

agencies would make additional programmatic and technical assessments, cost estimations, and 

internal budget reviews. In addition, the agencies announced that they would approve a station 

configuration option by March 2003, select a revised configuration by June or July 2003, and 

agree upon a final configuration by December 2003.333

NASA announced the selection of Boeing’s Delta 2 expendable launch vehicle to launch 

medium-class payloads between 2006 and 2009. The selection was part of an existing NASA 

launch-services contract with Boeing that had a maximum value of US$1.2 billion, if NASA 

exercised all options. The procurement contract called for 12 definite launches, with options for 

an additional seven. Boeing’s rockets would launch both NASA’s payloads and NASAsponsored payloads.334

7 December 

Space Shuttle Endeavour landed at NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 1:37 p.m. 

(CST), marking the end of Mission STS-113. During the mission, Endeavour’s crew had 

attached the Port 1 (P1) Truss to the ISS’s Integrated Truss Structure, in an installation that 

included three spacewalks by crew members John Bennett Herrington and Michael LopezAlegria. Shuttle and Expedition crews had also transferred 4,340 pounds (1,969 kilograms) of 

cargo between the Shuttle and the ISS. In addition, Endeavour had transported the Expedition 6 

crew to the station, returning the crew of Expedition 5 to Earth. The total duration of STS-113 

was 13 days, 18 hours, and 47 minutes.335

 

332 The Boeing Company, “Boeing-Built NASA Tracking and Data Relay Satellite Successfully Launched,” news 

release, 4 December 2002, http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2002/q4/nr_021204s.html (accessed 28 January 

2010); National Space Science Data Center, “NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS),” 

http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/multi/tdrs.html (accessed 31 October 2008). 333 NASA, “Space Station Action Plan Approved,” news release 02-241, 6 December 2002. 334 NASA, “NASA Picks Delta II To Launch Medium-Class Payloads,” news release C02-ii, 6 December 2002. 335 NASA, “STS-113: A New Crew for the International Space Station,” http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/ 

archives/sts-113/ (accessed 31 October 2008). 
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12 December 

NASA announced the selection of crew members for three ISS missions scheduled for 2003 and 

2004. The crew of STS-118 would include Mission Commander Scott J. Kelly and crew 

members Charles O. Hobaugh, Barbara R. Morgan, Lisa M. Nowak, Scott E. Parazynski, and 

Dafydd Rhys Williams. Morgan, who had trained as Christa McAuliffe’s backup for the ill-fated 

Challenger Shuttle, would be the first teacher in space under NASA’s new Educator Astronaut 

Program. NASA hoped that the program would inspire students to become space explorers. The 

second mission, STS-119, would comprise Commander Steven W. Lindsey and U.S. astronauts 

Michael L. Gernhardt, Mark E. Kelly, and Carlos I. Noriega. STS-119 would also include ISS 

Expedition 9’s Station Commander Gennady I. Padalka and crew members E. Michael Fincke 

and Oleg D. Kononenko. Crew for STS-120 would be Commander James D. Halsell and 

astronauts Michael J. Foremen, Wendy B. Lawrence, Alan G. Poindexter, Piers J. Sellers, and 

Stephanie D. Wilson.336

17 December 

NASA announced that, although they were continuing inspections, technicians had found no 

similar cracks in other Shuttles after they had discovered a crack in one of Shuttle Discovery’s 

parts. Engineers had discovered the first crack during standard inspections of Atlantis and 

Discovery in June 2002. The fissures were in small metal balls, a component of a liquid oxygen 

line. According to a NASA spokesperson, engineers had completed inspections of Atlantis, but 

inspections of Discovery would remain on hold until inspectors had finished examining 

Endeavour. However, NASA had no plans to inspect Columbia.

337

20 December 

After several unsuccessful attempts to contact the Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) satellite, 

NASA and Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory concluded that CONTOUR 

was lost. The objectives of the CONTOUR mission had been to maneuver to a distance of 60 

kilometers (100 miles) from at least two comets, capturing high-resolution images and 

performing various compositional analyses of the comets’ near-nucleus-environment 

compositional material. NASA had launched CONTOUR on 3 July 2002 but had lost contact 

with the satellite on 15 August 2002 after a maneuver intended to shift CONTOUR from Earth 

orbit to an orbit in which it would encounter the comet Encke.338

21 December 

A combined U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin crew engaged in the first flight of a C-5 

Galaxy modified under the Avionics Modernization Program (AMP). AMP was the first phase of 

an overall C-5 modernization program to upgrade the plane’s communications, navigation, and 

air-traffic-control surveillance equipment. The program’s objectives were to improve the C-5’s 

reliability and to satisfy emerging air-traffic-management requirements, so that the C-5 would be 

able to operate in global airspace without restrictions. During the 5-hour test flight, the crew 

 

336 NASA, “Astronauts Named for Future Space Station Missions,” news release 02-249, 12 December 2002; 

NASA, “NASA’s Educator Astronaut Assigned First Flight,” news release 02-250, 12 December 2002; William 

Harwood, “Teacher Ready To Fulfill Space Legacy,” Washington Post, 13 December 2002. 337 Chris Kidler, “NASA Inspections Find No More Shuttle Cracks,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 17 December 

2002. 

338 NASA, “Discovery Mission: CONTOUR,” http://discovery.nasa.gov/contour.html (accessed 31 October 2008). 
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104

demonstrated the craft’s basic flying qualities and navigational system, verified new primary 

flight displays, and engaged in initial testing of stability-augmentation operations. Lockheed 

Martin planned to introduce additional components of the new, automatic flight-control system 

and the Global Air Traffic Management–compliant systems. After completing installation of the 

AMP components, Lockheed Martin planned to commence the second phase of the C-5 

modernization, known as the Reliability Enhancement and Re-engining Program.339

23 December 

NASA announced the backup crew members for ISS Expedition 10, including Jeffrey N. 

Williams, acting as backup for the ISS station commander, Russian cosmonaut Konstantin M. 

Kozeev, and U.S. astronaut Sunita L. Williams. The primary crew members for Expedition 10 

were ISS Commander Leroy Chiao, U.S. astronaut John L. Phillips, and Russian cosmonaut 

Salizhan S. Sharipov.340

With the aid of NASA’s High Energy Transient Explorer (HETE), scientists were able to capture 

the first images ever taken of an unusual gamma-ray burst (GRB) that signals the birth of a new 

black hole. With the exception of the Big Bang, GRBs are the most powerful type of explosion 

known. The bursts last for only a few seconds, yet their afterglows can last for days or even 

longer. However, scientists had been unable to detect an optical afterglow produced by a fastfading type of dark GRB―until the HETE indicated that such a burst was occurring. NASA had 

created the satellite to alert ground-based observatories to GRBs. On 11 December 2002, HETE 

had detected a GRB and, within 22 seconds, had notified observatories of the event’s location. In 

the following minutes, ground-based telescopes captured images of the burst’s afterglow, which 

disappeared in 2 hours. The event was a rare subcategory of dark GRBs known as a transitional 

bursta burst with an afterglow lasting longer than that of the short-duration type, but shorter 

than that of a long-duration burst. Moreover, these transitional bursts are the rarest type of GRB. 

Scientists hoped the images would help them learn more about the causes of GRB in general, as 

well as providing specific data indicating the reason that dark bursts have no detectable 

afterglow.341

31 December 

The Space Shuttle Competitive Source Task Force released its final report on the potential for 

private-sector operation of the Shuttle program. NASA had commissioned the Task Force to 

analyze the roles of NASA and its contractors with regard to Space Shuttle operations. More 

specifically, the Task Force had assessed various scenarios in which NASA would focus 

primarily on spaceflight research and development, outsourcing to the private sector the 

operation of the planned replacements of the Shuttles for routine transit to low Earth orbit. The 

Task Force had concluded that, although NASA faced numerous challenges to competitive 

sourcing for the Shuttle program, it should pursue some form of this option. Moreover, the panel 

 

339 Lockheed Martin, “Initial C-5 Upgraded Under the Avionics Modernization Program Makes Its First Flight,” 

news release, 23 December 2002, http: //www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2002/ 

InitialC5UpgradedUnderAvionicsModer.html (accessed 28 January 2010); William Knight and Christopher 

Bolkcom, “Strategic Airlift Modernization: Analysis of C-5 Modernization and C-17 Acquisition Issues,” (report, 

Congressional Research Service, Washington, DC, 15 April 2008), CRS-4–CRS-5. 

340 NASA, “Space Station Expedition Backup Crew Named,” news release 02-258, 23 December 2002. 341 NASA, “Scientists Catch Their First Elusive ‘Dark’ Gamma-Ray Burst,” news release 02-257, 23 December 

2002. 
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suggested that the most likely scenario for successful private-sector involvement in the Shuttle 

program would not involve private operation of the program, but rather a transfer of program 

assets to private entities at highly deflated prices. Another option would entail the restructuring 

of existing contracts, perhaps taking steps to expand the pool of program suppliers beyond the 

existing duopoly of Boeing and Lockheed Martin. In addition, as a first step to privatization, 

NASA could establish a space authority to operate the Shuttle, as well as future human 

transportation vehicles.342

JANUARY 2003 

5 January 

A reentry section of the People’s Republic of China’s Shenzhou 4 spacecraft landed in Inner 

Mongolia after Shenzhou 4 had orbited Earth for nearly a week. Phillip Clark, a U.K. observer of 

China’s space program, remarked that the Shenzhou 4 mission was key to flying Chinese 

astronauts in the future, noting that orbital control of the craft during this flight had been far 

tighter than in the two preceding tests. Furthermore, during two back-to-back Shenzhou launches, 

the Chinese had completed all the maneuvers necessary for a rendezvous and docking mission, 

indicating that China would progress quickly to an orbital docking. Clark predicted that either 

Shenzhou 7 or Shenzhou 8 would complete a nose-to-nose docking.343

6 January 

After a series of delays, a Titan 2 rocket carried into orbit the U.S. military’s Coriolis research 

satellite, launching from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The refurbished Titan 2 

intercontinental ballistic missile placed the spacecraft in orbit 51⁄2 minutes after launch, and the 

rocket’s second stage deployed its payload approximately 1 hour later. The US$224 million 

Coriolis mission carried the Navy’s Windsat microwave polarimetric radiometer and the Air 

Force’s Solar Mass Ejection Imager. The U.S. military had designed Windsat to measure wind 

speed and direction at or near the surface of Earth’s seas, providing improved weather 

forecasting to assist in planning naval operations. The Air Force intended the Solar Mass 

Ejection Imager to provide “an early warning of coronal mass ejections from the Sun that impact 

Earth, disrupting communications and power grids.”344

The Arianespace Flight 157 Inquiry Board submitted its report to Arianespace, establishing the 

most probable cause of the failure of an Ariane 5 ECA on the night of 11/12 December 2002. 

The Board had analyzed all measurements recorded during Flight 157 and had reviewed all 

documentation concerning production, quality, and technical records for the Ariane 5 

ECA―which used a Vulcain 2 engine―as well as the documentation for all Ariane 5 flights to 

date. The Board had identified a leak in the Vulcain 2 nozzle’s cooling circuit during the first 

flight phase. The leak had caused critical overheating of the nozzle, a loss of integrity, and a 

major imbalance in the thrust of the Vulcain 2 engine, leading to the loss of control over the 

 

342 Space Shuttle Competitive Sourcing Task Force, “Alternative Trajectories: Options for Competitive Sourcing of 

the Space Shuttle Program” (Final Report, Science and Technology Policy Institute, Rand Corporation, Arlington, 

VA, December 2002), http://www.rand.org/scitech/stpi/NASA/index.html (accessed 30 December 2009). 343 Leonard David, “After ShenzhouChina’s Space Plans Boosted Following Successful Mission,” Space.com, 5 

January 2003, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/after_shenzhou4_030105.html (accessed 28 July 2008). 344 Justin Ray, “Coriolis Launched To Track Ocean Winds, Solar Storms,” Spaceflight Now, 6 January 2003. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

106

launcher’s trajectory. The Board concluded that two aggravating factors, occurring 

simultaneously, had caused the failure: “degraded thermal condition of the nozzle due to fissures 

in the cooling tubes” and “non-exhaustive definition of the loads to which the Vulcain 2 engine 

is subjected during flight.” Although its review of the operating data from the Vulcain 1 engine’s 

successful flights identified no weakness in the functioning and resistance of the nozzle, the 

Board recommended a thorough review of the Ariane 5. Upon learning the factors involved in 

the failure of Ariane 5 ECA, Arianespace decided to create a board to study the upcoming 14 

January launch of Rosetta. ESA had timed the mission to enable Rosetta to rendezvous with the 

comet Wirtanen.345

7 January 

NASA announced that the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard the HST had used “a 

natural ‘zoom lens’ in space to boost its view of the distant universe,” revealing remote galaxies 

previously beyond HST’s reach. For more than 13 hours, the camera had concentrated on one of 

the most massive known galaxy clusters, Abell 1689, located more than 2.2 billion light-years 

away. In combination with dark matter, Abell 1689’s gravity behaves as a 2 million light-year–

wide lens in space, bending and magnifying the light of the galaxies behind it. The HST image 

captured hundreds of galaxies10 times more arcs than a ground-based telescope could 

reveal“smeared by the gravitational bending of light into a spider-web tracing of blue and red 

arcs of light.” Scientists intended to use the image map to study the distribution of dark matter in 

galaxy clusters and to trace the history of star formation in the universe over the past 13 billion 

years. NASA deemed the image “an exquisite demonstration of Albert Einstein’s prediction that 

gravity warps space and therefore distorts a beam of light.”346

GenCorp Inc.’s company Aerojet, a member of the Rocket Based Combined Cycle Consortium 

(RBC3), announced that NASA and RBC3 had successfully completed the first in a series of 

tests of a full-scale rocket thrust. Conducted at Aerojet facilities in Sacramento, California, the 

test demonstrated the first successful hot fire of a thruster using a mix of decomposed peroxide, 

liquid peroxide, and JP-7 jet fuel to generate combustion―a key milestone in NASA’s Integrated 

System Test of an Air-breathing Rocket (ISTAR) program. The ISTAR program sought to flighttest a self-powered hypersonic flight vehicle at more than six times the speed of sound by the end 

of the decade. The program was part of NASA’s effort to develop hypersonic technologies by 

2025, to create flight vehicles that could provide safe, routine, and affordable space access and 

air transportation to anywhere on the globe in less than 2 hours.347

9 January 

U.S. Representative William L. Jenkins (R-TN) announced that NASA had awarded East 

Tennessee State University a grant valued at US$363,310 to study light patterns of stars located 

 

345 ESA, “Arianespace Flight 157Inquiry Board Submits Findings,” 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/ESA7198708D_index_0.html (accessed 28 July 2008). 346 NASA, “Biggest ‘Zoom Lens’ in Space Extends Hubble’s Reach,” news release 03-003, 7 January 2003, 

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2003/03-003.txt (accessed 9 July 2008). 347 Aerojet, “NASA, Industry Consortium Successfully Test Full-Scale Hypersonic Engine Thruster,” news release, 

7 January 2003, http://www.aerojet.com/program/news/nr_010703_nasa_industry_consortium_

successfully_tests_thruster.htm?program_ID=45 (accessed 30 July 2008); “NASA, “NASA Tests Environmentally 

Friendly Rocket Fuel,” news release 03-010, 13 January 2003, ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/

pao/pressrel/2003/03-010.txt (accessed 9 July 2008). 
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107

hundreds of light-years away. The award would grant researchers of the university’s physics and 

astronomy department access over the next five years to data from COBEthe Cosmic 

Background Explorer satellite. The scientists would use the COBE data to study the infrared 

variability of asymptotic giant branch stars, “older stars with shells of gas and dust around 

them.” During its mission in 1989 and 1990, the COBE satellite had surveyed the sky on 10 

infrared wavelengths, observing the cosmic backlight of the universe, as well as asymptotic giant 

branch stars. Although astronomers in the field had conducted significant research on the 

backlight data, they had done little with COBE’s infrared data on the stars.348

12 January 

A Delta 2 rocket carried NASA’s Ice Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) into orbit, 

launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. ICESat was one in a series of Earth 

Observing System (EOS) spacecraft to follow the Terra satellite, launched in December 1999, 

and the Aqua satellite, launched in May 2002. NASA had designed the 661-pound (299.8-

kilogram) craft to measure the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica, so that scientists could 

determine whether global sea levels were rising or falling. The craft’s only instrument, the 

Geoscience Laser Altimeter System, would beam rapid pulses of laser light to the icy surface, 

and the ice sheets would reflect the light back to the satellite, acting like radar. The GPS would 

determine the ICESat’s location as it fired its laser, enabling program scientists to measure the 

ice sheets’ topography. The rocket also carried a second, smaller craft into orbitCHIPSat, 

NASA’s 131-pound (59-kilogram), University Explorer Class probe, the Cosmic Hot Interstellar 

Plasma Spectrometer. CHIPSat would gather data on the origin, physical processes, and 

properties of the hot gas between stars. The CHIPSat mission was the first U.S. mission to use 

end-to-end satellite operations over the Internet, treating the craft “something like a node on the 

Internet.”349

13 January 

NASA announced that a two-year collaboration between researchers at Stanford University and 

NASA’s ARC had resulted in a successful test of an alternative paraffin-based rocket fuel 

intended to increase operational safety, reduce costs as compared to solid fuels, and, eventually, 

to provide the fuel in Space Shuttle booster rockets. The researchers had developed a nontoxic, 

easily handled fuel, producing as by-products carbon dioxide and water, rather than the 

aluminum oxide and acidic gases that conventional rocket fuel produces. Arif Karabeyoglu had 

led Stanford University’s contribution to the fuel research, developing the theory of a fastburning, low-cost, paraffin-based fuel in his doctoral thesis, which Stanford and NASA had 

partially funded. The testing series had begun on 24 September 2001 at ARC’s Hybrid 

Combustion Facility, a heavy-duty test chamber capable of accommodating pressures of up to 60 

atmospheres. The first phase of the testing program had consisted of approximately 40 runs.350

 

348 Sam Watson, “NASA Grant To Fund ETSU Study of Stars,” Johnson City Press (TN), 9 January 2003. 

349 NASA, “NASA Successfully Launches ICE and CHIPS Satellites,” news release 03-011, 13 January 2003, 

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2003/03-011.txt (accessed 22 July 2008); Associated Press, “Rocket Carrying 

NASA Satellites Launched,” 12 January 2003; Jim Banke, “Boeing Launches Pair of Science Research Satellites for 

NASA,” Space.com, 12 January 2003, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/delta2_launch_030112.html

(accessed 22 July 2008). 

350 NASA, “NASA Tests Environmentally Friendly Rocket Fuel,” news release 03-010, 13 January 2003, 

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2003/03-010.txt (accessed 9 July 2008). 
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14 January 

Arianespace and ESA announced that, because of the failure of Ariane 5 Flight 157, they had 

postponed the launch of the Rosetta spacecraft. Arianespace had designed Rosetta to rendezvous 

with the comet Wirtanen, in a mission that would have included a journey lasting eight years, 

followed by a two-year study of the comet. Rosetta’s launch had presented several challenges, 

requiring the Ariane 5 rocket’s upper stage to “undertake its first-ever ballistic coast phase before 

being ignited, a [2]-hour-long sequence.” Although launch officials had not planned to launch 

the spacecraft aboard an Ariane 5 ECA, the type of rocket that had exploded shortly after launch 

in December 2002, Rosetta’s launch vehicle was not standard. Arianespace had modified its 

equipment bay and electrical system. The postponement would cause Rosetta to miss the launch 

window for the rendezvous with Wirtanen; therefore, mission scientists would search for a new 

comet for the study and would redesign the mission.351

15 January 

NASA announced that scientist David Atlas of NASA’s GSFC and University of Colorado 

scientist Christopher Williams had created the first “full-body scan” of an evolving tropical 

thunderstorm, using data collected from an unusual storm over the Amazon rain forest, which 

had occurred in February 1999. At that time, a team of scientists from NASA, NOAA, the 

National Center for Atmospheric Research, and several universities had used sensitive radar 

equipment, such as scanning Doppler and vertically oriented Doppler, to detect and measure 

different types of particles from the storm’s base to its top, approximately 8.7 miles (14 

kilometers) above the rainforest floor. Participants from the University of North Dakota had 

operated a jet aircraft to gather some of the data. One of the study’s goals had been validating the 

Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite measurements, to help plan the TRMM’s 

successor, the Global Precipitation Mission. TRMM had provided data about how such storms 

operate, thus enabling scientists to understand how wind circulates in the upper atmosphere. The 

research, which Atlas and Williams had published in the American Meteorological Society’s 

Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, provided new insight into the intense and hazardous conditions 

within storms. Scientists expected the research to improve forecasts, helping aircraft avoid 

dangerous storms and making air travel safer, and to improve satellite measurements of 

precipitation.

352

As part of Expedition 6, American astronauts Donald D. Pettit and Kenneth R. Bowersox 

undertook a spacewalk outside the ISS, each spacewalking for the first time, while their Russian 

colleague Nikolai M. Budarin monitored their work from inside the station. Pettit had replaced 

Budarin in the spacewalk lineup because NASA doctors were concerned about Budarin’s known 

cardiovascular issues. In the summer of 2003, Pettit had served as backup for another astronaut 

in an ISS mission, because NASA doctors were worried about that astronaut’s radiation 

exposure. NASA had decided to replace Budarin even though Russian doctors disagreed, 

because NASA was in charge of this spacewalk. During the 7-hour spacewalk, the two astronauts 

successfully completed their primary tasksreleasing locks on a recently installed radiator and 

 

351 Reuters, “Rosetta Space Launch Set Back by Further Delay,” 15 January 2003. 352 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, “NASA Scientists Take First ‘Full-Body Scan’ of Evolving 

Thunderstorm,” news release 03-07, 15 January 2003, http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/news-release/releases/2003/03-

07.htm (accessed 28 July 2008); Reuters, “NASA Takes First ‘Full-Body Scan’ of Thunderstorm,” 15 January 2003; 

Lee Bowman for Scripps Howard News Service, “Probing the Inner Workings of Storm Clouds,” 16 January 2003. 
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cleaning a docking ring. However, they were unable to erect a light on a boom, because a 

protruding pin prevented the boom from swinging out of its stowed position.353

16 January 

Space Shuttle Columbia launched on STS-107 from NASA’s KSC in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 

10:39 a.m. (EST). NASA had postponed the launch, originally scheduled for July 2001, because 

of technical and scheduling problems. Flying an orbital mission, a rare event since the ISS 

partners had begun construction of the space station in 1998, STS-107 was a “pure research 

mission.” The crew would conduct scientific investigations in two 12-hour shifts each day in the 

laboratory module of the Shuttle’s cargo bay. The crew included Shuttle Commander Rick D. 

Husband; Pilot William C. McCool; Payload Commander Michael P. Anderson; Payload 

Specialist Ilan Ramon, Israel’s first astronaut and a fighter pilot with the rank of colonel in 

Israel’s Air Force; Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, an aerospace engineer originally from 

India; and Mission Specialists David M. Brown and Laurel B. Clark, both physicians. The launch 

occurred under exceptionally tight security with more than 300 dignitaries and guests from Israel 

in attendance.354

17 January 

The U.S. National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) announced that it had awarded a fiveyear contract worth up to US$500 million to the Colorado-based companies Space Imaging and 

DigitalGlobe. Under the contract, which stipulated a base performance period of three years with 

two additional one-year options, NIMA agreed to purchase a minimum of US$72 million worth 

of data from DigitalGlobe and a minimum of US$120 million from Space Imaging during the 

first three years. The contract and accompanying agreements marked “the Pentagon’s strongest 

commitment yet to buy products and services from the U.S. commercial satellite imaging 

industry.” Space Imaging, based in Thornton, Colorado, operated the Ikonos satellite launched in 

September 1999, which was capable of distinguishing ground objects as small as 1 meter. 

DigitalGlobe, based in Longmont, Colorado, operated the QuickBird satellite, launched in 

October 1999, which, under certain conditions, was capable of distinguishing objects as small as 

0.61 meter.355

21 January 

NASA launched a nationwide campaign to recruit elementary, middle, and high school 

classroom teachers for its astronaut corps, building on the legacy of its Teacher in Space Project 

of 1985. NASA had selected Christa McAuliffe and Barbara R. Morgan from among 12,000 

applicants for the first project, which had ended tragically when Space Shuttle Challenger

exploded shortly after launching on 28 January 1986 with McAuliffe on board. McAuliffe’s 

 

353 Associated Press, “Astronauts Take Spacewalk, Including a Late Substitute Who Frees the Space Station’s Sticky 

Hatch,” 15 January 2003. 

354 Broward Liston for Reuters, “Space Shuttle Launches with First Israeli Astronaut,” 16 January 2003; Warren E. 

Leary, “Columbia Takes Off Under Tight Security,” New York Times, 16 January 2003. 355 NIMA, “NIMA Partners with Remote Sensing Industry,” media release 03-05, 17 January 2003, 

http://www.nga.mil/NGASiteContent/StaticFiles/OCR/nima0305.pdf (accessed 24 July 2008); Warren Ferster, 

“NIMA Awards Lucrative Contracts to U.S. Satellite Imaging Firms,” Space News, 17 January 2003; Satellite 

Imaging Corporation, “About the Ikonos Satellite,” http://www.satimagingcorp.com/ satellite-sensors/ikonos.html

(accessed 24 July 2008); Satellite Imaging Corporation, “About the QuickBird Satellite Sensor,” 

http://www.satimagingcorp.com/satellite-sensors/quickbird.html (accessed 24 July 2008). 
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backup Barbara R. Morgan had rejoined NASA in 1998 to train and qualify as a mission 

specialist. In December 2002, NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe had announced Morgan’s 

assignment to a November assembly mission to the ISS. NASA planned for the new recruitment 

campaign to extend the legacy of McAuliffe and the work of Morgan, making future educatorastronauts as much a part of the astronaut corps as test pilots, engineers, physicians, astronomers, 

geologists, and scientists from other disciplines. To accomplish this goal, NASA planned to train 

teachers with proven technical skills, making them eligible for missions ranging from 12-day 

Shuttle flights to months-long residencies aboard the ISS. Because of their ability to 

communicate with students in the classroom more effectively than traditional NASA astronauts, 

the educator-astronauts would be a critical part of an educational initiative to “make math and 

science as inspiring to youngsters as pop music and sports.”356

23 January 

Officials from Boeing and Finmeccanica, an Italian aerospace corporation, signed a 

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in a joint ceremony held in Rome and at the Italian 

Embassy in Washington, DC. The purpose of the MOU was to explore joint initiatives and to 

pursue growth opportunities in aerostructures and commercial aircraft, aircraft modification, 

UAVs, satellite systems, navigation, launch services, missile defense, space infrastructure, and 

avionics. The MOU called for the creation of an executive steering committee to investigate the 

possibilities of collaborative activity in space navigation, satellite services, launch services, and 

services to the ISS. The committee would make the final decision about which activities the 

partnership would pursue.357

24 January 

NASA launched SORCE―its Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment satellite―from a Pegasus 

XL rocket dropped from a jet plane 140 miles offshore over the Atlantic Ocean. On board the 

satellite were five instruments designed to help scientists better understand how the Sun affects 

Earth’s climate. SORCE’s high-precision instruments could measure total radiation from the 

Sun, and its spectrometers could analyze light in all its various wavelengths, capturing 

information that scientists hoped would help them build a long-term data set that future 

generations would use.358

28 January 

The crew aboard Space Shuttle Columbia joined Mission Control for a moment of silence at 

11:39 a.m. (EST), the exact time that Challenger had exploded after launch 17 years before. The 

astronauts also remembered the three astronauts killed in a launchpad fire in their Apollo

spacecraft on 27 January 1967. Airwaves also fell silent on the ISS, as the crew of two American 

astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut aboard the space station paused to remember the 

tragedies.359

 

356 Mark Carreau, “NASA Seeking a Few Good Teachers,” Houston Chronicle, 22 January 2003. 357 UV Online.com, “Finmeccanica and Boeing To Collaborate on UAVs,” 23 January 2003, 

http://www.shephard.co.uk/news/category/1/uvonline/. 358 NASA, “NASA’s SORCE Satellite Soars into Space To Catch Some Rays,” news release 03-022, 27 January 

2003, ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2003/03-022.txt (accessed 9 July 2008); Associated Press, “NASA 

Launches Satellite To Measure Sun’s Radiation,” 25 January 2003. 

359 Marcia Dunn for Associated Press, “Astronauts Honor Challenger Victims,” 28 January 2003. 
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29 January 

Alain Bensoussan, president of the French space agency, announced that he was resigning from 

his post because he no longer had the support he needed to continue his job. Bensoussan had 

been the “target of increasingly bitter attacks” lodged by frustrated employees who no longer 

perceived a clear direction in the agency’s mission. Bensoussan had also faced the failure of a 

new Ariane 5 rocket and an agency budget that had decreased steadily since 1997, despite the 

addition of new programs. Moreover, the French government had commissioned a report 

evaluating the space agency’s current status and future direction, and the report had been 

“lukewarm in its assessment” of Bensoussan. Following the publication of the report, France’s 

space minister Claudie Haignere had stated that the agency had not yet made a decision about its 

future management. The commission’s findings and the space minister’s statement had not 

provided a strong message of support for Bensoussan’s leadership.360

A Delta 2 rocket launched, carrying a GPS-2R8 satellite and an Experimental Spacecraft System 

(XSS-10) microsatellite into orbit. The U.S. Air Force was launching the GPS-2R8 to replace the 

22nd GPS satellite, which had launched 10 years earlier, joining a constellation of 26 operational 

GPS spacecraft. Although the military GPS created in the 1970s had generated a commercial 

industry with sales in excess of US$6 billion, the system had continued to exist primarily to 

serve the U.S. military. The U.S. Air Force was launching the 62-pound (28-kilogram) XSS-10 

spacecraft to test new guidance and navigation software and to demonstrate new technologies, 

such as a miniature communications system, a lightweight propulsion system, and advanced 

lithium polymer batteries.361

NASA announced its collaboration with Japan’s NASDA and the Japanese Meteorological 

Research Institute to study snowfall over Wakasa Bay, Japan. The study would use NASA’s 

EOS Aqua satellite in conjunction with research aircraft, which would gather data for the study 

using the coastal radar systems. NASA had begun the Wakasa Bay Field Campaign on 3 January 

2003, scheduling the study to run through 14 February 2003. Although, historically, scientists 

had found it difficult to quantify contributions to the global hydrologic cycle from the northern 

Pacific Ocean, they expected that the new satellite instruments, which could detect precipitation 

over water, would provide data needed to interpret the effect of Pacific Ocean hydrology on the 

world.362

30 January 

Israeli scientists announced that, while traveling aboard Space Shuttle Columbia, astronaut Ilan 

Ramon had successfully captured images of smoke from a burning rain forest, a dust storm 

above the Mediterranean Ocean, and a small dust plume off the African coast over the Atlantic 

Ocean. Operating a twin-camera multispectral instrument in Columbia’s payload bay, Ramon 

had scanned dust and other aerosol particles, which storms had blown from deserts and high 

winds had carried across the globe. The instrument had also operated during the night, capturing 

images of the tops of thousands of thunderstorms. The team of scientists from Tel Aviv 

 

360 Peter B. de Selding, “French Space Agency Chief To Resign,” Space News, 29 January 2003. 361 Jim Banke, “Delta 2 Rolls, Launches GPS and Experimental Satellites,” Space.com, 29 January 2003, 

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/delta2_launch_030129.html (accessed 23 July 2008). 362 NASA, “NASA Joins Snow Study over the Sea of Japan,” news release 03-025, 29 January 2003, 

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2003/03-025.txt (accessed 29 July 2008). 
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University’s Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment (MEIDEX) intended to use the images to 

develop a better understanding of climate change, one of the goals of Columbia’s research flight, 

which had encountered two years of delays. Joachim Joseph, a principal researcher on the 

project, remarked that the experiment had gathered “very good data, very unique data.” The 

purpose of the US$2 million experiment was to “provide a better understanding of how 

migrating dust plumes affect climate.” 363

31 January 

NASA announced that it had settled negotiations with United Space Alliance, increasing the 

value of its two-year extension of the spaceflight operations contract (SFOC) by US$59.91 

million. The finalized SFOC extension supporting the Space Shuttle Program brought the total 

value of the two-year contract to US$2.90 billion. The extended contract would run through 30 

September 2004.364

FEBRUARY 2003 

1 February 

After completing a 16-day orbital science mission that NASA judged a success, the crew of STS107 perished when Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart above Texas during reentry. NASA’s 

Mission Control lost communication with Columbia at 9:00 a.m. (EST) and immediately 

switched to the contingency plan to preserve all flight-activity information. NASA had scheduled 

the landing for 9:16 a.m. (EST). NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe issued a statement 

describing all the steps NASA had taken after the loss of the Shuttle. NASA officials had spoken 

with President George W. Bush and Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge; met with 

family members of the crew; assembled an internal mishap investigation team; and appointed a 

mishap investigation board. The board comprised an external group of people independent from 

NASA, charged with examining all the information that Mission Control had locked down when 

it lost communication with Columbia.

365

2 February 

Progress M-47 launched atop a Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome one day after the 

loss of Space Shuttle Columbia “threw future missions to the orbiting complex in doubt.” The 

launch, scheduled long in advance, took place as “stunned Russian space officials offered 

condolences to their American colleagues.” Russian officials also expressed concern that the loss 

of Columbia and the ensuing suspension of Shuttle missions might place Russia’s “cash-strapped 

space program under more pressure to deliver crews and supplies to the station.” Sergei 

 

363 NASA, “Shuttle’s Desert Dust Experiment Delivers,” news release N03-010, 29 January 2003, 

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/note2edt/2003/n03-010.txt (accessed 9 July 2003); Associated Press, “Astronaut 

Photographs Dust Storm,” 31 January 2003; Warren E. Leary, “ Space Shuttle Crew Completes Israeli Dust and 

Cloud Studies,” New York Times, 31 January 2003. 364 NASA, “NASA Finalizes Contract with United Space Alliance,” news release C03-001, 31 January 2003, 

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/contract/2003/c03-001.txt (accessed 15 July 2008). 365 NASA, “NASA Statement on Loss of Communications with Columbia,” news release 03-030, 1 February 2003, 

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2003/03-030.txt (accessed 15 July 2008); NASA, “Statement by NASA 

Administrator Sean O’Keefe,” news release 03-032, 1 February 2003, 

ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2003/03-032.txt (accessed 15 July 2008); Washington Post, “The Columbia 

Catastrophe,” 2 February 2003. 
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Gorbunov, a spokesperson for the Russian Space Agency, explained that Russia had no reserve 

of Soyuz spacecraft. He pointed out that if the U.S. space program intended to use Russian craft 

to transport crews to the ISS, NASA would need to buy Russian Soyuz TMAs, the type of craft 

designed to carry cosmonauts to the ISS. Russia had routinely built only two Soyuz spacecraft 

per year.366

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe announced the members of the Space Shuttle Mishap 

Interagency Investigation Board, also known as the Gehman Board. To chair the Board, NASA 

had appointed retired U.S. Navy Admiral Harold W. Gehman Jr., who had cochaired the 

independent commission that investigated the attack on the USS Cole in Aden, Yemen, on 12 

October 2000. Other members included Rear Admiral Stephen A. Turcotte of the U.S. Naval 

Safety Center; Major General John L. Barry of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio; 

Major General Kenneth W. Hess of Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico; James N. Hallock 

of the U.S. Department of Transportation; Steven B. Wallace of the FAA; and Brigadier General 

Duane W. Deal of the 21st Space Wing at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado. Several seniorlevel NASA leaders were also named to the panel: G. Scott Hubbard, Director of NASA’s ARC; 

Bryan D. O’Connor, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance and a 

former astronaut; and Theron M. Bradley Jr., NASA’s Chief Engineer. NASA intended the 

Gehman Board to make a parallel investigation, complementing NASA’s own internal 

investigation. The Board would have access to the same scientific information and to the 

cooperation of the same agencies as NASA.367

4 February 

Progress M-47/ISS-10P docked with the ISS, delivering 2.75 tons (2.5 tonnes or 2,495 

kilograms) of supplies, which would enable the Expedition 6 crew to remain at the station until 

June without Shuttle support. The crewRussian cosmonaut Nikolai M. Budarin and American 

astronauts Kenneth D. Bowersox and Donald R. Pettithad served at the outpost for 73 days, 

and NASA had scheduled their return to Earth on Shuttle Atlantis for 1 March. However, in the 

wake of the Columbia disaster, NASA had grounded all Shuttles indefinitely. Although the 

suspension of Shuttle flights did not place the ISS crew in danger, it did affect the schedule of 

space station construction and interrupted NASA’s plan to install a high-speed gyroscope at the 

station in March, to replace one that had broken down in June 2002. With only three operational 

gyroscopes, the ISS would continue to drift, but NASA did not consider the matter a time-critical 

problem.368

Telesat Canada selected Astrium, Europe’s largest space company, to manufacture a replacement 

for its Anik F1 satellitethe Anik F1R. Engineers had determined that the Anik F1, based on the 

702 platform of Boeing Satellite Systems, was defective. Several of the Boeing-built 702 

satellites were “afflicted with a solar panel malady” expected to shorten each craft’s operational 

 

366 Associated Press, “Russians Send Supply Ship on Way to Space Station,” 2 February 2003. 367 NASA, “NASA Announces Space Shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation Board (The Gehman Board),” news 

release 03-034, ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2003/03-034.txt (accessed 15 July 2008); David Arnold, 

“Specialist Panel Convenes, Begins Search for Cause,” Boston Globe, 4 February 2003. 368 Todd Ackerman, “Cargo Craft Resupplies Outpost Crew Hanging in Orbit,” Houston Chronicle, 5 February 

2003; NASA, “Spaceflight 2003: International Space Station Goals and Objectives,” 

http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/somd/reports/2003/iss.html (accessed 13 November 2009). 
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lifetime. Telesat planned to base the Anik F1R, which would carry 24 C-band and 32 Ku-band 

transponders, on Astrium’s Eurostar 3000 platform.369

7 February 

NASA notified SPACEHAB Inc. that NASA had not renewed SPACEHAB’s contracts for 

building and maintaining the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility (SVMF), the facility with ISS 

mockups at NASA’s JSC, and for operating the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL) facility, 

where astronauts simulate spacewalks in a swimming pool. Instead, NASA had awarded the 

multiyear contract, valued at up to US$78.97 million, to Raytheon Technical Services of 

Houston. SPACEHAB’s subsidiary Johnson Engineering had operated the NBL for 

approximately 10 years. In 1998 SPACEHAB had acquired Johnson Engineering and had 

continued to operate the NBL. SPACEHAB had depended on Johnson Engineering and the 

NBL/SVMF contract for about half of its US$100 million in annual revenues. The loss of the 

contract followed SPACEHAB’s loss of one of its major flight articles, the Research Double 

Module, a pressurized science facility that had made its debut during STS-107 on the ill-fated 

Space Shuttle Columbia. SPACEHAB had insured the module for only US$17.7 million of its 

US$62.7 million value. SPACEHAB expected to contract with NASA to fly additional modules, 

which would enable the company to recoup its investment in the hardware.370

12 February 

Senator John McCain (R-AZ), chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and 

Transportation, and U.S. Representative Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY), chair of the U.S. House 

Science Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, cochaired a joint hearing of congressional 

leaders, focusing on the Space Shuttle Columbia accident. Recommendations resulting from the 

hearing prompted NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe to issue a second amendment to the 

charter of the Space Shuttle Accident Investigation Board, an independent panel led by retired 

U.S. Navy Admiral Harold W. Gehman Jr. and known as the Columbia Accident Investigation 

Board (CAIB) or, informally, as the Gehman Board. The amendment removed any requirement, 

real or perceived, instructing Gehman to “coordinate or await approval from NASA for any 

dimension of the panel’s investigation.”371

13 February 

NASA announced that it had positively identified the remains of all seven members of STS-107 

at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, and that officials in Angelina County, Texas, had signed 

the death certificates. Eileen Hawley, spokesperson for NASA’s JSC in Houston, said that 

officials had released the crew members’ remains to their families for private memorial services. 

 

369 Telesat, “Telesat Selects European Manufacturer for New Anik F Satellite,” news release, 4 February 2003, 

http://www.telesat.ca/news/releases/2003/03-02-e.asp (accessed 12 August 2008); Sam Silverstein, “Telesat Canada 

Selects Astrium to Replace Anik F1,” Space News, 4 February 2003. 370 NASA, “NASA Buoyancy Laboratory, Space Vehicle Mockup Facility Contract Awarded,” news release, 7 

February 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/feb/HP_news_c03004_bb_030207.html (accessed 16 July 

2008); Brian Berger, “Double Whammy: Spacehab Loses NASA Contract,” Space News, 12 February 2003; Brian 

Berger, “$100 Million Commercial Science Lab Lost on Columbia Was Insured,” Space News, 2 February 2003. 371 NASA, “Joint Congressional Hearing Results in Second Charter Amendment for Gehman Board Columbia 

Accident Briefing,” news release 03-069, 12 February 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/feb/HP_news_03069.html (accessed 16 July 2008). 
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NASA had already returned the remains of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon to Israel, where burial 

services had taken place on 11 February.372

NASA issued a statement on behalf of the CAIB announcing that preliminary analysis performed 

by a NASA working group indicated that the temperature level in Columbia’s left wheel well 

during reentry indicated the presence of plasma. Heat transfer related to a missing tile in the 

structure would not have been sufficient to elevate the temperature to the level revealed in the 

preliminary analysis.373

18 February 

NASA announced the Level 1 requirements for the Orbital Space Plane (OSP) system, the nextgeneration system of space vehicles designed to transport crews to and from the ISS and to 

provide rescue missions. NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe had proposed the concept in 

November 2002 “as a way to take some of the pressure off the aging space shuttle fleet.” NASA 

had envisioned a simple craft, easier to launch and with greater maneuverability in orbit. 

However, NASA had not intended the OSP system as a substitute for the Shuttle, the only U.S. 

spacecraft able to haul heavy cargo into space. The OSP concept was to include in its first design 

an escape pod for the ISS, ready for use by 2010. Its second version, intended for completion by 

2012 would be a craft capable of transporting people.374

NASA released a newly revised charter for the CAIB, permitting the Board’s chairperson to 

replace its executive secretary with someone not working for NASA. The revision was the third 

attempt to quell congressional concerns about the Board’s independence. Legislators had mixed 

reactions to the new revisionsome saw it as an improvement, but others maintained that the 

charter did little to guarantee a credible inquiry and argued that its provisions might deter 

whistleblowers. U.S. Representative Bart Gordon (D-TN) remarked that the revision had not 

addressed the fundamental problems: NASA had appointed the commission members; NASA 

had staffed the commission; and the commission reported to NASA.375

19 February 

NASA’s Deputy Chief of Staff Scott Pace announced that NASA would not seek a waiver to the 

Iran Non-Proliferation Act of 2000 (Pub.L.No.106-178) The law prohibited NASA from 

purchasing space hardware from Russia unless Russia certified that Russian aerospace 

companies had not aided Iranian missile programs for at least a year. If the White House did not 

grant a waiver, NASA would be unable to buy Russian Progress and Soyuz vehicles―the United 

States’ only viable means of reaching the ISS after the suspension of Shuttle flights. Pace 

explained that NASA would not press the White House for a waiver, because NASA did not 

 

372 NASA JSC, “Columbia Astronaut Remains Identified,” news release H03-070, 13 February 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/news/releases/2003/h03-070.html (accessed 14 August 2008); Associated 

Press, “Remains of All Shuttle Astronauts Identified,” 14 February 2003. 

373 NASA, “Statement by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board,” news release 03-072, 13 February 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/feb/HP_news_03072.html (accessed 16 July 2008). 374 NASA, “Initial Requirements Set for Orbital Space Plane System,” news release 03-073, 18 February 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/feb/HP_news_03073.html (accessed 16 July 2008); Gwyneth K. Shaw, 

“NASA Views Space Plane as Helpmate to Shuttles,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 19 February 2003. 375 Richard A. Oppel Jr., “New Charter for Shuttle Board, But Critics Are Not Appeased,” New York Times, 19 

February 2003. 
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intend “to make foreign policy,” acknowledging that the White House or the U.S. Department of 

State was responsible for seeking changes in the Iran Non-Proliferation Act, if appropriate.376

20 February 

President George W. Bush signed into law an omnibus appropriations bill (Pub.L.No.108-7), 

setting aside US$50 million to help NASA fund its investigation of the Space Shuttle Columbia

disaster. Taking into account that NASA’s costs could exceed US$50 million to cover the 

investigation and to correct the problems with the Shuttle program, the law allowed NASA to 

seek additional funding if necessary. U.S. Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) initiated discussion about 

the need for additional funding for the Columbia accident investigation, urging senior members 

of the Senate responsible for appropriations to include enough money to help NASA avoid 

further erosion of the already depleted Shuttle funds. The Challenger accident investigation had 

cost the United States US$75 million.377

25 February 

Having received a very weak signal from the Pioneer 10 spacecraft on 22 January 2003, NASA 

announced that it would make no further attempts to contact the craft. On 2 March 1972, NASA 

had launched Pioneer 10, built by TRW Inc., on a three-stage Atlas-Centaur rocket. In just 12 

weeks, Pioneer 10 had traveled beyond Mars, had become the first spacecraft to pass through the 

asteroid belt, and had continued to travel beyond Jupiter into deep space, “venturing into places 

where nothing built by humanity had ever gone before.” Pioneer 10 had last returned telemetry 

data on 27 April 2002. In the previous three attempts of JPL’s Deep Space Network to contact it, 

Pioneer 10 had emitted very weak response signals, and in the last attempt at contact on 7 

February, the Deep Space Network had detected no signal from the spacecraft. Engineers 

reported that Pioneer 10’s radioisotope power source had decayed. Originally, NASA had 

designed Pioneer 10 for a 21-month mission, but the spacecraft had lasted more than 30 years.378

27 February 

NASA researchers announced that the ER-2, a modified U-2 aircraft, had collected tiny 

interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) in Earth’s stratosphere, which likely contained bits of ancient 

stars. The particles, collected over a period of two decades, included the only samples of comets 

that researchers were able to study in a laboratory. Lindsay Keller, a researcher in the Office of 

Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science at NASA’s JSC, remarked that the stardust 

grains were typical of the kind of dust available at the beginning of the solar systemthe 

building blocks of the Sun and planets. Scott Messenger, an astrophysicist at Washington 

University in St. Louis, Missouri, described the IDPs as rich in stardust and molecular cloud 

material, suggesting that the particles had remained essentially unchanged since the solar 

system’s formation. To detect the remnants of the early stars, scientists had used Washington 

University’s new type of ion microprobe, which measured isotopic ratios on scales much smaller 

than previously possible.379

 

376 Brian Berger, “NASA Official: Agency Won’t Seek Waiver to Iran Act,” Space News, 20 February 2003. 377 Frank Oliveri, “NASA Gets $50 Million for Shuttle Investigation,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 22 February 

2003. 

378 NASA, “Pioneer 10 Spacecraft Sends Last Signal,” news release 03-082, 25 February 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/feb/HP_news_03082.html (accessed 16 July 2008). 

379 NASA, “NASA Finds Remnants of Ancient Stars in Earth’s Upper Atmosphere,” news release 03-084, 27 

February 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/feb/HP_news_03084.html (accessed 16 July 2008). 
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28 February 

NASA released a flight-deck videotape, which the crew of STS-107 had recorded on 1 February 

between 8:35 and 8:48 a.m. (EST). NASA had recovered the videotape from the Shuttle’s crash 

site near Palestine, Texas. The video showed flight-deck activity as Columbia passed over the 

south central Pacific Ocean at an altitude of approximately 500,000 feet. Filmed with a small onboard camera, mounted to the right of Pilot William C. McCool and then passed to Mission 

Specialist Laurel B. Clark, the videotape showed Commander Rick D. Husband, Pilot McCool, 

Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, and Mission Specialist Clark on the flight deck during 

reentry. The astronauts were conversing among themselves as they worked through routine 

checklist activities with flight controllers at NASA’s Mission Control.380

MARCH 2003 

3 March 

Missile Defense Agency (MDA) officials announced that the flight test in December 2002 of the 

Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system had been unsuccessful, because a faulty 

computer-chip connection in the Raytheon exoatmospheric kill vehicle (EKV) had prevented the 

EKV from separating from its booster during flight. Although the MDA had not recovered the 

EKV, engineers had determined the problem with the chip’s connection using laboratory 

simulations, concluding that no significant underlying problem with the EKV technology had 

caused the failure. The December test, the third unsuccessful GMD intercept attempt, had been 

the second attempt in which the EKV had failed to separate from the booster. U.S. Air Force 

Lieutenant General Ronald T. Kadish, Director of the MDA, remarked that quality-control 

problems had likely caused the test failure and announced the formation of an office to improve 

the MDA’s performance.381

5 March 

ESA formally opened its first deep space ground station in New Norcia, Australia. Construction 

on the US$47 million (EUR 28 million) facility had begun in April 2000. The key component of 

the station was a massive antenna, 40 meters (125 feet) high and weighing 600 tonnes (661.4 

tons or 600,000 kilograms), with a 35-meter (110-foot) dish. ESA had selected the New Norcia 

site because its distance from urban areas protected it from interference from other transmission 

devices, its latitude was perfect for deep space operations, and its weather was excellent. ESA 

had built and opened the station in time for it to play a key role in ESA’s Mars Express mission, 

scheduled for launch in June. The Mars Express craft would carry a lander dubbed Beagle 

2―named in honor of the ship that Charles Darwin sailed on during his search for the origins of 

life―which would map the surface, subsurface, atmosphere, and ionosphere of Mars.382

 

380 NASA, “NASA Releases Columbia Crew Cabin Video,” news release N03-23, 28 February 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/feb/HP_news_n03023.html (accessed 16 July 2008). 381 Marc Selinger, “Test Failure of GMD System Blamed on Problem with Computer Chip,” Aerospace Daily, 5 

March 2003. 

382 ESA, “ESA’s First Deep Space Ground Station Opens in Western Australia,” ESA news release 14-2003, 5 

March 2003, http://www.esa.int/esaCP/Pr_14_2003_p_EN.html (accessed 28 August 2008); Agence France-Presse, 

“Australian Town Host to European Space Quest,” 6 March 2003. 
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NASA announced that Administrator Sean O’Keefe had appointed three new members to the 

CAIB in compliance with a request from CAIB Chairperson Harold W. Gehman Jr. The new 

members were Douglas D. Osheroff, the J. G. Jackson and C. J. Wood Professor of Physics and 

Applied Physics at Stanford University and a 1996 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics; Sally K. 

Ride, a physicist and professor of Space Science at the University of California, San Diego, as 

well as a former NASA astronaut and the first American woman in space; and John M. Logsdon, 

Director of the George Washington University Space Policy Institute. O’Keefe had also 

appointed NASA astronaut retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Michael J. Bloomfield, in response to 

Gehman’s request that Bloomfield replace former astronaut Bryan D. O’Connor as Astronaut 

Advisor to the Board. O’Connor would return to NASA Headquarters in his role as NASA 

Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission Assurance.383

6 March 

Four witnesses appeared before the CAIB at its first public hearing. Director of NASA’s JSC 

Jefferson D. Howell Jr. and Space Shuttle Program Manager Ronald D. Dittemore spoke about 

workforce issues, particularly, about NASA’s concern regarding the erosion of its skill base. 

Keith Chong, a senior scientist at the Boeing Company, discussed Boeing’s work on the foam 

insulation applied to large propellant tanks such as the Shuttle’s external tank and the Boeing 

Delta 4 booster. Henry McDonald, former Director of NASA’s ARC, discussed the Space 

Shuttle Independent Assessment Team (SIAT), which he had led before leaving NASA. The 

SIAT report had identified problems within the Shuttle program. McDonald expressed 

disappointment that NASA had not implemented some of the SIAT’s recommendations. He said 

that he believed some of the recommended improvements, such as modernized records, could 

have significantly influenced decisions that NASA had based on risk assessments.384

10 March 

The newest Boeing Delta rocket, the Delta 4, launched the USA 167also known as the 

Defense Satellite Communications Systems Phase 3 (DSCSIII-A3), or Discus satelliteinto 

orbit, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The American geostationary 

military communications satellite was the first U.S. Air Force craft launched atop Boeing’s 

newest Delta rocket, as well as the first mission for the U.S. Air Force’s Evolved Expendable 

Launch Vehicle (EELV) Program. The craft, a triaxially stabilized spacecraft with solar power of 

1.24 kilowatts, operating at six superhigh frequencies between 40 and 85 megahertz, joined the 

DSCS III constellation of eight similar craft to provide very secure global links to the U.S. 

military. The launch of the Discus satellite featured the smallest of the Delta 4’s several possible 

configurations, with two stages and no booster rocket.385 

 

383 NASA, “New Members Added to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board,” news release 03-097, 5 March 

2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/mar/HP_news_03097.html (accessed 25 August 2008). 384 Leonard David, “Columbia Accident Hearing Probes NASA Workforce Erosion, Shuttle Safety Issues,” 

Space.com, 6 March 2003, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/caib_hearing_030306.html (accessed 29 August 

2008); Matthew L. Wald, “NASA Records in Disarray, Study Leader Tells Board,” New York Times, 7 March 2003. 385 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 593, 1 April 2003, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx593.html (accessed 28 

August 2008); Reuters, “Delta 4 Sends Up Its First U.S. Air Force Satellite,” 10 March 2003. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

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11 March 

NASA scientist Robert Michael Hornstein died of a brain tumor at the age of 57. Hornstein had 

worked for NASA since 1968, directing its worldwide network of antennas used for 

communicating with orbiting spacecraft. Hornstein, who had joined NASA during the Apollo 

program to design programs for ground tracking systems, was “recognized for helping save the 

Apollo 9 mission from being aborted shortly after launch when he modified tracking software to 

compensate for a computer malfunction in the launch vehicle.” As Ground Networks Director, 

Hornstein had helped administer network-tracking facilities during Space Shuttle orbits, the 

Voyager program, the Galileo recovery effort and mission to Jupiter, the Magellan program, and 

the international Halley’s Comet tracking program. He had helped manage the upgrade of Deep 

Space Network facilities in Australia, California, and Spain and had acted as NASA’s primary 

representative in arranging cooperative tracking efforts with other countries. NASA had awarded 

Hornstein its Outstanding Leadership Award and Exceptional Service Medal, and the Soviet 

Union had honored him with membership in its Federation of Cosmonautics.386

NASA awarded Wyle Laboratories Inc. a five-year contract to perform a range of activities in the 

Office of Bioastronautics of the Space and Life Sciences organization at NASA’s JSC. 

Previously, NASA had relied on multiple contracts to perform these tasks. The contract was a 

cost-plus-award-fee contract with indefinite quantity/indefinite delivery and level-of-effort work. 

Although the base period of the contract was five years, two options could extend it to 10 years, 

bringing the total value to US$968.9 million.387

13 March 

The U.S. Air Force Space Command announced its planned elimination of 1,125 positions over 

the next seven years, as part of a service-wide, post-September 11 initiative to reduce staffing 

levels. The move would free it to “pour more resources into the Air Force’s ‘highest priority 

missions’,” such as special operations and intelligence. The plan called for the elimination of 314 

civilian and 442 military positions by October 2004, at both senior and lower levels. U.S. Air 

Force Major Sean McKenna, a Space Command spokesperson, commented that the reductions 

did not indicate that the Air Force had assigned lower priority to space.388

NASA announced its selection of the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during 

Substorms (THEMIS) project for the next mission of NASA’s Medium-class Explorer (MIDEX) 

program. The mission would study the causes of auroras. THEMIS comprised five small 

satellites with identical suites of electrical, magnetic, and particle detectors. With a launch date 

set for 2007, NASA would place the craft in carefully coordinated orbits, where they would line 

up along Earth’s magnetic tail every four days, to track disturbances. THEMIS satellite data 

would combine with data gathered from a network of observatories across the Arctic Circle. 

NASA also announced that it had the opportunity to select an instrument for ESA’s Extreme 

 

386 Washington Post, “Robert Hornstein; NASA Scientist Ran Tracking System,” 28 March 2003. 387 NASA, “Wyle Wins NASA Contract To Support Bioastronautics,” news release c03-f, 11 March 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/mar/HP_news_c03f.html (accessed 25 August 2008). 388 Jeremy Singer, “Air Force Space Command To Cut Staff,” Space News, 13 March 2003. 
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Universe Space Observatory mission aboard the ISS, which would observe the blue light 

generated when high-energy cosmic rays collide with Earth’s atmosphere.389

NASA awarded a contract valued at up to US$238.7 million to the Physical Science Laboratory 

at New Mexico State University, to operate and maintain scientific balloon facilities and to 

provide engineering support for the NASA Scientific Balloon Program. The four-year contract 

with two three-year options had a baseline value of US$39.8 million.390

18 March 

In the CAIB’s second public hearing, expert witnesses discussed what they knew about the 

reentry of Space Shuttle Columbia on 1 February. William H. Ailor III, Director of the Center 

for Orbital and Reentry Debris Studies at the Aerospace Corporation, explained to the CAIB that 

part of the difficulty of deciphering the precise cause of the orbiter’s breakup was that space 

agencies had done little work over the past years in reconstructing spacecraft breakups. The lack 

of a systematic effort to retrieve debris from such incidents compounded the problem. R. 

Douglas White, Director for Operations Requirements, Orbiter Element Department for United 

Space Alliance, the prime contractor for NASA’s Space Shuttle Program, provided a “dramatic 

portrayal of Columbia’s troubled trajectory from orbit.” He drew attention to the behavior of 

Columbia’s aileron, the hinged control surface attached to the craft’s trailing edge, remarking 

that its behavior was a first indication that “something odd was happening to the space plane.” 

Paul Hill, Space Shuttle and ISS Flight Director at NASA’s JSC and leader of the team piecing 

together the still and video images of the Shuttle’s final minutes, told the CAIB about the work 

of the image analysts. Hill also expressed gratitude to the public for submitting amateur 

photographs and videos for analysis.391

19 March 

NASA opened its inaugural annual Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) Summit at the 

NASA Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans. SLEP was part of the new Integrated 

Space Transportation Plan (ISTP) established to “ensure the viability of the Space Shuttle 

Program.” NASA intended the annual summit to provide a forum to aid the U.S. spaceflight 

community in shaping long-range strategy, setting priorities, and determining the selection and 

recommendation process to sustain the Shuttle system. In the wake of the Columbia tragedy, the 

summit also addressed return-to-flight issues in its first meeting. The summit brought together 

approximately 200 government and aerospace industry professionals who heard from seven 

SLEP panels: Safety, Sustainability, Infrastructure, Aerospace Industry, Performance, 

Operations, and Resources. Panels consolidated and submitted their recommendations to 

NASA’s Space Flight Leadership Council (SFLC), which then identified 60 candidate projects 

for further consideration and chartered a team to prepare an internal submission, which SLEP 

 

389 NASA, “NASA Selects Next Medium-Class Explorer Mission,” news release c03h, 20 March 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/mar/HP_news_c03h.html (accessed 25 August 2008). 

390 NASA, “NASA Selects PSL for Balloon Program Support Contract,” news release c03-g, 14 March 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/mar/HP_news_c03g.html (accessed 25 August 2008). 

391 Leonard David, “Columbia Board Hearing: ‘Clues, Critical Events’ Destroyed on Reentry,” Space.com, 18 

March 2003, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sts107_caib_030318.html (accessed 29 August 2008). 
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would vet over the summer, during NASA’s upcoming FY 2005 budget process. SLEP intended 

to refine its long-term strategy further at the following year’s summit.392

21 March 

NASA announced the replacement of its Mishap Response Team with the newly formed NASA 

Accident Investigation Team (NAIT), which would continue to support the CAIB. NASA had 

formed the Mishap Response Team within hours of the Columbia disaster on 1 February but had 

drawn criticism for the team’s composition, which included staff that had directly overseen the 

Shuttle’s mission. Linda Ham had led the Mishap Response Team, even though, as a senior 

Shuttle program manager, she had assisted in making key decisions during the 16-day Columbia

mission. NASA and the CAIB intended for the NAIT to support the CAIB, and they had 

organized the NAIT to mirror the CAIB’s structure, with three subsections: materials, operations, 

and engineering. NASA had appointed Deputy Director of JSC Randy Stone to chair the 

NAIT.393

NASA officials and a CAIB spokesperson stated that NASA had recovered intact, from a field in 

Texas, the Orbital Experiment Support System, an electronic box containing vital information 

from Space Shuttle Columbia’s descent. NASA had designed the system to activate at about 

400,000 feet, when Earth’s atmosphere first affects the Shuttle. The box contained data that the 

Shuttle had not transmitted to NASA’s Mission Control via telemetry.394

22 March 

A NASA four-engine, P3-turboprop, “flying laboratory” airplane flew its last flight in a twoweek-long series of flights scanning a section of Alaska’s coast. The scanning was part of a 

collaborative project between NASA, NOAA, and representatives from the University of 

Colorado and the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. The project, called Arctic 2003, had 

collected data about sea-ice variability for comparison with data that NASA’s Aqua satellite had 

collected. The Aqua had launched in May 2002 with a state-of-the-art radiometer for studying 

water systems. The P3 had carried equipment similar to Aqua’s radiometera Japanesedeveloped microwave scannerbut because it had flown closer to the ground than the Aqua, the 

P3 had been able to collect sharper images. P3 flights had traveled over Norton Sound, St. 

Lawrence Island, St. Matthew Island, Point Hope, and Barrow. In addition to the P3 and Aqua 

data, ground crews had traveled to some areas to collect samples of ice and snow.395

25 March 

NASA announced that it had awarded US$39.9 million in additional work under the consolidated 

space operations contract (CSOC) with Lockheed Martin Space Operations Company, to fund 

NASA’s JPL’s maintenance and operation of the Deep Space Network in the United States, as 

 

392 NASA, “Space Shuttle Program Holds First Summit,” news release n03-030, 14 March 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/mar/HP_news_n03030.html (accessed 25 August 2008); NASA, “NASA 

Develops Long-Term Planning Process for Space Shuttle,” news release 03-119, 24 March 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/mar/HP_news_03119.html (accessed 25 August 2008). 

393 NASA, “NASA Columbia Accident Support Activities Reorganized,” news release 03-113, 21 March 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/mar/HP_news_03113.html (accessed 25 August 2008); Robyn Suriano, 

“New Team Created To Help with Shuttle Probe,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 24 March 2003. 

394 CNN, “Crucial Columbia Part Found,” 20 March 2003. 

395 Associated Press, “Flights Help Scientists Understand Sea Ice Changes,” 24 March 2003. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

122

well as to provide technical support to the Spanish and Australian Deep Space Network 

complexes. The additional work brought the total value of the CSOC to US$2.1 billion.396

In the CAIB’s third public meeting, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant General Aloysius G. Casey, a 

retired three-star general and former Director of the Space Division of Air Force Systems 

Command, presented his opinions about the Columbia disaster, based on his decades of 

experience with missiles and rocket systems. Casey shared with the Board his knowledge of 

high-speed impacts, referring to the insulating foam that had fallen from the Shuttle’s external 

tank 81 seconds after the 16 January launch. He also shared his knowledge of the level of testing 

necessary to determine whether a system is qualified to fly. Casey stated that NASA needed to 

“do a better job in quantifying the safety margins for all of the shuttle’s various systems and be 

more sensitive to clues the hardware may be offering when things don’t work as designed.” 

Board Chairperson Harold W. Gehman Jr., remarking that the “subject of ‘successful flights 

don’t re-establish margins’ has come back again and again,” called Casey’s insight very helpful. 

However, Roy D. Bridges Jr., Director of NASA’s KSC, noted that he had never considered 

falling foam to be a safety issue and that it had never caused “any significant damage in the 

program to date.” Rather than a safety issue, Bridges had considered the foam a maintenance 

concern. Bridges commented that if he had been aware of the safety implications, he would have 

recommended a stop to flying.397

26 March 

NASA awarded its Commercial Invention of the Year to the Video Image Stabilization and 

Registration System (VISAR) and its Government Invention of the Year to the Computer 

Implemented Empirical Mode Decomposition Method, also known as the Hilbert-Huang 

Transformation (HHT) Method. David H. Hathaway, a solar physicist, and Paul Meyer, an 

atmospheric scientist, both of NASA’s MSFC, had created the basis for the VISAR technology, 

which turns dark, jittery images into clearer stable images. NASA had developed VISAR in 

response to an FBI request for assistance. The FBI first used VISAR in 1996 to analyze video of 

the bombing at the Olympic Summer Games in Atlanta. At the time of the award, investigators 

were using VISAR to help isolate images collected during the launch of the ill-fated Space 

Shuttle Columbia, images that they were examining to locate possible damage to the orbiter. 

Norden E. Huang, Director of the Goddard Institute of Data Analysis at NASA’s GSFC, had 

invented the HHT Method, which had applications in a variety of fields. Researchers could use 

the HHT Method in the study of topics as diverse as climate cycles, earthquake engineering, 

geophysical exploration, submarine design, turbulence flow, basic nonlinear mathematics, 

satellite data analysis, structural damage detection, nonlinear wave evolution, variations in solar 

neutrinos, blood pressure variations, and heart arrhythmias. NOAA had used the HHT Method to 

analyze sea-surface temperature data collected by Earth-orbiting spacecraft, successfully linking 

environmental changes with weather changes.398

 

396 NASA, “NASA Awards $39.9 Million Contract Addition to Lockheed Martin,” news release c03-i, 25 March 

2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/mar/HP_news_c03i.html (25 August 2008). 

397 Jim Banke, “NASA Missed Trouble Signs, Expert Tells Columbia Board,” Space.com, 25 March 2003, 

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sts107_caib_030325.html (accessed 29 August 2008). 

398 NASA, “NASA Selects Commercial and Government Inventions of the Year,” news release 03-120, 26 March 

2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/mar/HP_news_03120.html (accessed 25 August 2008); Brian 

Lawson, “ NASA Cites Two for Imaging Work: Invention Has Been Used To Help Law Enforcement Effort,” 

Huntsville Times (AL), 27 March 2003. 
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27 March 

On the 35th anniversary of the accident that killed Yuri Gagarin, the Russian daily 

Komsomolskaya Pravda published extracts of a secret investigation of Russia’s KGB (the 

Soviet-era Office of State Security) into the cause of the Soviet cosmonaut’s death. Gagarin and 

his instructor had died on 27 March 1968, during a routine training exercise at the Chkalovsky 

Air Base outside Moscow. The government had ordered three official investigations, one by the 

civilian government and two military, but all three had ruled out sabotage. An inspection of 

Gagarin’s MiG-15 had identified no mechanical failures and investigators had concluded that the 

fighter “went into a spin after either hitting birds or suddenly swerving to avoid a weather 

balloon or another aircraft.” The circumstances of his death had since “been cloaked in mystery 

and rumours that the Communist Party had Gagarin killed because of his love of drink and 

women.” The KGB’s counterintelligence unit had conducted its own secret investigation, finding 

that ground staff’s actions had “amounted to a ‘dangerous violation’ of standing instructions,” 

leading to the death of Gagarin and his instructor.399

Investigators of the Space Shuttle Columbia accident stated that the recently recovered Orbital 

Experiment Support System, which stored data about temperature, aerodynamic pressure, 

vibration, and other variables, appeared to contain information up to a fraction of a second before 

the orbiter broke apart over Texas. Technicians had located a time tag on the tape indicating that 

it had stored data until 9:00:18 a.m. (EST) on 1 February. 400

28 March 

NASA announced the publication in the Journal of Geophysical Research of the conclusions of a 

research team that had used data spanning the years 1991 through 2000, which the Microwave 

Limb Sounder on NASA’s Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite had collected. The team had 

found that ozone depletion over Earth’s Arctic region varies in amount, timing, and pattern of 

loss, confirming previous variations in Arctic ozone-loss estimates. The team’s findings provided 

the first “consistent, three-dimensional picture of ozone loss during multiple Arctic winters.” 401

Administrator Sean O’Keefe announced an agreement between NASA and the National Imagery 

and Mapping Agency (NIMA), which provided for NIMA to capture detailed satellite images of 

Space Shuttles in orbit. NASA had sought this agreement with NIMA because of critics’ 

“pointed questioning” of NASA’s decision not to capture satellite images that it could have used 

to check for damage to Columbia’s heat shields while the Shuttle was in orbit. The agreement 

would enable NASA to “employ NIMA assets during targets of opportunity” without requiring 

NASA to make a specific request for imaging. Before the disaster, NASA had turned down a 

NIMA offer to capture images of Columbia, and NASA officials had withdrawn an unofficial 

request for U.S. Air Force telescopes to capture images. O’Keefe stated that the agreement did 

not represent any NASA decision “about whether those images might have helped determine 

damage” to Columbia.402

 

399 Ben Aris, “KGB Held Ground Staff To Blame for Gagarin’s Death,” Daily Telegraph (UK), 28 March 2003. 400 Kathy Sawyer, “Columbia’s Last Seconds Recorded,” Washington Post, 28 March 2003 401 NASA, “NASA Finds Wide Annual Fluctuations in Arctic Ozone Loss,” news release 03-125, 28 March 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/mar/HP_news_03125.html (accessed 25 August 2008). 402 Associated Press, “Military To Capture Future Shuttle Flight Images,” 29 March 2003. 
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Japan launched two reconnaissance satellitesInformation Gathering Satellites (IGSs), IGS 1A 

and IGS 1Batop an H-2 rocket from Tanegashima Space Center. The pair, the first of at least 

four such spacecraft that Japan intended to place in orbit as part of a US$2.05 billion program, 

were capable of monitoring global natural disasters and hurricanes, as well as observing nuclear 

explosions and missile launches in nearby countries. Because the craft were able to monitor 

weather events, the launch did not violate the terms of the Japan-North Korea Declaration of 

September 2002. However, Japanese space officials acknowledged that Japan had developed the 

program in reaction to the “Taepodong shock,” when a North Korean Taepodong ballistic missile 

flew over Japan’s main island in 1998. North Korea protested the IGS program as a “‘hostile act’ 

that violates the spirit” of the countries’ bilateral agreement. One of the IGS craft carried optical 

cameras with 1-meter (3.3-foot) resolution and the other carried synthetic-aperture radar to 

capture images with resolutions of several meters. Japanese space officials provided no 

information about which craft carried which instrument.403

31 March 

An American GPS satellite, GPS 2R-9, launched atop a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air 

Force Station in Florida. The GPS 2R-9also known as NAVSTAR 52 and USA 168replaced 

the aging GPS 2-5, which had been in orbit since 1989. The fleet of GPS satellites consisted of 

28 spacecraft.404

APRIL 2003 

1 April 

NASA named astronaut and veteran Shuttle Commander James D. Halsell Jr. to lead its Return 

to Flight Team, which would prepare for the first Shuttle launch since the loss of Columbia, to 

occur as early as September 2003. Halsell had logged more than 1,250 hours in space on five 

Shuttle missions and, most recently, had served as Manager of Shuttle Launch Integration at 

NASA’s KSC. Before the Columbia disaster, NASA had assigned Halsell to STS-118, a mission 

to the ISS scheduled for later in 2003.405

2 April 

The Russian military successfully launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome a military 

communications satellite aboard a Molniya-M booster. The purpose of the satellite Molniya 1-92 

was to orbit above the far northern regions of Russia relaying commands and communications 

among military forces. At the lower end of its orbit, the craft would sweep quickly over the 

Southern Hemisphere, returning to orbit above northern Russia. From this position, the craft 

would serve users who were out of range of most communications satellites, which, traditionally, 

orbit at geostationary positions above the equator.406

 

403 NASA, Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 593; Eric Talmadge for Associated Press, “Japan’s First Spy Satellites Reach 

Earth Orbit,” 27 March 2003. 

404 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 593; Kelly Young, “Delta 2 To Carry GPS Satellite into Space,” Florida Today

(Brevard, FL), 31 March 2003. 

405 Larry Wheeler, “NASA Names Shuttle Leader,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 2 April 2003. 406 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 594, 1 May 2003, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx594.html (accessed 14 

October 2008); Stephen Clark, “Military Spacecraft Launched by Russian Forces,” Spaceflight Now, 2 April 2003. 
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Alex Roland, a history professor at Duke University and former NASA historian, and Brian E. 

Chase, Executive Director of the National Space Society and a former congressional aide, 

testified before the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space 

concerning problems in NASA’s Space Shuttle Program. Roland stated that the Shuttle was not 

sustainable as a safe, reliable, and economical launch vehicle and recommended its phaseout. 

Roland faulted NASA for ignoring the findings of the Presidential Commission on the Space 

Shuttle Challenger Accident (Rogers Commission), which had paved the way for the Shuttle to 

return to flight after the Challenger disaster in 1986. The Rogers Commission had recommended 

that NASA begin developing a next-generation launch vehicle immediately. However, 16 years 

later, NASA continued to rely on the Space Shuttle and had no replacement in sight. Chase 

recommended the short-term maintenance of the remaining Shuttles and endorsed the George W. 

Bush administration’s plan to develop an Orbital Space Plane (OSP) ready to transport crews to 

the ISS by 2010. He also recommended that NASA use commercial heavy-lift launch vehicles 

for hauling cargo to the space station.407

4 April 

Boeing announced that its Integrated Defense Systems unit had signed a contract with the Japan 

Defense Agency and the trading company ITOCHU Corporation to build the first aircraft of the 

Japan Air Self Defense Force 767 Tanker Transport Program, comprising four aircraft and 

support. For its 767 Tanker Transport, Japan had selected the military derivative of the 767-

200ER commercial aircraft, reconfigured with an advanced Boeing air-refueling boom and an 

advanced remote aerial refueling operator system. With its selection of the convertible freighter 

configuration, Japan would have the flexibility to carry either cargo or passengers. The 767 

Tanker Transport Program would enable Japan to meet its commitment to international 

cooperative efforts, such as delivering humanitarian aid and meeting the air-refueling needs of 

Japan and other countries around the world. 408

NASA and industry researchers completed a series, begun on 1 April, of collision-avoidance 

tests between airplanes and remotely controlled UAVs. Although UAVs had achieved highprofile military roles overseas, the United States had not yet approved the use of robotic drones 

within U.S. airspace. The collision-avoidance tests were part of the efforts of the FAA, NASA, 

and the DOD to determine what safety and reliability standards UAVs would need to meet. For 

example, the FAA sought to ensure that robotic drones could respond to instructions from air 

traffic controllers as quickly as human pilots of conventional aircraft could respond. Researchers 

had created 20 collision scenarios in restricted airspace over four days, using an F/A-18 jet and a 

propeller-driven Beechcraft. During the tests, ground-based pilots operating the experimental 

Proteus drone had only been able to see evidence of the other two planes in the form of a stream 

of radar and other data and had never actually observed the physical aircraft. Yet, in each 

scenario, the pilots had been able to maneuver the drone to avoid colliding with the other 

aircraft.409 

 

407 Jefferson Morris, “Former NASA Historian Urges Phaseout of Shuttle,” Aerospace Daily, 4 April 2003; Larry 

Wheeler, “Experts Disagree on Future of Shuttle,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 3 April 2003. 408 The Boeing Company, “Boeing, Japan Sign 767 Tanker Transport Contract,” news release, 4 April 2003, 

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2003/q2/nr_030404m.html (accessed 19 September 2008). 

409 Andrew Bridges for Associated Press, “NASA Envisions Robot Planes in U.S. Skies,” 5 April 2003. 
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7 April 

The CAIB questioned NASA flight managers and tank engineers about damage from launch 

debris―a key concern of the CAIB―during 4 hours of technical testimony at a public hearing. 

The CAIB sought to uncover why NASA officials had considered the recurrent problem of foam 

falling during launches a maintenance issue rather than a flight safety concern. NASA testimony 

included the description of the layers of checks, justifications, and paperwork required to certify 

a Shuttle for launch, as well as evidence of NASA engineers’ collective conviction that the 

shedding foam did not present a threat to flight safety and, therefore, was not a sufficient reason 

to cancel a launch. In October 2002, foam falling from the bipod area of its external tankthe 

area where two metal struts connect the fuel reservoir to the orbiterhad struck Space Shuttle 

Atlantis. The foam that had fallen from Space Shuttle Columbia striking its wing had come from 

the same area of Columbia’s external tank as the foam that had struck Atlantis. However, 

engineers and managers had examined Atlantis’s debris incident and had determined that falling 

foam did not present a safety-of-flight concern for Columbia. Nevertheless, because of the 

Atlantis incident, managers had requested that engineers responsible for the Shuttle’s external 

tank develop a plan to prevent debris from breaking away from the bipod area of the tank. 

Engineers had not completed the plan at the time of Columbia’s flight.410

8 April 

The U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin launched the Milstar II military communications 

satellite into orbit aboard a Titan 4B launch vehicle with a Centaur upper stage. The satellite 

joined four other Milstar satellites already in orbit, completing the constellation. The Milstar 

constellation provided secure, global communication links for U.S. military joint forces, 

transmitting voice, data, and imagery, as well as providing video-teleconferencing capabilities. 

Milstar II was the third satellite to carry the Boeing Satellite Systems–built, medium-data-rate 

payload, which had 32 channels, each capable of processing data at speeds of 1.5 megabits per 

second. The craft carried a low-data-rate payload as well, built by Northrop Grumman Space 

Technology.411

American astronauts Kenneth D. Bowersox and Donald R. Pettit undertook a 61⁄2-hour spacewalk 

at the ISS to finish preparing the station for the arrival of a new crew. In the second spacewalk of 

their four-month mission, Bowersox and Pettit worked on power connections, replaced lighting 

for a transport trolley, reconfigured cables on a navigational gyroscope, and secured covers on 

the station’s thermal control system. Cosmonaut Nikolai M. Budarin monitored the astronauts’ 

work from inside the ISS.412

9 April 

A European Ariane 5 rocket launched two satellites into orbit from Kourou, French 

GuianaPanAmSat’s Galaxy 12 commercial telecommunications satellite and the Indian Space 

 

410 Todd Halvorson, “Engineers: Launch Debris Troublesome Since Start,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 8 April 

2003; Marcia Dunn for Associated Press, “Earlier Shuttle Flight Had Foam Problem,” 8 April 2003. 411 Lockheed Martin, “U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin Team up to Successfully Launch Final Milstar II 

Satellite on a Titan IV B Rocket,” news release, 8 April 2003, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/

press_releases/2003/USAirForceLockheedMartinTeamUpSucce.html (accessed 19 September 2008). 412 Reuters, “Astronauts End Space Walk from Orbiting Station,” 9 April 2003. 
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Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) INSAT 3A satellite. The Ariane 5G standard version was the 

first launch of an Ariane rocket since the enhanced Ariane 5 ECA had failed in December 2002, 

a failure that had prompted a complete review of the Ariane 5 system, particularly its main-stage 

cryogenic engine. The 1.8-tonne (2-ton, 1,800-kilogram, or 3,968-pound) Galaxy satellite built 

by Orbital Sciences Corporation carried 24 C-band transponders to provide voice, video, and 

data transmissions to North America and South America from its position at longitude 72o west. 

The 3-tonne (3.3-ton, 3,000-kilogram, or 6,614-pound) INSAT 3A geostationary 

communications and weather-monitoring satellite carried 12 C-band, 6 extended C-band, and 6 

Ku-band transponders, to provide voice, video and data transmission to western Asia, eastern 

Asia, and India from its position at longitude 93.5o east. The ISRO satellite carried the typical 

INSAT package of visual, infrared, and water-vapor band sensors to monitor clouds and storms, 

as well as a separate transponder for an international search-and-rescue program.413

10 April 

British Airways and Air France announced that, because of poor economic conditions, 

supersonic jet travel aboard Concorde jets would end in October after 26 years of the premium 

service. British Airways announced it would retire its fleet of seven at the end of October, and 

Air France announced it would stop flying its Concorde aircraft on 31 May, with a definitive 

retirement date for the fleet set for 31 October.414

11 April 

International Launch Services (ILS) successfully launched the Boeing-built AsiaSat 4 satellite 

aboard a Lockheed Martin–built Atlas 3 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in 

Florida, marking 64 consecutive successful launches for the Atlas rocket over 10 years. The 

mission was ILS’s third launch for AsiaSat, the dominant satellite operator in its region. Boeing 

Satellite Systems had designed the AsiaSat 4 craft, a high-power 601HP spacecraft, to provide 15 

years of direct-to-home communications and broadband services to customers in Asia and 

Australia.415

14 April 

Boeing announced that Boeing Electronic Dynamic Devices Inc. (EDD) had won three new 

contracts―the Carbon-Based Ion Optics project, the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster 

(NEXT) system, and the High Power Electric Propulsion (HiPEP) project―under NASA’s InSpace Propulsion Program to develop advanced xenon ion–propulsion technologies. Teamed 

with NASA’s JPL and GRC, EDD would lead the two-phased effort to develop advanced 

carbon-based ion optics, ultimately testing designs for carbon-based ion optics for their potential 

use in the next-generation ion engine. According to terms of the second contract, EDD would 

support GRC in developing the NEXT system, a next-generation, high-power, ion-propulsion 

 

413 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 594; Peter B. de Selding, “Ariane 5 Successfully Returns to Flight,” Space News, 11 

April 2003. 

414 Los Angeles Times, “Economic Woes Bring End to Flights of Supersonic Jets,” 10 April 2003. 415 Lockheed Martin, “Atlas III Launch of Asiasat 4 Successful in 1st ILS Mission of 2003,” news release, 11 April 

2003, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2003/AtlasIIILaunch OfAsiaSat4 

SuccessfulI.html (accessed 19 September 2008); The Boeing Company, “Boeing-Built AsiaSat 4 Communication 

Satellite Successfully Launched,” news release, http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/ 

2003/q2/nr_030411t.html (accessed 19 September 2008). 
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system intended for space science missions. Under the third contract, EDD would support GRC 

in developing and testing technologies for the HiPEP project.416

17 April 

John E. Riley, a 33-year member of NASA’s Public Affairs Department, broadcast voice of 

NASA’s Mission Control for the Apollo program, and NASA spokesperson, died of cancer at the 

age of 78. He had begun working for NASA in 1959 and, as a member of the Apollo program 

team, had provided commentary during the first moonwalk. Riley had also initiated the practice 

of encouraging astronauts’ interviews with media and had traveled with astronauts 

internationally.417

The CAIB released its first two official recommendations, suggesting that before resuming 

Shuttle missions, NASA should 1) improve its inspections of the leading edge of the orbiters’ 

wings, and 2) ensure that U.S. spy satellites would capture detailed images of the orbiters during 

each mission. Although the Board had not yet begun developing its final report, the CAIB 

released preliminary recommendations so that NASA could begin to implement them 

expeditiously. The CAIB made the first recommendation because it had found that inspection 

techniques in place did not enable engineers to assess the structural integrity of the orbiter’s heat 

shield, considered a “criticality one” item. The failure of the heat shieldcomprising the 

reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panels that protect the front of the orbiter’s wings during 

reentry, the RCC panels’ supporting structure, and the attaching hardwarewould lead to the 

loss of the vehicle and crew. The CAIB made the second recommendation because it had 

discovered that NASA officials had cancelled an informal request that the U.S. military capture 

images of Columbia to check for possible damage caused by launch debris. NASA already had a 

new memorandum of agreement with the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) to 

provide NASA with images of orbiting Shuttles. Previously, NIMA had only made images 

available upon request, but the CAIB recommended that NASA and NIMA make imaging each 

Shuttle flight a standard requirement.418

18 April 

At the Mojave Airport in California, aircraft designer Burt Rutan unveiled for the first time his 

White Knight launch system and SpaceShipOne spacecraft, which he had built in secret. Rutan 

had designed the White Knight, a type of aircraft, to carry the spacecraft to 50,000 feet, where 

the White Knight would release SpaceShipOne to launch like an aircraft into a steep climb. 

Rutan had begun testing the launch platform at lower altitudes in August 2002, also testing on 

the ground the release mechanism between the spacecraft and the launch platform. In the public 

unveiling, Rutan flew the White Knight only. The craft flew to an altitude of 9,000 feet (2,734 

meters) before spiraling down to make a soft but extremely short landing. Rutan demonstrated 

SpaceShipOne’s systems, explaining that the craft should land in the same manner as the launch 

system. The flight profile of the system allowed SpaceShipOne to reach 54 nautical miles (62 

miles or 99.8 kilometers) maximum altitude over a flight patch of 35 miles (56.3 kilometers). 

 

416 The Boeing Company, “Boeing EDD Wins NASA Contracts for Advanced Electric Propulsion,” news release, 14 

April 2003, http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2003/q2/nr_030414s.html (accessed 19 September 2008). 417 Matt Schwartz, “Obituary: Riley, 78, Longtime Spokesman for NASA,” Houston Chronicle, 21 April 2003. 418 Jim Banke, “Columbia Board Releases Two Recommendations to NASA,” Space.com, 17 April 2003, 

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sts107_caib_030417.html (accessed 17 November 2008). 
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NASA designated anyone flying at an altitude of over 50 miles (80.4 kilometers) as an astronaut. 

If Rutan’s system succeeded in flights outside the atmosphere, it would become the first private 

human spaceflight program.419

23 April 

NASA announced the resignation of Space Shuttle Program Manager Ronald D. Dittemore. A 

26-year veteran of NASA, Dittemore had supervised the Space Shuttle Program for more than 

four years. Dittemore had joined NASA in 1977 as a propulsion-systems engineer, working on 

orbital maneuvering and reaction-control systems for the Space Shuttle before his selection as a 

Space Shuttle Flight Director in 1985. In 1993 NASA had appointed him Deputy Manager for 

the Space Shuttle Program Integration and Operations Office in the Space Shuttle Program 

Office. He had also served as Manager of Space Shuttle Program Integration and as Chairperson 

of the Space Shuttle Mission Management Team before his selection in 1996 to manage the 

Space Shuttle Vehicle Engineering Office. He had become Space Shuttle Program Manager in 

1999, assuming responsibility for the overall management, integration, and operation of the 

program. In announcing his departure, Dittemore remarked that, before the Columbia tragedy, he 

had been struggling over whether to leave NASA and had decided to resign in the spring of 

2003. However, after the Columbia accident, he had immediately postponed his departure. 

Deputy Associate Administrator for the Space Shuttle Program Michael C. Kostelnik and NASA 

Administrator Sean O’Keefe credited Dittemore with keeping communications open between 

NASA and the public in the wake of the tragedy. Dittemore planned to remain in his position 

until the CAIB had finished its work and established a return-to-flight program, to enable NASA 

to make a smooth management transition.420

A panel of five retired NASA and contractor managers, whose expertise dated to the Mercury, 

Gemini, and Apollo programs, testified in a public hearing before the CAIB that engineers had 

never designed orbiters’ wings to sustain strikes from any form of debris. The panel members 

agreed that engineers had known in the 1970s that the RCC panels along the leading edge of the 

orbiters’ wings presented a technical challenge, and that NASA should have taken appropriate 

precautions against debris striking the RCC panels. Milton A. Silveira, who had helped design 

the orbiter, remarked that wings of airplanes were also incapable of sustaining such strikes. 

Robert F. Thompson, another designer of the orbiter, who had headed the Space Shuttle Program 

in the 1970s, added that providing an impenetrable wing edge was impossible. According to 

Thompson, if NASA had insisted on that standard, it would have had to abandon the Shuttle 

project. Diane Vaughn, a sociologist affiliated with Boston College, who in 1996 had published 

the book The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture and Deviance at NASA, 

spoke to the panel about NASA’s approach to risk-management and decision-making systems. 

Vaughn observed that NASA had failed to address institutional problems present at the time of 

the Challenger disaster, and that as a result, NASA decision-makers had remained unable to 

access the type of data they needed to assess risk accurately and to act on that knowledge.421

 

419 Jon Bonne, “Private Manned Space Plane Unveiled,” MSNBC.com, 19 April 2003. 420 NASA, “Space Shuttle Program Manager Decides To Leave Post,” news release 03-149, 23 April 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/apr/HP_news_03149.html (accessed 19 September 2008); Paul Recer for 

Associated Press, “Shuttle Director Dittemore To Leave NASA,” 23 April 2003. 421 Marcia Dunn for Associated Press, “NASA Pioneers Testify on Shuttle Columbia Tragedy,” 24 April 2003; 

Kathy Sawyer, “NASA Mistakes Will Repeat Without Changes, Board Told,” Washington Post, 24 April 2003. 
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24 April 

The Russian military launched the geostationary Cosmos 2397 aboard a Proton-K rocket. 

According to rumor, Cosmos 2397, a classified spacecraft reportedly built by NPO Lavochkin, 

was an early warning satellite.422

The NASA Accident Investigation Team (NAIT) presented to the CAIB the results of its 

ongoing analysis of the Columbia disaster. Ten members of the CAIB were either present or 

listening via telephone, and 30 to 40 NASA and contractor personnel participated in the private 

briefing. The CAIB indicated that the Space Shuttle Program required more work in four 

areas―aerothermal analysis, foam-impact testing, testing of flown RCC panels, and 

metallurgical analysis from debris. According to the CAIB, NAIT had “provided an overview of 

the latest data-recorder information, and the CAIB issued its guidance based on that data and 

board investigators’ continuing analysis of the latest orbiter debris.”423

25 April 

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe named the commander, the pilot, and a mission specialist of 

the next Space Shuttle mission, even though NASA had not selected any dates for future Shuttle 

missions since the suspension of Shuttle flights following the Columbia disaster. O’Keefe said 

that NASA’s target to resume Shuttle flights was the end of the calendar year. O’Keefe said that 

the crew―Commander Eileen M. Collins, Pilot James M. Kelly, Mission Specialist Stephen K. 

Robinson, and Mission Specialist Soichi Noguchi of Japan’s NASDA―would be “challenged 

with the opportunity to be the first crew to return to flight.” O’Keefe said that the ISS partners 

would probably fill the other three slots with a three-member crew headed for the ISS.424

26 April 

Soyuz TMA-2 launched aboard a Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, 

carrying one Russian cosmonaut and one American astronaut for a six-month stay at the ISS. 

American Edward T. Lu and Russian Yuri I. Malenchenko would replace the three-person crew 

that had lived at the space station since November 2002. An expert on solar flares, Lu had flown 

to Russia’s space station Mir in 1997 and to the fledgling ISS in 2000 on STS-106. Malenchenko 

and Lu had been fellow crew members aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-106. During that 

mission, Lu and Malenchenko had teamed up in a spacewalk to hook up exterior cables.425

28 April 

In its first launch since the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in February, NASA launched its 

Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) research satellite aboard a Pegasus XL rocket released 

from an L-1011 cargo plane that had flown out of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. 

GALEX carried a telescope measuring 19.7 inches (50 centimeters) in diameter, designed to 

 

422 NASA, “Space Shuttle Program Manager Decides To Leave Post”; Stephen Clark, “Proton Lifts Military 

Satellite,” Spaceflight Now, 24 April 2003. 423 William Harwood, “NASA, CAIB Investigators Compare Notes on Disaster,” Spaceflight Now, 24 April 2003. 424 Deborah Zabarenko for Reuters, “Next Shuttle Crew Named as Columbia Probe Proceeds,” 25 April 2003. 425 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 594; Chris Kindler, “Soyuz Capsule Includes NASA-Required Features,” Florida Today

(Brevard, FL), 23 April 2003; Marcia Dunn for Associated Press, “Astronaut, Cosmonaut Named for Space Station 

Mission,” 2 April 2003, “NASA Mission Archives: STS-106,” 

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-106.html (accessed 17 November 2008). 
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provide a wide-angle view of the ultraviolet light that distant galaxies emit. NASA had planned 

the mission, which would survey the light emitted by a million galaxies over 28 months, to learn 

more about galaxies dominated by hot, short-lived stars that give off a great deal of energy as 

ultraviolet light. The mission cost US$103.7 million.426

29 April 

The Dutch-Italian satellite known as BeppoSAX reentered Earth’s atmosphere and splashed into 

the equatorial Pacific Ocean seven years after its launch into orbit on 30 April 1996. The Italian 

Space Agency and the Netherlands Agency for Aerospace jointly operated the 3,086-pound 

(1,400-kilogram) x-ray satellite, best known for its discovery of 50 gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). 

The Italian Space Agency had estimated that as much as 1,325 pounds (601 kilograms) of the 

craft could survive reentry, with individual pieces weighing 220 pounds (99.7 kilograms) and 

had, therefore, notified 39 countries that pieces of the spacecraft could potentially land in their 

territory. However, the debris falling closest to land splashed into the ocean 186 miles (299 

kilometers) northwest of the Galapagos Islands.427

30 April 

Investigators announced their discovery that thousands of worms known as C. elegans―part of a 

science experiment aboard Columbia―were still alive, having survived the violent, high-velocity 

reentry and impact, traveling at least 120 miles per hour (193 kilometers per hour). The 

containers holding the worms had remained sealed for several weeks following their recovery 

while accident investigators at NASA’s KSC processed them. Terri L. Lomax, a NASA space 

biologist, remarked that, although it was unclear what scientists would learn from the worms, the 

fact that they had survived the accident was data in and of itself.428

MAY 2003 

3 May 

The National Inventors Hall of Fame in Akron, Ohio, inducted 17 aviation and aerospace 

inventors, among them Harold A. Rosen, recognized for his pioneering work in developing the 

world’s first 24-hour commercial communications satellite and for his subsequent contributions 

to satellite communications. Rosen had led the Boeing Satellite Systems team that had begun 

developing the geostationary Syncom in 1959. The team had planned for Syncom to 

communicate directly and continuously with any ground station in its line of sight, in contrast to 

the communications satellites in use at the time, which required expensive tracking computers. 

The first Syncom had failed to launch successfully, but Syncom 2 had reached its synchronous 

orbit on 26 July 1963. Later that year, Syncom 2 had relayed by satellite the first live two-way 

call between heads of state―a phone call between President John F. Kennedy in Washington, 

DC, and Nigerian Prime Minister Abubaker Balewa in Africa. Syncom 3 had brought live 

coverage of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics to U.S. viewers. The satellites had remained active 

through 1966, surpassing their one-year design life. David L. Ryan, Vice President and General 

Manager of Boeing Satellite Systems, remarked that contemporary satellites that deliver video, 

 

426 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 594; Associated Press, “NASA in 1st Launch Since Columbia Breakup,” 28 April 2003. 427 Andrew Bridges for Associated Press, “BeppoSAX Satellite Falls Harmlessly into Ocean,” 30 April 2003. 428 Kathy Sawyer, “Worms Used for Study Survive Columbia Crash,” Washington Post, 1 May 2003. 
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voice, and data communications are all descendants of Syncom, and “when Harold Rosen and his 

colleagues launched Syncom, they launched a revolution and changed the world.”429

4 May 

Returning from the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-1, American astronauts, Kenneth D. Bowersox and 

Donald R. Pettit, and Russian cosmonaut Nikolai M. Budarin, touched down in the steppes of 

Kazakhstan 276 miles (444 kilometers) off course. The landing was the first time American 

astronauts had returned to Earth in a foreign spacecraft. Budarin, Bowersox, and Pettit had 

arrived at the ISS in November 2002 aboard Endeavour, scheduled to return to Earth aboard 

another Shuttle flight on 11 March. However, the Columbia disaster in February had grounded 

the remaining three Shuttles in NASA’s fleet, prolonging the crew’s stay aboard the ISS. Russian 

search teams took 2 hours, using a helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft, to find the crew. The last 

radio contact between the capsule and Mission Control Center in Moscow had occurred after the 

craft’s parachutes opened, about 15 minutes before landing. Failure to reestablish contact had 

caused concern for the trio’s welfare. Russian Space Agency spokesperson Sergei Gorbunov 

announced that a special commission would investigate the causes of the malfunctions during 

landing.430

7 May 

Boeing announced the successful completion of Phase III testing of the X-31A Vector 

aircraft―the world’s only international experimental airplane in the X-plane series to receive 

international collaboration―demonstrating the use of thrust-vectoring technologies for 

performing extremely short takeoff and landing (ESTOL) operations. The U.S. Navy, Germany’s 

defense procurement agency, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, and 

Boeing Phantom Works had conducted the ESTOL demonstrations, carrying out the final flight 

on 29 April at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. The demonstrations had consisted 

of a series of fully automated ESTOL landings on an actual runway using a high angle-of-attack 

landing, proving that an integrated flight-and-propulsion control system had potential use in 

ESTOL. Such capabilities would give fighter aircraft greater operational flexibility and lower 

life-cycle costs.431

NASA announced that it had selected several radioisotope-based, power-conversion technologies 

for research and development. The awards represented the first competitive technology 

procurement funded entirely by NASA’s Project Prometheus. The projects covered distinct areas 

in power-conversion technology: thermoelectrics, thermophotovoltaics, Stirling engines, and 

Brayton engines. NASA intended the awards to lay the foundation for technology development 

enabling new classes of missions, such as networked science stations on Mars and small 

spacecraft capable of complex maneuvers in deep space. Each award would cover three one-year 

performance periods with continued support from one period to the next, contingent on the 

program’s needs, availability of funds, and each team’s ability to meet milestones. The total 

 

429 The Boeing Company, “Boeing Satellite Pioneer Harold Rosen Inducted to National Inventors Hall of Fame,” 

news release, 1 May 2003, http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2003/q2/nr_030501n.html (accessed 21 November 

2008). 

430 Mark Carreau, “Anxiety as Astronauts Miss Target for Landing,” Houston Chronicle, 5 May 2003; Sharon 

LaFraniere, “Space Station Crew Returns Home in Russian Soyuz,” Washington Post, 5 May 2003. 431 The Boeing Company, “Boeing X-31A Vector Completes International Flight Test Program,” news release, 7 

May 2003, http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2003/q2/nr_030507a.html (accessed 21 November 2008). 
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funding was US$43 million divided into various increments covering fiscal years 2003 to 

2006.432

8 May 

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the Geostationary 

Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV)–D2 rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, 

Andhra Pradesh, India. The main payload was the GSAT-2, a geostationary communications and 

space-monitoring satellite, which carried four C-band and two Ku-band transponders that would 

provide voice and video transmissions to India and neighboring countries. The GSLV-D2 also 

carried into orbit experimental payloads: a Coherent Radio Beacon Experiment, a Solar X-ray 

Spectrometer, an external Total Radiation Dose Monitor, a Radiation Sensitive Field Effect 

Transistor, and a Surface Change Monitor. However, its main mission was to test the GSLV-D2, 

an improved version of the GSLV first launched in April 2001.433

9 May 

The Japanese probe Muses-C―renamed Hayabusa (Falcon) after its deployment―launched 

from Kogoshima Space Center on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, aboard an M-5 solidfuel rocket. The probe’s mission was to rendezvous with the asteroid 1998 SF36, gather surface 

samples, and return to Earth. Japan’s Institute of Space and Astronautical Science expected the 

510-kilogram (1,124-pound) spacecraft to arrive at the asteroid in June 2005. The craft would 

then skim the surface several times over three months, collecting 1 gram (0.04 ounces) of surface 

material from various sites. The Institute had designed the mission to return the samples to Earth 

in a capsule in June 2007. If the probe succeeded, the samples would be the first space rocks 

collected since the end of the U.S. Apollo Lunar Exploration Program 30 years before.434

NASA announced the selection of William W. Parsons Jr., Director of NASA’s SSC, to succeed 

Ronald D. Dittemore as Manager of the Space Shuttle Program. Dittemore had announced his 

resignation on 23 April. NASA appointed SSC Deputy Director Michael U. Rudolphi to serve as 

interim Director of SSC.435

12 May 

Northrop Grumman Corporation, Raytheon Company, and the Boeing Company formed a team 

to develop the U.S. Air Force E-10A Multi-Sensor Command and Control Aircraft (MC2A), a 

next-generation aircraft that could replace the Airborne Warning and Control System and the 

Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System aircraft. The initial agreement called for the 

production of five MC2A craft for the U.S. Air Force, but the program could increase to allow 

 

432 NASA, “Advanced Radioisotope-Power Technologies R&D Teams Selected,” contract release c03-n, 7 May 

2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/may/HQ_news_c03n.html (accessed 20 November 2008). 433 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 595, 1 June 2003, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx595.html (accessed 20 

November 2008); K. S. Jayaraman, “India Launches Second GSLV Rocket with GSAT,” Space.com, 8 May 2003, 

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/gslv_launch_030508.html (accessed 1 December 2008). 434 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 595; Eric Talmadge for Associated Press, “Japan Launches Rocket To Probe Asteroid,” 

9 May 2003. 

435 NASA, “NASA Selects New Space Shuttle Program Manager,” news release 03-164, 9 May 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/may/HP_news_03164.html (accessed 2 December 2008); Michelle Krupa, 

“No 2 Man Takes Helm at Stennis Center: Ex-director Moves Up to Shuttle Position,” New Orleans TimesPicayune, 13 May 2003. 
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for production of as many as 50 such aircraft. Boeing would provide its twin-jet 767-400 

transport aircraft as a platform for powerful multifunction radar with the capability of detecting 

enemy forces on the ground, as well as low-flying cruise missiles. Northrop Grumman and 

Raytheon would develop a radar and electronic self-defense system to integrate with a Battle 

Management Command and Control System produced under a separate contract.436

13 May 

The White House unveiled the U.S. Commercial Remote Sensing Policy, which President 

George W. Bush had approved on 25 April to replace former President William J. Clinton’s 1994 

Presidential Decision Directive-23. The new policy loosened government restrictions on the 

collection and sale of commercial satellite imagery, directing military and civilian agencies first 

to approach the commercial sector to fulfill satellite imagery needs. The NSC had created the 

new guidelines as part of a review of U.S. national space policy, which the White House had 

directed the NSC to conduct in June 2002 with the support of the Office of Science and 

Technology Policy. The new policy retained the government’s ability to restrict operations of 

commercial satellite imaging companies for national security reasons, but emphasized that the 

U.S. military should plan actions in the knowledge that adversaries also had access to 

commercial satellite imagery. The policy encouraged companies to use the most capable systems 

possible. However, at the same time, the government retained the right to restrict the sale of the 

most advanced imagery to U.S. government customers. The policy named the U.S. National 

Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) as the interface between government and industry for 

national security applications of commercial satellite imagery. The U.S. Department of 

Commerce, U.S. Department of Interior, and NASA would fulfill that role for civilian 

applications.437

Hellas-Sat, a geostationary communications satellite jointly owned by Greece and Cyprus, 

launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida aboard an Atlas 5 rocket with a 

Russian RD-180 motor. The 3.45-tonne (3.8-ton or 3,450-kilogram) Astrium Eurostar 2000+ 

model carried 30 Ku-band transponders to provide voice, video, data, and broadcast services to 

Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. The launch, the second for the Atlas 

5 series, was the 65th consecutive successful flight for the Lockheed Martin–built Atlas rocket 

and for mission provider International Launch Services (ILS).438 

14 May 

Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) Chairperson Harold W. Gehmen Jr. testified 

before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, that the safety 

office created at NASA in the aftermath of the Challenger explosion in 1986 had been “all but 

useless.” Gehman stated that serious conflicts of interest had “hamstrung the NASA engineering 

 

436 Northrop Grumman, “Northrop Grumman, Boeing and Raytheon Announce Teaming Agreement for NextGeneration Air Force Surveillance System,” news release, 12 May 2003, 

http://www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.html?d=40216 (accessed 8 December 2008); Congress 

Daily, “Aerospace Giants To Team Up On Air Force Project,” 12 May 2003. 437 Jason Bates, “White House Loosens Curbs on Commercial Satellite Imaging,” Space News, 13 May 2003; Dan 

Caterinicchia, “Commercial Satellite Policy Released,” Federal Computer Week, 15 May 2003. 438 Lockheed Martin, “ILS Launches Hellas-Sat on Atlas V―65 Successes in a Row for Atlas,” news release, 13 

May 2003, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2003/ILSLaunchesHellasSat

OnAtlasV.html (accessed 21 November 2008); Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 595. 
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department that advises senior managers about shuttle safety.” He explained that the links of 

engineering specialists with NASA’s Space Shuttle Program had apparently been too close to 

permit independent review of the condition of the orbiters. In addition, he said that NASA’s 

Safety Organization lacked sufficient personnel. Gehman testified that, although NASA’s Safety 

Organization appeared perfect on paper, the procedures lacked substance in reality. NASA 

Administrator Sean O’Keefe, who appeared at Gehman’s side at the hearing, assured the Senate 

panel that NASA would hold its officials accountable, and that NASA would correct all faults in 

management that the CAIB identified. However, O’Keefe did not respond to Gehman’s criticism 

of NASA’s safety team.439

16 May 

NASA’s ARC in Mountain View, California, closed three wind tunnels until the end of FY 2003 

because of budget cuts, fewer defense contracts, and the increased use of computer simulations. 

NASA reported that, unless it received major contracts from the DOD or from the private sector 

within a year from October 2003, ARC would close the wind tunnels permanently. Two of the 

wind tunnels, the largest and second-largest wind tunnels in the world, had operated for nearly 

six decades, testing dozens of aircraft and spacecraft, including Korean War–era fighter planes, 

helicopters, and the Space Shuttle. The largest wind tunnel, known as “80 by 120” in reference to 

its height and width, was the only wind tunnel in the world that could accommodate full-size 

aircraft. With the closure of the three tunnels, ARC dismissed 23 contractors and reassigned 23 

employees, changes that would save ARC US$12 million per year in operational costs.440

NASA announced the selection of 15 organizations from industry, government, and academia to 

carry out 22 propulsion-technology research proposals in five areas of the In-Space Propulsion 

Program: aerocapture, advanced chemical propulsion, solar-electric propulsion, space-based 

tether propulsion, and solar-sail technologies. The goal of the program, under the management of 

the Office of Space Sciences at NASA Headquarters, was to make exploration of deep space 

more practical, affordable, and productive.441

21 May 

Lockheed Martin announced it had teamed up with Argon Engineering to conduct a flight test 

and evaluation of Argon’s Lighthouse Communications Intelligence (COMINT) processing 

capability in a high-density urban environment. The test team had flown the Lighthouse 

COMINT sensor in the area of Phoenix, Arizona, for more than 24 hours, during eight flights 

ranging in altitude from 5,000 to more than 20,000 feet (1,524 to more than 6,096 meters). The 

series of flights confirmed that the sensor was “capable of handling the high dynamic signal 

densities of urban and military environments.” Wes Colburn of Lockheed Martin ISR Systems 

remarked that Argon’s open architecture Lighthouse COMINT system provided a dynamic 

sensor suite capable of meeting fighters’ needs in complex and modern electromagnetic threat 

environments. The flight tests had validated that the Lighthouse COMINT system was extremely 

 

439 Traci Watson, “Probe Slams NASA Safety,” USA Today, 15 May 2003; Nick Anderson, “NASA Is Chided for 

Faults in Safety Teams,” Los Angeles Times, 15 May 2003. 440 Joshua L. Kwan, “NASA/Ames Center Shuts Wind Tunnels,” San Jose Mercury News (CA), 19 May 2003. 441 NASA, “NASA Selects In-Space Propulsion Innovations for Research,” contract release C03-q, 16 May 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/may/HQ_news_c03Q.html (accessed 20 November 2008). 
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capable in an airborne environment, as well as on submarines, ships, and land sites where it was 

already in use.442

23 May 

NASA announced the appointment of David A. King as the new Director of NASA’s MSFC in 

Huntsville, Alabama, effective 15 June. NASA would reassign Director of MSFC Arthur G. 

Stephenson, in preparation for his planned January 2004 retirement from NASA. King had been 

MSFC’s Deputy Director since November 2002, assisting Stephenson in managing a range of 

propulsion, space science, and materials research, as well as development work. NASA had also 

dispatched King to Lufkin, Texas, within hours of the Columbia disaster, to serve as the senior 

on-site NASA official in the search-and-recovery effort. In that capacity, he had created critical, 

initial work processes; established effective working relationships among federal and state 

government agencies; and set the foundation for the two subsequent NASA officials who would 

share responsibility for leading effective recovery efforts. Before serving as Deputy Director of 

MSFC, King had been Deputy Director of Shuttle Processing, Launch Director of six Shuttle 

missions, and Director of Shuttle Processing at NASA’s KSC. As Director of Shuttle Processing 

at KSC, he had managed and coordinated all Space Shuttle processing, launch, and landing 

operations and had made the final determination to launch during the three-day countdown 

process.443

24 May 

Beidou 1C, a People’s Republic of China geostationary navigational satellite, launched from 

Xichang Satellite Launching Center in Sichuan province aboard a Long March 3A rocket, 

joining two other Beidou craft launched in 2000 to complete the satellite constellation. Xinhua, 

the Chinese national media outlet, reported that the transportation industry, telecommunications 

industry, weather forecasters, environmental planners, emergency personnel would be able to use 

the global positioning and navigational satellites. However, western analysts speculated that 

China was more likely to use the Beidou satellites’ capabilities to make its own military and 

weapons systems more precise.444

26 May 

Nikolai I. Zelenschikov, who had led the investigation into the off-target landing of Soyuz TMA1, announced that a technical malfunction, rather than crew error, had caused the craft’s 

unexpectedly steep and off-course landing on 4 May, when the craft returned two astronauts and 

a cosmonaut to Earth. Zelenschikov, Deputy Chief Designer of RSC Energia (S.P. Korolev 

Rocket and Space Corporation), stated that specialists had found no problems with the new 

software on Soyuz TMA-1 and had discovered no errors attributable to the crew. Instead, 

investigators had found that a 25-year-old instrument had failed to control the spacecraft’s 

descent. Soviet engineers had a plan for modifying the instrument to ensure its reliability. 

 

442 Lockheed Martin, “Lockheed Martin and Argon Engineering Team Up for the First Flight of the Lighthouse 

COMINT System,” news release, 21 May 2003, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/

press_releases/2003/LockheedMartinArgonEngineeringTeamU.html (accessed 21 November 2008). 443 NASA, “David A. King Named Marshall Space Flight Center Director,“ news release 03-181, 23 May 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/may/03181_king_msfc_director.html (accessed 20 November 2008); Patty 

Reinert, “Marshall Space Flight Center Chief Will Leave Post in January,” Houston Chronicle, 21 May 2003. 444 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 595; Stephen Clark, “China Lofts Navigation Craft on Long March Booster,” Spaceflight 

Now, 25 May 2003. 
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Investigators had also recommended that the Russian Space Agency position more airplanes and 

helicopters along the trajectory of landing Soyuz craft, but cosmonaut Pavel V. Vinogradov, a 

member of the commission investigating the accident, noted that chronic underfunding had led to 

a shortage of aircraft available for this purpose. The commission further recommended equipping 

Soyuz craft with satellite communication technology. Because several of the craft’s antennas had 

failed, the Soyuz TMA-1 crew had lost radio contact with Mission Control Center in Moscow 

during landing and had not regained it. Zelenschikov stated that the Russian space industry 

would make all necessary modifications to the Soyuz TMA-3 craft but could make no repairs to 

Soyuz TMA-2, which had already docked at the ISS. However, the Russian Space Agency 

planned to ferry a satellite phone to the ISS aboard a cargo mission, for use on the return flight of 

to TMA-2.445

27 May 

NASA Chief of Staff and White House Liaison Courtney A. Stadd announced his resignation, 

effective 4 July 2003, to pursue opportunities in the private sector. NASA Administrator Sean 

O’Keefe announced the appointment of John D. Schumacher to succeed Stadd as Chief of Staff. 

Stadd had led President George W. Bush’s NASA transition team and had worked with two 

NASA administrators to help cast NASA’s strategic direction. Schumacher brought invaluable 

experience and perspective to his new position. Since June 1995, he had served as NASA’s 

Assistant Administrator for External Relations, with responsibility for NASA’s interaction with 

Executive Branch offices and agencies, for international relations, and for administration of 

export and international technology-transfer control. In addition, he had served as a liaison with 

NASA’s History Office, advisory councils, and commissions.446

European space ministers met at ESA headquarters in Paris to sign an agreement to save the 

Ariane 5 launcher program. The officials voted to re-obligate EUR 228 million (US$269 million) 

from an existing program to put the rocket’s new version back on track for commercial service 

by late 2004. Additionally, they agreed to reimburse Ariane 5 contractors for many fixed costs of 

maintaining their plants and equipment between 2005 and 2009, a measure expected to keep the 

industry afloat with the injection of EUR 960 million (US$1 billion) while waiting for the 

commercial launch market to improve.447

Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) of San Diego, California, announced that 

it had won a US$48 million, four-year contract to support the development of NASA’s nextgeneration space vehicle under NASA’s Space Launch Initiative (SLI) program. Under the 

contract, SAIC would provide vehicle and systems engineering as well as other services, such as 

scheduling, configuration management, risk management, and financial planning.448

 

445 Mara D. Bellaby for Associated Press, “Rough Soyuz Landing Blamed on Malfunction,” 26 May 2003; Agence 

France-Presse, “Officials Promise To Fix Fault in Russia’s Soyuz Craft Before Next Space Mission,” 26 May 2003. 446 NASA, “Chief of Staff Courtney Stadd Announces Plans To Leave Agency,” news release 03-177, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/may/HQ_03177_stadd.html (accessed 20 November 2008); NASA, 

“NASA Names New Chief of Staff,” news release 03-178, http://www.nasa.gov/home/

hqnews/2003/may/HQ_03178_schumacher_chiefofstaff.html (accessed 20 November 2008). 447 Peter B. de Selding, “European Nations Commit To New Ariane 5 Investment,” Space News, 28 May 2003. 448 Jacob Jackson, “SAIC Wins $48 Million NASA Space Work,” Washington Technology, 28 May 2003. 
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29 May 

The CAIB carried out preliminary tests at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, 

Texas, firing foam at a fiberglass replica of the wing of an orbiter. The impact of a 1.67-pound 

(0.76-kilogram) piece of foam fired at 533 miles per hour (858 kilometers per hour) created a 

narrow 22-inch-long (56-centimeter-long) gash in the fiberglass wings. The CAIB conducted the 

test in preparation for an official test with panels composed of reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC), 

a material two and one-half times more resilient than fiberglass. In addition to determining 

whether foam could damage the fiberglass, the CAIB intended the test to calibrate the 

mechanism for testing the RCC without using up scarce RCC samples.449

30 May 

Japan’s Unmanned Space Experiment Recovery System (USERS) capsule splashed down 620 

miles (1,000 kilometers) south of Tokyo, Japan, near the Ogasawara Islands, while the USERS 

Service Module continued to orbit Earth. Japan’s NASDA had launched the system aboard an H2A booster from the Tanegashima Space Center in September 2002, along with a Japanese Data 

Relay Test Satellite. The capsule contained a superconductive product, created within the capsule 

during its 10 months in space, using an electrically heated furnace. Japanese researchers were 

investigating contamination-free, high-quality crystals, created in a microgravity environment, 

for their potential use in the superconductive magnets needed in flywheel-type, electric-energy 

storage systems and magnetically levitated train transportation. Scientists planned to collect data 

from the USERS Service Module to use in the design and production of future satellite hardware. 

The Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer, a group established in 1986 to 

promote the industrialization of space, had initiated the USERS project.450

JUNE 2003 

2 June

ESA launched its Mars Express mission from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a 

Russian Soyuz-Fregat rocket. Mars Express consisted of ESA’s Mars Orbiter and a 65-kilogram 

(143.3-pound) lander, Beagle 2, named in honor of the ship that Charles Darwin sailed on during 

his search for the origins of life. The orbiter, scheduled to reach Mars in December, carried 

multiple cameras, spectrometers, and radar equipment. Following the launch, ESA Director of 

Science David J. Southwood remarked that its success signified Europe’s official entry into the 

interplanetary travel club.451

3 June

The Canadian Space Agency awarded a four-year, US$116 million contract to MD Robotics to 

provide engineering services for robotic elements for the ISS. Under the contract, MD Robotics, 

a subsidiary of MacDonald, Dettweiler and Associates Ltd., would maintain and upgrade 

software for robotic components and would continue developing and testing a two-armed robot 

 

449 John Schwartz and Matthew L. Wald, “Mockup Wing Is Torn by Foam in Shuttle Test,” New York Times, 30 

May 2003; Mark Carreau, “Foam Test Leaves Gash in Shuttle Wing Replica,” Houston Chronicle, 30 May 2003. 450 Leonard David, “Japan Recovers Capsule That Carried Made-in-Space Product,” Space.com, 29 May 2003, 

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/japan_capsule_030529.html (accessed 4 December 2008). 451 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 596, 1 July 2003, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx596.html, (accessed 12 

December 2008); Agence France-Presse, “Europe Launches First Ever Mars Space Mission,” 3 June 2003. 
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139

called Dextre, scheduled for installation at the ISS in 2005. MD Robotics had designed Dextre 

for attachment to the ISS, either at the end of the robotic arm currently in place―Canadarm 

2―or on the mobile base station. Dextre would perform external maintenance tasks at the ISS.452

Edward J. Weiler, NASA’s Associate Administrator for Space Science, testified before the U.S. 

Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Technology, and Space about Project Prometheus, 

a proposed nuclear technology program. The proposal called for NASA to spend US$3 billion 

between 2003 and 2008, developing more powerful radioisotope thermoelectric generators 

(RTGs) to convert energy from the decay of radioactive material into electricity and to explore 

the use of fission to power spacecraft and their instruments. A strong supporter of the program, 

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe, a former Secretary of the Navy, hoped to apply lessons 

learned from the nuclear submarine program to spacecraft. Weiler stated that nuclear fission was 

necessary for sending spacecraft to scrutinize the outer planets of the solar system, such as 

Jupiter, and could open the door to human spaceflight to Mars. NASA hoped to use the powerful 

RTGs developed in Project Prometheus for a robotic mission to Mars in 2009. NASA proposed 

to make a mission to Jupiter’s moons as its first use of fission technology in space exploration.453

6 June

NASA announced that it had awarded the contract to manage the James Webb Space Telescope 

(JWST) Science and Operations Control Center to a nonprofit consortium, the Association of 

Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA). The contract, valued at US$162.2 million, 

stipulated that AURA manage the Science and Operations Control Center at the Space Telescope 

Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. AURA would provide products and services required 

to prepare the science program, develop ground systems, provide science and engineering 

support, provide integration and test support, perform educational and public outreach, and 

perform flight and science operations during the launch and commissioning of JWST, scheduled 

for launch in 2011.454

The CAIB conducted an outdoor test re-creating the conditions at Columbia’s launch, to 

determine whether foam could break reinforced-carbon wing pieces. During the test, a pair of 

orbiter wing parts cracked and shifted out of alignment after investigators shot a 1.5-pound 

(0.68-kilogram) piece of foam at the panel at a speed of 525 miles per hour (845 kilometers per 

hour). The impact created a gap of less than 0.1 inch (0.25 centimeter) wide and at least 3 inches 

(7.6 centimeters) long. G. Scott Hubbard, the CAIB member in charge of the test, stated that the 

Board required further analysis to determine whether the damage would have allowed hot 

atmospheric gases to penetrate the wing during reentry.455

7 June

France’s Alcatel Space signed a US$148 million contract with South Korea’s state-operated KT 

Corporation to build South Korea’s first satellite with military capabilities. South Korea planned 

 

452 Jason Bates, “MacDonald Dettweiler Nabs Space Station Contract,” Space News, 3 June 2003. 453 Gwyneth K. Shaw, “Advice to NASA Supports Nuclear-Fueled Spaceflight,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 4 June 

2003. 

454 NASA, “Webb Spacecraft Science and Operations Center Contract Award,” contract release c03-r, 6 June 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jun/HQ_c03r_Webb.html (accessed 6 June 2003). 455 Marcia Dunn, “Impact Test Supports Shuttle Foam Theory,” Washington Post, 9 June 2003. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

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to place Koreasat 5 in orbit by early 2006. KT Corporation spokesperson Cho Chul-Je told the 

media that South Korea’s military would use military transponders on the satellite for 

communication and operation, but he declined to confirm reports that the craft would assist the 

military in collecting security information in Northeast Asia. The craft would also be equipped 

with commercial transponders. Koreasat 5 would replace Koreasat 2, which had launched in 

1996, allowing telecommunications companies to expand mobile networks to Japan, the People’s 

Republic of China, Taiwan, and the Philippines.456

8 June

Progress M1-10 launched successfully from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying 

2,400 kilograms (5,300 pounds) of fuel, canned food, water, oxygen, and equipment for 

scientific experiments to the ISS. Yuri P. Semyonov of RSC Energia (S.P. Korolev Rocket and 

Space Corporation), the company leading Russia’s participation in the ISS, remarked that 

Progress M1-10 carried a supply of extra water because NASA had canceled all Shuttle flights in 

the wake of the Columbia disaster. The ISS Expedition 7 would have a staff of two, rather than 

three crew members―Russian Flight Commander Yuri I. Malenchenko and U.S. Flight Engineer 

Edward T. Lu―to save fuel and water until Shuttle flights resumed.457

9 June

NASA announced the successful first test flight of Altair, its UAV. The purpose of the test flight 

was to evaluate Altair’s airworthiness and flight controls. NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise had 

established performance specifications for the craft, which was an extended-wing version of the 

MQ-9 Predator B military UAV―one of several UAVs designed for civil applications.458 

10 June

From its floating platform Odyssey, Sea Launch launched a telecommunications satellite 

Thuraya-2 aboard a Zenit 3-SL rocket. The satellite belonged to Thuraya Satellite 

Telecommunications Company based in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, a company 

providing mobile telephone services to more than 100 countries in the Middle East, Europe, 

Africa, and Asia. Sea Launch had launched Thuraya-1 in October 2000.459

NASA launched the first of two Mars Exploration Rovers from Cape Canaveral Air Force 

Station in Florida aboard a Delta 2 rocket. The destination of the 384-pound (174-kilogram) 

rover Spirit was the Gustev Crater, a site that scientists believed had been a crater lake. NASA 

intended the second of the identical rovers, called Opportunity, to launch later in June and to land 

on the opposite side of Mars from the Gustev Crater at a site called Meridiani Planum, which had 

a large deposit of a type of mineral (gray hematite) that usually forms in wet environments. 

NASA had designed the rolling rovers to capture sharper images, explore wider regions, and 

 

456 Agence France-Presse, “French Company To Build South Korea’s First Military Satellite,” 8 June 2003. 457 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 596; Agence France-Presse, “Russian Supply Vessel Docks with International Space 

Station,” 11 June 2003; Reuters, “Russian Rocket Sends Fuel, Food to Space Station,” 9 June 2003. 458 NASA, “NASA’s Newest Unmanned Aircraft Makes Successful First Flight,” news release 03-193, 9 June 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jun/HQ_03193_altair.html (accessed 12 December 2008). 

459 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 596; Associated Press, “Communications Satellite Launched,” 10 June 2003; Jim Banke, 

“Sea Launch Soars Again Carrying Thuraya-2 to Orbit,” Space.com, 

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/zenit_launch_030610.html (accessed 15 December 2008). 
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examine rocks better than any previous craft that had landed on Mars, searching for evidence of 

wet environments on the planet.460

11 June

ESA launched aboard an Ariane 5G rocket Optus-1, a Japanese-built, hybrid 

communications/military satellite jointly owned by Australia and Singapore, and B-Sat 2C, a 

Japanese geostationary communications satellite from Kourou, French Guiana. The Australian 

Defence Force and Optus, the Australian telecommunications firm and subsidiary of Singapore 

Telecommunications, had jointly funded the Optus-1 craft. To avoid mixing up data between 

defense and commercial applications, the two portions of the Optus-1 payload operated 

independently, one devoted to military use and the other to television broadcasts, high-speed 

Internet services, and voice and data communications across Australia and parts of Asia. B-Sat 

2C would provide direct digital broadcasts to Japan and neighboring countries using Ku-band 

transponders.461

12 June

U.S. Representative Bart Gordon (D-TN), senior Democrat on the House Science Subcommittee 

on Space and Aeronautics, introduced H. R. 2450, the Human Space Flight Independent 

Investigation Commission Act, in an effort to ensure that future investigations of human 

spaceflight accidents would remain independent and “free from any perception that [NASA] is 

hiding something.” Gordon had wanted President George W. Bush to appoint an independent 

commission, free of any NASA personnel, to investigate the Columbia disastersimilar to the 

commission that had investigated the Challenger accident in 1986. Instead, NASA Administrator 

Sean O’Keefe had to revise the charter of the CAIB three times before the Board had attained a 

measure of independence. Moreover, the Board still included one NASA official and relied on 

NASA staff, an arrangement that Gordon feared would undermine the credibility of the CAIB’s 

final report. H.R. 2450 proposed that, in the event of another disaster, the investigative panel 

would follow the Challenger model, requiring a 15-member commission, with the chairperson of 

the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) serving as a member and the President of the 

United States appointing the other 14. Under the terms of the Act, commission members would 

have diverse backgrounds, although some would also have spaceflight and accident investigation 

experience. The resolution also stipulated that NASA personnel could not serve, either on the 

investigative panel or on its staff. The commission would have subpoena powers and would 

report its findings simultaneously to the President, Congress, and the public.462

The CAIB held its final public hearing, moving its focus beyond the cause of the disaster to a 

probe of the overall state of NASA’s management. Witnesses identified several key weaknesses 

in NASA’s management of its personnel, which could have affected safety issues in the Space 

Shuttle Program. Allen Li of GAO, which had issued a report in 2001 about NASA workforce 

issues, noted that NASA had faced substantial challenges in attracting and retaining a highly 

 

460 NASA, “NASA Prepares Two Robot Rovers for Mars Exploration,” news release 03-189, 4 June 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jun/HQ_03189_ROVERS.html (accessed 12 December 2008); Andrew 

Bridges for Associated Press, “First of NASA Rovers En Route to Mars,” 11 June 2003. 461 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 596; Agence France-Presse, “Europe Launches Japanese-Built Australian Military 

Satellite Half Owned by Singapore Government,” 12 June 2003. 

462 Leonard David, “Lawmaker Calls for Independent Space Accident Investigations,” Space.com, 16 June 2003,

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sts107_gordon_030616.html (accessed 19 December 2008). 
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skilled workforce. Therefore, key areas of NASA’s programs had an insufficient number of 

qualified workers, and the remainder of the staff showed signs of overwork and fatigue. In 

response to the 2001 report, NASA had developed new systems for monitoring such issues, and 

Li said that NASA had made noteworthy progress. However, NASA was still requesting 

congressional approval of personnel reforms that would help ameliorate the situation, reforms 

that would give NASA the authority to streamline the hiring process and the ability to offer 

larger recruitment and retention bonuses. Marcia S. Smith of the Congressional Research Service 

provided the CAIB with a history of NASA’s budget situation but remarked that the CAIB 

would have difficulty tying budgetary changes directly to safety issues and Shuttle operations. 

Russell D. Turner, the former CEO of the prime contractor for Shuttle operations, United Space 

Alliance, defended the work of the firms involved in the Space Shuttle Program.463

13 June 

NASA named Roy D. Bridges Jr., Director of NASA’s KSC, to head NASA’s LaRC in 

Hampton, Virginia, effective 10 August. Bridges, a retired U.S. Air Force Major General and 

former astronaut who had piloted STS-51F in 1985, was a “natural selection to lead the Agency’s 

premiere center for aviation and space research,” according to William F. Readdy, Associate 

Administrator for Space Flight at NASA Headquarters. Bridges had been Director of KSC since 

1997 and, before that, had held various key aerospace positions, serving as Commander of the 

Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California, as well as Commander of 

the Eastern Space and Missile Center at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida and Commander of the 

412th Test Wing at Edwards Air Force Base. With his appointment as Director of LaRC, Bridges 

replaced Delma C. Freeman Jr., who had planned to retire but had been serving as Acting 

Director until NASA found a permanent director. Freeman planned to retire. In transferring 

Bridges to LaRC from KSC, NASA hoped to strengthen its engineering department in 

preparation for resuming Shuttle flights.464

NASA appointed two veteran astronauts―Apollo Commander Thomas P. Stafford and Space 

Shuttle Commander Richard O. Covey―to lead the task force assisting NASA’s return-to-flight 

team. The Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group (SCTG), composed of distinguished 

experts and industry professionals representing a wide range of disciplines, would help the 

NASA team implement the CAIB’s findings following the release of its final report. Stafford, a 

retired Lieutenant General in the U.S. Air Force who had flown four missions during the Gemini 

and Apollo programs, had also chaired the NASA Advisory Council Task Force on ISS 

Operational Readiness. Covey, a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, had piloted the 1988 Shuttle 

Mission STS-26, the first flight following the Challenger accident. He had also piloted Mission 

STS-51I in 1985 and had commanded STS-38 in 1990 and STS-61 in 1993.465

 

463 Tom Shoop, “NASA Needs Management Overhaul, Shuttle Investigators Told,” Government Executive, 13 June 

2003. 

464 NASA, “Gen. Roy D. Bridges Named Langley Center Director,” news release 03-197, 13 June 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jun/HQ_03197_bridges.html (accessed 12 December 2008); Marcia Dunn 

for the Associated Press, “Kennedy Space Center Director Transferred,” 13 June 2003. 465 NASA, “Former Apollo and Shuttle Commanders Lead Columbia Accident Report Task Force,” news release 

03-196, 13 June 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jun/HQ_03196_covey_lead.html (accessed 12 

December 2008). 
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15 June

The CAIB and members of the U.S. Congress reached an agreement giving selected members 

and staff of the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology access to confidential 

interviews that CAIB had conducted with 225 witnesses, including NASA managers and others 

involved with Columbia’s mission. Because the most sensitive testimony about management 

decision making and engineering practices was contained in privileged statements, CAIB 

Chairperson Harold W. Gehman Jr. had resisted unfettered congressional access, fearing the 

potential effect on witnesses in future investigations of accidents if the CAIB were to release 

privileged testimony. Gehman had argued that privacy was critical to the Board’s ability to elicit 

full, frank, and timely information, citing U.S. Supreme Court decisions supporting privileged 

interviewing, which was a common practice in military aircraft accident investigations. The 

agreement had granted committee members and a select list of staff access to the statements at 

the CAIB’s office andin limited circumstances and under the supervision of a CAIB 

representativeto those at congressional offices. The CAIB retained the right to refuse to make 

information from statements to the Board available to the public. In addition, the CAIB would 

keep a record of those who viewed the information.466

19 June

Russia’s Space Forces launched a Molniya 3-53 military communications satellite aboard a fourstage Molniya-M rocket from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region of Russia. 

Molniya 3-53 was the second Molniya communications satellite launched in 2003.467

NASA released topographic data collected during its Shuttle Radar Topography Mission 

(SRTM), which had lasted from 11 to 22 February 2000, producing three-dimensional 

measurements of more than 80 percent of Earth’s landmass between 60° north and 56° south of 

the equator. Because of South America’s proximity to the equator and its frequent tropical cloud 

cover, traditional satellites had encountered difficulty acquiring imagery of its topography, but 

the cloud-penetrating radar on board the SRTM had produced information with scientific and 

commercial value that would help improve life on the continent. SRTM Project Scientist Michael 

Kobrick of NASA’s JPL remarked that the data would assist governments to prepare for natural 

hazards like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and floods. In addition, the information 

would help improve aviation safety in mountainous areas, and would help land-use planners 

make better-informed decisions about the development of critical infrastructure. The mission was 

a cooperative project of NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. 

DOD, and the German and Italian space agencies.468

24 June

NASA announced that 12 new teams would join the NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI), a 

research consortium studying the origin, evolution, distribution, and future of life on Earth and in 

 

466 Kathy Sawyer, “Congress To Review Shuttle Interviews,” Washington Post, 16 June 2003. 467 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 596; Associated Press, “Russia Lofts Military Payload from Plesetsk, Makes Plans for 

Commercial South American Shots,” 20 June 2003; Stephen Clark, “Molniya Satellite Deployed from Plesetsk 

Spaceport,” Spaceflight Now, 20 June 2003. 468 NASA, “South America Shines in NASA’s Latest Space Radar Map Release,” news release 03-204, 19 June 

2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jun/HQ_03204_S_Amer_Space_Radar.html (accessed 12 December 

2008). 
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the universe. The new teams, with members from the Carnegie Institution of Washington, DC; 

Indiana University in Bloomington; Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, 

Massachusetts; SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute in Mountain View, 

California; and NASA’s ARC and GSFC would join the four lead teams that NASA had selected 

in 2001. The five-year awards, with annual funding levels of US$1 million, would commence in 

the autumn of 2003 when the agreements with the NAI’s 11 founding teams had concluded. Six 

of the new teams were among the founding member teams. 

NASA released to the public recovered photographs and video that Columbia’s crew had taken 

during its mission in January. The CAIB had determined that the material was not relevant to 

their investigation into the Shuttle’s demise. The imagery included nearly 10 hours of recovered 

video and 92 photographs. The Shuttle had carried 337 videotapes, of which 28 had recoverable 

footage, and 137 rolls of film, of which only 21 contained recoverable photographs. Search-andrecovery crews had located more than 84,000 pieces of debris.469

26 June

NASA announced the appointment of James W. Kennedy as the new Director of NASA’s KSC, 

effective 10 August, succeeding Roy D. Bridges Jr. On 13 June, NASA had appointed Bridges to 

lead NASA’s LaRC. Kennedy had served as KSC’s Deputy Director since November 2002 and, 

before that, he had served as Deputy Director of NASA’s MSFC in Huntsville, Alabama. 

Kennedy had also served as Project Manager for the X-34 and DC-XA initiatives and had led 

KSC’s OneNASA effort to coordinate teamwork across all field centers. He had managed 

MSFC’s Space Shuttle Projects Resident Office at KSC in 1996, returning to MSFC later that 

year to manage the Solid Rocket Booster Project. In 1998 he had become Deputy Director of 

Science and Engineering and, one year later, Director of Engineering. In those positions, he had 

established and maintained a nationally recognized research and development capability in space 

research and technology.470

The remotely operated Helios Prototype aircraft crashed into the Pacific Ocean during a test 

flight within the confines of the U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) test range. 

Ground-based mission controllers had been flying the solar-electric, propeller-driven, proof-ofconcept flying wing remotely. The craft had been aloft west of Kauai, Hawaii, for about 29 

minutes at approximately 8,000 feet (2,438 meters), when the accident occurred, destroying it. 

High-efficiency solar cells, spread across the upper surface of its 247-foot-long (75-meter-long) 

wing, supplied power to its electric motors and other systems during daylight; at night, an 

experimental fuel cell–based electrical system generated power. The prototype, designed to fly at 

altitudes up to 100,000 feet (30,480 meters) had set a world record for altitude of winged 

aircraft―96,863 feet (29,524 meters)―during a flight in August 2001. NASA had intended the 

craft to fly single-day atmospheric-science and imaging missions at high altitudes, as well as to 

perform multiday telecommunications-relay missions at lower altitudes of 50,000 to 65,000 feet 

(15,240 to 19,812 meters). The prototype was one of several in development that NASA had 

 

469 NASA, “New Space Shuttle Columbia Images Released,” news release 03-212, 24 June 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jun/HQ_03212_columbia_images.html (accessed 12 December 2008). 470 NASA, “James W. Kennedy Named Director, NASA KSC,” news release 03-217, 26 June 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jun/HQ_03217_Kennedy_KSC.html (accessed 12 December 2008); Kelly 

Young, “Kennedy Takes Over KSC,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 27 June 2003. 
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sponsored and funded under the Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology 

program.471

27 June

NASA announced the creation of a five-member board, led by Thomas E. Noll of LaRC, to 

investigate the Helios Prototype accident. The board would work with the U.S. Navy and the 

National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration to determine the cause of the 

accident.472

30 June 

The German-Russian Eurockot Launch Services’ Rockot launch vehicle, a modified Russian 

ballistic missile, lifted off from Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome carrying nine satellites and 

nanosatellites. The Rockot booster fired its Breeze upper stage twice, the first time releasing the 

145-pound (66-kilogram) Czech Micromeasurements of Satellite Acceleration (MIMOSA) 

satellite into orbit and, the second time, leaving the Canadian Microvariability and Oscillation of 

Stars (MOST) scientific satellite and six Japanese, Danish, and U.S. nanosatellites in a Sunsynchronous orbit. A mock-up of a Russian Earth observation satellite that remained attached to 

the upper stage would gather mission data before de-orbiting. The Czech Astronomical Institute 

had launched MIMOSA to gather data on the density of Earth’s upper atmosphere, using a 

sensitive accelerometer designed to detect slight drag forces. President of the Canadian Space 

Agency Marc Garneau described the 113-pound (51.3-kilogram) MOST as “the world’s smallest 

space telescope,” with an aperture of just 15 centimeters (6 inches), about the size of Galileo’s 

telescope. Using an ultra-high-precision attitude-control system, the craft would very finely point 

toward targets, such as neighboring stars, studying how stars eject gas into the interstellar 

medium and seeking data to answer fundamental questions about the universe. Students had 

designed the two Japanese nanosatellites―CubeSat XI-IV and CUTE-1―to test various space 

technologies in flight. Three more student-built nanosatellites deployed via a launch tube―the 

Canadian CANX-1and the Danish AAU CubeSat and DTUSAT―would image stars. Quakesat, 

an American photo-imaging nanosatellite, would conduct an earthquake detection experiment.473

JULY 2003 

5 July

Armadillo Aerospace successfully carried out a milestone test of the company’s candidate for the 

X Prize, dropping the reusable suborbital spacecraft from a helicopter to demonstrate that they 

could recover the complete vehicle after flight. To conduct the test, the team placed 660 pounds 

(273 kilograms) of sandbags in the craft’s cabin area, to simulate passengers, and mounted a set 

of five Olympic barbell plates, to simulate the weight of the engines, plumbing, and backup 

 

471 NASA, “Helios Prototype Solar Aircraft Lost in Flight Mishap,” news release 03-219, 27 June 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jun/HQ_03219_Helios.html (accessed 12 December 2008); B. J. Reyes for 

Associated Press, “Record-Setting Solar Airplane Crashes,” 26 June 2003. 

472 Warren E. Leary, “Board Named To Investigate Crash of a Plane Prototype,” New York Times, 28 June 2003. 473 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 597, 1 August 2003, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx597.html (accessed 12 

December 2008); Stephen Clark, “Rockot Booster Successfully Launches 9 Payloads,” Spaceflight Now, 30 June 

2003; Peter B. de Selding, “Rockot Delivers Multiple Satellites to Earth Orbit from Russia,” Space.com, 30 June 

2003, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/rockot_ launch_

030630.html (accessed 15 December 2008). 
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recovery system that the competitor’s full-size vehicle would have. A helicopter towed and 

released the craft, the drogue immediately inflated, pulling out the main parachute. Nine seconds 

elapsed between release and full canopy inflation, causing a negligible shock of only two Gs. 

The team was expecting greater opening shock after high-altitude flights. Overall, the vehicle 

fared wellthe craft sustained minor damage to the vehicle’s crushable nose cone, and none of 

the sandbags in the cabin ruptured.474

7 July

NASA engineers and investigators, together with members of the CAIB, watched as engineers 

fired foam insulation at a mockup of the leading edge of an orbiter wing, creating a 16-inch-wide 

(40.6-centimeter-wide) hole in the reinforced-carbon-carbon panel. Engineers used a compressed 

nitrogen gas cannon to fire a 1.7-pound (0.77-kilogram) piece of foam at the wing mockup at a 

speed of 530 miles per hour (853 kilometers per hour), duplicating the force exerted on 

Columbia’s wing when a piece of foam of the same size hit the orbiter during launch. The test 

results showed that it was possible that a foam block falling from the external tank could have 

breached the orbiter’s leading edge, allowing hot gases to penetrate the wing structure during 

reentry and resulting in the breakup of Columbia.

475

8 July

After numerous delays, NASA launched Mars Explorer Rover-B (MER-B) aboard a Delta 2 

rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in time to meet the 15 July deadline. If NASA had not met 

that deadline, it would have had to wait an additional four years to launch the craft. MER-B, 

nicknamed Opportunity, was an exact duplicate of MER-A, known as Spirit, which had launched 

on 10 June. Bad weather, a failed battery cell, and a problem with the cork insulation, which had 

failed to adhere to the aluminum rocket, had caused the launch’s delay. 

NASA released documents showing that the Columbia accident was not the first time that 

superheated gas had invaded an orbiter’s wing when it reentered Earth’s atmosphere. The 

documents showed that in 2000 Atlantis had entered orbit with a 0.25-inch (0.64-centimeter) 

breach in its wing’s leading edge, allowing plasma to enter the wing during the orbiter’s reentry. 

The incident had caused only minor damage. Improper insulation installation during Atlantis’s 

overhaul in 1997 had caused the gap to form. Instead of filling up the gap, the insulation had 

been “folded up and pushed away,” leaving an exposed cavity.476

15 July 

The Boeing Company announced that, because commercial launches were costly and in 

relatively low demand, it would not seek commercial satellite launch contracts for five years, 

focusing instead on providing service for the U.S. military and NASA. However, Boeing was a 

member of the consortium International Launch Services (ILS), which would continue to offer 

commercial launch services. ILS used Russian-made Zenit 3-SL rockets to launch commercial 

 

474 Leonard David, “X Prize Entry Undergoes Drop Test,” Space.com, 7 July 2003, 

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/armadillo_test_030707.html (accessed 12 January 2009). 475 Alan Levin, “Shuttle Foam Test Leaves Hole,” USA Today, 8 July 2003; John Kelly, “Foam Punches Large Hole 

in Wing: Test is ‘Smoking Gun’, Shuttle Panel Says,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 8 July 2003. 476 John Schwartz and Matthew L. Wald, “Earlier Shuttle Flight Had Gas Enter Wing on Return,” New York Times, 

9 July 2003. 
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payloads from a floating platform known as Sea Launch. Boeing indicated that it would 

accommodate customers that preferred to use Delta rockets instead of the Russian-made rockets. 

The company stated that the change in business strategy would not affect any employees who 

worked on the launch programs.477

Undersecretary of the U.S. Air Force Peter B. Teets testified before the House Science 

Subcommittee on Environment, Technology, and Standards that the National Polar Orbiting 

Environmental Satellite (POES) System spacecraft would not be available until late 2009 or 

2010, at the earliest. The U.S. Air Force and NOAA had jointly funded the system, the first of its 

kind, originally planning to deliver it in early 2008. The Bush administration had decided to 

request less money for the project in the near term than it had previously planned, and that 

decision had reportedly caused the delay. Because of the postponement of the delivery date, the 

Air Force and NOAA would need to restructure the contract to account for anticipated cost 

growth. The new system would replace the polar-orbiting systems that the agencies had 

previously operated separately. Greg Withee, NOAA’s Assistant Administrator for Satellite and 

Information Services, stated that the delay could result in a 21-month gap in coverage if NOAA 

encountered problems with its existing fleet.478

In response to the anticipated recommendations of the CAIB, NASA announced its plans to 

create an independent NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) at NASA’s LaRC, 

providing a central location to coordinate engineering and safety assessment for all of NASA. 

The NESC, expected to draw on the talents of 250 staff throughout NASA to conduct analysis 

and share technical information, would report to Director of LaRC Roy D. Bridges Jr. Bryan D. 

O’Connor, Associate Administrator for the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance at NASA 

Headquarters, would have responsibility for policy. NASA intended for the NESC to provide 

independent assessment and testing of engineering, in support of critical NASA projects and 

programs; to conduct reviews and evaluations of engineering and safety; to provide a central 

location for trend analysis; to provide a structure to support engineering collaboration for 

problem resolution; to provide central coordination of engineering and programmatic lessons 

learned, technical standardization, and development of technical discipline expertise; and to 

provide independent inspection and validation of activities to ensure the constant maintenance of 

NASA safety standards.479

17 July

An Atlas 5 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 11:45 p.m. (UT), carrying the 

Rainbow 1 satellite into orbit. The 4.3-tonne (4.7-ton or 4,300-kilogram) Cablevision Systems 

Corporation satellite would provide direct-to-home television services in the contiguous United 

States. The Atlas 5, on its third flight since its inaugural flight in August 2002, carried for the 

first time two 64-foot (19.5-meter), Aerojet-built solid rocket boosters, which enabled the rocket 

to clear the launchpad in just 7 secondsonly half of the time required in the two previous 

 

477 Brian Monroe and Wayne T. Price, “Boeing To Bail Out of Commercial Launches,” Florida Today (Brevard, 

FL), 17 July 2003. 

478 Jeremy Singer, “Delay Means Cost Growth for New Weather Satellites,” Space News, 17 July 2003. 

479 NASA, “NASA Announces Independent Engineering and Safety Center,” news release 03-239, 15 July 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jul/HQ_03239_safety_center.html (accessed 23 December 2008); Warren 

E. Leary, “In Response to Panel, NASA Plans Safety Center,” New York Times, 16 July 2003. 
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148

launches. The launch marked the completion of flight-testing of all major new systems in the 

Atlas line. The U.S. military had designed Atlas 5 under its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle 

(EELV) Program.480

NASA issued new safety standards for future space vehicles, such as the proposed Orbital Space 

Plane (OSP) and next-generation launch systems, requiring crew-escape systems and methods of 

aborting launches. Earlier, NASA had rejected recommendations for the proposed systems as too 

impractical or expensive for the existing Space Shuttle fleet. The new standards represented 

NASA’s effort to provide “maximum reasonable assurance” that, in the future, mission failures 

would not automatically endanger the crew. The standards, known as the Human-Rating 

Requirements and Guidelines for Space Flight Systems, stipulated that NASA would design 

future spacecraft to allow the crew to escape quickly during prelaunch procedures and to abort 

the mission or to effect an emergency escape during ascent.481

18 July 

NASA’s JSC extended its contract with Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International Inc. 

(HSSSI) for work related to the Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU), the U.S. spacesuit used for 

extravehicular activity (EVA). The extended option, valued at US$26 million, was the last of the 

available annual-renewal options of a contract worth US$333 million over six years. Under the 

contract, HSSSI was responsible for the successful performance of the EMU, including the 

design, development, certification, production, and enhancement of the EMU and of other 

hardware used in spacewalking.482

21 July 

NASA announced the release of the first scientific product of the Gravity Recovery and Climate 

Experiment (GRACE) mission, a joint effort of NASA and the German Aerospace Center. The 

GRACE mission had produced the most accurate map to date of Earth’s gravity field, using 

preliminary data collected over 111 days. Project scientists had created the map from selected 

data, which they had used to calibrate and validate the instruments of the pair of American and 

German satellites comprising GRACE. The satellites had measured Earth’s gravitational force 

from orbits 500 kilometers (310.7 miles) high, with 220 kilometers (136.7 miles) separating 

them, making a pass of the entire planet once each month, and producing measurements of 

unprecedented accuracy. The measurements provided precise views of ocean currents and tidal 

changes, enabling scientists to better understand how the oceans affect climate. Although the 

data was preliminary, NASA had released it to oceanographers immediately, months in advance 

of the scheduled start of routine GRACE scientific operations, underscoring the mission’s 

importance and the data’s value.483

 

480 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 597; Associated Press, “Most Powerful Atlas Rocket Carries Cablevision Satellite into 

Space,” 18 July 2003. 

481 Eric Pianin, “New Standards Are Issued for Space Vehicle Safety,” Washington Post, 18 July 2003. 482 NASA, “NASA Extends Spacesuit Contract,” contract release C03-x, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jul/HQ_c03x_spacesuit.html (accessed 23 December 2008). 483 NASA, “Oceanographers Catch First Wave of Gravity Mission’s Success,” news release 03-244, 21 July 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jul/HQ_03244_gravity_success.html (accessed 23 December 2008); Larry 

O’Hanlon, “Gravity Map Shows Earth Is Very Lumpy,” Discovery News, 29 July 2003. 
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149

NASA announced the successful implementation of new software in three computers controlling 

the precision pointing of NASA’s Far Ultraviolet Spectroscope Explorer (FUSE) satellite. In 

mid-April 2003, NASA had installed the software for the spacecraft’s Attitude Control 

Instrument Data System and the processor for the Fine Error Sensor guide camera, and testing of 

the new configuration had been ongoing since that time. George Sonneborn, FUSE Project 

Scientist at NASA’s GSFC, explained that the uploaded software would allow FUSE to operate 

with any number of gyroscopes, or none, in the event of gyroscope failure. Tests showed that 

FUSE could operate with no gyroscopes without experiencing any degradation in quality of 

scientific data and with only a slight loss of efficiency in scheduling observations. Before the 

new software installation, FUSE had required at least one operating gyroscope on each of its 

three axes to conduct normal scientific operations.484

22 July

Starchaser Industries Ltd., a British entry for the X Prize competition, successfully tested its 

Nova 2 rocket capsule, dropping it from a Fairfield C123K aircraft near Kingman, Arizona. 

Parachute expert Ted Strong piloted the capsule, which the aircraft had released at an altitude of 

10,000 feet (3,048 meters). Traveling at 100 miles per hour (161 kilometers per hour), the craft 

deployed a 10-foot (3-meter) drogue parachute to stabilize its descent, and 5 seconds later, the 

pilot “oriented the capsule into a horizontal position” before deploying the main steerable 

canopy. The pilot flew the capsule like a glider to a precision landing.485

23 July 

NASA announced the selection of the Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services’ Atlas 5 

expendable launch vehicle for the Pluto New Horizons mission scheduled to launch in January 

2006. The agreement with Lockheed Martin stipulated a firm fixed-price, launch-service task 

order under the terms of NASA’s launch services contract with Lockheed Martin. NASA 

planned for its Pluto New Horizons mission to conduct the first reconnaissance of the binary 

planet system of Pluto-Charon, gathering information about the surfaces, atmospheres, interiors, 

and space environments of Pluto and Charon.486

NASA announced the results of its own mishap investigation board’s review of the loss of the X43A Hyper-X research vehicle during its launch on 2 June 2001. The experimental plane was the 

first of three that NASA had developed and produced in a US$185 million program. The board 

concluded that the flight had failed because “the vehicle’s control system design was deficient in 

several analytical modeling areas, which overestimated the system’s margins.” For the test flight, 

the X-43A had launched aboard the nose of a modified Pegasus launch vehicle carried by 

NASA’s modified B-52 bomber. The bomber had released the Pegasus at an altitude of 24,000 

feet (7,315.2 meters), igniting its solid rocket motor (SRM) and sending the research-vehicle 

payload on its test flight. After beginning its planned pitch-up maneuver, the X-43A had 

experienced a control anomaly leading to a structural overload of the starboard elevon. The 

 

484 NASA, “NASA Team Gives Fuse Spacecraft Triple Brain Transplant,” news release 03-243, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jul/HQ_03243_fuse_transplant.html (accessed 23 December 2008). 485 Space.com, “X Prize Entry Starchaser Successfully Test Drops Piloted Capsule,” 24 July 2003, 

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/starchaser_test_030424.html (accessed 12 January 2009). 486 NASA, “Atlas V Chosen To Launch New Horizons Mission,” contract release C03-y, Space.com (accessed 23 

December 2008). 
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vehicle had then deviated significantly from its planned trajectory, and NASA had destroyed it 

48.6 seconds after its release. The mishap investigation board, which had found a number of 

modeling inaccuracies, had been able to reproduce the flight mishap only after incorporating all 

of the inaccuracies into its analysis, leading the board to conclude that no single factor or 

potential contributing factor had caused the mishap. The board also found that preflight analyses, 

including wind tunnel tests, had failed to predict how the rocket would perform in flight.487 

25 July

NASA announced appointments to the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group (SCTG), 

formed to conduct an independent assessment of NASA’s implementation of the CAIB’s 

recommendations. On 13 June, NASA had initially announced the formation of the SCTG to 

oversee an independent assessment of NASA’s efforts to implement the CAIB’s 

recommendations. Cochaired by veteran astronauts Thomas P. Stafford and Richard O. Covey, 

NASA had selected the SCTG’s members from experts in industry, academia, and government, 

active in fields relevant to spaceflight safety. NASA had organized the SCTG pursuant to the 

Federal Advisory Committee Act, selecting only non-NASA employees as members, as well as 

one nonvoting, ex officio NASA representativethe Deputy Associate Administrator for Safety 

and Mission Assurance.488

29 July

NASA confirmed that its satellites’ observations had provided the first evidence that the rate of 

ozone depletion in Earth’s upper atmosphere was decreasing, a possible indication of the first 

stage of ozone-layer recovery. Scientists had analyzed data that NASA’s first and second 

Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment (SAGE) and Halogen Occultation Experiment 

(HALOE) satellite instruments had collected, discovering a decrease in ozone depletion after 

1997. The scientists had found that the rate of depletion was consistent with the decline in 

abundance of the human-made chemicals that contribute to ozone destruction. However, 

according to Michael J. Newchurch of the University of Alabama, the lead scientist for the study, 

ozone depletion was still occurring, although its rate had decreased. Joseph M. Zawodny, a 

scientist on the SAGE II satellite-instrument science team at NASA’s LaRC, remarked that the 

finding would not have been possible if the two satellites had not lasted so long past their normal 

mission lifetimes. SAGE II was approaching its 19th launch anniversary, and HALOE had 

returned data for 11 years. Scientists had also used international ground networks to corroborate 

the satellites’ data. The findings indicated the effectiveness of international treaties in 

encouraging countries to curb pollutionspecifically the 1987 Montreal Protocol on Substances 

that Deplete the Ozone Layer and its amendments.489

The ISS marked its 1,000th consecutive day of human residency aboard the station. The first crew 

had arrived 2 November 2000, and since then, seven crews had lived and worked on the ISS. 

 

487 NASA, “NASA Mishap Board Identifies Cause of X-43a Failure,” news release 03-246, 23 July 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jul/HQ_03246_X43A_Mishap.html (accessed 23 December 2008); 

Associated Press, “Rocket Failure Doomed Hypersonic NASA Jet, Investigation Finds,” 23 July 2003. 488 NASA, “NASA Names Return to Flight Task Group Members,” news release 03-248, 25 July 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jul/HQ_03248_SCTG_Named.html (accessed 23 December 2003). 

489 NASA, “NASA Observations Confirm Expected Ozone Layer Recovery,” news release 03-253, 29 July 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jul/HQ_03253_Ozone_Recovery.html (accessed 23 December 2008); Peter 

N. Spotts, “After 30 Years, Ozone Is Recovering,” Christian Science Monitor, 1 August 2003. 
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During that time, the living and working area had increased by 6,000 cubic feet (170 cubic 

meters) to the current area of 15,000 cubic feet (424.8 cubic meters), and ISS partners expected 

the station would eventually more than double its size. The seven ISS crews, consisting of 10 

American and 10 Russian crew members, had conducted 12 spacewalks and had welcomed 11 

visiting Space Shuttles, 4 Soyuz taxi crews, and 10 Progress cargo vehicles. Crews had added to 

the ISS the largest solar arrays ever produced for use in space, the first track-mounted railcar in 

space, and a science facility described as the most sophisticated space laboratory to date.490 

31 July 

For the first time, NASA quantified the costs related to the loss of the Shuttle, stating that, in the 

six months since the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, it had spent US$152.4 million to conduct 

the investigation and recover debris. The figure included US$111.9 million for NASA to support 

the CAIB’s inquiry with research and analysis, including the expensive high-speed, foam-impact 

tests at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas, which had provided evidence 

that foam striking Columbia after lift off had caused the hole in the left wing. NASA had spent 

US$18.7 million to fund the 13-member investigative board, paying the salaries of the five 

civilian members, office rent, travel expenses, and the expense of holding public hearings and 

maintaining the CAIB’s Web site. NASA had also spent US$21.8 million recovering debris from 

the Columbia accident, compared to the US$30 million it had spent salvaging pieces of 

Challenger. Shortly after the tragedy, the U.S. Congress had approved US$50 million to cover 

expenses, and it was considering a supplemental appropriation of US$50 million. John Scofield, 

spokesperson for the House Committee on Appropriations, remarked that nobody had criticized 

NASA’s spending, because nobody wanted to do the necessary work “on the cheap.” Scofield 

added that the committee was conducting its own analysis to confirm that NASA had correctly 

estimated its expenditures, but that Congress would likely reimburse NASA for much of the cost. 

NASA had spent a total of US$62 million (adjusted for inflation) to investigate the 1986 

explosion of Challenger. 491

AUGUST 2003 

4 August

NASA selected the University of Arizona’s Phoenix lander concept for a US$325 million 

mission to Mars in 2007, beating out finalists from Arizona State University, NASA’s JPL, and 

NASA’s LaRC. The Phoenix concept, aptly named for the mythical bird that rose from ashes, 

drew on the technology of past expeditions, such as the canceled 2001 Mars Surveyor Program. 

Phoenix’s purpose was to search for evidence of water and carbon dioxide gasa robotic arm 

would scoop soil samples, small on-board ovens would heat the samples, and on-board 

instruments would analyze them, checking the soil for organic compounds. NASA called the 

Phoenix mission the first of a type of mission it had designated as Scout missions. If funding 

remained available, NASA planned to hold competitions every four years to select relatively 

small missions like Phoenix as Scout missions.492

 

490 NASA, “Milestone Marked in Space1,000 Days of Human Presence on Station,” news release 03-251, 29 July 

2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/jul/HQ_03251_iss1000_days.html (accessed 23 December 2008). 

491 William Glanz, “NASA Outlines Cost of Columbia Probe,” Washington Times, 1 August 2003. 

492 Chris Kridler, “Mission Will Look for Mars Ice,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 5 August 2003 
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7 August

X Prize contestant SpaceShipOne successfully carried out its first glide flight after the White 

Knight carrier craft towed it to an altitude of 47,000 feet (14,326 meters) and released it. Pilot 

Michael W. Melvill guided the craft to a desert landing. Scaled Composites, which had built 

SpaceShipOne, issued a report of the test indicating that the two vehicles had separated cleanly, 

that handling qualities of the craft had correlated closely with ground-based simulations, and that 

on-board avionics and cockpit displays had performed flawlessly.493

8 August

From its Odyssey Platform in the Pacific Ocean, Sea Launch lifted off its 10th commercial 

mission, launching the shared commercial communications satellite Echostar 9also known as 

Telstar 13atop a Ukrainian Zenit 3-SL rocket. Space Systems/Loral had built the 10,443-

pound (4,737-kilogram) satellite, which two companies shared. Echo Star Communications 

Corporation operated the Ku-band and Ka-band transponders to provide additional directbroadcast television service, via the corporation’s DISH network. Loral Skynet operated the 24 

C-band transponders to provide cable television service to North America, Alaska, Hawaii, 

Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Central America.494

NASA announced the selection of Donald J. Campbell, Director of GRC at Lewis Field, as 

Special Assistant to the Deputy Administrator for Nuclear and Alternative Power Generation 

Systems, effective 1 October 2003. In his new position, Campbell would lead the development 

and integration of high-power generation systems for propulsion, considered fundamental 

building blocks for sustained robotic and human exploration in outer space and deep space. 

Campbell had directed GRC since January 1994. Local political and community leaders had 

criticized Campbell for his leadership style, which had not galvanized the GRC workforce or 

fully leveraged the Center’s economic potential. NASA named Deputy Director of GRC Julian 

M. Earls to succeed Campbell as GRC’s Director.495

13 August

The Canadian Space Agency successfully launched its scientific satellite SciSat 1 aboard a 

Pegasus XL rocket dropped from an L-1011 jet flying out of Vandenberg Air Force Base in 

California. The 330-pound (150-kilogram) atmospheric-research satellite carried two 

instrumentsthe Fourier Transform Spectrometer and the Measurements of Aerosol Extinction 

in the Stratosphere and Troposphere Retrieved by Occultation (MAESTRO)intended to 

monitor atmospheric ozone and dust composition in an altitude range of 4 to 100 kilometers (2.5 

 

493 Leonard David, “X Prize Contestant Scaled Composites’ SpaceShipOne Flies,” Space News, 9 August 2003. 

494 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 598, 1 September 2003, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx598.html (accessed 21 

January 2009); Jim Banke, “Shared Communications Satellite Lofted into Orbit by Sea Launch,” Space News, 8 

August 2003. 

495 NASA, “Glenn Research Center’s Donald J. Campbell Selected as NASA Deputy Administrator Special 

Assistant,” news release 03-260, 8 August 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/aug/

HQ_03260_Campbell.html (accessed 29 December 2008); NASA, “Dr. Julian M. Earls Selected To Lead NASA 

Glenn Research Center,” news release 03-261, 8 August 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/

hqnews/2003/aug/HQ_03261_Earls.html (accessed 29 December 2008); John Mangels and Michael O’Malley, 

“NASA Glenn Chief Leaves; Deputy Gets Job,” Cleveland Plain Dealer (OH), 9 August 2003. 
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to 62.1 miles). Designed to last two years, the craft would orbit Earth 15 times each day, 

focusing on the chemical processes that control the distribution of ozone in the atmosphere.496

14 August

NASA released the final report of the Hubble Space TelescopeJames Webb Space Telescope 

(HST-JWST) Transition Plan Review Panel, an advisory panel assembled to review NASA’s 

plans for removing the HST from service as early as 2011, when NASA was preparing to launch 

the JWST. John N. Bahcall of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, had 

chaired the independent panel of astronomers. The panel recommended three options to NASA: 

1) to launch two additional Shuttle-servicing missions to the HST in 2005 and 2010, to maximize 

the scientific productivity of the telescope; 2) to launch one Shuttle-servicing mission before the 

end of 2006, to replace gyroscopes and, possibly, to install a propulsion device to de-orbit the 

craft once scientific operations had become impossible, or, alternatively, to de-orbit the craft 

using an autonomous robotic system; and 3) if no Shuttle missions were possible, to launch a 

robotic mission to install a propulsion module to bring down the HST in a controlled descent 

once scientific operations had become impossible. The panel also described various ways to 

extract maximum scientific return from the HST if NASA opted for any of the recommended 

three scenarios.497

21 August

NASA announced that the Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) 

spacecraft had completed the lengthy design-certification review for the Orbital Space Plane 

(OSP) program, verifying the craft’s safety, performance, and functional requirements. The 

DART team, based at NASA’s MSFC, planned to demonstrate the vehicle without a human pilot 

in 2004, launching it on a Pegasus rocket dropped from an L-1011 jet. At 40,000 feet (12,192 

meters) over the Pacific Ocean, the Pegasus rocket and the DART craft would separate, and 

DART would travel from a parking orbit to maneuver close to a target satellite or to rendezvous 

with it. The demonstration would require 24 hours. DART was the first of three flight-testing 

demonstrators: Boeing Expendable Launch Systems was developing the X-37 flight 

demonstrator, and Lockheed Martin Corporation was developing the launchpad-abort 

demonstrator. DART was NASA’s first completely computer-controlled, rendezvous-capable 

spacecraft.498

22 August

A 66-foot-high (20-meter-high) VLS-1 O3 rocket exploded on its launchpad during tests at 

Alcântara Launch Center in Brazil, delivering “a serious blow to Brazil’s nascent space 

program.” Brazil had hoped to be the first Latin American nation to place a satellite in orbit. 

 

496 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 598; Associated Press, “Canadian Ozone Satellite Successfully Launched from Plane Off 

California Coast,” 13 August 2003. 

497 NASA, “Panel Identifies Three Options for Space Telescope Transition,” news release 03-264, 14 August 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/aug/HQ_03264_telescope_transition.html (accessed 23 January 2009); 

NASA Space Telescope Transition Plan Review Panel, “Report of the HST-JWST Transition Panel: Executive 

Summary” (report, Washington, DC, August 2003), http://www.nasa.gov/ audience/formedia/features/

MP_Public_Reports.html (accessed 23 January 2009); Sam Silverstein, “Hubble Review Panel Urges Second Extra 

Servicing Mission,” Space News, 19 August 2003. 

498 NASA, “Space Flight Demonstrator Completes Design Certification,” news release 03-274, 21 August 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/aug/HQ_03274_dart_design.html (accessed 29 December 2008). 
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According to the Brazilian Ministry of Defence, the accident, which occurred three days before a 

scheduled launch, killed 21 people, mostly civilian technicians, injured 20 others, and destroyed 

two research satellites. The rocket had successfully completed two days of tests before the 

explosion. Brazil’s Minister of Defence José Veigas Filho stated that, for unknown reasons, one 

of the four main motors of the US$2.2 million rocket had ignited, leading to the explosion that 

destroyed the launchpad. The accident was Brazil’s third failed attempt to launch a rocket with a 

research satellite.499

Scientists studying data produced by the thermal emission spectrometer (TES) on board NASA’s 

Mars Global Surveyor published findings in the journal Science disputing the theory that Mars 

once had a warm climate. Using the TES, which measured infrared light from rocks, scientists 

had searched for patterns of color to identify different minerals, particularly carbonates. 

Carbonates form only in the presence of liquid water. TES data confirmed small concentrations 

of carbonates in Martian dust, but no large deposits, such as those that would have formed at the 

bottom of a lake or ocean. Lead author of the article, Philip R. Christensen of Arizona State 

University, remarked that, according to the data, it was “extremely unlikely” that large bodies of 

water exposed to the atmosphere for an extended period had ever existed on Mars. Matthew P. 

Golombek of NASA’s JPL commented that the new findings directly contradicted the idea that, 

at one time, Mars may have been warmer and wetter with a denser carbon-dioxide atmosphere. 

Previously, scientists had proposed this theory to explain Mars’s apparent geological formations 

resembling the intricate patterns of riverbeds, carved canyons, and delta fans.500

25 August

NASA successfully launched its Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) aboard a Delta 2 

rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Lockheed Martin–built SIRTF was the fourth and final 

of NASA’s Great Observatories, following the HST, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, and 

the Chandra X-ray Observatory. NASA had designed the 110-pound (50-kilogram), 33.5-inch 

(85-centimeter) telescope to measure heat from celestial objects. SIRTF would study some of the 

same deep space objects as the other Great Observatories, as well as studying other parts of the 

cosmos. Michael Jura, SIRTF interdisciplinary scientist for planetary science at the University of 

California at Los Angeles, remarked that one of SIRTF’s main scientific goals was to develop a 

better understanding of star and planet formation. The project, originally proposed in the mid1970s, had faced repeated budgetary cutbacks and delays. NASA planned for SIRTF’s mission 

to last a minimum of 30 months, at an anticipated cost of US$1.19 billion.501

26 August

NASA announced that it had awarded a follow-on contract to the Smithsonian Astrophysical 

Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to continue providing scientific and operational 

support for the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory had 

provided scientific and operational support since Chandra’s launch in July 1999. The follow-on 

 

499 “Brazil’s Rocket Test Kills 21,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 23 August 2003; Stan Lehman, “Brazil Mourns Dead, 

Vows to Reinforce Space Program,” Houston Chronicle, 25 August 2003. 500 Joshua L. Bandfield, Timothy D. Glotch, and Philip R. Christensen, “Spectroscopic Identification of Carbonate 

Minerals in the Martian Dust,” Science 301, no. 5636 (22 August 2003): 1084; New York Times, “Study: No Past 

Standing Water on Mars,” 22 August 2003; Kenneth Chang, “New Data Dispute Theory That Mars Had Warm 

Climate,” New York Times, 22 August 2003. 501 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 598; Associated Press, “NASA Launches Rocket with Infrared Scope,” 25 August 2003. 
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contract, valued at US$373 million, funded support through 31 July 2010. NASA had planned 

Chandra’s mission to last five years from the time of its launch, but had extended the mission to 

10 years because of Chandra’s success.502

Harold W. Gehman Jr. delivered the CAIB’s final report to NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe, 

presenting its findings and recommendations. The CAIB found that a 1.7-pound (0.77-kilogram) 

piece of foam insulation, traveling at more than 500 miles (804.6 kilometers) per hour, had 

damaged Columbia’s wing during launch, ultimately leading to its disintegration during reentry. 

The report stated that management decisions during Columbia’s flight reflected missed 

opportunities, ineffective communication channels, flawed analysis, and ineffective leadership. 

When cameras tracking Columbia provided two grainy images showing the foam striking the 

wing, engineers had immediately begun to discuss obtaining further images of the Shuttle or 

initiating a spacewalk to check for damages. However, mission managers had “adjourned for a 

holiday weekend and did not discuss the foam strike.” Upon returning to work on 21 January, the 

managers had assessed the strike as a postlanding maintenance problem, because smaller foam 

strikes had left harmless dents in Shuttles during all previous missions. The CAIB’s Executive 

Director John L. Barry remarked that, among NASA’s competing goals of maintaining costs and 

meeting schedules, safety had lost out. The Board directly criticized Administrator Sean O’Keefe 

for increasing pressure to meet a February 2004 launch deadline, thereby creating a pattern 

similar to that which had led to the Challenger disaster in 1986. The CAIB recommended that 

NASA implement 15 actions before the next Shuttle flight, including creating an independent 

safety-and-engineering organization to help establish satisfactory safety margins. Upon receiving 

the Board’s final report, O’Keefe reiterated NASA’s intention to comply fully with the 

recommendations.503

29 August

Progress M-48 12P launched on a Soyuz FG rocket, carrying 2.6 tonnes (2.87 tons or 2,600 

kilograms) of food, fuel, water, and equipment to the ISS. Among the supplies Progress M-48 

carried were an Iridium satellite phone and GPS equipment for the use of the Expedition 7 

crewRussian Commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA Science Officer Edward T. 

Luwhen they returned to Earth in the Soyuz TMA-2 spacecraft in October. The Russian Space 

Agency had added the satellite phone and GPS equipment to the supplies because Soyuz TMA-1 

had experienced an internal glitch while returning the Expedition 6 crew to Earth, resulting in a 

long, tense search for the craft and crew.504

 

502 NASA, “NASA Awards Chandra X-ray Observatory Follow-on Contract,” contract release c03-z, 26 August 

2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/aug/HQ_C03z_Chandra_Contrct.html (accessed 29 December 

2008). 

503 NASA, “NASA Administrator Accepts Columbia Accident Report,” news release 03-276, 26 August 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/aug/HQ_03276_AOK_Acpt_CAIB.html (accessed 29 December 2008); 

Mark Carreau, “Columbia Accident Board Casts Wide Net of Blame,” Houston Chronicle, 27 August 2003; Kathy 

Sawyer and Eric Pianin, “Report Blames Flawed NASA Culture for Tragedy,” Washington Post, 27 August 2003. 504 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 598; Justin Ray, “Resupply Ship Bound for the International Space Station,” Spaceflight 

Now, 28 August 2003. 
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SEPTEMBER 2003 

3 September

NASA announced the appointment of John M. Grunsfeld to succeed Shannon W. Lucid as 

NASA’s Chief Scientist, effective immediately. NASA tasked Grunsfeld with ensuring the 

scientific merit of NASA’s programs. Grunsfeld, an astronomer, astrophysicist, and veteran 

astronaut, had been an integral member of two Space Shuttle–servicing missions to the HST. 

Lucid had served as Chief Scientist since February 2002. NASA’s Administrator Sean O’Keefe 

had asked her to return to NASA’s JSC in Houston, Texas, to help with return-to-flight efforts. 

During her tenure as Chief Scientist, Lucid had updated NASA science policy, a project that 

NASA had not undertaken since 1996. One of her most important tasks had been working with 

the Offices of Biological and Physical Research, Earth Science, Space Science, and Space Flight 

to develop a comprehensive plan for prioritizing research projects on board the ISS.505

CAIB Chairperson Harold W. Gehman Jr. and NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe appeared 

before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation to discuss NASA’s 

return-to-flight goals in light of the CAIB’s findings. Committee members criticized the CAIB 

for its reluctance to assign individual blame within NASA for the Columbia disaster, but 

Gehman replied that the Board did not need to make judgments about individual accountability. 

O’Keefe added that NASA would have held individuals accountable only if someone had acted 

maliciously in the sequence of events that led to the loss of Columbia. O’Keefe also pointed out 

that all former members of the Shuttle team had either left their positions, or NASA had 

reassigned them. Gehman testified that the decisions and conditions that had led to the loss of the 

orbiter had begun years before, stating that Congress and the White House shared responsibility 

with NASA for creating the conditions responsible for the accident. Congress and the White 

House had reduced NASA’s budget by 40 percent over the previous decade, affecting the 

operation of NASA’s management system. When committee members asked whether NASA 

required additional funding for 2004, O’Keefe responded that the current budget did not cover 

some of the CAIB’s recommended activities, such as establishing an independent authority to 

oversee Space Shuttle technical requirements, recertifying the orbiters, and accelerating the 

Orbital Space Plane (OSP) program. Committee members asked for O’Keefe’s assurance that 

NASA would change its culture, implementing processes that would prevent future Shuttle 

accidents.506

4 September

NASA announced the completion of tests, which had taken place on 27 August at Edwards Air 

Force Base in California, demonstrating the possibility of reducing the impact of sonic booms. 

The research team showed that modifying an aircraft’s shape alters the shape of its sonic boom, 

thus reducing the sound level. Northrop Grumman Corporation had modified the fuselage and 

nose of an F-5E fighter jet for the demonstration. The modified jet and a regular F-5E had each 

flown at Mach 1.36 from the same supersonic corridor. The two aircraft had demonstrated no 

 

505 NASA, “Astronaut John M. Grunsfeld Succeeds Shannon Lucid as NASA Chief Scientist,” news release 03-280, 

3 September 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/sep/HQ_03280_Grunsfeld.html (accessed 28 January 

2009). 

506 Paul Recer for Associated Press, “Senators Rip NASA over Columbia Probe,” 4 September 2003; Brian Berger, 

“Lawmakers Press O’Keefe for Cost Figures,” Space News, 4 September 2003. 
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157

difference in performance except that the modified jet’s sonic boom was 33 percent less intense 

than that of the unmodified F-5E. Analysis and wind tunnel tests had predicted the outcome, but 

NASA had never before flight-tested the theory. Richard Weizman of NASA’s Office of 

Aerospace Technology remarked that the demonstration was the culmination of 40 years of work 

by visionary engineers. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency had managed the 

Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration (SSBD) program under its Quiet Supersonic Platform 

Initiative. NASA’s LaRC and Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC), as well as Northrop 

Grumman Corporation, had been partners in the SSBD program under a US$7 million 

cooperative agreement.507

CAIB Chair Harold W. Gehman Jr. and three other Board members appeared before the U.S. 

House Committee on Science and Technology to discuss the CAIB’s findings. Gehman testified 

that budgetary pressures that the U.S. Congress and the White House ultimately controlled had 

been partly responsible for NASA’s management failures. House Committee Chair Sherwood L. 

Boehlert (R-NY) concurred that Congress shared some of the blame in the 1 February loss of 

Columbia but reiterated that NASA needed to make changes. Many of the committee’s questions 

focused on prospective remedies for NASA’s poor risk management. While agreeing that NASA 

had a tendency to be overly optimistic in risk assessment, Gehman and other investigators 

explained to the committee that, because of the age of the Shuttle fleet, risk calculations were 

little more than estimates. Boehlert expressed concern that NASA was rushing to meet 

unrealistic return-to-flight dates―NASA had proposed a March 2004 launch date―rather than 

studying the CAIB report carefully and taking deliberate steps toward returning the Shuttles to 

flight.508

6 September

While moving NOAA’s 14-foot (4.3-meter) NOAA-N Prime weather satellite from a vertical to 

a horizontal position, workers at a Lockheed Martin plant dropped the nearly completed US$239 

million craft, causing serious damage. Lockheed Martin spokesperson Buddy Nelson stated that 

the cart holding the spacecraft “was not in the proper configuration for the planned activity.” 

NASA’s GSFC was responsible for overseeing the construction and launch of the satellite, and 

NOAA would assume control of the craft once it was in orbit. Lockheed Martin Space Systems 

Company had been building weather satellites since the NOAA satellites’ initial launch in the 

early 1960s.509

8 September

NASA released its first preliminary return-to-flight plan, briefing reporters at JSC in Houston, 

Texas. The 158-page report, which Associate Administrator William F. Readdy called “an 

evolving document,” indicated that 11 March 2004 was the earliest possible date for a Space 

Shuttle to return to flight. However, Readdy emphasized that NASA would be safety-driven, not 

 

507 NASA, “NASA Opens New Chapter in Supersonic Flight,” news release 03-283, 4 September 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/sep/HQ_03283_supersonic_flight.html (accessed 28 January 2009); Irene 

Mona Klotz for United Press International Science News, “Test Shows Shape Sheds Sonic Boom’s Bang,” 22 

September 2003. 

508 Paul Recer for Associated Press, “Shuttle Probe Rips White House, Congress,” Washington Post, 5 September 

2003; Patty Reinert and Mark Carreau, “Don’t Rush New Launch, Lawmakers Warn NASA,” Houston Chronicle, 5 

September 2003. 

509 Associated Press, “$239M Satellite Damaged at Lockheed Plant,” New York Times, 10 September 2003. 
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schedule-driven, in its efforts to launch the first Shuttle to fly since the Columbia disaster. NASA 

had tentatively scheduled Atlantis for a launch between 11 March and 6 April 2004. In the 

preliminary plan, NASA indicated that it had changed Atlantis’s original mission of ferrying 

supplies and a new crew to the ISS. Instead, the mission would be a developmental flight during 

which the crew would test the new procedures and safety equipment that the CAIB had 

recommended. Although the ISS would still be Atlantis’s destination, the mission would not 

carry ISS replacement crew. NASA’s Space Shuttle Program Manager William W. Parsons Jr. 

said that the greatest challenges for future Shuttle missions would be developing methods to 

minimize the shedding of foam from the orbiter’s external tank and to repair tile and protective 

heat panels while in space. In addition, NASA would have to install cameras and sensors on the 

Shuttles and on the ISS robotic arms, to detect vehicle damage.510

9 September 

NASA selected Team Encounter LLC as the first private company contracted to manage a 

commercial mission carrying one of NASA’s space science technology experiments into space. 

Valued at approximately US$6.5 million, the contract required the commercial company to 

mount NASA’s hardware on Team Encounter’s spacecraft and to integrate and test the system 

before the launch, scheduled to take place in 2004 or 2005. As the demonstration experiment for 

the mission, NASA selected a solar-sail technology known as the Inertial Stellar Compass (ISC) 

Technology Experiment. After the launch, Team Encounter would provide to NASA about 30 

days of data from the ISC experiment. Charles Gay, NASA Program Executive for the New 

Millennium Program, remarked that the award was an opportunity for NASA to work with 

commercial industry in a mutually beneficial venture providing NASA with an effective way of 

validating its technology experiments in space at a reasonable cost.511

The U.S. Air Force launched a Titan 4B rocket with a Centaur upper stage carrying USA 171, an 

Orion classified satellite serving the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The Air Force 

provided no comment on the payload’s destination or its whereabouts following the separation of 

the second stage of the Centaur. The Air Force had delayed the launch of USA 171 since April 

2002 because of a series of technical problems and issues with the payload. The launch was 

likely the last of the Titan-Centaur launches, with only three Lockheed Martin–built Titan 4 

rockets and one Titan 2 remaining to launch. The Air Force had contracted with Boeing and 

Lockheed Martin to replace the Titan 4 family with the Boeing Delta 2 and the Lockheed Martin 

Atlas 5, to provide the Air Force with cheaper, more reliable access to space for military 

payloads.512

NASA announced that NOAA, Lockheed Martin, and NASA had formed teams to investigate 

the 6 September accident involving the NOAA-N Prime satellite. While moving the spacecraft 

 

510 John Schwartz and Warren E. Leary, “NASA Says It Won’t Rush Shuttle Back to Space,” New York Times, 9 

September 2003. 

511 NASA, “NASA Selects Commercial Space Ride for Technology Experiment,” contract release c-03-cc, 4 

September 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/sep/HQ_c03cc_space_ride.html (accessed 28 January 

2009). 

512 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 599, 1 October 2003, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx599.html (accessed 3 

February 2009); Associated Press, “Air Force Launches Titan 4B Rocket Carrying Secret Military Payload,” 9 

September 2003; Chris Kridler, “Titan Carries Spy Satellite into Orbit,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 9 September 

2003. 
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159

from a vertical to a horizontal position, Lockheed Martin workers had dropped it, significantly 

damaging the craft. NASA and Lockheed Martin had placed the satellite under guard, securing 

all records. NASA and NOAA were waiting for an assessment of the damage to determine how 

the accident would affect satellite programs.513

11 September 

The Boeing Company named John Elbon to replace Joe Mills as Vice President and Program 

Manager of Boeing’s ISS NASA Systems. In his new position, Elbon would lead Boeing’s 

efforts as prime contractor of the ISS, holding the central role in the space station’s design, 

testing, and building, as well as working with the 16 participating countries. Boeing had 

appointed Mills to lead its newest space initiative, the Jupiter Icy Moon Orbiter Program, part of 

NASA’s development of nuclear-power and electronic-propulsion technologies intended to 

revolutionize space exploration.514

12 September

NASA announced the appointments of three additional voting members to the Stafford-Covey 

Task Group mandated to perform an independent assessment of NASA’s implementation of the 

CAIB’s recommendations. The new members were Kathryn C. Thornton, a physicist, former 

astronaut, and veteran of three Space Shuttle missions; Susan J. Helms, Chief of the Space 

Control Division’s Requirements Directorate at U.S. Air Force Space Command, who had been a 

member of five Space Shuttle crews and had lived aboard the ISS as a member of Expedition 2; 

and career systems analyst Christine H. Fox, Vice President and Director of the Operations 

Evaluation Group at the Center for Naval Analyses. The new appointments brought the total 

number of task group members to 30, including one member selected from NASA staff who 

would not vote. Members representing industry, academia, and government, divided among three 

panels, would examine the management, technical, and operational aspects of NASA’s return-toflight effort.515

16 September

NASA and the U.S. Army transferred an XV-15 tilt-rotor aircraft to the National Air and Space 

Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport in 

Virginia. J. Victor Lebacqz, Acting Associate Administrator for NASA’s Office of Aerospace 

Technology, described the XV-15―a unique type of aircraft possessing the takeoff, hover, and 

landing capabilities of a helicopter, with the range and speed of a turboprop aircraft―as one of 

NASA’s most successful research aircraft and a prime example of cutting-edge aerospace 

research. Tilt-rotor flight research had begun in the 1950s with the Bell XV-3 convertiplane. In 

1977 the first of two XV-15s built by Bell Helicopter–Textron had made its maiden flight. The 

XV-15 had achieved speed and altitude records for its class, receiving multiple awards from 

national organizations. Its success had led to the development of the V-22 Osprey and to the 

 

513 NASA, “NASA, NOAA and Lockheed Martin Investigate Satellite Accident,” news release 03-287, 9 September 

2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/sep/HQ_03287_satellite_accident.html (accessed 28 January 2009). 514 Florida Today (Brevard, FL), “Boeing Names New ISS Leader,” 12 September 2003. 515 NASA, “Three Members Added To Stafford-Covey Task Group,” news release 03-293, 12 September 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/sep/HQ_03293_three_members.html (accessed 28 January 2009). 
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world’s first civil tilt-rotor, the nine-passenger Bell-Agusta 609, which was under development 

and scheduled for delivery in 2007.516

17 September

NASA awarded its Kennedy Space Center Integrated Communications Services (KICS) contract, 

valued at approximately US$190.7 million, to InDyne Inc. of McLean, Virginia. Under the costplus-award fee/firm-fixed price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract, InDyne would 

provide communications services at NASA’s KSC in support of the Space Shuttle Program, ISS 

Program, Payload Carriers Program, and Launch Services Program Office payloads. The KICS 

contract was the first of five work packages in NASA’s space mission communications and data 

services solicitation, which succeeded the NASA consolidated space operations contract (CSOC) 

and incorporated the requirements of the visual information technical contract as well as the 

telephone service requirements of the outsourcing desktop initiative.517

NASA announced the successful completion at KSC of the Multi-Element Integrated Test 

(MEIT) between Kibo, the Japanese Experiment Module-Pressurized Module (JEM-PM), and 

NASA’s Node 2. Only the third such integrated test carried out at KSC, its successful completion 

was a major milestone in demonstrating on-orbit performance of key ISS elements―on-orbit 

activation sequence, command-and-track systems that support audio and video systems, and 

caution-and-warning systems that monitor life systems in ISS modules. A team of international 

participants representing many organizations had carried out the MEIT. Members included ESA, 

Japan’s NASDA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency; NASA and Boeing 

employees at NASA’s KSC, JSC, DFRC, and GRC; as well as flight-crew members from the 

United States, Japan, and Brazil.518

20 September

A team of engineers from academia and industry conducted the first known flight test of a 

powered, liquid-propellant, aerospike engine, which they had developed under the California 

Launch Vehicle Education Initiative (CALVEIN). The X-33/Venturestar single stage–to–orbit 

rocket plane, which NASA and Lockheed Martin had shelved, had been a prototype for 

aerospike-motor technology. Students at California State University at Long Beach had designed 

and developed the research vehicle Prospector 2 to use a mixture of liquid oxygen and ethanol. 

The rocket pitched after several seconds of stable flight, crashing to the floor of the Mojave 

Desert in California and destroying student payloads on impact. However, the aft section of the 

vehicle, which contained the aerospike, remained mostly intact. The mission achieved its single 

objective: to lift the vehicle into the air using the liquid-propellant aerospike engine. The test 

revealed several areas of the aerospike-engine design that needed improvement.519

 

516 NASA, “Tilt Rotor Aircraft Joins National Air and Space Museum Collection,” news release 03-295, 16 

September 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/sep/HQ_03295_tilt_rotor.html (accessed 28 January 

2009). 

517 NASA, “First Contract in SMCDS Solicitation Awarded To InDyne, Inc.,” contract release c03-ff, 17 September 

2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/sep/HQ_c03ff_indyne_contract.html (accessed 28 January 2009). 518 NASA, “Space Station Elements Successfully Complete Testing,” news release 03-298, 17 September 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/sep/HQ_03298_station_elements.html (accessed 28 January 2009). 

519 Space News, “Rocketeers Fly Aerospike Engine,” 24 September 2003. 
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21 September

NASA’s Galileo mission ended when the Galileo spacecraft disintegrated in Jupiter’s 

atmosphere. NASA had managed the course of the craft’s demise to prevent its becoming 

uncontrollable once it had depleted its propellant. Galileo had launched from Space Shuttle 

Atlantis in 1989, following multiyear delays―originally, NASA had planned for the craft to 

launch in 1982 aboard a Centaur rocket. The probe had made significant contributions to 

scientists’ knowledge of Jupiter and its moons, including collecting evidence of the possibility of 

life on Europa. Galileo had outlasted its prime mission by six years, despite enduring numerous 

technical problems and more than four times the amount of radiation that engineers had designed 

the spacecraft to withstand.520

23 September 

The National Academies’ National Research Council and Transportation Research Board 

released a report addressing the need to overhaul the air transportation system to meet an everincreasing demand for air travel. NASA and the FAA had sponsored the report, Securing the 

Future of U.S. Air Transportation: a System in Peril, which representatives of industry, 

academia, and government had written. The Board had found that aircraft and air traffic–

management systems were not improving to meet growing demand; noise and air pollution were 

increasing as air traffic increased; passengers were dissatisfied with travel costs and with 

uncomfortable conditions in airplanes; and security continued to be a major concern to travelers 

and to the industry. In comparing the U.S. air transportation system to that of Europe, the report 

stated that Europe considered the satisfaction of consumer needs a priority, whereas the United 

States did not address the issue. Among its goals, Europe hoped to achieve the primacy of the 

European aeronautics industry, to develop a supersonic aircraft carrying 1,200 passengers, and to 

build an air traffic system that would set the global standard for efficiency, whereas the United 

States had no similar strategy. Therefore, the report recommended that the federal government 

make air transportation a national priority with strong, focused leadership.521

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe accepted the resignation of all members and staff of the 

Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP), which the U.S. Congress had first chartered in 1967 

following the Apollo 1 fire. ASAP’s function was to provide an independent body to advise 

NASA’s Administrator about the safety of NASA’s operations, facilities, and personnel. In her 

resignation letter, ASAP Chairperson Shirley C. McCarty stated that the panel had decided to 

resign so that the NASA’s Administrator and Congress would have an opportunity to revitalize 

ASAP and to reshape its charter and mission. The panel also noted its frustration that, over the 

years, legislation had weakened its authority and that the CAIB final report had described the 

ASAP as “often not very influential.” Experts had noted that NASA had often ignored warnings 

that the safety panel issued and that ASAP had possessed no authority to enforce its 

recommendations. In accepting the ASAP members’ resignations, O’Keefe pledged to strengthen 

 

520 NASA JPL, “Galileo End of Mission Status,” news release, 21 September 2003, 

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=129 (accessed 2 February 2009); Usha Lee McFarling, “Stalwart 

Galileo Is Vaporized near Jupiter,” Los Angeles Times, 22 September 2003. 521 The National Academies, “Overhaul of Air Transportation System Needed To Meet Ever-Increasing Demand,” 

publication announcement, 23 September 2003, http://www8.nationalacademies.org/

onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=10815 (accessed 4 February 2009); National Research Council, Securing the 

Future of U.S. Air Transportation: A System in Peril (Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2003); 

Associated Press, “Report: US Aviation Needs Major Changes,” New York Times, 24 September 2003. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

162

the panel by studying its original concept and determining how to help its successor panel best 

meet the needs of NASA.522

NASA announced the successful completion of the systems-requirement review for the OSP 

program, evaluating the contractor teams’ concept designs for providing crew rescue and transfer 

for the ISS according to Level 1 requirements. The Boeing Company, Lockheed Martin, and a 

team composed of members from Orbital Sciences Corporation and Northrop Grumman had 

conducted systems analysis, trade studies, and concept feasibility in preparation for the review. 

The review had also set Level 2 requirements, addressing guidelines for safety, launch, 

emergency-return and crew-transfer missions, mission frequency, on-orbit mission duration, 

contingency cargo requirements, and docking and interfacing with the ISS.523

26 September

NASA notified Resource21 LLC, a remote-sensing firm based in Englewood, Colorado, that 

NASA had rejected the company’s US$500 million bid to provide Landsat-type data for five 

years. NASA had managed the bidding process for the Landsat Data Continuity Mission on 

behalf of the USGS, which was responsible for archiving and distributing Landsat data. 

Resource21 was the only company to submit a final bid in the competition to commercialize the 

U.S. government’s satellite-based Landsat information program.524

27 September 

A Russian Cosmos-3M rocket launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia carrying three 

100-kilogram (0.1-tonne or 0.11-ton) satellites into orbit for Nigeria (NigeriaSat-1), Turkey 

(BILSAT-1), and the United Kingdom (UK-DMC). The satellites joined a similar satellite from 

Algeria, launched in November 2002, to form the Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC). The 

DMC’s purpose was to provide environmental information regarding floods, earthquakes, and 

fires. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. of Guildford, United Kingdom, which specialized in small 

satellites, had initiated the DMC project. The four craft had ground resolution of 32 meters (105 

feet), and each image produced by the satellites showed 600 square kilometers (231.7 square 

miles). The Cosmos-3M also carried two military satellites for Russia. One of the satellites, 

Rubin-4 DSI, was a Russian communications experiment in transmitting telemetry data via 

standard e-mail, using Orbcomm communications satellites. Another, Mozheyets-4, built by 

students at the Mozhaisk Military Space Academy, tested hardware for future use on Russia’s 

GLONASS (Global Satellite Navigation System). The third was South Korea’s KAITSAT-4 

scientific-research microsatellite, a demonstration platform to test new satellite systems, hosting 

five science experiments from an international team of researchers.525

In its first mission to the Moon, ESA launched its Small Mission for Advanced Research in 

Technology (SMART-1) spacecraft aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. 

 

522 NASA, “NASA Administrator Accepts Aerospace Safety Panel Resignation,” news release 03-301, 23 

September 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/sep/HQ_03301_asap_resign.html (accessed 28 January 

2009); Paul Recer for Associated Press, “Nine NASA Safety Panel Members Resign,” 24 September 2003. 523 NASA, “NASA Completes Orbital Space Plane Design Review,” news release 03-299, 23 September 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/sep/HQ_03299_orbital_plane.html (accessed 28 January 2009) 524 Brian Berger, “NASA Rejects Only Bid for Landsat Data Buy Contract,” Space News, 30 September 2003. 525 Peter B. de Selding, “Disaster Monitoring Satellites Launched,” Space News, 30 September 2003; Jim Banke, 

“Kosmos 3M Booster Carries Six Satellites to Earth Orbit,” Space News, 29 September 2003. 
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163

SMART-1 was the first spacecraft since NASA’s 1998 Lunar Prospector to attempt the journey 

to the Moon. ESA planned for the 770-pound (349.2-kilogram) craft, powered by an ionpropulsion engine, to reach the Moon in early 2005. SMART-1 carried 33 pounds (15 kilograms) 

of miniature instruments, which researchers from Finland, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, 

and the United Kingdom had provided, including a color camera the size of a human eye, a 4.4-

pound (2-kilogram) infrared spectrometer, and an 11-pound (5-kilogram) x-ray spectrometer. 

The purpose of the SMART-1 mission was to solve certain mysteries about the Moon’s 

formation, its mineralogical composition, and the amount of water it has, if any. The Ariane 5 

also carried into orbit two telecommunications satellites―the INSAT 3-E for India and the 

European e-BIRD. ESA had delayed the launch of e-BIRD since 28 August to allow the Indian 

Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to make further checks on its satellite.526

OCTOBER 2003 

1 October

A telecommunications satellite jointly owned by the United States and Japan―known as 

Horizons 1 or Galaxy 13―launched aboard a Sea Launch Zenit 3-SL rocket from a platform in 

the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Connecticut-based PanAmSat and Tokyo-based JSAT corporations 

launched the craft to provide digital video, Internet, and data transmission services to Hawaii and 

to Central America and North America. PanAmSat owned the satellite’s C-band payload Galaxy 

13 and planned to use it as part of the company’s Galaxy cable constellation. President and CEO 

of PanAmSat Joseph R. Wright Jr. remarked that the addition of Galaxy 13 to the company’s 

fleet would create the first high-definition neighborhood and would help to meet the growing 

demand for high-resolution television. The two companies would jointly operate the satellite’s 

Ku-band payload Horizons 1, which would offer a variety of digital video, Internet, and data 

services, as well as creating new IP-based content-distribution networks.527

Japan merged its three space agencies with the goal of saving US$89.8 million a year. According 

to the new configuration, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) would manage the 

unified entities of the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, NASDA, and the National 

Aerospace Laboratory. Modeled on NASA but about one 10th of the size of its American 

counterpart, JAXA had 1,800 employees and an initial annual budget of US$1.66 billion.528

8 October

NASA announced its selection of Allied Aerospace Industries of Tullahoma, Tennessee, to 

manufacture three flight-ready experimental demonstrator vehicles for the X-43C project, a 

NASA-led initiative. NASA’s LaRC had led the team, comprising members from the U.S. Air 

Force and from the aerospace industry, to design and develop the X-43C demonstrator vehicle 

and propulsion system. Following the example of the Hyper-X (X43-A), a vehicle designed to 

demonstrate short-duration, scramjet-powered flight at Mach 7 and Mach 10, the creators of the 

 

526 Frank D. Roylance, “Europe Finally Ready for Mission to Moon,” Baltimore Sun, 29 September 2003; Agence 

France-Presse, “European Rocket Places Lunar Explorer, Two Satellites into Orbit,” 29 September 2003. 527 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 600, 1 November 2003, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx600.html (accessed 27 

January 2009); Justin Ray, “Communications Satellite Launched from Pacific Ocean,” Spaceflight Now, 2 October 

2003. 

528 Reuters, “Japan Streamlines Its Space Effort: Three Agencies Merged into JAXA; Tokyo Keeps Its Eye on 

Beijing,” 2 October 2003. 
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164

X-43C intended it to demonstrate free flight of a scramjet-powered vehicle, with acceleration 

capability between Mach 5 and Mach 7. Allied Aerospace Industries had also developed the 

X43-A vehicle. The Air Force had provided a dual-mode scramjet capable of operating as a 

ramjet or scramjet for the X-43C vehicles. The cost-plus-fixed-fee completion-type contract that 

NASA awarded to Allied Aerospace Industries was valued at US$150 million over 66 months, 

covering all work through completion of the Preliminary Design Review; options covered the 

final design, hardware fabrication, and all support activities. X-43C Project Manager Paul L. 

Moses remarked that the demonstrator vehicle would validate advanced technologies, design 

tools, and test techniques for designing reusable space-access vehicles in the future.529

10 October

NASA announced the appointment of Steven J. Dick as NASA’s Chief Historian, to succeed 

Roger D. Launius, who had departed in July 2002 to become Historian of the National Air and 

Space Museum. An astronomer and historian of science, Dick had served as the first Historian of 

the U.S. Naval Observatory and, just before his NASA appointment, had been Acting Chief of 

the Naval Observatory’s Nautical Almanac Office. As an expert in the field of astrobiology and 

its cultural implications, Dick had served on a panel examining the potential societal implications 

of the discovery of life in the Mars rock. He had received the NASA Group Achievement Award 

in recognition of his contributions to the establishment of the NASA Astrobiology Institute 

(NAI), including the definition of the field of astrobiology. Dick had authored more than 100 

works, including a history of the Naval Observatory, Sky and Ocean Joined: The U.S. Naval 

Observatory, 1830–2000, which had won the John Lyman Award of the North American Society 

for Oceanic History for best book in 2002 in Science and Technology and the U.S. Naval 

Observatory’s Captain James Melville Gilliss Award for extraordinary dedication and exemplary 

service. At the time of his appointment, Dick served on the editorial boards of several journals 

and was an associate editor of the International Journal of Astrobiology. From 1993 to 1994, 

Dick had served as Chairperson of the Historical Astronomy Division of the American 

Astronomical Society, and between 1997 and 2000, he had been President of the History of 

Astronomy Commission of the International Astronomical Union.530 

14 October

NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) commissioned the US$34 million NASA 

Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) at the DOE’s Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, 

New York, where NASA biologists and physicists would perform thousands of experiments to 

measure the hazards of space radiation and to develop countermeasures to protect astronauts. 

Construction of the facility had begun in 1998. NASA and the DOE had cooperated in building 

the NSRL, which housed an accelerator producing beams of protons or heavy ions, like those 

that the Sun and other cosmic sources typically produce. The beams moved through a 328-foot 

(100-meter) transport tunnel to a 400-square-foot (37-square-meter) target hall, to hit a target 

composed either of a biological sample or of shielding material. Scientists planned to measure 

 

529 NASA, “NASA Selects Allied Team To Provide Hypersonic Vehicles,” contract release C03-ll, 8 October 2003,

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/oct/HQ_c03ll_x43c.html (accessed 27 January 2009); Brian Berger, 

“Hypersonic Efforts Get an Extra Boost: NASA, Air Force Providing $150 Million for Test Program,” Space News, 

21 October 2003. 

530 NASA, “NASA Names New Historian,” news release 03-327, 10 October 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/oct/HQ_03327_new_historian.html (accessed 27 January 2009). 
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165

the interaction of specific particles with targets to determine the effectiveness of various 

materials in shielding against radiation and to develop and to test new materials. An NSRL 

health team would perform tests with biological samples to learn how radiation damages cells, 

how to predict risks, and to develop countermeasures to mitigate radiation effects.531

15 October

The People’s Republic of China launched Shenzhou 5 on a Long March 2F rocket, becoming the 

third nation after Russia and the United States to send a human into orbit. Veteran fighter pilot 

Yang Liwei expected to orbit Earth 14 times before landing. The launch was the culmination of 

the decade-long effort of China’s secretive, military-linked space program, undertaken with the 

hope of improving the communist nation’s image abroad, as well as among its own citizens. 

Chinese officials described the Shenzhou program as homegrown, but western analysts stated 

that Russia had provided China with important technology and training for its taikonaut 

(astronaut) corps. Western analysts described the Shenzhou craft as an improvement over the 

Russian Soyuz design, with new solar arrays enabling the front-end orbital module to remain in 

space after the taikonaut compartment had returned to Earth. In addition, the craft’s improved 

collision-avoidance systems provided Shenzhou with enhanced capacity to avoid dangerous 

space debris.532

NASA released its Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) Mishap Investigation Board (MIB) report, 

which identified four possible causes for the failure of the comet-rendezvous mission. The 

CONTOUR Missionintended to encounter at least two comets and to perform investigations 

and analyses of comet materialhad launched on 3 July 2002. NASA had lost contact with the 

craft on 15 August 2002, following a propulsive maneuver involving the solid rocket motor 

(SRM), and had been unable to reestablish contact as of 20 December 2002. On that date, NASA 

and Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory had concluded that the spacecraft 

was lost. NASA had established the MIB on 22 August 2002. The CONTOUR MIB’s task was 

to examine the processes, data, and actions surrounding the events of 15 August; to search for 

proximate and root causes of the loss of the craft; and to develop recommendations for future 

missions. In its report, the CONTOUR MIB concluded that the probable cause of the mission’s 

failure was the structural failure of the spacecraft resulting from plume heating during the 

embedded SRM burn on 15 August. However, the lack of telemetry and observational data, 

immediately before and during the burn, as well as the lack of recoverable debris, left open the 

possibility that one of several other problems might have contributed to the loss of the spacecraft. 

The MIB report identified as other possible causes the catastrophic failure of the SRM; collision 

with space debris or meteoroids; and the loss of dynamic control of the spacecraft.533

NASA announced that astronaut Franklin R. Chang-Dìaz had won Discover Magazine’s 

Innovation Award for Space Science and Technology in the Space Explorer category. The annual 

 

531 NASA, “New NASA Facility Will Help Protect Space Crews from Radiation,” news release 03-326, 14 October 

2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/oct/HQ_03326_new_facility.html (accessed 27 January 2009). 532 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 600; David Lynch, “China Blasts Off into Space,” USA Today, 15 October 2003; 

Christopher Bodeen for Associated Press, “China Launches First Manned Space Mission,” 15 October 2003. 533 NASA, “Contour Mishap Board Completes Investigation,” news release 03-324, 15 October 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/oct/HQ_03324_contour.html (accessed 27 January 2009); NASA, “Comet 

Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) Mishap Investigation Board Report,” 31 May 2003; Associated Press, “Heat from 

Rocket Likely Broke Up Unmanned Spacecraft―NASA,” 16 October 2003. 
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166

awards, presented in the categories of Space Explorer, Communications, Space Scientists, 

Technology for Humanity, and Aerospace, honored scientists whose work had benefited the U.S. 

space program and all of humanity. A veteran of seven spaceflights, a record he shared with only 

one other astronaut, Chang-Dìaz was Director of the Advanced Space Propulsion Laboratory at 

NASA’s JSC in Houston, Texas, where he was leading a team to develop the Variable Specific 

Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR) Engine. The team was working on a conceptual 

engine that would eventually enable humans to explore distant regions of Earth’s solar system 

and, perhaps, regions beyond the solar system. A native of Costa Rica, Chang-Dìaz had earned 

undergraduate and advanced degrees in mechanical engineering and applied plasma physics from 

the University of Connecticut and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before becoming an 

astronaut in 1981. He had first traveled to space in 1986 and, most recently, had participated in 

the ISS assembly and crew-exchange mission in June 2002, during which he undertook three 

spacewalks.534

16 October 

Chinese taikonaut Yang Liwei successfully completed his 21-hour mission of 14 orbits around 

Earth aboard the Shenzhou 5, landing safely in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia. From aboard the 

ISS, American astronaut Edward T. Lu, speaking in Chinese, had welcomed Yang to space and 

wished him a safe journey and success. Russian cosmonaut Yuri I. Malenchenko had told 

Mission Control in Houston that he was glad to have someone else in space besides himself and 

Lu, congratulating the great accomplishment of thousands of people in the People’s Republic of 

China who had worked together to send Yang into space. After emerging from his capsule, Yang 

stated that Shenzhou 5 had operated very well, that he felt well, and that he was “proud of the 

motherland.”535

18 October 

Soyuz TMA-3/ISS-9S launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan transporting to 

the ISS the Expedition 8 crew―American Mission Commander C. Michael Foale, Russian 

Flight Engineer Alexander Y. Kaleri, and Spanish astronaut Pedro Duque. Foale and Kaleri were 

traveling to the ISS for a 200-day mission, replacing American Edward T. Lu and Russian Yuri 

I. Malenchenko who were completing a six-month stay aboard the orbiting station. Duque would 

conduct 10 days of scientific experiments on the ISS and would return to Earth with Lu and 

Malenchenko.536

The U.S. Air Force launched its Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F16 craft 

aboard a Titan 2 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, marking the final launch 

of the Lockheed Martin launch vehicles. In keeping with its 1986 agreement with the U.S. Air 

Force, Martin Marietta had converted 14 Titan 2 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) into 

space launch vehicles. The Air Force had used the converted missiles to launch weather and spy 

satellites into low Earth orbit; the first such converted missile launched in September 1988. The 

 

534 NASA, “Astronaut Chang-Diaz Wins Discover Magazine Award,” news release 03-335, 15 October 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/oct/HQ_03335_ChangDiaz_Award.html (accessed 27 January 2009). 535 John Pomfret, “China’s First Space Traveler Returns a Hero: Craft Made 14 Orbits in 21-Hour Mission,” 

Washington Post, 16 October 2003; Ching-Ching Ni, “China Completes Spaceflight: Nation’s First Astronaut, Lt. 

Col. Yang Liwei, Returns from Earth Orbit,” Los Angeles Times, 16 October 2003. 536 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 600; Dmitry Solovyov for Reuters, “ISS Crew Blasts Off at Baikonur,” 20 October 

2003; Justin Ray, “New Station Residents Arrive at Their Orbiting Home,” Spaceflight Now, 21 October 2003. 
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Titan 2 that launched the DMSP F16 satellite was the 13th of the 14 converted ICBMs to launch; 

the Air Force had no plans for the 14th converted ICBM except to hold it as a spare. The 

successful launch of the satellite marked the end of the 33 months of postponements of the 

US$450 million mission that had resulted from technical problems. The Air Force intended for 

the craft to track clouds, storm systems, and hurricanes, planning to use the data that the satellite 

collected to forecast weather and to monitor ice and snow coverage, pollution, and fires. The 

constellation of two primary DSMP satellites and older backups provided meteorologists with 

information for generating forecasts, which commanders and troops relied upon for strategic and 

tactical planning. DSMP F16 replaced DSMP F15, which had launched in December 1999, as 

the lead craft in the constellation’s mid-morning orbit.537

21 October 

CBERS 2, a China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS) launched aboard a Long March 4B 

rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the People’s Republic of China’s Shanxi 

province. The 1.6-tonne (1.76-ton or 1,600-kilogram) CBERS 2 remote-sensing satellite, 

designed to collect data related to the environment, agriculture, urban planning, and water 

pollution, would be under Chinese control for 18 months before transferring to Brazilian control 

for a minimum of six months.538

NASA awarded a US$9.7 million grant to Colorado State University to study radiation and 

cancer. The grant was one of three that NASA awarded to institutions as part of a new initiative 

to establish national centers studying risks associated with deep space travel. The grant 

established the NASA Specialized Center of Research (NSCOR) at Colorado State University, 

which would investigate the risk of the development of cancer associated with radiation 

exposureparticularly with the development of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), which has 

a direct correlation with radiation exposure. The research, which would study threats to 

astronauts from radiation in space, would directly benefit cancer patients who develop AML as a 

secondary cancer after radiation therapy treatments of the initial cancer.539

25 October 

JAXA officials announced that mission controllers had lost contact with the Advanced Earth 

Observing Satellite 2 (ADEOS 2), nicknamed Midori 2. The environmental research satellite was 

conducting a joint mission of the United States and Japan designed to study ocean winds, sea 

surface temperatures, sea ice, and water vapor distribution in the atmosphere; to monitor plant 

life and vegetation in marine areas; and to monitor Earth’s ozone layer. The craft had launched 

14 December 2002 to replace Midori 1, which had been lost in 1997 when a solar-array 

malfunction had left it with no power supply.540 

 

537 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 600; Justin Ray, “US Weather Satellite Finally Escapes Grasp of Hard Luck,” 

Spaceflight Now, 14 October 2003; Roger Fillion, “Titan II Rocket Soars into Retirement,” Rocky Mountain News

(Denver, CO), 21 October 2003. 

538 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 600; Reuters, “China Launches Satellite Developed with Brazil,” 21 October 2003; 

Stephen Clark, “Earth Monitoring Satellite Launched by China and Brazil, Spaceflight Now, 21 October 2003. 

539 Christiana Nelson, “NASA Grants CSU Almost $10 Million,” Rocky Mountain Collegian (Colorado State 

University, Fort Collins, CO), 22 October 2003. 

540 Justin Ray, “Earth Monitoring Satellite Goes Silent,” Spaceflight Now, 25 October 2003; Jason Bates, “Japan 

Loses Contact with ADEOS-2 Satellite,” Space News, 27 October 2003. 
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168

27 October

At 8:47 p.m. (EST), Soyuz TMA-2 landed safely in the steppes of Kazakhstan, returning to Earth 

the ISS Expedition 7 crew, American astronaut Edward T. Lu and Russian cosmonaut Yuri I. 

Malenchenko. Spanish astronaut Pedro Duque of ESA was also aboard the flight, returning from 

a 10-day mission performing scientific experiments in the ISS lab. The Soyuz TMA-2 flight was 

equipped with a GPS and satellite phones, which NASA had donated to prevent a disruption in 

communications between the crew and Mission Control Center in Moscow. Such a disruption 

had occurred in May 2003, when a Soyuz craft returning from the ISS had landed 250 miles 

(402.3 kilometers) off course because of a computer malfunction.541

28 October

NASA released to the public five additional volumes of the CAIB’s report. The new 

volumes―including reports that NASA and other organizations had written; working documents 

the CAIB had produced; and findings or suggestions that the CAIB had, ultimately, not 

adopted―provided the full context of the technical reports and background information that the 

Board had used as the basis for its official 29 findings. The CAIB stated that conclusions and 

recommendations found in the new volumes did not necessarily reflect the Board’s official 

views; therefore, the Board emphasized that the first volume, containing its official findings and 

recommendations, should always take precedence over the other volumes in the event of a 

conflict in findings.542

29 October 

The GAO presented testimony to the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation 

Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space regarding the impact of the Shuttle fleet’s 

grounding on ISS construction and maintenance. Based on a GAO report published in 

September, a report that the full Senate committee had requested, GAO testified that the 

grounding of the Shuttle fleet would increase the cost of completing the ISS and could expose 

the station’s two-person crew to additional risk. NASA had originally estimated the cost of the 

ISS at US$10 billion, but since 1985, the U.S. Congress had appropriated US$32 billion to the 

project. The Bush administration had cancelled several planned ISS modules in 2001, to offset 

US$4 billion in cost overruns. Since the grounding of the Shuttle fleet following the Columbia

disaster in February 2003, several components of the station―completed and ready to 

launch―had reached their storage limit, necessitating their replacement or refurbishment. The 

inability to ferry heavy items to the ISS had hampered NASA’s ability to correct known safety 

concerns, such as the delivery of additional shielding to protect the ISS crew dormitory from 

orbital debris. Furthermore, NASA had estimated that the probability of space debris penetrating 

ISS living quarters increased by 1.6 percent for each year that the ISS partners postponed 

installing new shielding. The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

had requested the report from GAO. Members of Congress had repeatedly asked NASA to 

provide financial details about the effect of the Columbia accident on the ISS program. However, 

GAO’s September report stated that neither NASA nor GAO could accurately estimate the costs 

associated with the grounded Shuttle fleet. GAO testified that it would be able to make such an 

 

541 Mara D. Bellaby of Associated Press, “Soyuz Crew Safely Returns to Earth from Space Station,” 27 October 

2003. 

542 Jim Banke, “Columbia Accident Board Report Complete with New Volumes,” Space.com, 29 October 2003, 

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/caib_report_031028a.html (accessed 23 February 2003). 
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169

estimate once NASA had identified precisely when Shuttle flights would resume. NASA 

officials agreed with GAO’s findings.543

30 October

The FAA certified the ASDE-X (Airport Surface Detection Equipment) technology, a new 

airport surface–detection system for preventing runway and taxiway collisions, which would 

replace the expensive ASDE-3 system. General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, 

Wisconsin, deployed the first ASDE-X system, and 25 other airports planned to install ASDE-X 

systems during the following four years. The ASDE-X system, which integrated several air 

traffic–control systems, used strategically placed sensors to report the location of aircraft and 

vehicles to controllers, giving them a real-time view of all aircraft and vehicles on airport 

grounds or flying in the area. A collaborative effort between a team of FAA employees, Sensis 

Corporation of Syracuse, New York, and Raytheon Corporation, the FAA had initially intended 

ASDE-X as a lower-cost alternative to the ASDE-3.544

31 October

JAXA officials announced that the chances of restoring the operations of ADEOS 2, known as 

Midori 2 in Japan, were extremely slight. JAXA had lost contact with ADEOS 2 on 25 October 

and had been unable to restore communications with the US$654 million craft. Analyses of the 

malfunction had provided little hope for recovery. ADEOS 2 had replaced the ADEOS 1 mission 

of 1996, which Japan had abandoned after 10 months when its solar panel had broken down as a 

result of a design fault. Japanese officials stated that they believed ADEOS 2 had not suffered 

exactly the same fate as its predecessor but, rather, had experienced a problem with its power 

circuitry. A JAXA spokesperson suggested that recent solar flares might have affected the 

craftone of the solar flares had been the largest in three decades.545

NOVEMBER 2003 

3 November

NASA filed a request for proposal with Federal Business Opportunities, inviting companies to 

define their schedules for Orbital Space Plane (OSP) design completion, development, testing, 

and delivery. NASA requested the completion of a crew-rescue vehicle by 2008 and a crewtransfer vehicle by 2012, despite congressional requests that NASA slow down its work on the 

OSP project. The Boeing Company and a Lockheed Martin–Northrop Grumman team had both 

been developing concepts for the OSP, a vehicle anticipated as the next space vehicle to ferry 

astronaut crews to and from the ISS. NASA had hoped to award the prime contract in August 

2004 at the earliest. On 29 October, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science 

and Technology, responsible for authorizing NASA programs, had restated its position that 

 

543 U.S. General Accounting Office, “Shuttle Fleet’s Safe Return to Flight is Key to Space Station Progress” (report 

no. GAO-04-201T, Washington, DC, 29 October 2003), 1–11, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04201t.pdf (accessed 

8 May 2009); Marc Carreau, “Costs Up for Space Station, Report Says,” Houston Chronicle, 15 October 2003; 

Larry Wheeler, “Report: Shuttle’s Absence Hurts ISS, GAO Claims Station Is in ‘Survival Mode’,” Florida Today

(Brevard, FL), 15 October 2003. 

544 Don Phillips, “FAA Deploys System To Prevent Airport Runway Collisions,” Washington Post, 31 October 

2003. 

545 Agence France-Press, “Japan Bids Adios to ADEOS Earth Observation Satellite,” 31 October 2003; Justin Ray, 

“Hope of Salvaging Japanese Environmental Satellite Fades,” Spaceflight Now, 31 October 2003. 
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NASA should halt work on the OSP Program until the White House, Congress, and NASA had 

agreed on the direction the U.S. human spaceflight program would take after completion of the 

ISS. Congressional leaders had also questioned NASA’s funding profile for the program.546

6 November

ESA’s Science Programme Committee (SPC) dropped the Eddington mission and scaled back 

the BepiColombo mission because of budgetary concerns―the SPC had determined that ESA 

would only have sufficient resources to fund one new mission in the next decade. For that 

mission, the Committee had selected the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Pathfinder 

mission, which would launch in 2006 or 2007 and would test technologies and strategies for the 

planned 2012 LISA mission to detect gravitational waves. ESA had planned for the Eddington 

mission, scheduled for launch in 2008, to monitor the brightness of stars, study their interiors, 

and search for planetsof the size of Earth or smallerpassing in front of the stars. Japan and 

Europe had scheduled BepiColombo, their joint mission to Mercury, for launch in 2011 and had 

originally planned to send a lander to Mercury as part of that mission. Although the SPC had 

cancelled the lander portion of the mission, it still planned for ESA to launch two satellites to 

orbit the planet.547

NASA released an 84-page report, “Implementation Plan for the International Space Station 

Continuing Flight,” detailing NASA’s plans to improve exterior inspections of the ISS and to 

shield the station from debris strikes, while continuing to maintain a crew aboard the ISS during 

the disruption of Space Shuttle flights. Before the Columbia accident, Space Shuttle crews 

visiting the ISS had routinely photographed the exterior of the station; NASA expressed concern 

that in the absence of Shuttle flights, external damage would go undetected. The report outlined 

plans to conduct thorough inspections of external surfaces of the ISS using external cameras and 

classified satellite images, as well as to inspect more closely the wiring and equipment inside the 

station.548

The U.S. Air Force 45th Space Wing transferred operation of Launch Complex 47 at Cape 

Canaveral Air Station to the Florida Space Authority (FSA) by means of a licensing agreement 

under the Commercial Space Transportation Act. J. Gregory Pavlovich, Commander of the 45th

Space Wing, stated that the transfer of operations was a positive development, remarking that, 

although the Air Force had previously scheduled the launchpad for deactivation, licensing it to 

the FSA would enable Launch Complex 47 to remain available for educational use for years into 

the future. Under the agreement, Brevard Community College could offer as many as 200 

educational launch opportunities over the following five years, allowing for hands-on technical 

education that would help motivate students to join the aerospace workforce.549

 

546 Jason Bates, “NASA Releases Request for Orbital Space Plane Plans Despite Congressional Concern About the 

Program,” Space News, 4 November 2003. 547 Vanessa Thomas, “ESA Axes Planet-Finding Mission and Mercury Lander,” Astronomy.com, 12 November 

2003; Peter B. de Selding, “European Planet-Finding Mission Cancelled,” Space News, 10 November 2003. 548 Patty Reinert, “Armed with Lessons, NASA Outlines Safer Space Station,” Houston Chronicle, 7 November 

2003; Marcia Dunn for the Associated Press, “NASA: Space Station Safety Can Be Better,” 7 November 2003. 

549 Jim Banke, “Florida Space Authority Will Run Cape Launch Pad for Education,” Space.com, 7 November 2003, 

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/fsa_cx47_031107.html (accessed 17 March 2009). 
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NASA announced the successful test of a launchpad-abort test vehicle designed to support its 

OSP Program. Wind tunnel tests had demonstrated the Lockheed Martin–designed Pad Abort 

Demonstration (PAD) vehicle’s stability and maneuverability under simulated conditions 

approximating escape from a catastrophic failure of a launch vehicle. The tests, which followed 

the completion of September’s PAD Preliminary Design Review, marked a significant success in 

the development of a safe and effective crew-escape system, clearing the way for the initial 

testing of the vehicle’s engine in November 2003 and the first set of parachute drop tests in 

December 2003. NASA had not pursued the PAD Project to integrate crew-escape capability into 

spacecraft design since the Apollo program ended.550

7 November

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Boris Alyoshin and French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin 

signed an agreement allowing Russian access to the ESA launch complex in French Guiana, 

beginning in 2006. The agreement provided for the construction of a new launchpad at Kourou 

for the launching of Russian Soyuz rockets. France agreed to contribute half of the cost of EUR 

314 million (US$361 million), with other ESA member states providing the remainder. The 

agreement also allowed Arianespace to collaborate with the Russian company Starsem to use 

Soviet-era Soyuz rockets for launching medium-sized payloads, thereby closing a gap in 

Arianespace’s marketing range.551

The U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment of Gwendolyn S. Brown as NASA’s Chief Financial 

Officer. Before her nomination in July 2003, Brown had served as NASA’s Deputy Chief 

Financial Officer for Financial Management, and before joining NASA, she had served on the 

U.S. Senate staff and had held various positions within the DOD. Brown had come to NASA 

from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), Directorate for Program and 

Financial Control, where she had been a senior program analyst.552

NASA announced the names of three additional members of the crew of the Space Shuttle 

Program’s Return to Flight Mission STS-114. In 2001 NASA had named four astronauts to STS114―Mission Commander Eileen M. Collins, Pilot James M. Kelly, Mission Specialist Stephen 

K. Robinson, and Mission Specialist Soichi Noguchi of JAXA. The four were already training 

for the flight, scheduled to launch no earlier than September 2004. Astronauts Andrew S. W. 

Thomas, Wendy B. Lawrence, and Charles J. Camarda rounded out the mission’s crew of seven. 

NASA had originally planned for STS-114 to have a seven-member crew, but in the wake of the 

Columbia accident, NASA had changed the mission objective to focus on testing and evaluating 

new procedures for flight safety, rather than on ISS logistics and crew rotation. Thomas and 

Lawrence were veteran astronauts―Thomas was the second-highest-ranking member of 

NASA’s Astronaut Office, and Lawrence had flown on the Shuttle three times. Camarda was a 

 

550 NASA, “NASA Conducts Successful Pad Abort Demonstration,” news release 03-359, 6 November 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/nov/HQ_03359_pad_abort_demo.html (accessed 5 February 2009). 551 Agence France-Presse, “France, Russia Sign Deal for European Space Pad,” 7 November 2003. 552 NASA, “Senate Confirms Gwendolyn Brown as NASA Chief Financial Officer,” news release 03-346, 7 

November 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/nov/HQ_03346_brown_confirmed.html (accessed 5 

February 2009). 
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rookie making his first orbital flight. NASA had assigned Robinson and Noguchi to conduct 

spacewalks on the flight.553

12 November 

NASA announced the appointment of U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Thomas Q. Donaldson V as 

Director of its SSC in Mississippi, effective 5 January 2004. Since February 2000, Donaldson 

had served as Commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command, one of 30 

agencies at SSC. NASA appointed Deputy Director of SSC Michael Rudolphi, who had been 

acting as interim Director since May 2003, to manage the Space Shuttle Propulsion Office at 

NASA’s MSFC in Huntsville, Alabama, effective 1 December 2003.554

The Partnership for Public Service announced the results of the first survey measuring employee 

satisfaction in the federal government, conducted several months before the Space Shuttle 

Columbia accident. The survey results ranked NASA first, overall, among 28 major government 

agencies; NASA’s MSFC in Huntsville, Alabama, ranked first, and its JSC in Houston, Texas, 

ranked second, among 200 smaller divisions. NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe attended a 

news conference to publicize the results of the survey, describing the findings as a “proud day” 

for NASA. O’Keefe remarked that, although NASA was in the midst of working through the 

tragedy of the Columbia accident, the survey results established that NASA had a “very good 

foundation upon which to work.”555 

14 November

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe announced the appointment of the team that would lead the 

new NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC), chartered in the wake of the Space Shuttle 

Columbia accident. NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance would assume oversight of 

the NESC. Based at NASA’s LaRC, the NESC would coordinate and conduct testing and safety 

assessments in support of critical NASA projects and programs. O’Keefe had charged Director 

of LaRC Roy D. Bridges Jr. with assembling a team to get the Center up and running. O’Keefe 

remarked that Bridges had “assembled a dynamic group of recognized experts in the fields of 

engineering analysis and risk mitigation.” The group comprised new Director of the NESC Ralph 

R. Roe Jr., formerly Manager of the Space Shuttle Vehicle Engineering Office at NASA’s JSC; 

new Deputy Director Paul M. Munafo, formerly Manager of Materials, Processes and 

Manufacturing at NASA’s MSFC; and new Deputy Director of Safety J. Larry Crawford, 

formerly Director of Research Engineering at NASA’s DFRC. Roe’s appointment as Director of 

 

553 NASA, “NASA Names Crew Members for Shuttle Return to Flight Mission,” 7 November 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/nov/HQ_03360_STS_114_crew.html (accessed 5 February 2003); Todd 

Halvorson, “Astronaut Veterans, Rookie Fill Return-to-Flight Shuttle Crew,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 10 

November 2003; Jim Banke, “NASA Names Additional Crew for Return to Flight Mission,” Space.com, 7 

November 2003, http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/sts114_ crew_

031107.html (accessed 13 March 2009). 554 NASA, “NASA Names New Stennis Space Center Director,” news release 03-362, 12 November 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/nov/HQ_03362_stennis_director.html (accessed 5 February 2009); NASA, 

“Rudolphi Named NASA Space Shuttle Propulsion Manager,” news release 03-363, 12 November 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/nov/HQ_03363_rudolphi.html (accessed 5 February 2009). 555 Mark Carreau and Megh Duwati, “Federal Employees Rate NASA Tops,” Houston Chronicle, 13 November 

2003; Jeffrey McMurray for the Associated Press, “Huntsville Space Center Named Best Federal Place To Work,” 

12 November 2003; David Lerman, “Study: It’s Good To Be at NASA Langley,” Hampton Roads Daily Press

(VA), 13 November 2003. 
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the NESC drew criticism from the U.S. Congress because of his involvement in decisions 

regarding Columbia’s fatal mission. As Director of Shuttle Vehicle Engineering at the time of 

the Columbia accident, Roe had been one of several managers who dismissed concerns about 

possible damage to the Shuttle’s external tank when foam insulation struck the orbiter’s left wing 

after launch. Moreover, he and other mission managers had decided that it was unnecessary to 

obtain satellite images of the orbiting Columbia to check for damage.556

18 November

NASA announced the new charter and new members of its Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel 

(ASAP). All members of the previous ASAP, which the U.S. Congress had initially chartered in 

1967 following the Apollo 1 fire, had resigned in late September 2003 in the wake of the 

Columbia accident investigation. The original charter had intended the panel to act as an 

independent body to advise NASA’s Administrator on safety issues, but over the years, 

additional administrative procedures had governed the panel’s work. In the new charter, NASA 

revoked those procedures to enable the panel to develop its agenda in accordance with CAIB 

findings. The ASAP’s original 1967 charter formed the foundation of the new charter, with the 

following revisions: 1) the ASAP would make quarterly reports, instead of annual; 2) new 

members would have two-year terms, extendable to a maximum of six years; 3) members would 

have staggered terms to ensure fresh perspectives at regular intervals; and 4) the ASAP would 

focus on industrial and systems safety, risk management, trend analysis, and management of 

NASA’s safety and quality systems. NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe named, as new 

members of the ASAP, Rear Admiral Walter H. Cantrell, Vice Admiral Joseph W. Dyer, 

Augustine O. Esogbue, Major General Francis C. Gideon Jr., Deborah L. Grubbe, Rosemary 

O’Leary, John C. Marshall, Steven B. Wallace, Rick E. Williams, and ex officio member, 

Brigadier General Joseph A. Smith. The new members represented academic, military, and 

industrial sectors; no member was a current or former NASA employee or contractor.557

Federal investigators concluded that a series of avoidable mistakes had caused the fatal crash of 

the chartered King Air A100 carrying Senator Paul D. Wellstone (D-MN) on 25 October 2002. 

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) found that the two charter pilots had 

possessed inferior flying skills, they had twice failed to align the twin-engine turboprop on the 

proper course for an instrument landing, and they had subsequently permitted the airspeed to 

drop to dangerously low levels. The craft had stalled and plummeted into the woods, killing all 

eight on board. The NTSB recommended that the FAA improve inspections of on-demand 

charter companies in an effort to improve pilot training and in-flight procedures. The NTSB 

report also recommended that the FAA and NASA create a special technical panel to study the 

feasibility of “low airspeed alert systems,” which would automatically warn pilots, especially 

those of small aircraft, of conditions that could lead to a disastrous stall.558

 

556 NASA, “NASA Names Leaders for Engineering and Safety Center,” news release 03-352, 14 November 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/nov/HQ_03352_NESC_leaders.html (accessed 5 February 2009); Todd 

Halvorson, “NASA Promotes Criticized Manager,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 15 November 2003. 557 NASA, “NASA Names New Safety Advisory Panel,” news release 03-370, 18 November 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/nov/HQ_03370_asap.html (accessed 5 February 2009); Patty Reinert, 

“NASA Safety Panel Takes Flight Again with New Members,” Houston Chronicle, 19 November 2003. 558 Ricardo Alonso-Zalvidar, “Pilots Are Blamed in Wellstone Crash,” Los Angeles Times, 19 November 2003. 
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20 November

NASA announced the successful test of a High Power Electric Propulsion (HiPEP) ion engine 

using commercial-utility electrical power, marking the first successful test of an engine that 

could “lead to revolutionary propulsion capabilities for space exploration missions throughout 

the solar system and beyond.” The test used the largest microwave ion thruster ever built. The 

test was also the first in a series, demonstrating the high-velocity and high-power thrust 

necessary for the new nuclear electric propulsion (NEP) applications. NASA’s Project 

Prometheus had been studying the HiPEP―one of several candidate propulsion 

technologies―for possible use on the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO). The JIMO Mission’s 

design included a small nuclear reactor as its power source and electric thrusters to provide 

propulsion. NASA planned for JIMO to study Jupiter’s three icy moons―Ganymede, Callisto, 

and Europa. Director of Project Prometheus Alan R. Newhouse remarked that the test 

represented a “huge leap in demonstrating the potential for advanced ion technologies.”559

The ISS marked its five-year anniversary in space. Since the Russian Zarya control module had 

launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on 20 November 1998, the ISS had grown 

from an uninhabited module to a permanently staffed research facility the size of a threebedroom house. After five years, the ISS was not completely constructed―NASA was preparing 

more than 80 tons (72,575 kilograms or 72.58 tonnes) of equipment and hardware, including 

solar arrays and support structures, for launch at the Space Station Processing Facility at its KSC. 

Also in launch preparation at KSC was the Node 2 module, which would connect the U.S., 

European, and Japanese research laboratories; and the Kibo Japanese Experiment Module. The 

eventual launch of the European Columbus laboratory under construction in Bremen, Germany, 

would expand the station’s volume to that of a five-bedroom house. The first crew to live aboard 

the orbiting facility had arrived on 2 November 2000, and since that date, eight successive 

crews―22 people―had staffed the ISS, conducting research in bioastronautics, physical 

sciences, fundamental space biology, space product development, and spaceflight disciplines.560

29 November

JAXA launched an H2-A rocket carrying two classified satellites intended to monitor North 

Korea, but aborted the launch when one of the vehicle’s two boosters failed to separate. Because 

the malfunction meant that the rocket would be unable to attain sufficient height and speed to 

achieve orbit, JAXA destroyed the rocket 10 minutes after launch. In March 2003, Japan had 

launched its first two spy satellites to monitor North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs.561

DECEMBER 2003 

2 December

NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance signed an agreement with the Naval Sea 

Systems Command (NAVSEA) to participate in each other’s engineering investigations and 

 

559 NASA, “NASA Successfully Tests Ion Engine,” news release 03-377, 20 November 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/nov/HQ_03377_ion_engine.html (accessed 5 February 2009). 560 NASA, “International Space Station Marks Five Years in Orbit,” news release 03-374, 19 November 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/nov/HQ_03374_iss_five_yrs.html (accessed 5 February 2009). 561 Audrey McAvoy for the Associated Press, “Failed Launch Blamed on Rocket Booster Malfunction,” 30 

November 2003. 
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technical analyses. The memorandum of agreement was the second that the two organizations 

had signed―the latest agreement between NASA and another organization managing high-risk 

operations. The previous agreement between NASA and NAVSEA had enabled the two to share 

information regarding critical supplier quality and performance.562 

The U.S. Air Force launched an Atlas 2-AS rocket carrying a classified satellite for the National 

Reconnaissance Office (NRO), marking the final launch of the II-AS model from Vandenberg 

Air Force Base in California. The launch cleared the way for officials from the military and from 

Lockheed Martin to begin renovating Launch Complex 3 to accommodate the Atlas 5 rocket. 

Renovation plans included raising the mobile service tower 30 feet (9.14 meters) to 

accommodate the taller launch vehicles, building a fixed launch platform, modifying the 

umbilical tower, and enlarging the flame trench. The Lockheed Martin Atlas team planned to 

launch the first Atlas 5 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in 2005.563

4 December

Scientists studying data from NASA’s Imager for Magnetopause to Aurora Global Exploration 

(IMAGE) satellite and ESA’s four-satellite Cluster constellation published a study in the journal 

Nature reporting that solar wind creates large cracks in Earth’s magnetic field, allowing the wind 

to penetrate the magnetic field and causing geomagnetic storms. The leader of the study, Harald 

U. Frey of the University of California at Berkeley, stated that the data showed that the cracks do 

not open and close sporadically, as scientists had previously thought, but rather, that the cracks 

can remain open for several hours. Using this information, scientists would be able to create a 

better model of the affect of space weather on Earth, helping them to predict geomagnetic 

storms, which disrupt power, interfere with satellites, and endanger astronauts. IMAGE had 

monitored a spot in Earth’s upper atmosphere, revealing an area of heavy particles (ions) striking 

the ionosphere above the Arctic region, thereby creating an aurora with enough energy to power 

75,000 homes. Unlike the auroras known as the northern and southern lights, this aurora was not 

visible to the human eye. Far above the IMAGE satellite, the Cluster constellation had flown 

through the opening created by the solar wind’s interaction with Earth’s protective magnetic 

field. The scientists estimated that the size of the crack was twice that of Earth. The crack 

occurred at the edge of the magnetic field, 38,000 miles (61,155 kilometers) above the planet.564

5 December

Russia successfully conducted its first test of a modified Soviet RS-18 Stiletto missile, launching 

the missile from an underground silo at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Stiletto, 

renamed Strela, or Arrow, carried a dummy satellite into low Earth orbit. Originally designed to 

carry six individually guided nuclear warheads, Russia planned for the modified Stiletto to 

become the world’s cheapest booster rocket for commercial satellite launches. Spokesperson for 

 

562 NASA, “NASA Engineering Investigations Get Navy Input,” news release 03-393, 4 December 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/dec/HQ_03393_enginr_investgtns.html (accessed 23 March 2009). 563 Associated Press, “Air Force Sends Spy Satellite into Space,” 2 December 2003; Justin Ray, “Atlas Soars on 

Secret Mission Under Cover of Darkness,” Spaceflight Now, 2 December 2003. 564 H. U. Frey et al., “Continuous Magnetic Reconnection at Earth’s Magnetopause,” Nature 426, no. 6966 (4 

December 2003): 533–537; Maggie Fox for Reuters, “Cracks Let Solar Wind Disrupt Earth’s Atmosphere,” 4 

December 2003; Chris Kridler, “Protective Layer’s Cracks Make Earth Vulnerable,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 4 

December 2003. 
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the Russian military Lieutenant-Colonel Igor Zatula stated that Russia would need to conduct 

several more test launches before the rocket would become available for commercial use.565

NASA announced the creation of the first detailed map of the water contained in Earth’s 

atmosphere, a map that would help scientists better understand the nature of atmospheric water 

vapor and its implications for climate change and ozone depletion. In July 2002, NASA had 

taken detailed measurements of water isotopes in the atmosphere using Alias, an aircraft laser 

infrared absorption spectrometer flying aboard NASA’s WB-57F high-altitude jet aircraft. The 

new laser technique had enabled scientists to map the water isotopes with sufficient resolution 

for researchers to use the map to study water transport, as well as to examine the detailed 

microphysics of clouds―key parameters necessary for understanding atmospheric composition, 

storm development, and weather prediction. The resulting map showed heavy hydrogen and 

heavy oxygen atoms, from Earth’s surface to 25 miles (40.2 kilometers) above the planet. 

NASA’s Earth Science Enterprise had funded the mission, which had used six aircraft provided 

by NASA and other federal agencies, to record observations above, in, and below the clouds.566

8 December

NASA astronaut C. Michael Foale, living aboard the ISS, set a new U.S. space record―Foale 

had spent more time in orbit than any other American had achieved. During four Shuttle 

missions, an expedition aboard Russia’s former space station Mir, and his current residence at 

the ISS, Foale had spent more than 231 days in space, surpassing Carl E. Walz’s previous record 

for an American in space―230 days, 13 hours, 3 minutes, and 37 seconds. Walz had participated 

in four Shuttle missions and one ISS expedition in 2002. Along with astronaut Daniel W. Bursch, 

Walz continued to hold the U.S. record for the longest, single spaceflight―196 days.567

9 December

JAXA spokesperson, Junichi Moriuma, announced that JAXA had failed in its final effort to 

return the Nozomi craft to the correct trajectory for orbiting Mars. Insufficient fuel supplies had 

prevented the craft’s engines from firing. Nozomi―Hope―had been traveling toward Mars for 

five years and was schedule to arrive in one week. JAXA had planned for Nozomi to examine 

the Martian atmosphere’s interaction with the solar wind, to determine whether the planet has a 

magnetic field. During its journey from Earth to Mars, Nozomi had experienced several 

malfunctions that had altered its trajectory, placing it on a course that was too low and causing 

concern that the spacecraft would crash into Mars, possibly contaminating the surface. JAXA 

officials stated that, although they had failed to place the craft on the correct trajectory, they had 

greatly reduced the probability of the craft’s colliding with Mars. Instead, the craft would escape 

Mars’s gravitational field and enter a long-term orbit of the solar system. Moriuma remarked that 

 

565 Reuters, “Russia Tests New Role for Cold War Nukes,” 8 December 2003. 566 NASA, “The Measure of Water: NASA Creates New Map for the Atmosphere,” news release 03-394, 5 

December 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/dec/HQ_03394_water_map.html (accessed 23 March 

2009). 

567 NASA, “NASA Astronaut Breaks U.S. Space Endurance Record,” news release 03-400, 9 December 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/dec/HQ_03400_Foale_record.html (accessed 23 March 2009); Todd 

Halvorson, “Astronaut Michael Foale’s 231 Days in Orbit Sets Record,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 9 December 

2003; Associated Press, “Astronaut Sets Record for Time in Space,” 9 December 2003. 
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Japanese scientists would continue to modify Nozomi, allowing it to carry out alternative 

missions, such as monitoring solar activity.568

10 December

NASA’s GRC and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Pacific Northwest National 

Laboratory (PNNL) signed a Space Act Agreement to collaborate in developing sealing 

technologies for the stacks of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), groups of thin ceramic cells 

separated by gas seals. A combustion-free electrochemical process generates electricity between 

these thin cells. NASA had been investigating SOFC technology to meet the need for highefficiency, low-emission power capabilities for aviation and space applications. Prabhakar Singh, 

Director of PNNL Fuel Cell Development, commented that the agreement combined the two 

agencies’ complementary research―PNNL’s work in glass seals and NASA’s expertise in glass 

and glass-ceramic composites.569

17 December

SpaceShipOne broke the sound barrier during its first powered flight, but a partial landing gear 

collapse caused the privately built supersonic aircraft to veer off its desert runway. Test pilot 

Brian Binnie was not injured during the landing. Scaled Composites LLC, which built the craft, 

stated that engineers could easily repair the damage the craft had sustained. The test flight 

represented a milestone―the first piloted supersonic flight of an aircraft developed by a small 

private company. SpaceShipOne’s specially designed jet aircraft, the White Knight, carried 

SpaceShipOne to an altitude of 48,000 feet (14.63 kilometers) before releasing it. Traveling near 

Mach 1.2, the rocket shut down after firing for 15 seconds. Binnie then placed the craft into a 

vertical climb to reach 68,000 feet (20.72 kilometers). Nine seconds into the climb, the craft 

broke the sound barrier. Binnie then reconfigured the craft to its conventional shape, and glided 

to touchdown, at which time the landing gear collapsed.570

18 December

NASA released the first pictures from its Space Infrared Telescope Facility and officially 

renamed the craft Spitzer Space Telescope. NASA had named the telescope for one of the 20th 

century’s most influential scientists, Princeton University astronomer Lyman Spitzer Jr., who in 

1946 had first proposed placing telescopes in space. Spitzer had been a major force behind the 

1990 launch of the HST, the first of NASA’s Great Observatories. With the release of the Spitzer 

Space Telescope’s first observations―a glowing stellar nursery; a swirling, dusty galaxy; a disc 

of planet-forming debris; and organic material in the distant universe―Project Scientist Michael 

Werner of NASA’s JPL remarked that the telescope was working extremely well. The fourth of 

its Great Observatories, NASA had designed the craft with powerful infrared detectors to capture 

never-before-seen cosmic features. Unlike its predecessor Great Observatories, which circle 

 

568 Kenji Hall for the Associated Press, “Japan Quits Mars Mission as Probe Strays,” 10 December 2003; Jason 

Testar for Canadian Press, “Japanese Fail To Salvage Mars Mission Carrying Canadian Research Instrument,” 10 

December 2003. 

569 Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, “NASA and DOE Lab Team on Fuel Cell Research,” news release 03-46, 

10 December 2003, http://www.pnl.gov/news/2003/03-46.htm (accessed 26 March 2009); Utility Automation and 

Engineering T&D, “NASA and DOE Lab Team on Fuel Cell Research,” 12 December 2003. 570 Associated Press, “Private Rocket Plane Breaks Sound Barrier,” 18 December 2003; Leonard David, “Privately 

Funded SpaceShipOne Breaks Sound Barrier,” Space.com, 18 December 2003, 

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/rutan_update_031217.html (accessed 30 March 2009). 
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Earth, NASA had deployed the Spitzer Space Telescope in a novel trajectory that placed it in an 

orbit closely trailing that of Earth.571 

NASA announced the successful completion of a series of engine and parachute tests, clearing 

the way for NASA to carry out integrated Pad Abort Demonstration (PAD) test flights to support 

its Orbital Space Plane (OSP) program. In November and December 2003, engineers had 

conducted a series of 14 hot-fire tests of a 50,000-pound-thrust (22,680-kilogram-thrust) RS-88 

rocket engine, resulting in a total of 55 seconds of successful engine operation. The Rocketdyne 

Propulsion Power unit of the Boeing Company had designed and built the engine. On 9 

December 2003, engineers had tested the parachutes at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Grounds 

in Yuma, Arizona, verifying the function, performance, and stability of an 80-foot (24.38-meter) 

drogue parachute and of four 156-foot (47.55-meter) main parachutes. Testers had dropped a 

12.5-ton (11.34-tonne or 11,340-kilogram) pallet from 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) to simulate the 

size and weight of a vehicle and crew. The pallet had descended to a soft landing under nearly 

two acres of parachutes.572

19 December

ESA announced that the Beagle 2, ESA’s Mars Lander, had separated from the Mars Express 

orbiting spacecraft. ESA had scheduled the Beagle 2 to land on Mars early on 24 December 

(EST), while, at approximately the same time, Mars Express would enter Martian orbit.573

23 December 

NASA announced that a team of JPL engineers had successfully tested a new ion-propulsion 

engine design, marking the first performance test of the Nuclear Electric Xenon Ion System 

(NEXIS) engine at the high-efficiency, high-power, and high-thrust operating conditions needed 

for use in large-scale, nuclear-electric-propulsion applications. The NEXIS engine was one of 

several candidate propulsion technologies under review by NASA’s Project Prometheus, an 

initiative to make strategic investments in nuclear-fission power and electric-propulsion 

technologies for use in space travel. NASA intended for Project Prometheus to enable 

development and implementation of a new class of missions to the outer solar system. Lead 

Investigator for the JPL test, James E. Polk, remarked that the NEXIS thruster had demonstrated 

one of the highest efficiencies of any xenon-ion thruster ever tested, and that the research team 

expected the NEXIS design to meet the requirements for the proposed Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter 

Mission.574

29 December

The People’s Republic of China and ESA launched Double Star 1 from Xichang Satellite Launch 

Center in southwest China. Double Star 1 was the first of two spacecraft in the Double Star 

 

571 NASA, “NASA Releases Dazzling Images from New Space Telescope,” news release 03-411, 18 December 

2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/dec/HQ_03411_newly_named_prt.htm (accessed 23 March 2009); 

Patty Reinert, “Stargazer’s Delight: NASA’s New Space Infrared Telescope Puts On a Dazzling Show,” Houston 

Chronicle, 19 December 2003. 572 NASA, “Engine, Parachute Tests Pave Way for Launch Escape System,” news release 03-417, 18 December 

2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/dec/HQ_03417_escape_system.html (accessed 23 March 2003). 573 Chris Kridler, “Beagle 2 On Its Own,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 20 December 2003. 574 NASA, “Ion Engine Design Passes Key NASA Test,” news release 03-421, 23 December 2003, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/dec/HQ_03421_passes_test.html (accessed 23 March 2003). 
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mission to study Earth’s magnetic fields―the first joint project between China and ESA. Known 

in China as Tan Ce 1, Double Star 1 carried eight instruments for investigating Earth’s 

magnetosphere―five from ESA and three from the Chinese National Space Administration. 

ESA and China had designed the mission to study how magnetized and charged particles 

streaming off the Sun affect Earth. The space agencies had scheduled the second of the two craft 

to launch six months after the first.575

JANUARY 2004 

2 January 

NASA’s Stardust spacecraft performed a flyby of comet Wild 2, obtaining particle samples, as 

well as the most detailed, high-resolution images ever taken of a comet. Stardust was the first 

robotic mission created to collect material from outside the Moon’s orbit. Scientists planned to 

analyze the particle samples of the comet in January 2006, once the spacecraft had returned to 

Earth. During the flyby, Stardust flew within 240 kilometers (149 miles) of Wild 2, capturing 

images of the comet’s nucleus at resolutions ranging from 6.5 to 32 kilometers (4 to 20 miles) 

per pixel. NASA scientists hoped that the images would help them better understand conditions 

on comets and that the particle samplescomposed of materials identical to those that had 

formed planetswould reveal information about how comets and Earth’s solar system 

formed.576

3 January 

NASA succeeded in landing the first of two robotic laboratories on the planet Mars. The robotic 

rover Spirit was one of two mobile laboratoriesMars Exploration Roversthat NASA had 

designed to collect and analyze geological samples on Mars. Analysis of the samples would help 

scientists determine whether the planet had previously possessed water and the ability to support 

life. The twin rovers, part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, would land at sites on opposite 

sides of the planet, where scientists believed that liquid water might have existed in the past. To 

conduct geological research on the planet, NASA scientists had equipped each rover with a 

microscopic imager, a panoramic camera, and a variety of spectrometers. NASA had scheduled 

Opportunity, the second rover, to land on Mars later in January.577

5 January 

Thomas Q. Donaldson replaced Michael U. Rudolphi as Director of NASA’s SSC. Donaldson 

had previously served as Commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command 

headquartered at SSC. Rudolphi had served as interim Director of SSC since May 2003 but had 

left the Center in December 2003 to become Manager of the Space Shuttle Propulsion Office at 

NASA’s MSFC.578

 

575 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 602, 1 January 2004, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx602.html (accessed 26 

March 2009); United Press International, “China-EU Launch Space Project,” 30 December 2003. 576 NASA JPL, “NASA Spacecraft Makes Great Catch . . . Heads for Touchdown,” news release 2004-001, 2 

January 2004; NASA JPL, “Stardust: NASA’s Comet Sample Return MissionEncounter with Comet Wild 2,” 

http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/details2.html (accessed 9 January 2009). 577 NASA, “Spirit Lands on Mars and Sends Postcards,” news release 2004-003, 4 January 2004; NASA, “Mars 

Exploration Rover Mission: Summary,” http://marsrover.nasa.gov/overview/ (accessed 11 January 2009). 578 NASA, “Stennis Space CenterMichael U. Rudolphi,” http://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/about/ 

history/personalities/rudolphi.html (accessed 11 January 2009); NASA, “Stennis Space CenterRear Admiral 
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8 January 

Astronomers published their analysis of the first observations ever made of a supernova 

occurring in a binary star, thereby providing crucial support for a theory concerning the most 

violent type of event in the universe. Supernovas occur when stars exhaust their nuclear fuel 

reserves and collapse, ejecting their outer layers in a massive explosion. Previously, scientists 

had regarded the study of supernovas as important for understanding the evolution of galaxies 

and of the universe, but they had remained uncertain about the origins of supernovas, including 

whether they occur in solitary or binary star systems. However, the team of astronomers from 

ESA and the University of Hawaii had used the HST and the W. M. Keck Telescope in Hawaii to 

observe the remnants of supernova SN 1993J. They had discovered a massive star in close 

proximity to the star that had caused SN 1993J, demonstrating that supernovas emerge from 

binary star systems. According to the astronomers, supernovas occur in binary systems when one 

star collapses, shedding its mass, and a nearby star of comparable size accretes the lost mass.579

12 January 

NASA announced that astronaut Leroy Chiao would replace William S. McArthur Jr. as 

Commander of Expedition 9, the next mission to the ISS. NASA had disqualified McArthur from 

Expedition 9 because of an unspecified medical issue. Chiao, who had trained as McArthur’s 

substitute, would join Russian cosmonaut Valery I. Tokarev for the mission, scheduled to launch 

in April 2004.580

ISS crew members repaired an air leak in the space station. Astronaut C. Michael Foale and 

cosmonaut Alexander Y. Kaleri fixed a leak in a flex hose located in the ISS’s Destiny laboratory 

module. The orbiting space station had begun to lose air on 22 December 2003. After examining 

the station’s air pressure readings, NASA’s Mission Control had informed ISS crew members of 

the leak on 5 January 2004. The air leak had not endangered either the ISS crew or operations. 

By systematically isolating the ISS’s compartments and using an ultrasound device to determine 

the location of a hissing sound emitted by the faulty hose, Foale and Kaleri had discovered the 

source of the air loss.581

14 January 

In a speech at NASA Headquarters, President George W. Bush announced the new space policy 

for the United States, which he called the Vision for Space Exploration. President Bush’s new 

policy called for the completion of the ISS by 2010, the subsequent retirement of the Space 

Shuttle fleet, and the development of a replacement Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) capable of 

conducting human spaceflight missions by 2014. President Bush stated that he would seek US$1 

billion in funding over the next five years to begin research on the new vehicle program. In 

addition, he called for robotic exploration of the Moon by 2008, followed by crewed missions to 

the Moon in 2020 and, eventually, astronaut missions to Mars, directing NASA to divert US$11 

 Thomas Q. Donaldson, V, USN (Ret.),” http://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/about/history/

personalities/donaldson.html (accessed 11 January 2009). 

579 ESA, “First Supernova Companion Star Found,” http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMT0J374OD_ index_0.

.html (accessed 14 January 2009); Justyn R. Maund et al., “The Massive Binary Companion Star to the Progenitor of 

Supernova 1993J,” Nature 427, no. 6970 (8 January 2004): 129–131. 580 NASA, “Chiao Replaces McArthur as Next Space Station Commander,” news release 04-019, 12 January 2004. 581 Mark Carreau, “Leak on Space Station Stopped,” Houston Chronicle, 13 January 2004. 
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billion from existing space programs over the next years to fund the development of the 

technology to travel to the Moon and Mars. President Bush also extended an invitation to other 

countries to cooperate in attaining the objectives of the Vision. Major newspapers described the 

Vision for Space Exploration as a response to the Columbia disaster and a means of regaining 

public support for continued space exploration.582

15 January 

NASA announced it would undergo an internal reorganization to meet its new objectives under 

the Vision for Space Exploration, the blueprint for American space policy that President George 

W. Bush had released one day before. The reorganization included the creation of a new office to 

develop a new CEV and other technologies for future missions to the Moon and Mars. NASA 

named Craig E. Steidle to oversee the new Office of Exploration Systems. Furthermore, NASA 

renamed its Office of Aerospace Technology, which had previously been responsible for 

spacecraft development. Under its new nameOffice of Aeronauticsit would have 

responsibility for developing aviation technologies. J. Victor Lebacqz, former Acting Associate 

Administrator of the Office of Aerospace Technology, became Associate Administrator of the 

new Office of Aeronautics.583

The GAO released its assessment of NASA’s efforts to upgrade the Space Shuttle fleet in the 

wake of the Columbia tragedy. NASA planned to implement the recommendations of the 

Columbia Accident Investigation Board, as well as those of its own Space Shuttle Service Life 

Extension Program (SLEP). The GAO report stated that before NASA determined the upgrade 

requirements and priorities for the Shuttles, it should first determine the Shuttles’ operational life 

and the requirements for meeting the objectives of the Integrated Space Transportation Plan 

(ISTP). Before the announcement of the new Vision for Space Exploration, the ISTP had 

encompassed the space policy of the United States. However, GAO noted that the establishment 

of President Bush’s new Vision for Space Exploration, which formally changed the duration of 

operations for both the Space Shuttles and the ISS, had largely invalidated the recommendations 

offered in GAO’s assessment.584

18 January 

ESA reported that Mars Express had discovered the first direct evidence of water on Mars. 

Whereas some previous research had suggested that water might be present on Mars, Mars 

Express had detected the presence of actual water ice covered by a layer of frozen carbon dioxide 

at the planet’s south pole. The spacecraft had also found that the amount of carbon dioxide in 

Mars’s atmosphere was inadequate to have warmed the planet sufficiently for the formation of 

 

582 Patty Reinert, “Bush Aims for ‘Worlds Beyond Our Own’,” Houston Chronicle, 15 January 2004; David E. 

Sanger and Richard W. Stevenson, “Bush Backs Goal of Flight to Moon To Establish Base,” New York Times, 15 

January 2004; NASA, “The Vision for Space Exploration,” http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/

55584main_vision_space_exploration-hi-res.pdf (accessed 30 January 2009). 583 Patty Reinert, “New NASA Office To Focus on Advancing Bush Space Agenda,” Houston Chronicle, 16 January 

2004; Kenneth Chang, “NASA Creating Office for Missions to the Moon and Beyond,” New York Times, 16 January 

2004. 

584 U.S. General Accounting Office, “Space Shuttle: Further Improvements Needed in NASA’s Modernization 

Efforts” (report no. GAO-04-203, Washington DC, 15 January 2004), http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04203.pdf

(accessed 30 January 2009). 
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liquid water and the support of life on the planet’s surface. Scientists regarded the findings as 

crucial in determining whether Mars could have supported life in the past.585

19 January 

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe officially informed HST Program staff that he had decided 

to eliminate all future servicing missions to the space telescope. NASA had conducted previous 

HST servicing missions to replace aging or inoperable components and to install new 

technologically improved equipment. According to NASA, O’Keefe had made the decision to 

halt the missions in the wake of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, based on assessments of 

the risk to astronauts performing HST servicing missions.586

23 January 

NASA announced that the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit was malfunctioning because of 

problems related to its flash memory that could take several weeks to repair. Flash memory, a 

type of memory commonly installed in electronic devices, such as digital cameras, retains data 

when the device’s power is off. The mobile robotic geological laboratory Spirit had landed on 

Mars on 3 January 2004 and had performed satisfactorily until it had abruptly terminated 

communications with NASA on 21 January 2004. On 23 January 2004, Spirit had reestablished 

contact with NASA, but, according to major newspapers, NASA scientists doubted that the 

robotic spacecraft would regain full functionality.587

The U.S. Air Force awarded the Boeing Company a US$472 million contract to develop a 

military satellite system capable of secure, high-capacity global communications for NASA, the 

U.S. intelligence community, and the DOD. Under the terms of the contract, Boeing would lead 

a team of companies that would conduct risk-reduction and system-definition studies for the 

Transformational Communications MILSATCOM (Military Satellite Communications) Space 

Segment, which uses laser communications, advanced processors, and other advanced 

technologies to provide communications for airborne intelligence, surveillance, and 

reconnaissance. The companies selected to conduct research on the project included Ball 

Aerospace, Cisco Systems, and Raytheon.588

24 January 

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity landed on Mars nearly three weeks after its twin 

rover Spirit had landed on the planet. NASA had created the two mobile robotic rovers to 

explore rocks and soils on Mars to determine whether the planet had previously possessed water 

 

585 ESA, “Mars Express Sees Its First WaterScientific Results,” ESA news release 6-2004, 23 January 2004; JeanPierre Bibring, “Perennial Water Ice Identified in the South Polar Cap of Mars,” Nature 428, no. 6983 (8 April 

2004): 627–630. 

586 NASA, “Hubble Space Telescope: Program News Archive,” http://hubble.nasa.gov/news/archive.php (accessed 

31 January 2004). 

587 Mark Carreau, “NASA Declares Spirit Rover Broken,” Houston Chronicle, 24 January 2004; NASA, “Spirit 

Condition Upgraded as Twin Rover Nears Mars,” news release 04-036, 24 January 2004. 

588 The Boeing Company, “Boeing Awarded $472 Million for Next-Generation Military Satellite System,” news 

release, 23 January 2004, http//www.boeing.com/news/releases/2004/q1/nr_040123s.html (accessed 28 January 

2010). 
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and the ability to sustain life. NASA had designed the mission so that the rovers would explore 

Mars simultaneously, on nearly opposite sides of the planet.589

27 January 

President George W. Bush formally established the President’s Commission on Implementation 

of United States Space Exploration Policy, to provide recommendations on implementing 

elements of his recently announced Vision for Space Exploration. The Commission would make 

recommendations regarding the type of scientific research U.S. scientists would conduct on the 

Moon, the development of technologies to enable human and robotic exploration of the Moon 

and the planets, and the criteria for selecting future destinations for human space explorers. The 

appointed members of the Commission were Edward C. Aldridge Jr., Carleton S. Fiorina, 

Michael P. Jackson, Laurie A. Leshin, Lester L. Lyles, Paul D. Spudis, Neil deGrasse Tyson, 

Robert S. Walker, and Maria T. Zuber.590

29 January 

The Russian Space Agency successfully launched the Progress M1-11 resupply vehicle to the 

ISS from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:58 a.m. (EST). The Progress vehicle, the 

13th resupply flight to the ISS, carried 2.5 tons (2,300 kilograms or 2.3 tonnes) of food, fuel, and 

equipment. The vehicle’s mission designation was ISS 13P.591

FEBRUARY 2004 

2 February 

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe and families of the Space Shuttle Columbia crew unveiled a 

commemorative monument for the Columbia crew at Arlington National Cemetery. The crew 

had died when Columbia broke apart during reentry into Earth’s atmosphere on 1 February 2003. 

The marble monument was 66 inches (1.7 meters) tall, 48 inches (1.2 meters) wide, and bore two 

bronze plaques portraying the crew and the shoulder patch they had worn on the mission.592

5 February 

NASA’s MSFC and KSC provided law enforcement agencies with analysis of video and imagery 

relevant to their investigation of the abduction of an 11-year-old girl in Sarasota, Florida. When 

law enforcement officials asked the two centers to examine security camera footage showing the 

girl’s abduction by an unknown individual, MSFC provided assistance using its Video Image 

Stabilization and Registration System (VISAR), an image-stabilization software program 

developed for space program research. KSC examined the security camera footage using its 

Image Analysis Facility, which NASA had developed for visual analysis of Space Shuttle 

 

589 NASA, “NASA Hears from Opportunity Rover on Mars,” news release 04-037, 25 January 2004. 

590 The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, “Executive Order Creating the Presidential Commission on 

Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy,” news release, 30 January 2004, 

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/aldridge_executive_order.html (accessed 30 January 2009); The White 

House, Office of the Press Secretary, “Members of the Presidential Space Exploration Commission,” news release, 

30 January, 2004, http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/ aldridge_members.html (accessed 30 January 2009). 

591 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 603, 1 February 2004, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx603.html (accessed 31 

January 2009). 

592 NASA, “NASA Dedicates Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial,” news release 04-049, 2 February 2004. 
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launches. Although this was not the first time that the two centers had assisted law enforcement 

in this manner, the case garnered major press coverage throughout the United States.593

6 February 

ESA’s Mars Express orbiter relayed information between ground-based NASA engineers and 

NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, the first in-orbit communication between ESA and 

NASA spacecraft and the first successful international communications network outside of Earth. 

As part of their general efforts to cooperate in space exploration, the two space agencies had 

planned the information relay to enable future cooperative use of their communications 

technologies during Mars missions. In this particular communication sequence, Spirit’s operation 

personnel at NASA’s JPL transferred commands for the rover to ESA’s Space Operations Centre 

in Germany, which then transmitted the instructions to the Mars Express. The Express 

successfully commanded Spirit and, subsequently, relayed telemetry information from the rover 

to JPL via the Space Operations Centre.594

NASA and the ISS partners announced crew assignments for the next two expeditions to the 

space station. NASA astronaut E. Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Gennady I. Padalka 

would serve on Expedition 9, and NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao and Russian cosmonaut Salizhan 

S. Sharipov would provide the crew for Expedition 10. In addition, Chiao and Sharipov would 

serve as the backup crew for Expedition 9, while NASA astronaut William S. McArthur Jr. and 

Russian cosmonaut Valery I. Tokarev would serve as the backup crew for Expedition 10. 

Although NASA and its partners had previously scheduled Tokarev to pair with Chaio on 

Expedition 10, the ISS partners had decided to replace Tokarev with Sharipov, because Sharipov 

had previously trained with Chiao.595

Jerome F. Lederer, NASA’s first Director of Manned Space Flight Safety, died at the age of 101. 

Lederer, an aviation-safety expert, had introduced notable aviation-safety technologies, such as 

blinking anticollision lights and flight-data recorders. Lederer had started his career in aviation 

safety in 1926 as an aeronautical engineer for the U.S. Air Mail Service, where he had 

redesigned the service’s airplanes to prevent them from igniting after crashes, a frequent cause of 

death of the pilots. In the 1950s, he had helped establish the agency that later became the FAA. 

In 1967, after a fire on Apollo 1 had killed three astronauts during a launchpad test, NASA had 

asked Lederer to establish an Office of Manned Space Flight Safety. In 1970 NASA had 

appointed Lederer as the safety director for all NASA activities. Lederer had retired two years 

later. Later, Lederer had taught at the University of Southern California and had served two 

three-year terms on the Advisory Council for the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations.596

11 February 

ESA and UK Science Minister Lord David Sainsbury announced that ESA and the United 

Kingdom would conduct a joint inquiry into the failure of the Beagle 2 Mars lander. ESA 

 

593 NASA, “NASA Technology Helps Investigators in Florida Abduction Case,” news release 04-055, 5 February 

2004; Fred Barbash, “Fla. Police Find Body of Abducted Girl,” Washington Post, 7 February 2004. 

594 NASA, “International Interplanetary Networking Succeeds,” news release 04-060, 12 February 2004. 

595 NASA, “New Crews Named for 2004 Space Station Missions,” news release 04-056, 6 February 2004. 

596 Stuart Lavietes, “J. F. Lederer, 101, Dies; Took Risk Management to the Sky,” New York Times, 9 February 

2004. 
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Inspector-General René Bonnefoy would oversee the inquiry, which would investigate the 

reasons for the mission’s failure and establish lessons that ESA could apply in future missions. 

Beagle 2, a component of ESA’s Mars Express mission, had failed to communicate with ESA 

after the time of its scheduled landing on Mars on 25 December 2003. The Beagle 2 

Management Board had declared the spacecraft lost on 6 February 2004.597

12 February 

ESA’s Science Programme Committee approved a proposal to extend the operation of the 

Ulysses spacecraft―a joint project of ESA and NASA―until March 2008. NASA had already 

approved continuing the spacecraft’s operations. The two space agencies had designed the 

spacecraft to study the heliosphere, a region of space influenced by the Sun and its magnetic 

field. Scientists of the agencies hoped that the continued operations of Ulysses would help them 

better understand the Sun. Since the 1990 launch of Ulysses, ESA and NASA both had launched 

additional fleet of solar and heliospheric spacecraft: NASA’s Cassini, ESA’s four Cluster 

satellites, and another collaborative project between ESA and NASA, the Solar and Heliospheric 

Observatory (SOHO).598

16 February 

An international team of astronomers discovered a galaxy cluster that could be the most distant 

known galaxy in the universe. The team, led by Jean-Paul Kneib of California Institute of 

Technology, had used the W. M. Keck Telescopes in Hawaii and the HST to observe a galaxy 

known as Abell 2218. The astronomers believed that the Abell 2218 galaxy, which they 

estimated at 13 billion light-years from Earth, could be the most distant known galaxy, but 

precise measurements of its distance were particularly difficult, because the galaxy is so far from 

Earth that its visible light stretches into infrared wavelengths. Moreover, the scientists suggested 

that the galaxy might be a young stellar system formed at the initial stages of the universe’s 

inception. Further observation of Abell 2218 and other distant galaxies could yield important 

clues about the universe’s formation.599

18 February 

NASA and ESA jointly announced that scientists had obtained evidence of a black hole 

consuming a star, an event known as stellar tidal disruption. Previously, scientists had only 

theorized the existence of such an event. Using observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray 

Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton orbiting observatory, an international team of scientists 

had discovered a star that had been thrown from its orbit after a close encounter with another star 

and, subsequently, had moved into the gravitational field of a black hole. The black hole, with a 

mass estimated at 100 million times greater than the Sun, had exerted a gravitational pull on the 

 

597 ESA, “UK and ESA Announce Beagle 2 Inquiry―Investigation To Learn Lessons from Mars Lander,” ESA 

news release 9-2004, 11 February 2004. 

598 ESA, “Ulysses Mission Home: Ulysses Mission Extended,” http://sci.esa.int/sciencee/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=34647 (accessed 4 February 2009). 

599 ESA, “Hubble and Keck Team Up To Find Farthest Known Galaxy in the Universe,” ESA news release SNR 4-

2004, 16 February 2004; Jean-Paul Kneib et al., “A Probable z~7 Galaxy Strongly Lensed by the Rich Cluster 

A2218: Exploring the Dark Ages,” Astrophysical Journal 607, no. 2 (1 June 2004): 697–703. 
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star that led to its eventual disintegration. Stefanie Komossa of the Max Planck Institute for 

Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany led the group of scientists that had made the discovery.600

19 February 

NASA’s Space Flight Leadership Council (SFLC), which was overseeing NASA’s efforts to 

resume Shuttle flights, announced that NASA would not launch another Space Shuttle before 

March 2005. NASA had delayed a Shuttle launch because of a new requirement that launches 

occur during daylight hours, to enable photographing the liftoff from multiple angles. Because of 

the limited number of days available in which a launch could take place in daylight, the next 

Shuttle launch could occur no earlier than March 2005. In addition, NASA announced that, when 

Shuttle launches recommenced, one Shuttle would function as a standby rescue vehicle in case 

the Shuttle carrying the crew sustained damage during flight. NASA announced that, although 

rescue vehicles would not necessarily be positioned on the launchpad, they would be ready for 

launch within 45 to 90 days, the maximum length of time that seven astronauts could survive on 

the ISS before their supplies ran out.601

20 February 

NASA announced its findings concerning how and why a piece of insulation had separated from 

a fuel tank on Space Shuttle Columbia, an event that had later contributed to Columbia’s 

destruction upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. According to NASA official William F. 

Readdy, NASA had determined that extremely cold fuel had liquefied air or nitrogen, which 

subsequently had seeped into a portion of the foam or had collected on nuts and bolts below the 

foam, eventually expanding and explosively jettisoning a piece of the foam. The foam had shot 

from the fuel tank, hitting the orbiter and creating a large―and ultimately fatal―gash in its left 

wing. Before the Columbia tragedy, engineers had believed that when the fuel tanks shed foam, 

it fell away from the body of the orbiter. Readdy stated that NASA had redesigned the fuel tanks 

and improved techniques for applying the foam to remedy the problem that had caused the 

accident to Columbia.

602

26 February 

ISS crew members Alexander Y. Kaleri and C. Michael Foale conducted a spacewalk, leaving 

the station vacant. The spacewalk marked the first time that the ISS crew had left the station 

without another crew member remaining on board to assist in case of emergency. The purpose of 

the spacewalk was to service experiments located on the station’s exterior and to prepare the 

orbiting structure for future assembly work. The astronauts were unable to complete all of the 

planned tasks, however, because a problem with Kaleri’s spacesuit prompted Russian flight 

controllers to end the spacewalk early.603

 

600 John Noble Wilford, “Black Holes’ Vast Power Is Documented,” New York Times, 19 February 2004; Stefanie 

Komossa, Jules P. Halpern, and Suvi Gezari, “Follow-up Chandra Observations of Three Candidate Tidal 

Disruption Events,” Astrophysical Journal 604, no. 2 (1 April 2004): 572–578. 601 NASA, “NASA Updates Space Shuttle Return to Flight Plans,” news release n04-065, 19 February 2004; Warren 

E. Leary, “Shuttle Won’t Fly Before March Next Year,” New York Times, 20 February 2004. 602 Warren E. Leary, “Repairs and Need for Rescue Craft Pushed Back Shuttle Timetable, NASA Says,” New York 

Times, 21 February 2004. 603 William Harwood, “Spacewalk Is Cut Short; Malfunction in Cosmonaut’s Suit Cited,” Washington Post, 27 

February 2004. 
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27 February 

In an internal review, NASA concluded that the ISS program suffered from many of the same 

problems as the Space Shuttle program and that the ISS partners needed to make improvements 

in the station’s management. NASA had drafted the 172-page report to apply lessons learned 

from the Columbia disaster to NASA’s other programs. The report identified seven areas of 

concern, such as inconsistencies in monitoring the ISS’s hardware, lack of training for personnel 

administering equipment problems, and an incomplete set of blueprints for hardware. In their 

response to the report, NASA managers stated that the ISS program had no major problems and 

that NASA was already pursuing measures to improve the station’s operations. For example, 

NASA had worked to minimize the sources of debris that could hit the ISS. In addition, NASA 

had expanded an existing agreement with U.S. intelligence agencies to use intelligence satellites 

to examine the ISS for damages. Managers also noted that they planned to install additional 

cameras to the station’s exterior and that, during future spacewalks, astronauts would photograph 

the ISS more extensively.604

29 February 

A team of researchers led by scientist Marc L. Imhoff of NASA’s GSFC published research 

indicating that increasing urbanization in the United States had reduced the amount of fertile land 

available for agriculture. Using data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) 

and NOAA’s polar-orbiting satellites, the scientists had discovered that cities covered 3 percent 

of the land area in the continental United States. Moreover, the team found that the urbanized 

areas were capable of producing an amount of food and fiber rivaling that produced on 

agricultural lands, which covered 29 percent of the land area in the continental United States. 

Furthermore, they found that the urbanized land areas had the potential to produce enough food 

to meet the caloric requirements of 16.5 million people, nearly 6 percent of the U.S. population. 

The authors explained that, throughout history, human settlement has tended to occur on lands 

best suited for growing food. The research results, which were consistent with this trend, 

strongly suggested that urbanization should occur in conjunction with agricultural and 

environmental considerations.605

MARCH 2004 

1 March 

Researchers announced that they had found a new type of celestial object, which they suspected 

was a new class of black holes. A group of scientists led by Rosanne Di Stefano of the HarvardSmithsonian Center for Astrophysics had examined data collected by NASA’s Chandra X-ray 

Observatory. The team had studied x-rays emitted by enigmatic objects located in nearby 

galaxies, finding that the volume of x-rays emanating from these objects was comparable to or 

greater than the volume emitted by relatively warmer, larger hard x-ray sources, such as neutron 

 

604 Warren E. Leary, “NASA Report Says Problems Plague Space Station Program,” New York Times, 28 February 

2004; Mark Carreau, “Space Station Safety Problems Noted,” Houston Chronicle, 28 February 2004. 605 NASA, “Cities Built on Fertile Lands Affect Climate,” news release 04-059, 11 February 2004; Marc L. Imhoff 

et al., “The Consequences of Urban Land Transformation on Net Primary Productivity in the United States,” Remote 

Sensing of Environment 89, no. 4 (29 February 2004): 434–443. 
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stars and supermassive black holes. The findings indicated that the newly discovered objects 

could be a type of black hole that the researchers termed “quasi-soft” x-ray sources.606

2 March 

ESA launched the Rosetta comet probe on an Ariane 5 rocket at 7:17 a.m. (UT) from the Guiana 

Space Centre in French Guiana. ESA had created Rosettathe first spacecraft designed to enter 

a comet’s nucleus and to place a probe on a comet’s surfaceto study the comet 

67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta, equipped with solar arrays spanning 105 feet (32 

meters) and relying on solar cells for its power supply, was also the first probe designed to travel 

past Mars. Scientists hoped that, in studying comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenkoa remnant of 

a primitive nebula from which Earth’s solar system emergedRosetta would help them 

understand more about the role of comets in forming the solar system and contributing to the 

development of life on Earth.607

3 March 

Former astronaut Robert D. Cabana became Deputy Director of NASA’s JSC, replacing Brock 

R. Stone, who had retired after a 36-year career with NASA. Cabana had previously served on 

four Space Shuttle missions and in many management positions supporting the Astronaut Office 

and the ISS Program. Before becoming Deputy Director of JSC, Cabana had served as Director 

of Flight Crew Operations. NASA had appointed former astronaut Kenneth D. Bowersox to fill 

that position.608

5 March 

NASA reported that its Mars Exploration Rovers had discovered geological evidence indicating 

that Mars had once had water. The rover Spirit had found a volcanic rock containing fissures 

filled with material that could have crystallized from water. A few days earlier, on 2 March 

2004, the rover Opportunity, operating nearly 6,600 miles (10,622 kilometers) from Spirit, had 

found minerals and geological features that appeared to have been leached by groundwater or to 

have been formed by sediment in what was previously a body of water. However, scientists were 

unable to conclude from the two rovers’ findings when Mars had actually had water in the past 

or whether the water had been located above or below the planet’s surface.609

The airline company Virgin Atlantic conducted the first successful test flight of its Globalflyer 

airplane. The company had designed the Globalflyer to conduct a flight around the world in 3.3 

days without refueling, which, if achieved, would create a world’s record for the length of an 

unrefueled flight. During a test flight lasting 11⁄2 hours, the Globalflyer aircraftalso known as 

the Model 311 Capricornexhibited no significant mechanical problems. However, the 

experimental aircraft had required several modifications, such as the development of a cabin-

 

606 NASA, “Enigmatic X-ray Sources May Point To New Class of Black Holes,” news release 04-067, 1 March 

2004; Frank Morring Jr., “In Orbit,” Aviation Week and Space Technology 160, no. 10 (8 March 2004): 19. 607 ESA, “Rosetta Begins Its 10-Year Journey to the Origins of the Solar System,” ESA news release 14-2004, 2 

March 2004; Warren E. Leary, “Intricate European Mission Goes Hunting for a Comet,” New York Times, 24 

February 2004. 

608 NASA JSC, “NASA Fills Key Space Flight Positions,” news release I-I04-080, 3 March 2004. 

609 Guy Gugliotta, “Mars Rover Finds Signs of Water,” Washington Post, 7 March 2004; NASA, “Opportunity 

Rover Finds Strong Evidence Meridiani Planam Was Wet,” news release 04-077, 2 March 2004. 
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pressurization system, to reach its final design parameters. Previously, the longest duration for an 

unrefueled flight around the world had been nine days, a record set by Dick Rutan and Jeana 

Yeager in 1986.610

9 March 

A group of astronomers announced the most detailed telescopic view ever taken of the visible 

universe. NASA’s HST had captured a 1 million-second-long exposure of a small portion of dark 

sky, with a resulting image containing an estimated 10,000 galaxies, some so far away that 

astronomers had never before seen them. Astronomers called the image the Hubble Ultra Deep 

Field. They believed that the Hubble Ultra Deep Field might have revealed light from galaxies 

created near the time of the Big Bang and hoped that the image would provide information about 

the creation of the universe.611

13 March 

Japan’s Mobile Broadcast Corporation and South Korea’s Sun Kyung Telecom launched the 

Loral Mobile Broadcasting Satellite (MBSAT), which the two companies had designed to 

provide the world’s first digital multimedia broadband broadcasting system. The MBSAT, 

launched on a Lockheed Martin Atlas 3 rocket, carried a 40-foot-diameter (12.2-meter-diameter) 

antenna designed to provide audio, video, and data services to users of portable audio and visual 

devices in Japan and South Korea. International Launch Services (ILS), a U.S.-Russian private 

company, provided the launch services for the Japanese-South Korean joint venture.612

15 March 

William H. Pickering, a former Director of NASA’s JPL, died at the age of 93. Pickering had 

begun his career at JPL in 1944 and had served as Director from 1954 to 1976. Soon after 

becoming Director of JPL, Pickering had led a project that had successfully launched the first 

U.S. satellite Explorer 1 into Earth orbit on 31 January 1958. During the remainder of 

Pickering’s tenure, JPL had launched the Ranger and Surveyor missions to the Moon and the 

Mariner missions to Mars and Venus. Pickering had received numerous awards during his 

lifetime: NASA had presented him with its Distinguished Service Medal, President Gerald R. 

Ford had awarded him the National Medal of Science, and the Queen of England had given him 

an honorary knighthood.613

NASA-funded researchers announced that they had found the most distant object orbiting the 

Sun yet discovered. Michael E. Brown of the California Institute of Technology had led a team 

of scientists to discover a small body of rock and ice located 8 billion miles (13 billion 

kilometers) from Earth. They had named the object Sedna after the Inuit goddess of the ocean. 

Sedna was the largest object found in the solar system since Pluto’s discovery in 1930. However, 

astronomers reported that they could not designate Sedna as a planet because, like Pluto, Sedna 

 

610 Michael A. Dornheim, “Globalflyer Airborne,” Aviation Week and Space Technology 160, no. 11 (15 March 

2004): 38. 

611 NASA, “Hubble’s Deep View of the Universe Unveils Earliest Galaxies,” news release 04-086, 9 March 2004; 

Dennis Overbye, “Images Reveal Deepest Glance into Universe,” New York Times, 10 March 2004. 612 Craig Covault, “Mobile Milestone,” Aviation Week and Space Technology 160, no. 12 (22 March 2004): 35; 

International Launch Services, “About Us,” http://www.ilslaunch.com/about-us/ (accessed 18 March 2009). 613 NASA, “NASA Remembers William H. Pickering, Former Director of JPL,” news release 04-094, 16 March 

2004. 
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is too smallwith an estimated diameter of 1,100 miles (1,770 kilometers)and possesses an 

irregular orbit. The scientists stated that the discovery might also have been the first observation 

of a region called the Oort Cloud, which is located outside of Pluto’s orbit. Astronomers had 

long hypothesized the existence of this region of small frozen objects, the source of comets that 

enter Earth’s solar system. The team had discovered Sedna using the Samuel Oschin Telescope 

at the California Institute of Technology’s Palomar Observatory.614

A NASA-funded study found that some climate-forecasting models might have incorrectly 

estimated future increases in Earth’s temperatures. Scientists Kenneth R. Minschwaner of the 

New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and Andrew E. Dessler of the University of 

Maryland had determined that some climate models might have incorrectly estimated the amount 

of water vapor that enters Earth’s atmosphere as the planet warms. For years, scientists had 

debated the extent to which water vaporthe most important heat-trapping greenhouse gas in 

Earth’s atmosphereinfluences Earth’s surface temperatures. Using data from NASA’s Upper 

Atmosphere Research Satellite, the scientists had found that, although the amount of water vapor 

in the atmosphere had increased with surface warming, the increase had not been as high as 

previous researchers had assumed. The findings also cast doubt on research suggesting that 

Earth’s temperatures would decrease because of a lack of water vapor in the atmosphere.615

18 March 

At a hearing held by the U.S. House Science and Technology Subcommittee on Space and 

Aeronautics, officials from NASA and the Pentagon stated that they expect to work together on 

President Bush’s exploration strategy for Mars and the Moon, without altering the traditional 

divisions between the two organizations. According to officials, NASA and the Pentagon would 

cooperate on technical issues of concern to both agencies, including the development of 

lightweight fabrication systems and systems for unpiloted docking of spacecraft. The two 

agencies would also explore sharing launch systems, including NASA’s possible use of the Atlas 

5 and Delta 4 rockets, which the Pentagon had developed to launch its own satellites. According 

to major media, House subcommittee members were interested in the possibility of saving 

money through the collaboration between NASA and the Pentagon, but they were also concerned 

about the possibility of the two agencies repeating their previous collaborative failures. As an 

example of such a failed collaboration, they cited the Advanced Launch System project, a 

collaborative project between the two agencies during the 1980s and 1990s.616

A team of European scientists released research that solved a long-standing puzzle concerning 

the sources of gamma rays in the center of the Milky Way. Scientists already knew that the 

Milky Way produces a substantial quantity of gamma rays, which illuminate the galaxy. 

However, they were uncertain about whether the galaxy’s gamma rays originate predominantly 

from so-called point sources, such as black holes and neutron stars, or from diffuse sources, such 

as gas atoms, which are abundant in the Milky Way. Using data from ESA’s 

INTEGRALInternational Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratoryresearchers led by François 

 

614 NASA, “Most Distant Object in Solar System Discovered,” news release 04-091, 15 March 2009; Thomas H. 

Maugh II, “Scientists Discover Icy Planetoid Beyond Pluto,” Los Angeles Times, 16 March 2009. 615 NASA, “Satellite Finds Warming ‘Relative’ to Humidity,” news release N04-090, 15 March 1990; New York 

Times, “Study Disputes Idea of Global Warming,” 18 March 2004. 616 Mark Carreau, “NASA, Military To Work Closely on Space Effort,” Houston Chronicle, 19 March 2004. 
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Lebrun found that point sources account for nearly all of the gamma rays in the Milky Way, and 

diffuse sources play a distinctly minor role in gamma-ray production.617

22 March 

Russian President Vladimir V. Putin appointed Anatoly N. Perminov as Director of the Russian 

Space Agency. Perminov, a professor at the Moscow Aviation Institute, had previously served as 

Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Space Force. He replaced previous Russian Space Agency 

Director Yuri N. Koptev, who Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin had appointed in 1992.618

27 March 

NASA’s X-43A Hyper X plane set a new record for flight speed, traveling at Mach 7, which is 

nearly 5,000 miles (8,050 kilometers) per hour and seven times the speed of sound. The flight 

was also the first free flight of an aircraft powered by a supersonic combustion ramjet enginea 

scramjeta type of engine that provides thrust by funneling air and fuel into a hollow chamber 

at extremely high speed. The 12-foot-long (3.7-meter-long) unpiloted, experimental aircraft flew 

for approximately 11 seconds over the Pacific Ocean, at an altitude of 95,000 feet 

(approximately 29,000 meters), before NASA deliberately landed the aircraft in the ocean. 

NASA used a modified B-52 aircraft to carry the X-43A into the sky, launching the X-43A into 

flight using a Pegasus rocket mounted to the B-52. The test flight, which took place near San 

Nicolas Island off the California coast, originated from NASA’s DFRC at Edwards Air Force 

Base in California.619

30 March 

The FAA released an analysis of the economic impact of the commercial space-transportation 

industry on the United States’ economy. The report examined how industriessuch as launchvehicle manufacturing, satellite services, and remote sensingaffect economic activity, 

employee earnings, and the amount of employment in all major industry sectors. Based on data 

from 2002, the FAA had found that the commercial space-transportation industry had 

contributed US$95 billion to economic activity in the United States, including US$23.5 billion in 

employee earnings. The report also stated that demands for commercial space transportation and 

its products and services had resulted in the employment of nearly 600,000 people. In addition, 

the FAA had found that much of this economic impact was the result of increased demands for 

satellite services and ground-equipment manufacturing, which includes satellite-related hardware 

and consumer electronics used with satellite services.620

 

617 Henry Fountain, “Observatory,” New York Times, 23 March 2004; F. Lebrun et al., “Compact Sources as the 

Origin of the Soft Gamma-Ray Emission of the Milky Way,” Nature 428, no. 6980 (18 March 2004): 293–296. 618 Russian Federal Space Agency, “Head of the Russian Federal Space AgencyAnatoly N. Perminov,” 

http://www.roscosmos.ru/about_rukovod.asp?Lang=ENG (accessed 18 March 2009); “World News Roundup,” 

Aviation Week and Space Technology 160, no. 12 (22 March 2004): 18–19. 

619 Peter Pae, “Fast Times at 12 O’Clock High: 5,000 MPH,” Los Angeles Times, 28 March 2004; NASA, “X-43A 

Soars on Scramjet Power,” 27 March 2004. 

620 FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation, “The Economic Impact of Commercial Space Transportation 

on the U.S. Economy: 2002 Results and Outlook for 2010” (study, Washington, DC, March 2004), 1–6. 
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APRIL 2004 

1 April 

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe testified before the U.S. Senate Commerce Subcommittee 

on Science, Technology and Space concerning NASA’s budget request for FY 2005. NASA had 

requested US$16.2 billion for FY 2005, an increase of 5.6 percent over its budget for FY 2004. 

Much of O’Keefe’s testimony and the Senate subcommittee members’ questions were concerned 

with the likelihood of NASA’s achieving the objectives that President George W. Bush had 

established for NASA in his Vision for Space Exploration, announced in January 2004. Those 

objectives included human flights to the Moon and replacing the Space Shuttles with a new 

space-exploration vehicle.621

2 April 

The GAO released an analysis of NASA’s budgetary outlays for fiscal years 2002 through 2004. 

Under Pub. L. No. 106-391, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization 

Act of 2000, GAO was required to verify NASA’s accounting of its funds obligated against 

established budgetary limits for the ISS and for Space Shuttle support for the ISS. Under the Act, 

NASA’s obligations were limited to US$25 billion for the ISS and US$17.7 billion for Shuttle 

support. GAO’s report noted that NASA had not provided sufficient documentation for the 

amounts it had reported as obligated against budgetary limits. Thus, GAO could not verify the 

amounts that NASA had reported to Congress in its budget requests for fiscal years 2002 through 

2004. Similarly, NASA had not reported any documentation of its FY 2004 budget obligations in 

its FY 2005 budget request to Congress. NASA officials acknowledged that NASA’s accounting 

system presented some difficulties for GAO’s auditors, but explained that those difficulties were 

the result of NASA’s having reported budgetary figures based on the amount it was authorized to 

spend rather than on the amount it was obligated to spend.622

5 April 

A commission composed of officials from ESA and the British National Space Centre released 

the results of their investigation into the loss of the Beagle 2 spacecraft, the first European 

spacecraft designed to explore the surface of Mars. On 19 December 2003, the Beagle 2 had 

successfully separated from ESA’s Mars Express, the spacecraft that had carried the Beagle 2 to 

its orbit of Mars. However, subsequently, Beagle 2 had failed to send any signals to mission 

engineers, and its eventual fate remained unknown. Although its report did not identify any 

single technical issue that had caused the mission loss, the investigating panel did provide 19 

recommendations for future missions. These recommendations, implicitly critical of the Beagle 2 

mission, suggested that future missions should have adequate funding and adequate testing, and 

that an agency with appropriate capabilities and resources should manage the missions.623

 

621 NASA, “Administrator O’Keefe’s Senate Testimony,” news release, 1 April 2004; Gwyneth K. Shaw, “NASA 

Chief Faces Lawmakers’ Queries,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 2 April 2004. 622 Patty Reinert, “GAO Says Lax Bookkeeping Thwarts Space Agency Audit,” Houston Chronicle, 7 April 2004; 

U.S. General Accounting Office, “International Space Station and Shuttle Support Cost Limits” (report no. GAO04-648R, Washington, DC, 2 April 2004), http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04648r.pdf (accessed 19 March 2009). 623 British National Space Centre, “Beagle 2” (report, ESA/UK Commission of Inquiry Swindon, UK, 5 April 2004), 

http://www.bnsc.gov.uk/assets/channels/resources/press/report.pdf (accessed 31 March 2009), 3–7; ESA, “Beagle 2: 

Lessons Learned and the Way Forward,” ESA news release 27-2004, 20 May 2004. 
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193

8 April 

NASA approved a five-month extension of the Mars Exploration Rovers’ mission nearly two 

weeks before its originally scheduled end on 26 April 2004. NASA had originally planned for 

the mission to last three months but had decided to extend it because the robotic 

rovers―Opportunity and Spirit―had satisfied all of their primary mission criteria, achieving 

several successes, such as discovering evidence that Mars had once had water. According to 

officials, NASA planned to provide US$15 million to continue the rovers’ operations, doubling 

the mission’s duration at less than 2 percent of the overall mission’s cost.624

15 April 

In a newly released survey, U.S. federal government employees ranked NASA as the best place 

to work in the federal government. The Office of Personnel Management had collected the data 

during a 2002 survey of federal employees, and the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service 

and American University’s Institute for the Study of Public Policy Implementation had produced 

the rankings. According to the survey, in eight out of 10 categories related to employment 

satisfaction, federal employees had ranked NASA first―federal employees had ranked NASA as 

the best place to work for women, for racial minorities, and for individuals under 40 years of 

age.625

Astronomers announced the first successful use of a new technique to discover a planet outside 

of the solar system. Astronomer Ian Bond of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and his 

team of researchers had used a technique called gravitational lensing to identify a star located 

17,000 light-years from Earth in the constellation Sagittarius. The gravitational lensing technique 

entailed the observation of increases in the brightness of the light of distant stars, caused by the 

gravitational fields of stars closer to Earth. The astronomers made these observations when a star 

nearer Earth passed before the lens of a telescope on Earth, between the telescope and a more 

distant star. When this occurred, the nearer star’s gravity caused the light of the more distant 

star’s light to become brighter, so that the distant star became more visible to astronomers on 

Earth.626

Sirpa Häkkinen of NASA’s GSFC announced that a research team had discovered changes in the 

North Atlantic Ocean indicating significant changes in the ocean’s climate. Using data from 

several NASA and European satellites, the researchers had found a dramatic weakening in a 

particular current in the ocean, which circulates water between Ireland and Canada. The change 

in the current indicated substantial climate variability in high-latitude areas, but the research 

remained uncertain of whether or not the change related to global warming. However, the 

scientists emphasized that the North Atlantic Ocean region is key for analyzing climate and that 

changes in the ocean’s current could influence the circulation of the entire Atlantic Ocean 

system.627

 

624 NASA, “NASA Extends Mars Rovers’ Mission,” news release 04-122, 8 March 2004. 625 Stephen Barr, “NASA Soars to Top of Satisfaction Ratings Among Various Workers,” Washington Post, 16 

April 2004. 

626 “Thomas H. Maugh II, “Distant Planet Spotted Around the Bend,” Los Angeles Times, 16 April 2004. 627 NASA, “Satellites Record Weakening North Atlantic Current,” news release 04-130, 15 April 2004; Sirpa 

Häkkinen and Peter B. Rhines, “Decline of Subpolar North Atlantic Circulation During the 1990s,” Science 304, no. 

5670 (23 April 2004): 555–559. 
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194

18 April 

The Expedition 9 crew of the ISS launched at 11:19 p.m. (EDT) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in 

Kazakhstan on the Russian Soyuz TMA-4/ISS-8S. The crew members consisted of Russian 

cosmonaut, Expedition 9 Commander Gennady I. Padalka; NASA astronaut E. Michael Fincke; 

and ESA astronaut André Kuipers of the Netherlands. Padalka and Fincke would remain at the 

ISS for nearly six months, while Kuipers would spend nine days on the ISS, returning to Earth 

with the crew members of Expedition 8―NASA astronaut C. Michael Foale and Russian 

cosmonaut Alexander Y. Kaleri.628

20 April 

NASA launched its Gravity Probe B (GP-B) on a Boeing Delta 2 rocket from Vandenberg Air 

Force Base in California at 12:57 p.m. (EDT). NASA had designed the satellite to test two 

fundamental aspects of Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. According to Einstein’s theory, 

time and space create a veritable fabric in space. When massive objects, such as Earth and other 

planets, distort the fabric of space, causing relatively smaller objects to move towards them, they 

create gravity. Einstein’s theory of relativity also states that large objects twist the fabric of space 

around them as those objects spin on their axes. Gravity Probe A, which NASA had launched in 

1975, had tested the former part of the theory, and GP-B would test both aspects. GP-B 

contained some of the most accurate scientific instruments ever constructed, including the most 

precise gyroscopes ever built.629

Scientist Menglin Jin of NASA’s GSFC published research based on the first use of satellites to 

create a multiyear record of Earth’s land-surface temperatures. Jin had used remote-sensing data, 

which satellites had collected from 1981 to 1998, to develop an 18-year record of global landsurface temperatures more comprehensive and detailed than data derived from ground-station 

measurements. According to the satellite data, average global land-surface temperatures had 

increased by 0.43 ̊C (0.77 ̊F) per decade, whereas ground-station data had indicated an increase 

of 0.34 ̊C (0.61 ̊F). The different findings produced different measurements because satellites 

measure actual land-surface temperatures―also known as skin temperatures―and ground 

stations measure air temperatures 6.6 feet (2 meters) above land surfaces. However, Jin also 

noted regional variations in temperature changes, with the central regions of North America and 

Asia experiencing some declines in temperatures.630

21 April 

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe provided testimony concerning NASA’s FY 2005 budget 

request to the U.S. House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent 

Agencies. In his testimony, O’Keefe highlighted NASA’s planned efforts to achieve the goals 

that President George W. Bush had established for NASA in his Vision for Space Exploration. 

According to major media, although several House subcommittee members were supportive of 

 

628 NASA, “Expedition 9 on the Way to Space Station,” news release 04-133, 18 April 2004; National Space 

Science Data Center, Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 605, 1 May 2004, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/ spacewarn/spx605.html. 629 Thomas H. Maugh II, “Einstein’s Theory Rockets into Orbit,” Los Angeles Times, 21 April 2004; NASA, “The 

Gravity Probe B: The Relativity Mission,” http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ gpb/index.html (accessed 23 March 

2009).

630 NASA, “Satellites Act as Thermometers in Space,” news release 04-121, 20 April 2004; Menglin Jin, “Analysis 

of Land Skin Temperature Using AVHRR Observations,” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 85, no. 4 

(April 2004): 587–600. 
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195

NASA’s goals, they also expressed doubts about whether Congress would give NASA its 

requested FY 2005 budget, which included an increase of 5.6 percent over its FY 2004 budget.631

22 April 

NASA researchers discovered a previously unknown property of Arctic sea ice, challenging 

conventional models of climate change that had incorporated data on Arctic sea ice. A group of 

scientists led by Ronald Kwok of NASA’s JPL had used satellite data from Canada’s 

RADARSAT and NASA’s ICESat to examine changes in Arctic sea ice. In the past, scientists 

had tended to examine data from ocean buoys to determine changes in Arctic sea ice, rather than 

using satellite data. The NASA researchers had discovered that, during 12-hour intervals, Arctic 

sea ice makes subtle, back-and-forth motions, which result in approximately 20 percent of ice 

growth during the Arctic winter. Although conventional models of the dynamics of Arctic sea ice 

had incorporated data regarding the ice’s motion, those models had not incorporated ice motion 

occurring during such brief periods and, thus, may have inaccurately simulated large-scale 

changes in the ice and underestimated the production of Arctic sea ice.632

23 April 

The State Council of the People’s Republic of China appointed Sun Laiyan as Administrator of 

the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Laiyan had become the CNSA’s Vice 

Administrator in 1999 and had served as Deputy Director of the Beijing Institute of Satellite 

Environment Engineering. Laiyan replaced Luan Enjie, who was retiring as head of the 

CNSA.633

29 April 

After more than six months in space, the crew members of ISS Expedition 8 returned to Earth, 

safely landing in Kazakhstan at 8:12 p.m. (EDT). The crew of Expedition 8 consisted of NASA 

astronaut C. Michael Foale and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Y. Kaleri. During their tenure at 

the ISS, Foale and Kaleri had conducted scientific research. Expedition 8 had been the secondlongest expedition to the ISS, with the two men spending a total of 194 days, 18 hours, and 35 

minutes in space. Returning with them to Earth was ESA astronaut André Kuipers, who had 

spent nine days on the space station conducting research as part of ISS Expedition 9. The other 

two members of Expedition 9, Gennady I. Padalka and E. Michael Fincke, remained at the ISS 

for a mission scheduled to last nearly six months.634

 

631 NASA, “Administrator O’Keefe’s House Testimony,” 21 April 2004, http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/ 

speeches/okeefe_house_testimony_042104.html (accessed 23 march 2009); Patty Reinert, “Lawmakers Warn NASA 

Fund Boost May Be Modest,” Houston Chronicle, 22 April 2004. 632 NASA, “NASA Arctic Sea Ice Study May Stir Up Climate Models,” news release 04-132, 22 April 2004; Ronald 

Kwok, H. Jay Zwally, and Donghui Yi, “ICESat Observations of Arctic Sea Ice: A First Look,” Geophysical 

Research Letters 31, no. 16 (18 August 2004): L16401–L16405. 633 China National Space Administration, “Mr. Sun Laiyan Appointed as Administrator of CNSA,” news release, 12 

May 2004, http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/n615709/n620682/n639462/54319.html (accessed 19 March 2009); China 

National Space Administration, “Resumes of Leaders: Prof./Dr. Sun Laiyan,” 

http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/n615709/n620681/n639436/53299.html (accessed 19 March 2009). 634 NASA, “International Space Station Status Report,” news release SS04-007, 29 April 2004. 
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MAY 2004 

4 May 

Commercial airlines Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines announced that they would 

merge, creating the world’s largest airline, in terms of revenue. Under the terms of the merger, 

the two companies would trade stock shares, with KLM shareholders tendering almost 42 million 

sharesnearly 90 percent of the company’s capital. Air France would issue approximately 46 

million new shares to KLM shareholders, reducing the French government’s interest in the 

airline from 54 percent to less than 45 percent of total shares. The combined annual revenue of 

the two companies would be nearly US$23 billion, eclipsing the US$17.4 billion annual revenue 

of American Airlines, which had previously received the highest revenue of any airline.635

6 May 

NASA announced the selection of 11 individuals for the astronaut class of 2004the first 

astronaut trainees since 2000. In June 2004, the new class would begin training at NASA’s JSC 

as educator astronauts, engineers, pilots, and scientists, eventually working on NASA’s nextgeneration space vehicle and other projects. The trainees for the class of 2004 included Joseph 

M. Acaba, Richard R. Arnold II, Randolph J. Bresnik, Christopher J. Cassidy, James P. Dutton 

Jr., José M. Hernández, Robert S. Kimbrough, Thomas H. Marshburn, Dorothy M. MetcalfLindenburger, Robert L. Satcher Jr., and Shannon Walker.636

8 May 

A prototype of the Phoenix reusable launch vehicle (RLV), a joint project of European public 

and private funders, successfully completed its first atmospheric test flight. According to major 

media sources, European space agencies hoped eventually to use the Phoenix to launch payloads. 

The vehicle prototype was approximately 23 feet (7 meters) long and weighed 2,640 pounds 

(1,200 kilograms). During the test flight, a helicopter released the vehicle prototype from an 

altitude of 8,000 feet (2,400 meters). The Phoenix landed 90 seconds later at an airport in Vidsel, 

Sweden. EADS Space Transportation, along with German aerospace company OHB-System AG, 

the German Aerospace Center, and the government of Bremen, Germany, had funded the 

Phoenix.637

13 May 

A piloted rocket called SpaceShipOne reached the highest altitude ever attained by a privately 

funded vehicle. After its release from a plane flying over the Mojave Desert in California, the 

winged rocket flew to an altitude of 211,400 feet (40 miles or 64 kilometers). The vehicle’s pilot 

Michael W. Melvill landed SpaceShipOne at Mojave Airport. The event was a test flight in 

preparation for the planned official launch of SpaceShipOne on 2 June 2004. Scaled Composites, 

the company that had built the rocket, intended SpaceShipOne to become the first privately 

funded, piloted vehicle to achieve suborbital flight. Scaled Composites had built SpaceShipOne

 

635 Los Angeles Times, “Air Frances Completes Deal with KLM Royal Dutch,” 5 May 2004. 636 NASA, “NASA Introduces the Next Generation of Explorers,” news release 04-152, 6 May 2004; Patty Reinert, 

“11 Space Hopefuls Get NASA’s Good News,” Houston Chronicle, 7 May 2004. 637 Frank Morring Jr., “In Orbit,” Aviation Week and Space Technology 160, no. 20 (17 May 2004): 17; Frank 

Morring Jr., “In Orbit,” Aviation Week and Space Technology 160, no. 11 (15 March 2004): 17; Mattias Karen for 

Associated Press, “Europeans Test Space-Shuttle Prototype,” 9 May 2004. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

197

for use in commercial spaceflightsspaceflights in which customers pay a fee for a brief trip to 

outer space.638

Researchers announced that they had found the remains of a large object that crashed into Earth 

250 million years ago, possibly causing the largest mass extinction in history. Previously, many 

scientists had agreed that a large-scale eventthe Permian-Triassic extinctionhad occurred 

approximately 250 million years ago. However, they had debated about whether volcanic activity 

or the impact of an extraterrestrial object such as a meteor had caused the event. A team of 

scientists led by Luann Becker of University of California at Santa Barbara reported the 

discovery of strong evidence for the impact theorypart of a meteorite or comet, nearly 6 miles 

(10 kilometers) in diameter, buried in sediment off the coast of Australia. Based on analysis of 

the object’s age and mineral composition, the team believed that the object might have caused 

the Permian-Triassic extinctionthe extinction of 90 percent of marine species and 70 percent 

of land species. NASA and the National Science Foundation had funded the scientists, who 

cautioned that their findings did not prove definitively that extraterrestrial impact had caused the 

extinction event.639

17 May 

Lufthansa became the world’s first airline to provide its passengers with wireless broadband 

Internet access on a long-haul flight of an aircraft. The German airline company provided Boeing 

Connexion Internet service on a Boeing 747-400 airplane. The Internet service used a parabolic 

antenna extending 12 inches (30 centimeters) from the aircraft’s exterior and capable of 

providing Internet services for airplanes flying in latitudes between 75° north and south.640

18 May 

A group of astronomers reported new findings concerning two prominent enigmas of 

physicsdark energy and the expansion of the universe. Steve Allen of Cambridge University 

led a group of scientists who had used NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory to examine 26 

clusters of galaxies, located 1 to 8 billion light-years from Eartha span of time covering the 

universe’s initial explosion and subsequent expansion. Previously, many scientists had theorized 

that a force called dark energy might have counteracted gravity, causing the expansion. 

Chandra’s observations of the distances between the galaxy clusters indicated that the universe’s 

expansion had accelerated, and Chandra’s data on the ratio of hot gas to dark matter within the 

galaxy clusters indicated that the density of dark energy had not changed. Both findings were 

contrary to many previous hypotheses. The astronomers stated that, although their findings were 

inconclusive, the data suggested that the constant density of dark energy causes the universe to 

 

638 Peter Pae, “In Capital Venture, Rocket Reaches the Edge of Space,” Los Angeles Times, 14 May 2004; Scaled 

Composites, “Historic Space Launch Attempt Scheduled for June 21,” news release, 2 June 2004, 

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/062104.htm (accessed 27 March 2009). 

639 Guy Gugliotta, “Impact Crater Labeled Clue to Mass Extinction,” Washington Post, 14 May 2004; Richard A. 

Kerr, “Evidence of Huge, Deadly Impact Found off Australian Coast?” Science 304, no. 5673 (14 May 2004): 941. 640 Michael Mecham, “Ready to Download,” Aviation Week and Space Technology 160, no. 2 (22 March 2004): 48; 

Lufthansa, “High Tech above the Clouds,” Newslink Special, October 2004, 13, 

http://konzern.lufthansa.com/en/downloads/presse/newslink/newslink_2004_12/newslink_sp10.pdf (accessed 27 

March 2009). 
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expand eternally. This finding is consistent with Albert Einstein’s concept of cosmological 

constant, which states that the universe expands constantly and gradually.641

19 May 

NASA’s Chief Financial Officer Gwendolyn Sykes Brown and officials from the GAO provided 

testimony on NASA’s accounting system to the U.S. House Government Reform Subcommittee 

on Government Efficiency and Financial Management. According to GAO, NASA had not 

acknowledged the nature and extent of its financial management problems, such as its inadequate 

documentation of financial statements. Brown responded, detailing NASA’s efforts to improve 

its financial management system. For example, NASA had acquired new accounting software 

and had adopted a single financial system for all of its centers. Subcommittee members stated 

that they planned to monitor NASA and that they expected NASA to provide periodic reports on 

its progress in correcting its accounting system.642

20 May 

NASA released pieces of the debris from Space Shuttle Columbia to a nongovernmental agency 

for study and testing. The release of the materials was the first implementation of NASA’s new 

policy for the use of materials from a destroyed Space Shuttle. Henceforth, instead of burying 

Space Shuttle materials, as it had done after the Challenger accident, NASA would use materials 

from destroyed Space Shuttles for research. The company that received the partsthe Aerospace 

Corporation of El Segundo, Californiawas one of several organizations that had requested 

NASA’s permission to study Columbia’s debris. Under the terms of the release, the company 

would keep the Shuttle parts for one year, using them to analyze the effect of atmospheric 

reentry on materials.643

27 May 

NASA announced that the Spitzer Space Telescope (SST), launched on 25 August 2003, had 

made several new discoveries. The SSTformerly called the Space Infrared Telescope Facility, 

or SIRTFwas the largest infrared telescope ever launched. Among the SST’s specific findings 

was the discovery of nearly 300 new stars in RCW 49, a region in the constellation Centaurus, 

13,700 light-years from Earth. In addition, the SST had revealed high quantities of icy organic 

materials in planets forming around young stars in the constellation Taurus, located 420 lightyears from Earth. The presence of organic materials in the newly forming planets could explain 

the origins of similarly icy bodies, such as comets. Scientists theorized that comets might have 

provided the water and other organic materials that enabled life to form on Earth.644

 

641 NASA, “Chandra Opens New Line of Investigation on Dark Energy,” news release 04-163, 18 May 2004; Guy 

Gugliotta, “Astronomers Find More Evidence of ‘Dark Energy’,” Washington Post, 19 May 2004. 642 NASA, “Chief Financial Officer’s House Testimony,” 19 May 2004, http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/ 

speeches/brown_house_testimony_051904.html (accessed 31 march 2009); Houston Chronicle, “GAO Criticizes 

NASA’s Budget ‘Mismanagement’,” 23 May 2004. 

643 NASA, “First Columbia Debris Loaned for Research,” news release 04-165, 20 May 2004; James R. Asker, “In 

Orbit,” Aviation Week and Space Technology 160, no. 22 (31 May 2004): 19. 644 NASA, “Raw Ingredients for Life Detected in Planetary Construction Zones,” news release 04-167, 27 May 

2004; Warren E. Leary, “NASA Spots New Youngest Planet, Just a Million Years Old,” New York Times, 28 May 

2004; NASA JPL, “About Spitzer,” http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/about/index.shtml (accessed 31 March 2009). 
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28 May 

A group of scientists led by Enric Pallé of the New Jersey Institute of Technology published 

research indicating that, since 1999, the amount of sunlight reaching Earth’s surface had 

declined. Analyzing NASA’s data on cloud cover, along with data from Earth-based telescopes, 

the team had calculated how much sunlight Earth reflected to the Moon, using the results to 

determine the amount of sunlight that reached Earth. They reported that the amount of sunlight 

reaching Earth’s surface had begun to increase in the mid-1980s, but had started to decline in the 

early 1990s, a trend that the team attributed to the increasing pollution of Earth’s air. The air 

pollution had reduced the amount of sunlight reaching Earth’s surface and had increased the 

amount of water droplets condensing in the atmosphere, thereby increasing the amount of cloud 

cover blocking sunlight.645

JUNE 2004 

9 June 

The Director of NASA’s LaRC Roy D. Bridges Jr. appointed Lesa B. Roe as LaRC’s Deputy 

Director. At the time of the appointment, Roe was LaRC’s Associate Director for Business 

Management, a position she had held since August 2003. Roe had begun her career with NASA 

in 1987 as a radio-frequency communications engineer at KSC, later working in KSC’s Payload 

Processing Directorate and in the ISS Hardware Integration Office.646

10 June 

Kevin L. Petersen, Director of NASA’s DFRC, appointed Steven G. Schmidt as DFRC’s Deputy 

Director. Schmidt had served as Special Assistant to NASA’s Administrator since January 2002. 

In addition, Schmidt had previously worked in numerous programs at DFRC, such as the X-33, 

X-43A, and the F-15 programs. Schmidt, who had begun working for NASA in 1994, had also 

served as Executive Director of the President’s Space Commission and as Executive Secretary 

for Management on the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.647

11 June 

Passing by Saturn’s furthest moon Phoebe, the Cassini spacecraft returned analyses of the moon 

indicating that Phoebe’s chemical composition is similar to the composition of comets, a finding 

that supported previous scientific theories about the enigmatic Phoebe. Because Phoebe has an 

unusually dark appearance and orbits Saturn in a direction opposite that of the planet’s other 

moons, scientists had theorized that the moon is a captive object of Saturn. Cassini’s analyses of 

Phoebe indicated that the diminutive moon’s surface is composed of carbon dioxide, water ice, 

water-bearing minerals, and various organic chemicals. The results indicated possible chemical 

similarities between Phoebe’s composite materials and materials observed in comets. The 

Cassini spacecraft was one of two in the Cassini-Huygens mission, a joint project of ESA, the 

Italian Space Agency, and NASA. Besides Cassini―an orbiter designed to orbit Saturn, studying 

 

645 Enric Pallé et al., “Changes in Earth’s Reflectance over the Past Two Decades,” Science 304, no. 5676 (28 May 

2004): 1299–1301; Kenneth Chang, “After a Period of Brightness, Earth Dims, Researchers Say,” New York Times, 

28 May 2004. 

646 NASA, “NASA Names Langley Research Center Deputy Director,” news release 04-185, 9 June 2004; NASA, 

“Langley Center Director Lesa B. Roe,” 3 October 2005, http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/ about/roe_bio.html

(accessed 1 April 2009). 

647 NASA, “NASA Names Dryden Flight Research Center Deputy Director,” news release 04-188, 10 June 2004. 
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the planet and its system of moons―the project included the probe Huygens, created to examine 

Saturn’s largest moon Titan. 648

16 June 

A commission created by President George W. Bush released its report outlining how NASA and 

other organizations might implement President Bush’s new policy: the U.S. Vision for Space 

Exploration. The President’s Commission, led by Edward C. Aldridge Jr., endorsed the Vision 

for Space Exploration’s goals―to explore Mars and the Moon. In addition, the commission 

recommended that, to meet those goals, NASA needed to make numerous changes; the federal 

government needed to establish a permanent council to develop and coordinate space exploration 

policies; and the private sector needed to become more involved in space operations. Specific 

changes that the commission recommended were that NASA should focus on the research and 

development of space technology, and that private industry should conduct operational activities, 

such as launching payloads to low Earth orbit. The report also recommended that NASA pursue 

partnerships with the scientific community and with foreign space agencies.649

17 June 

The U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Subcommittee on Science, Technology, 

and Space concluded a hearing on the final report of the President’s Commission on 

Implementation of the U.S. Space Exploration Policy. The report, which the commission had 

released the previous day, addressed ways in which the federal government and private 

companies could implement the Vision for Space Exploration. Individuals testifying before the 

committee included Edward C. Aldridge Jr., who had led the President’s Commission; Paul D. 

Spudis of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; Maria T. Zuber of the 

Massachusetts Institute of Technology Department of Earth Atmospherics and Planetary 

Sciences; Laurie A. Leshin of Arizona State University; and retired U.S. Air Force General 

Lester L. Lyles, formerly Commander of the Air Force Materiel Command at Wright-Patterson 

Air Force Base in Ohio.650

18 June 

Scientists published research on comet Wild 2, revealing unexpected discoveries about comets. 

The researchers had based their findings on data that NASA’s Stardust spacecraft had acquired 

during a flyby of Wild 2 on 2 January 2004―data that included the highest-resolution images 

ever taken of a comet. The scientists had discovered that the comet’s surface is not simply icy 

and dirty; rather the comet has a diverse landscape, including peaks, cliffs, and craters, and 

isolated, volatile jets, violently spewing particles. Although scientists did not yet know whether 

 

648 Richard A. Kerr, “Dirty Old Ice Ball Found at Saturn,” Science 304, no. 5678 (18 June 2004): 1727; Warren E. 

Leary, “Craft Confirms a Comet Link for Peculiar Moon of Saturn,” New York Times, 24 June 2004. 

649 President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, A Journey To Inspire, 

Innovate, and Discover: Report of the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space 

Exploration Policy (Washington, DC, June 2004), http://www.nasa.gov/news/reports/index.html (accessed 6 April 

2009); Warren E. Leary and John Schwartz, “NASA Is Urged To Widen Role for Business,” New York Times, 15 

June 2004. 

650 U.S. Congress, Senate, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Subcommittee on Science, 

Technology, and Space, Final Report on the President’s Commission on Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration 

Policy, 108th Cong., 2nd sess., 17 June 2004. 
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other comets possessed features similar to those of Wild 2, the findings challenged previous 

understanding of comets.651

21 June 

The company Scaled Composites launched the first privately developed piloted vehicle to travel 

beyond Earth’s atmosphere. The vehicle, called SpaceShipOne, departed from Mojave Airport in 

California at 6:45 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST), attached to another aircraft. Upon reaching 

an altitude of 46,000 feet (8.7 miles or 14 kilometers), the aircraft released SpaceShipOne. 

Propelled by a fuel containing rubber and nitrous oxide―laughing gas―SpaceShipOne

eventually attained an altitude of 328,491 feet (62 miles or 100 kilometers), achieving suborbital 

spaceflight. After SpaceShipOne had remained in suborbital flight for nearly 31⁄2 minutes, the 

vehicle’s pilot Michael W. Melvill―who became the first civilian astronaut with this 

flight―safely landed the craft at Mojave Airport. Burt Rutan, the founder of Scaled Composites, 

had designed SpaceShipOne, and Microsoft cofounder Paul G. Allen had financed the project.652

24 June 

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe announced that, effective 1 August 2004, NASA would 

restructure its organization to render it better able to implement President George W. Bush’s 

Vision for Space Exploration. Among many other announced changes, NASA planned to 

restructure its Earth Science, Space Science, and other Strategic Enterprises into four Mission 

Directorates―Aeronautics Research, Exploration Systems, Science, and Space 

Operations―with clearer organizational roles and responsibilities. In addition, to improve 

communication and clarify responsibilities, functional offices of NASA Headquarters and its 

field offices―including the office of the Chief Financial Officer―would become mission 

support offices.653

26 June 

The European Union (EU) and the United States signed a cooperative agreement on their satellite 

navigation services―the EU’s planned Galileo system and the United States’ GPS. According to 

the agreement, the Galileo and GPS satellites would broadcast a common civil signal. They also 

agreed not to discriminate in commercial trade of satellite-navigation goods and services. In 

addition, the agreement stipulated that Galileo signals would not interfere with the efforts of the 

United States to prevent its adversaries’ accessing satellite-based positioning signals. European 

Commission Vice President Loyola de Palacio, Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, and U.S. 

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell signed the agreement in Dublin, Ireland.654

 

651 Zdenek Sekanina et al., “Modeling the Nucleus and Jets of Comet 81P/Wild 2 Based on the Stardust Encounter 

Data,” Science 304, no. 5678 (18 June 2004): 1769–1774; NASA, “NASA Spacecraft Reveals Surprising Anatomy 

of a Comet,” news release 04-197, 17 June 2004. 

652 Peter Pae, “Private Spaceflight Is a Public Success,” Los Angeles Times, 22 June 2004; Scaled Composites, 

“SpaceShipOne Makes History: First Private Manned Mission to Space,” news release, 21 June 2004. 653 Warren E. Leary, “New Look for NASA for the Next Space Age,” New York Times, 25 June 2004; NASA, 

“Administrator Unveils Next Steps of NASA Transformation,” news release 04-205, 24 June 2004. 

654 NASA, Aeronautics and Space Report of the President: Fiscal Year 2004 Activities (Washington, DC, 2004), p. 

95, http://history.nasa.gov/presrep2004.pdf (accessed 7 April 2009); United States Mission to the European Union, 

“U.S., EU Reach Agreement on Satellite Navigation Services,” news release, 27 June 2004, 

http://useu.usmission.gov/Article.asp?ID=E195E969-EFF9-4EE3-8E7B-58D02983E7C3 (accessed 7 April 2009). 
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30 June 

Cassini-Huygens became the first spacecraft to successfully navigate Saturn’s rings and to orbit 

the planet. A joint project of ESA, the Italian Space Agency, and NASA, the mission comprised 

two spacecraft: the orbiter Cassini and the probe Huygens. The space agencies had planned for 

Cassini to conduct 76 orbits of Saturn during a four-year survey of the planet and its moons. 

They had designed the Huygens probe to analyze the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. 

If the probe survived its descent to Titan, it would analyze the moon’s surface, as well.655

American astronaut E. Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Gennady I. Padalka successfully 

completed repairs to the ISS during a much-delayed spacewalk lasting 6 hours. Among the 

numerous repairs that Fincke and Padalka completed were the replacement of a faulty circuit 

breaker and the restoration of power to a gyroscope that helped stabilize the ISS. The ISS 

partners had rescheduled the spacewalk from 24 June 2004 because of problems with the crew 

members’ spacesuits.656

JULY 2004 

2 July 

Scientists reported that they had produced the first three-dimensional views of the large solar 

eruptions known as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs. CMEs, the most powerful eruptions in the 

solar system, can disrupt power systems, radio communications, and satellite links with Earth. 

Although uncertain of the origin of these eruptions, scientists know that CMEs occur when 

billions of tons of electrified gas explode from the Sun’s atmosphere into space at speeds of 

millions of miles per hour. The team had used data from ESA and from NASA’s Solar and 

Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) to construct the images, which they hoped would help 

scientists learn more about the structure of CMEs and the manner in which they affect Earth.657

9 July 

Major media reported details of a NASA internal document, which stated that a proposed plan to 

use the ISS as a safe haven for Space Shuttle astronauts would likely have a high risk of failure. 

The NASA document was a response to a proposal that the ISS should temporarily house the 

Shuttle crew if a problem arose that prevented an orbiting Shuttle from returning its crew to 

Earth safely. In the internal document, NASA objected that the ISS had neither sufficient 

supplies nor support systems to keep both ISS and Shuttle crew members alive longer than a few 

months. NASA officials responded to the publication of the document, stating that the 

provisional contingency plan had been one of many ideas considered for improving Space 

Shuttle safety.658

 

655 ESA, “Cassini-Huygens Enters Orbit Around the Ringed Planet,” ESA news release 36-2004, 1 July 2004; Guy 

Gugliotta, “Cassini First To Orbit Saturn,” Washington Post, 1 July 2004. 656 Mark Carreau, “Finally, Spacewalk a Success,” Houston Chronicle, 1 July 2004; NASA, “International Space 

Station Status Report,” news release SS04-018, 1 July 2004. 

657 ESA, “First 3D View of Solar Eruptions,” ESA news release SNR 13-2004, 2 July 2004; Thomas G. Moran and 

Joseph M. Davila, “Three-Dimensional Polarimetric Imaging of Coronal Mass Ejections,” Science 305, no. 5680 (2 

July 2004): 66–70. 

658 John Schwartz, “NASA Rescue Plan Is Reported To Have High Risk of Failure,” New York Times, 9 July 2004. 
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12 July 

The FAA announced that, on 17 June 2004, it had issued a license for the United States’ first 

inland launch site. The five-year license authorized California’s East Kern Airport District, 

which included the Mojave Airport, to operate as a launch site for suborbital reusable launch 

vehicle (RLV) missions. On 21 June 2004, SpaceShipOne had staged the first commercial launch 

to outer space from Mojave Airport. The license made the Mojave Airport the fifth commercial 

spaceport licensed by the FAA. The other four licensed spaceports were the California Spaceport 

at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Spaceport Florida at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the 

Kodiak Launch Complex in Alaska, and the Virginia Spaceport at Wallops Flight Facility 

(WFF).659

13 July 

The National Research Council (NRC) issued a report calling for NASA to send a Space Shuttle 

mission to service the HST. The report challenged Administrator Sean O’Keefe’s earlier decision 

that NASA would not conduct a Shuttle servicing mission for the HST because of potential 

safety risks. According to the NRC report, if NASA did not service the orbiting telescope, it 

would eventually become dysfunctional and fall out of orbit. Although the report acknowledged 

that a Shuttle mission would pose some risks for astronauts, the NRC stated that the scientific 

value of continuing HST operations merited a mission, both to maintain the orbiting telescope 

and to upgrade its components. The report recommended that NASA should consider sending a 

robotic servicing mission for the HST instead of a Shuttle mission, but should not rule out 

sending a Shuttle servicing mission, if NASA determined that the robotic option was too costly 

or complex.660

15 July 

NASA launched an Earth-observation satellite called Aura from Vandenberg Air Force Base in 

California at 3:01 a.m. (PDT). The spacecraft was one of three satellites in NASA’s Earth 

Observing System (EOS)―the two others were Terra, which monitored land, and Aqua, which 

monitored the planet’s water cycle. NASA had created Aura to collect scientific data on global 

air quality, ozone recovery, and climate change, equipping the satellite with four instruments: the 

High Resolution Dynamics Limb Sounder, the Microwave Limb Sounder, the Ozone Monitoring 

Instrument, and the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer. Project engineers hoped that the 

instruments would enable the spacecraft to collect the most detailed measurements to date of 

atmospheric pollution, climate change, and the ozone layer.661

16 July 

Engineers at NASA’s SSC successfully completed the first test of the redesigned Space Shuttle 

Main Engine (SSME). NASA planned to use the redesigned SSME in the first Shuttle mission 

 

659 FAA, “FAA Issues License for First Inland Launch Site,” news release APA 29-04, 12 July 2004, http://www. 

faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsid=5705 (accessed 28 January 2010). 660 Guy Gugliotta, “Scientists Say Shuttle Can Service Telescope; Report Counters NASA Stance on Repairing 

Hubble,” Washington Post, 14 July 2004; Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board and Space Studies Board, 

“Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope” (letter report, National Academies 

Press, Washington, DC, 13 July 2004), http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11051#toc (accessed 28 April 

2009). 

661 NASA, “Aura Launched, To Better Understand the Air We Breathe,” news release 04-217, 15 July 2004; Eric D. 

Tytell, “Satellite To Study Atmospheric Pollutants,” Los Angeles Times, 16 July 2004. 
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after the Columbia tragedy―the mission that NASA often called the Return to Flight Mission. 

The test of the SSME lasted for 520 seconds, the amount of time a Space Shuttle requires to 

reach orbit. Each Space Shuttle has three SSMEs―reusable rocket engines capable of generating 

400,000 pounds (181,000 kilograms) of thrust.662

22 July 

An independent panel of experts released an interim assessment of NASA’s progress 

implementing recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB). The 

U.S. Congress had chartered the group―formally called the Stafford-Covey Return to Flight 

Task Group (SCTG)―to provide independent evaluations of NASA’s progress in meeting the 

CAIB’s recommendations. The CAIB had enumerated safety and operational practices that 

NASA must implement before resuming Space Shuttle flights. In its interim assessment, the 

Task Group stated that NASA had successfully implemented two of the CAIB’s 

recommendations: to define foreign-object debris and to create computer-accessible digital 

images of Shuttle hardware, taken at various stages of development and launch preparation. The 

Task Group would assess NASA’s progress toward satisfying the other CAIB recommendations 

in future reports.663

23 July 

Representatives of the space agencies of Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia, and the United 

States―the nations participating in the ISS project―met to discuss their cooperative activities 

for the station. At the meeting at ESA’s Technical Centre in the Netherlands, ESA officials 

reviewed ISS operations and plans, unanimously endorsing a new technical configuration for the 

space station that would incorporate components from each of the ISS partner space agencies. 

Upon completion, the ISS would have improved research capabilities and would accommodate 

more crew members than the current maximum of three.664

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe presented the Congressional Space Medal of Honor to the 

families of the crew members of Space Shuttle Challenger. O’Keefe presented the honor in the 

name of the U.S. Congress and on behalf of President George W. Bush. The seven astronauts on 

board Challenger had died when the Shuttle exploded soon after launching on 28 January 

1986.665

26 July 

NASA announced its approval of a new design of the particular part of the Space Shuttle that 

may have critically contributed to Space Shuttle Columbia’s accident. The part―called a bipod 

 

662 NASA, “Engineers Test the First Engine for NASA’s Return to Flight Mission,” news release 04-231, 19 July 

2004. 

663 NASA, “Stafford-Covey Task Group Announces July 22 Public Meeting,” news release N04-108, 19 July 2004; 

NASA, “Statement of Sean O’Keefe, Administrator, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Before the 

Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, United States Senate” (statement of testimony, Washington, 

DC, 8 September 2004), http://www.nasa.gov/pdf64686main_aok_/ 64686main_aok_ testimony_090804.pdf 

(accessed 28 April 2009). 

664 NASA, “Joint Statement: International Space Station Heads of Agency Meeting,” news release 04-237, 23 July 

2004; Warren E. Leary, “More Astronauts Approved for Space Station,” New York Times, 24 July 2004. 665 NASA, “Challenger Crew Honored with Congressional Space Medal of Honor,” news release S04-238, 23 July 

2004. 
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fitting―connects a Shuttle’s external fuel tanks to the orbiter during launch. The newly designed 

bipod fitting eliminated the use of foam covering in favor of four rod-shaped heaters, reducing 

the risk of falling debris during launch. Investigators believed that the Columbia disaster might 

have resulted from the impact of insulating foam, which had fallen from the bipod fitting, 

damaging the orbiter’s left wing. According to NASA, the approval of the redesigned bipod 

fitting was a significant step in its efforts to resume safe Shuttle flights. Engineers would begin 

using the new fitting on the external tanks for the next Space Shuttle mission.666

29 July 

A NASA-funded study found that artificial surfaces in urban areas often cause temperatures to 

increase, enabling longer growing seasons in cities than in surrounding rural areas. Using data 

from NASA’s Terra satellite, a team of Boston University scientists led by Xiaoyang Zhang 

compared the growing seasons of 70 North American cities with those of adjacent rural areas. 

The scientists discovered that the growing season in urban areas lasted nearly 15 days longer 

than the growing season in rural areas. In addition, the data revealed that urban climates affect 

vegetation located up to 10 kilometers (6 miles) from urban land cover. According to the 

scientists, high concentrations of artificial surfaces in urban areas cause surface temperatures to 

be relatively higher in urban areas than in surrounding rural areas. In addition, the scientists 

suggested that their findings demonstrated how land use and other human activities affect Earth’s 

environment.667

AUGUST 2004 

2 August 

Edward J. Weiler became Director of NASA’s GSFC, taking over from Alphonso V. Diaz. 

Weiler, who had joined NASA in 1978, had served as Chief Scientist for the HST from 1979 to 

1998 and as Associate Administrator for NASA’s Space Science Enterprise from 1998 to July 

2004. Diaz, who had served as Director of GSFC since 12 January 1998, became NASA’s 

Associate Administrator of Science.668

3 August 

NASA launched its MESSENGER spacecraft on a seven-year mission to study Mercury, the 

closest planet to the Sun. MESSENGER―Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, 

and Ranging―launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 1:16 a.m. (EDT). 

Six countries had provided equipment for the spacecraft, which would photograph Mercury’s 

surface and analyze the planet’s magnetic field and mineral composition. Project scientists 

planned to use the resulting data to determine whether Mercury’s composition is similar to that 

of Earth, Mars, and Venus. Although the spacecraft was not the first to photograph 

 

666 NASA, “NASA Approves New Design for Shuttle External Tank Fitting,” news release 04-240, 26 July 2004. 667 NASA, “NASA Plays Key Role in Largest Environmental Experiment in History,” news release 04-242, 27 July 

2004; X. Zhang et al., “The Footprint of Urban Climates on Vegetation Phenology,” Geophysical Research Letters

31, no. 12 (25 June 2004): L12209. 

668 NASA History Division, “NASA Center Directors,” http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/ director.html

(accessed 1 May 2009); NASA, “Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate: Edward J. Weiler,” 7 

April 2008, http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/weiler_biography.html (accessed 1 May 2009); NASA, 

“Alphonso Diaz: Associate Administrator, Science,” 4 November 2004, 

http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/diaz_bio.html (accessed 1 May 2009). 
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Mercury―NASA’s Mariner 10 had photographed the planet during flybys in 1974 and 

1975―MESSENGER was the first spacecraft designed to examine Mercury while orbiting the 

planet.669

ISS crew members E. Michael Fincke and Gennady I. Padalka performed a spacewalk to prepare 

the ISS for the arrival of new unpiloted cargo ships, scheduled to launch in late 2005. ESA had 

created the new cargo vessels, formally called Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs). Fincke and 

Padalka installed new communications antennas and laser reflectors to facilitate the docking of 

the ATVs at the ISS. During the 41⁄2-hour excursion, the two men also replaced a circuit breaker 

and rotated scientific experiments.670

5 August 

Data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft revealed a new radiation belt around Saturn. Researchers 

already knew that Saturn had radiation belts―ring-shaped concentrations of ionized 

particles―outside the orbit of the planet’s rings. However, the newly discovered rings were 

inside Saturn’s rings. Previously, scientists had thought that a radiation belt could not exist inside 

the planet’s rings, because they believed that the rings would absorb any ionized particles that 

approached Saturn. The presence of radiation within the orbit of the rings indicated that the 

radiation belt’s particles are able to move through Saturn’s rings.671

7 August 

NASA and NOAA announced that the two agencies would extend the Tropical Rainfall 

Measuring Mission (TRMM) by five months, effectively reversing an earlier decision to 

terminate the weather satellite’s mission. NASA and NOAA also announced that they had 

requested the National Academy of Sciences to evaluate the utility of extending the satellite’s 

mission for an additional 18 months. Launched in 1997, the TRMM―designed to measure 

rainfall―was a joint project of NASA and JAXA. NASA and JAXA had originally planned for 

the satellite’s mission to last three years, but meteorologists and climate researchers, who 

continued to find the satellite’s data highly valuable, particularly for analyzing tropical storms, 

had advocated to prolong the mission.672

10 August 

NASA announced that it would commence work on a robotic mission to service the HST, 

reversing its earlier decision to remove the orbiting telescope from service. According to NASA, 

the robotic servicing mission, planned for launch in 2007, would perform maintenance and 

upgrades of the HST, including changing batteries and gyroscopes, repairing malfunctioning 

equipment, and adding new instruments. If successful, the mission would extend the operational 

life of the 15-year-old HST by at least five years.673

 

669 Mark Carreau, “Messenger Leaves on 7-Year Voyage,” Houston Chronicle, 4 August 2004; NASA, “NASA 

Sending a Messenger to Mercury,” news release 04-215, 15 July 2004. 

670 NASA, “International Space Station Status Report: SS04-024,” news release SS04-024, 3 August 2004. 671 John Noble Wilford, “Spacecraft Finds Belt Around Saturn Unlike Any Ever Seen Before,” New York Times, 6 

August 2004. 

672 Guy Gugliotta, “Weather Satellite Gets Reprieve for Hurricane Season,” Washington Post, 8 August 2004. 673 Guy Gugliotta, “NASA Plans Robotic Fix for Hubble,” Washington Post, 11 August 2004. 
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11 August 

The GAO published an assessment of the efforts of the DOD and the military services to develop 

personnel for space-related national security matters and to integrate those personnel into their 

forces. In the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2004 (Pub.L.No. 108-136), the U.S. 

Congress had required the DOD to create a strategy to develop and integrate personnel who were 

capable of operating space-based systems and of developing space-related concepts, doctrine, 

and technology. In addition, Congress had required GAO to assess those efforts. In its report, 

GAO stated that the DOD did not have a plan to implement its strategy for developing and 

integrating space personnel. GAO also found that the military services varied in the extent to 

which they had implemented plans to develop and manage their space personnel. The report 

included recommendations to address these issues.674

16 August 

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft provided data revealing two previously unknown moons orbiting 

Saturn―a new total of 33 identified moons orbiting the planet. The two moons―designated 

S/2004-S1 and S/2004-S2, until receiving their formal names―measured 2 miles (3.2 

kilometers) and 21⁄2 miles (4 kilometers) in diameter. Because of the moons’ diminutive size, 

scientists suspected that they might be fragments from a larger moon.675

26 August 

A consulting firm, which NASA had hired, reported that NASA had made significant 

organizational reforms in its safety procedures and management culture. NASA had hired the 

consulting firm Behavioral Science Technology to assist in its three-year effort to implement the 

CAIB’s recommendations. Reporting on the first anniversary of the CAIB’s report, the 

consulting firm’s chairperson Thomas R. Krause stated that NASA administrators and managers 

had made significant efforts to seek input from lower-ranking employees regarding safety 

enhancements. NASA had made the improvements in response to the CAIB’s specific 

recommendation.676

30 August 

Astronomers announced the discovery of three planets, comparable in size to Earth, orbiting stars 

outside the solar system, a finding they considered an important step in the search for life 

elsewhere in the universe. Although the planets have orbits too close to their stars to enable the 

planets to support life, all have relatively small mass, indicating that planets vary significantly in 

size. This discovery led the astronomers to hope that researchers might eventually discover 

planets as small as Earth. The three planets’ masses ranged from 14 to 20 times greater than that 

of Earth, far smaller than planets that scientists had previously observed orbiting living stars, 

which have been around 50 times the mass of Earth. Three groups of astronomers had made the 

discoveries separately: the teams of R. Paul Butler of the Carnegie Institution, Michael Endl of 

 

674 U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Defense Space Activities: Additional Actions Needed to Implement 

Human Capital Strategy and Develop Space Personnel” (report no. GAO-04-097, Washington, DC, 11 August 

2004). 

675 Mark Carreau, “Cassini Finds Two More Saturn Moons,” Houston Chronicle, 19 August 2004; New York Times, 

“2 Little Saturn Moons,” 17 August 2004. 

676 Mark Carreau, “NASA Making Recovery Following Shuttle Disaster,” Houston Chronicle, 27 August 2004. 
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the University of Texas at Austin, and Michel Mayor of the Geneva Observatory in 

Switzerland.677

Astronomer Fred Lawrence Whipple, a pioneering comet researcher, died at the age of 97. 

Whipple, born on 5 November 1906 in Red Oak, Iowa, had begun his research at Harvard 

University in 1931, studying meteors and Earth’s atmosphere. During his career, Whipple had 

contributed to many significant scientific achievements, including a meteor bumper known as the 

Whipple shield―a device that protects spacecraft from meteor collisions. However, Whipple 

was best known for research defying conventional scientific theories about comets: whereas 

many scientists had suspected that comets were composed of sand and rock bound by gravity, 

Whipple had theorized that comets are discrete bodies with a frozen nucleus that heats up and 

emits propulsive jets of gas and dust. Later spacecraft missions to comets had proven his theory 

correct.678

SEPTEMBER 2004 

1 September 

As part of its first efforts to meet the objectives of President George W. Bush’s Vision for Space 

Exploration, NASA awarded contracts to 11 companies to provide research on human lunar 

exploration and the development of a vehicle to replace the Space Shuttle. The Vision for Space 

Exploration called for NASA to engage in human and robotic exploration of the solar system and 

regions beyond. NASA awarded three contracts of approximately US$1 million each to 

Raytheon, Science Applications International Corporation, and the SPACEHAB Corporation for 

preliminary studies of human lunar exploration. An additional eight companies―Andrews 

Space, The Boeing Company, Draper Labs, Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, Orbital 

Sciences Corporation, Schafer, and Transformational Space Corporation―received contracts of 

approximately US$3 million to conduct preliminary research on human lunar exploration and on 

the development of a new crewed exploration vehicle.679

3 September 

ISS crew members E. Michael Fincke and Gennady I. Padalka performed a spacewalk to conduct 

maintenance tasks and to prepare the ISS for the future arrival of a new cargo spacecraft. During 

the nearly 51⁄2-hour spacewalk, Fincke and Padalka replaced a component of the ISS’s cooling 

system, installed safety equipment for future spacewalks, and set up three antennas to aid the 

docking of ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), a new ISS cargo ship scheduled for 

launch in 2005.680

 

677 Dennis Overbye, “3 Planets Are Found Close in Size to Earth, Making Scientists Think ‘Life’,” New York Times, 

1 September 2004; R. Paul Butler et al., “A Neptune Mass Planet Orbiting the Nearby M Dwarf GJ 436,” 

Astrophysical Journal 617, no. 1 (10 December 2004): 580–588; Michael Endl et al., “HD 137510: An Oasis in the 

Brown Dwarf Desert,” Astrophysical Journal 611, no. 2 (20 August 2004): 1121–1124. 678 Adam Bernstein, “Fred L. Whipple, 97, Dies; Comet Research Pioneer,” Washington Post, 1 September 2004. 679 NASA, “NASA Selects Contractors for Vision for Space Exploration Studies,” news release C04-s, 1 September 

2004. 

680 NASA, “International Space Station Status Report: SS04-029,” news release SS04-029, 3 September 2004. 
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8 September 

NASA’s Genesis space capsule returned to Earth but experienced a problematic landing, which 

NASA officials feared might have damaged the capsule’s scientific cargo. NASA had launched 

Genesis in August 2001 to collect particle samples from solar winds, samples that scientists 

hoped would provide information about the solar system’s chemical composition during its 

formation stages. To return Genesis to Earth, NASA had designed the capsule to release a 

rectangular parachute, which helicopters would grab, gently lowering the spacecraft to Earth. 

However, the parachute failed to deploy, and Genesis crashed into a desert area of Utah at nearly 

200 miles per hour (322 kilometers per hour). Although NASA officials were uncertain about the 

extent of damage to the spacecraft’s cargo, their initial prognosis was that researchers could still 

use some of the samples in scientific analyses.681

9 September 

The ISS’s main oxygen generator stopped working, but the equipment failure posed no 

immediate danger to the station’s crew members. ISS Commander Gennady I. Padalka stated 

that the crew could repair the generator, which had failed on previous occasions. The 

malfunction did not pose an immediate threat to Padalka or his fellow crew member E. Michael 

Fincke, because they could access several alternative sources of oxygen stored in the orbiting 

space station.682

Scientists published research demonstrating that changes in Earth’s gravitational field can affect 

the planet’s climate and weather. Experts described the findings as an important advance in 

climate research. Bryon D. Tapley of the University of Texas at Austin led the team of scientists, 

who had discovered that changes in Earth’s gravitational field are associated with changes in the 

distribution of water and ice masses. Their findings demonstrated that scientists could use 

satellite measurements of Earth’s gravitational field to measure changes in the distribution of 

Earth’s mass and to determine the causes of those changes―changes that included variations in 

climate and weather. In their analyses, the scientists had examined data from the Gravity 

Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE), consisting of two spacecraft that measure 

variations in Earth’s gravitational field―a project of NASA and the German Aerospace 

Center.683

A NASA-funded study revised a fundamental idea in biological research: a concept known as the 

tree of life. Previously, biologists had theorized that all life had originated from three types of 

cells―archaea, bacteria, and eukaryotes―and had evolved in the pattern of a tree, with bacteria 

at the base and multicellular life forms branching out from those roots. However, the tree-of-life 

model did not explain the evolution of different cell types from a single cell or the merger of 

separate genomes, which form the branches of the tree of life. According to the new research of 

biologists Maria C. Rivera and James A. Lake, of the University of California at Los Angeles, 

two of the tree types of cells―bacteria and archaea―had merged to form the third type of cell, 

 

681 Guy Gugliotta, “Spacecraft Crashes with Solar Data,” Washington Post, 9 September 2004; NASA JPL, 

“Genesis: Mission History―Launch,” 23 June 2008, http://genesismission.jpl.nasa.gov/gm2/mission/launch.htm

(accessed 7 May 2009). 

682 New York Times, “Oxygen Generator on Space Station Fails,” 10 September 2004. 683 NASA, “NASA’s GRACE Gravity Mission Weighs In on Earth’s Changing Climate,” news release 04-286, 9 

September 2004; Bryon D. Tapley et al., “GRACE Measurements of Mass Variability in the Earth System,” Science

305, no. 5683 (23 July 2004): 503–505. 
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eukaryotes, encompassing all multicellular life forms, including animals, humans, and plants. 

The findings indicated that life had evolved in the pattern of a ring, rather than a tree. Experts 

described the research as a major contribution to the understanding of early evolution.684

15 September 

NASA announced that it had made its Morning Report flight-safety software available for 

licensing. Scientists at NASA’s ARC had created the Morning Report as part of NASA’s 

Aviation System Monitoring and Modeling Project. The Morning Report, a flight-data-analysis 

software tool, could help flight-operations analysts automatically identify potentially problematic 

aircraft flights―flights with a high statistical probability of experiencing problems that could 

lead to an accident or another major problem.685

NASA awarded a US$814 million contract to Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International 

(HSSSI) to provide equipment and services supporting spacewalks performed by Space Shuttle 

and ISS crew members. Under the contract―formally called the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) 

Systems Contract―Hamilton Sundstrand would provide EVA hardware, training support, realtime mission support, and other products and services related to spacewalks. The contract had a 

five-year base period and five additional one-year options.686

21 September 

NASA re-extended the missions of its Mars rovers by an additional six months. The two mobile 

robotic geological laboratories, Spirit and Opportunity, had landed on Mars in January 2004. The 

robotic rovers had successfully completed their primary three-month mission in April 2004, and 

NASA had extended their mission by five months. Because the rovers remained operable and 

continued to provide important scientific data on Mars, NASA officials had decided to provide 

funding to cover an additional six months of rover operations.687

23 September 

Scientists revealed the first observations of the merger of two galaxy clusters, providing crucial 

support for a theory of the universe’s formation. The scientists, led by J. Patrick Henry of the 

University of Hawaii, used ESA’s XMM-Newton orbiting observatory to obtain data showing 

that the galaxy cluster Abell 754 formed from the collision of two distinct clusters. Galaxy 

clusters such as Abell 754 contain hundreds of galaxies and are the universe’s largest 

gravitationally bound structures. Measurements of Abell 754’s density, pressure, and 

temperature indicated that it is still in formation. Moreover, the evidence showed that Abell 754 

had emerged from the collision of galaxy clusters, supporting the theory that the universe’s 

hierarchical structure had resulted from small galaxies and galaxy clusters merging into 

relatively larger ones.688

 

684 NASA, “Molecular Biologists Uproot Perspective of Ancient History,” news release N04-142, 9 September 

2004; Maria C. Rivera and James A. Lake, “The Ring of Life Provides Evidence for a Genome Fusion Origin of 

Eukaryotes,” Nature 431, no. 7005 (9 September 2004): 152–155. 685 NASA, “NASA Develops New Tool for Airline Accident Prevention,” news release 04-297, 15 September 2004. 686 NASA, “NASA Awards Extravehicular Activity Systems Contract,” news release C04-v, 15 September 2004. 687 NASA, “Rovers Missions Renewed as Mars Emerges from Behind Sun,” news release 04-307, 21 September 

2004. 

688 NASA, “Massive Merger of Galaxies is the Most Powerful on Record,” news release, 23 September 2004. 
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29 September 

A privately funded rocket called SpaceShipOne became the first vehicle to complete a flight for 

the commercial spaceflight competition known as the Ansari X Prize. The X Prize competition 

would award US$10 million to the first private organization to create a spacecraft transporting a 

pilot and payload, with the equivalent weight of two passengers, to an altitude of 100 kilometers 

(62.1 miles) above Earth’s surface, twice in two weeks. California-based Scaled Composites had 

built SpaceShipOne, and the company’s founder Burt Rutan had designed the vehicle. The 

spacecraft left California’s Mojave Airport at 7:11 a.m. (PST), affixed to another aircraft. The 

aircraft released SpaceShipOne after attaining an altitude of 48,000 feet (9.1 miles or 14.6 

kilometers). Although SpaceShipOne had some difficulty during its ascent, the vehicle’s pilot 

Michael W. Melvill was able to guide the vehicle to a peak altitude of 337,500 feet (63.9 miles 

or 102.9 kilometers). However, Scaled Composites would have to repeat the feat within the 

subsequent two weeks to win the Ansari X Prize.689

OCTOBER 2004 

4 October 

SpaceShipOne became the first privately developed, piloted spacecraft to exceed an altitude of 

100 kilometers (62.1 miles) twice within 14 days, thus winning the Ansari X Prize competition. 

The spacecraft launched at 7:00 a.m. (PST) from Mojave Airport in California. During the flight, 

the spacecraft’s pilot Brian Binnie set an unofficial world record for altitude for a private 

spacecraft, reaching 367,442 feet (69.6 miles or 112 kilometers) above Earth’s surface. The 

founder of the X Prize competition, California entrepreneur Peter H. Diamandis, had modeled 

the Ansari X Prize on the Orteig Prize, which Charles A. Lindbergh had won in 1927 for 

completing the first nonstop flight from New York to Paris. To win the competition and its 

US$10 million award, a private team had to launch a spacecraft with a pilot and an equivalent 

weight of two passengers to an altitude of 100 kilometers (62.1 miles) twice within two weeks. 

California-based Scaled Composites had built SpaceShipOne, company founder Burt Rutan had 

designed the spacecraft, and Microsoft cofounder Paul G. Allen had financed the project.690

NASA scientists reported that many of the samples from the Genesis space capsule had survived 

the spacecraft’s crash on 8 September 2004. NASA had launched Genesis in 2001 to obtain 

particle samples from solar winds, planning to use the particles in a study of the chemical 

composition of the solar system during its creation billions of years ago. However, Genesis’s 

sample-return capsule had failed to land on Earth as planned. Instead, it had crashed into the 

Utah desert, risking the destruction of the particle samples. However, although the crash had 

complicated the extraction and processing of the capsule’s fragile, wafer-like, sample-collection 

plates, NASA scientists had found many of the samples intact and usable for subsequent 

analyses.691

 

689 Scaled Composites, “SpaceShipOne Surpasses 100 Km Altitude on First X-Prize Flight,” news release, 29 

September 2004; Peter Pae, “Craft Rolls On into Space in Bid for Prize,” Los Angeles Times, 30 September 2004. 

690 X PRIZE Foundation, “Ansari X PRIZE,” http://space.xprize.org/ansari-x-prize (accessed 12 May 2009); Scaled 

Composites, “SpaceShipOne Captures X-Prize,” 4 October 2004, 

http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/041004_spaceshipone_x-prize_flight_2.html (accessed 12 May 2009); John 

Schwartz, “Private Rocket Ship Earns $10 Million in New Space Race,” New York Times, 5 October 2004. 

691 Warren E. Leary, “Space Specimens Saved from Wrecked Capsule,” New York Times, 5 October 2004. 
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Former astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper died at age 77 in Ventura, California. One of the original 

seven astronauts for the Mercury program, the United States’ first human spaceflight program, 

Cooper was born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, on 6 March 1927. He had joined the U.S. Air Force in 

1949, and NASA had selected him as a Mercury astronaut in April 1959. In May 1963, Cooper 

had piloted the program’s last mission, which lasted 34 hours and 20 minutes―longer than all 

the combined duration of all previous Mercury missions. Cooper had made his second and final 

trip to space on Gemini 5 in August 1965, in a two-person mission that had set a record for space 

endurance of 191 hours. The mission had demonstrated that humans could survive in a 

weightless environment and, therefore, that a trip to the Moon was feasible. In addition, Cooper 

had been the first American astronaut to make two spaceflights, to sleep in space, and to appear 

in a televised broadcast from space. After retiring from the Air Force in 1970, he had run several 

companies, including a consulting firm specializing in projects ranging from aerospace to hotel 

development.692

10 October 

Maxime A. Faget, who had contributed to the designs of every U.S. spacecraft built to transport 

humans from Mercury to the Space Shuttle, passed away at age 83 in Houston, Texas. Born on 

26 August 1921 in British Honduras, Faget had graduated with a degree in mechanical 

engineering from Louisiana State University in 1943. He had begun his career with NASA in 

1946 as a research scientist at the NASA’s LaRC in Hampton, Virginia. In 1958 he had joined 

the Space Task Group―later, NASA’s JSC―where he had helped to design the spacecraft for 

the Mercury project and had led a team studying the feasibility of a lunar mission. Faget had also 

worked on the original feasibility study for the Space Shuttle, later contributing to the 

development of the Shuttles. After retiring from NASA in 1981, Faget had helped found Space 

Industries Incorporated, a private space company that had developed a Shuttle project for 

processing material in a near-perfect vacuum.693

13 October 

The crew of Expedition 10 left for the ISS aboard the Russian Soyuz TMA-5/ISS-9S, which 

launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 11:06 p.m. (EDT). The crew members 

were American astronaut Leroy Chiao and Russian cosmonauts Yuri G. Shargin and Salizhan S. 

Sharipov. Chiao and Sharipov would stay at the ISS until April 2005, and Shargin would spend 

eight days on the ISS, returning to Earth with the crew of Expedition 9.694

18 October 

Scientists announced research demonstrating that planets form according to a different process 

than scientists had previously thought. Comparing recent observations from NASA’s Spitzer 

Space Telescope (SST) with data obtained earlier from other satellites, George H. Rieke of the 

University of Arizona at Tucson had led a team of scientists examining images of the dust clouds 

surrounding 266 stars of similar size. The prevailing theory of planetary formation held that 

small rocky planets collide to form larger planets, and the collisions produce a substantial 

 

692 John Johnson, “Leroy Gordon Cooper Jr., 77,” Los Angeles Times, 5 October 2004; Matthew L. Wald, “Gordon 

Cooper, Astronaut, Is Dead at 77,” New York Times, 5 October 2004. 

693 NASA, “Legendary Spacecraft Designer Dr. Maxime A. Faget Dies at 83,” news release 04-350, 10 October 

2004. 

694 NASA, “International Space Station Status Report: SS04-035,” news release SS04-035, 13 October 2004. 
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213

quantity of dust, which steadily fades away over time. However, the team’s SST observations 

had significantly challenged that theory, revealing that some relatively younger stars have no 

surrounding dust clouds and that older stars tend to have large, bright discs of orbiting dust. The 

presence of dust clouds around the older stars indicated that planetary collisions continue far 

after initial planetary formation. The team concluded that planetary formation is a longer and 

more chaotic process than scientists had previously assumed.695

21 October 

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe announced the immediate appointment of James B. Garvin 

as NASA’s new Chief Scientist. Garvin had previously served as Chief Scientist for NASA’s 

lunar and Mars exploration programs. As Chief Scientist for all of NASA, Garvin would be 

responsible for ensuring the scientific merits of NASA’s programs, including formulating the 

programs’ scientific requirements. Garvin replaced former astronaut John M. Grunsfeld, who had 

served in the post since September 2003. NASA had selected Grunsfeld to train as an astronaut 

for a future long-duration mission.696

Scientists published the first direct evidence of one of the fundamental elements of Einstein’s 

theory of general relativity: an effect known as frame dragging. Frame draggingthe distortion 

of space and time around rotating celestial bodies, such as Earthoccurs because the gravity of 

those objects pulls space and time along with them. Ignazio Ciufolini of the University of Lecce 

in Italy and NASA scientist Erricos C. Pavlis of GSFC had measured distortions in the orbits of 

the Laser Geodynamics Satellites, LAGEOS and LAGEOS2, to obtain the evidence of frame 

dragging. They had discovered that, although irregularities in Earth’s surface account for some 

of the variation in the satellites’ orbits, the remainder of the variation is the effect of space-time 

distortions.697

23 October 

Brazil successfully launched its first rocket from the Alcântara launch site in the state of 

Maranhão. The two-stage rocket called the Veículo de Sondagem Booster-30 (VSB30)―Spanish for Sounding Booster Vehicle―was 12.6 meters (41.3 feet) long, had a total mass 

of 2,570 kilograms (5,666 pounds), and was capable of carrying a payload of up to 400 

kilograms (882 pounds). According to Brazilian officials, the government expected to sell up to 

15 of the rockets to ESA.698

24 October 

The crew of Expedition 9 returned to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule, landing in 

Kazakhstan at 6:36 a.m., local time. American astronaut E. Michael Fincke and Russian 

cosmonaut Gennady I. Padalka had spent 188 days at the ISS, where they had performed four 

 

695 NASA, “Astronomers Discover Planet Building Is Big Mess,” news release 04-347, 18 October 2004; John 

Noble Wilford, “A New Look at How Planets Are Formed,” New York Times, 19 October 2004. 696 NASA, “NASA Administrator Names New Chief Scientist,” news release 04-349, 21 October 2004. 697 NASA, “As the World Turns, It Drags Space and Time,” news release 04-351, 21 October 2004; Guy Gugliotta, 

“Theory of Relativity Evidence Found,” Washington Post, 22 October 2004. 

698 Los Angeles Times, “Brazil Succeeds in Sending First Rocket to Space,” 24 October 2004; Agénica Espacial 

Brasileira [Brazilian Space Agency], “Foguetes de Sondagem [Survey of Rockets],” 

http://www.aeb.gov.br/indexx.php?secao=lancadores (accessed 14 November 2009). 
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214

spacewalks. Returning with them was Russian cosmonaut Yuri G. Shargin, who had traveled to 

the ISS on 13 October 2004 with the crew members of Expedition 10.699

26 October 

The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft completed the closest approach ever made to Titan, Saturn’s 

largest moon, as well as the only moon in the solar system known to have an atmosphere. Soon 

after Cassini pierced Titan’s viscous atmosphere, the spacecraft beamed images of the moon’s 

surface to mission scientists at NASA’s JPL. ESA, the Italian Space Agency, and NASA had 

launched the mission in 1997 to study Saturn and its moons. Even though it is too cold to support 

life, scientists remain greatly interested in Titan, because they suspect that conditions on the 

planet are similar to those on Earth before the development of life.700

NOVEMBER 2004 

1 November 

Rex D. Geveden became Chief Engineer and Director of NASA’s Independent Technical 

Authority. Administrator Sean O’Keefe had appointed Geveden as Chief Engineer on 14 October 

2004. The Office of Chief Engineer was responsible for ensuring that NASA planned and 

conducted its development efforts and missions operations on a sound engineering basis. The 

Chief Engineer reported the overall review and technical readiness of all NASA programs 

directly to the Administrator. Geveden, who had been Deputy Director of NASA’s MSFC since 

July 2003, succeeded the retiring Theron Bradley Jr., who had served in the post since June 

2002.701

8 November 

NASA scientists published research showing that the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is 

the single most important factor in interannual rainfall variability throughout the world. The 

scientists had used data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite to 

identify geographic areas with the greatest variations in rainfall between 1998 and 2002. After 

comparing the TRMM data with rainfall patterns over the previous 50 years, they had found that 

changes in the ENSO directly correlated with local changes in rainfall patterns around the world. 

The TRMM satellite, a joint project of NASA and JAXA, used microwaves to measure 

precipitation over the tropics.702

15 November 

Scientists from NASA’s ARC and Yale University announced that they had designed a complete 

map of gene activities in human tissue. The researchers had affixed pieces of deoxyribonucleic 

acid (DNA) sequences from the human genetic blueprint―known as the genome―to specially 

patterned glass slides. Using these slides, they had measured levels of ribonucleic 

acid―biochemical copies of DNA, which activating genes produce to make proteins. Among 

 

699 Mark Carreau, “Station Crew Returns to Earth,” Houston Chronicle, 24 October 2004; Stefano S. Coleman, 

“Two Safely Back After 6 Months on Space Station,” New York Times, 24 October 2004. 700 ESA, “Cassini-Huygens Makes First Close Approach to Titan,” ESAnews release, 26 October 2004. 701 NASA, “NASA Names Rex Geveden New Chief Engineer,” news release 04-344, 14 October 2004. 702 NASA, “TRMM Satellite El Niño Holds the Reins on Global Rains,” news release 04-369, 8 November 2004; Z. 

S. Haddad et al., “Global Variability of Precipitation According to the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission,” 

Journal of Geophysical Research―Atmospheres 109, no. D17 (16 September 2004): D17103. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

215

their findings, the scientists had discovered that certain DNA sequences, which they had 

previously believed are nonfunctioning, are actually functioning―they are encoding active 

genes. The NASA scientists hoped their results would enable other researchers to analyze genes 

for human diseases and to develop new treatments for them. In addition, their research had a 

specific benefit for NASA: the NASA scientists hoped it would help them understand how 

human genes respond to spaceflight, so that they would be better able to protect the health of 

astronauts.703

16 November 

NASA’s X-43A research vehicle established an unofficial world speed record for aircraft of 

nearly 7,000 miles per hour (11,265 kilometers per hour) or Mach 10―10 times the speed of 

sound. The X-43A contained an experimental engine―called a supersonic combustion ramjet or 

scramjet. The scramjet engine had no moving parts and did not use fuel from an on-board tank, 

as is the case with rockets. Instead, the engine used oxygen from the atmosphere, passing 

through the vehicle, to ignite fuel. NASA had explored the use of scramjets as an alternative to 

rocket power for space-access vehicles, with the hope that scramjet vehicles would operate more 

like an airplane than a rocket. The mission lifted off from NASA’s DFRC at Edwards Air Force 

Base in California at 2:30 p.m. (PST). A NASA B-52 carried the unpiloted X-43A to an altitude 

of 40,000 feet (7.6 miles or 12.2 kilometers). Before the X-43A had attained at an altitude of 

111,000 feet (21 miles or 33.8 kilometers), a Pegasus rocket booster launched from the B-52, 

providing an initial acceleration that enabled the X-43A to attain an altitude of 111,000 feet (21 

miles or 33.8 kilometers). The experimental aircraft flew for nearly 10 seconds at that altitude 

before descending into the Pacific Ocean as planned, nearly 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) off the 

coast of California.704

The SMART-1 spacecraft, the first of ESA’s Small Missions for Advanced Research in 

Technology (SMART), successfully completed its first orbit of the Moon. ESA had launched 

SMART-1 in September 2003 to study the Moon’s surface. SMART-1 was noteworthy for its 

use of a host of techniques and technologies to reach lunar orbit―including a solar-electric 

propulsion system or ion engine, which made the journey of 52.2 million miles (84 million 

kilometers) from Earth to the Moon using only 130 pounds (59 kilograms) of the 181 pounds (82 

kilograms) of xenon fuel that it had carried. That fuel consumption rate was equivalent to more 

than 5 million miles per gallon. The 809-pound (367-kilogram) spacecraft was able to achieve 

this rate of fuel efficiency using solar panels. During 13 months of expanding orbits around 

Earth, the solar panels had charged the xenon gas atoms, providing the spacecraft with 

occasional thrusts. ESA hoped to replace conventional propulsion systems―which were either 

too expensive or incapable of fulfilling the same objective―with the new solar-panel 

technology, to propel future spacecraft further into space.705

 

703 NASA, “NASA Scientists Help Create Complete Human Genome Activity,” news release 04-376, 15 November 

2004; Viktor Stolc et al., “A Gene Expression Map for the Euchromatic Genome of Drosophila Melanogaster,” 

Science 360, no. 5696 (22 October 2004): 655–660. 704 John Johnson, “X-43A Aircraft Sets Speed Record at 6,500 MPH,” Los Angeles Times, 17 November 2004; 

NASA, “NASA’s X-43A Scramjet Breaks Speed Record,” news release 04-373, 16 November 2004. 705 ESA, “Europe Reaches the Moon,” ESA news release 60-2004, 16 November 2004, http://www.esa.int 

esaCP/SEM2S8WJD1E_index_0.html (accessed 2 February 2010); David Rising for Associated Press, “Europe’s 

First Moon Mission Successful,” 17 November 2004. 
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19 November 

NASA hosted representatives from 30 countries―including China―in talks about how to 

accomplish President George W. Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration. Experts and participants 

described Chinese participation in the talks as a small but significant advance toward the goals of 

global security and space exploration―China’s presence at the talks indicated its interest in 

collaborating with other countries, particularly the United States. According to analysts, Chinese 

contributions to space exploration could include expendable rockets, piloted spacecraft, and 

space robotics.706

20 November 

NASA launched the Swift satellite from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. NASA 

and an international team of participants had designed the spacecraft to detect and analyze 

gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)―ephemeral explosions that occur throughout the universe, usually far 

from Earth. GRBs may indicate a number of significant cosmological events, such as the 

collision of extremely dense celestial bodies or the formation of black holes. Swift was equipped 

with three telescopes to study GRBs, including the Burst Alert Telescope, which could detect 

and locate GRBs, and the X-ray Telescope (XRT) and Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT), 

two telescopes that could study the bursts’ afterglows. Among the many participants in the Swift 

mission were the Italian Space Agency and the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research 

Council of the United Kingdom.707

Donald R. Puddy, longtime NASA Flight Director who had supervised numerous human 

spaceflight missions, died at the age of 67 in Houston, Texas. Born in Oklahoma, Puddy had 

joined NASA’s JSC in 1964 and had spent 22 years at JSC’s Mission Control Center. Puddy was 

only the 10th person to become a NASA flight director. He had later served in many other 

positions at NASA’s JSC, ARC, and Headquarters. As JSC Flight Director, Puddy had led flightcontrol teams during the Apollo Program, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, and the Skylab 

missions, as well as serving as Flight Director for the first Space Shuttle mission. He had also 

created and managed projects related to aircraft-safety procedures and had played a significant 

role in early cooperative efforts between the space programs of the United States and the 

U.S.S.R. Among the numerous awards Puddy had received for his achievements were the 

Presidential Medal of Freedom and the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal.708

23 November 

NASA announced the crew for ISS Expedition 11, a six-month mission set to launch in April 

2005. Russian cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev would serve as Station Commander, and American 

astronaut John L. Phillips would serve as Flight Engineer and ISS Science Officer. In 2000 

Krikalev, who had experienced the most spaceflights of any Russian cosmonaut, had served as a 

member of the first ISS crew for Expedition 1. Phillips also had ISS experience as a member of 

 

706 Mark Carreau and Patty Reinert, “NASA Makes First Overture to China,” Houston Chronicle, 19 November 

2004. 

707 NASA, “NASA Successfully Launches Swift Satellite,” news release 04-382, 22 November 2004; New York 

Times, “NASA Starts Hunt for Celestial Bodies,” 21 November 2004. 708 Mark Carreau, “Donald Puddy, Veteran NASA Flight Director,” Houston Chronicle, 24 November 2004; NASA 

JSC, “NASA Honors Memory of Mission Control Veteran Don Puddy,” news release J04-054, 23 November 2004. 
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Mission STS-100 in 2001. The backup crew members for Expedition 11 were American 

astronaut Daniel M. Tani and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail V. Tyurin.709

DECEMBER 2004 

1 December 

A NASA-funded study revealed evidence of newly discovered relationships between climate 

change, ice sheets, and sea-level rise. Researchers led by Ian R. Joughin of NASA’s JPL found 

that, between 1992 and 2003, the speed of the ice movements of Greenland’s Jakobshavn Isbræ 

glacier―which has the fastest flow of ice from land to ocean of any glacier―had doubled. The 

increased ice flow from this single glacier had led to nearly a 4 percent increase in the rate of 

global sea-level rise during the 20th century. Furthermore, remote-sensing data from Canadian, 

European, and NASA satellites indicated that the glacier’s accelerated ice flow was largely the 

result of the warming of Earth’s climate.710

8 December 

The National Research Council (NRC) issued a report outlining recommendations for servicing 

the HST. The issue of servicing the HST had initiated a public discussion in January 2004, when 

NASA had decided to cancel a Shuttle mission to service the HST because of concern for 

astronaut safety. The debate had erupted again after April 2004, when NASA had announced that 

it would conduct an unpiloted servicing mission for the HST. In response to criticism for those 

decisions, NASA had requested that the NRC evaluate servicing options for the HST. The NRC 

recommended that NASA service the HST using a piloted Shuttle mission, because a robotic 

mission would be too complex for NASA to complete before 2007, when NASA anticipated that 

the HST’s machinery would wear out. According to the guidelines recommended by the CAIB, 

astronauts would be able to service the HST by 2007. The NRC also reported that, if NASA 

carefully planned and conducted the piloted Shuttle mission, the mission would be far more 

likely to extend the telescope’s operational life at a relatively lower cost.711

9 December 

NASA officials announced that the crew members of the ISS were experiencing a food shortage 

and would have to eat less until a Russian supply capsule could bring additional food supplies. 

Russia had scheduled the resupply capsule to arrive at the ISS on 25 December 2004, but if it 

missed the delivery, crew members Leroy Chiao and Salizhan S. Sharipov would have to return 

to Earth aboard the Russian Soyuz capsule docked at the ISS. NASA also noted that, if the crew 

members had to evacuate the space station, Russia and the United States could continue to 

operate the ISS from Earth. Officials cited a number of reasons for the supply shortage on the 

ISS, including the postponement of regular supply missions after the Columbia accident and the 

 

709 NASA JSC, “Next International Space Station Crew Named,” news release H04-383, 23 November 2004. 710 NASA, “NASA Study Finds Glacier Doing Double Time,” news release M04-192, 1 December 2004; Ian 

Joughin, Waleed Abdalati, and Mark Fahnestock, “Large Fluctuations in Speed on Greenland’s Jakobshavn Isbræ 

Glacier,” Nature 432, no. 7017 (2 December 2004): 608–610. 711 Guy Gugliotta, “Astronauts Acceptable, Panel Says,” Washington Post, 9 December 2004; National Research 

Council, Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope: Final Report (Washington, 

DC: National Academy Press, 2005). 
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necessary removal of some food supplies from an August 2004 resupply flight, to make room for 

equipment to monitor air quality in the ISS.712

13 December 

NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe submitted his resignation in a handwritten letter to President 

George W. Bush. In his resignation, O’Keefe stated that he would continue serving as 

Administrator until Bush had named a successor, but that he would prefer to leave by February 

2005. O’Keefe cited family commitments and his interest in pursuing better economic 

opportunities as the reasons for his resignation. Major media speculated about candidates to 

replace O’Keefe, but the White House provided no details about its choice for a successor. 

Before becoming NASA’s Administrator in December 2001, O’Keefe had worked for the 

OMB.713

15 December 

U.S. federal government agencies released details of a long-term business strategy for the 

development of the Next Generation Air Transportation System―NextGen. The air traffic 

system NextGen encompassed a collection of infrastructural, policy, and technological efforts to 

address air traffic control, security, and other air-transportation concerns, which the U.S. 

government expected would increase with the continued growth in U.S. air traffic. In 2003 the 

U.S. Congress had created the Joint Planning and Development Office to coordinate public and 

private efforts to create and implement NextGen. The federal agencies participating in the effort 

included NASA and the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security, and 

Transportation. The newly released NextGen strategy did not provide specific recommendations 

on NextGen; rather, it outlined objectives and requirements according to eight subject areas, 

including airport infrastructure development, security, and weather forecasting.714

16 December 

An independent panel of experts provided its interim assessment of NASA’s efforts to meet the 

CAIB’s requirements for resuming Space Shuttle flights. NASA had chartered the StaffordCovey Return to Flight Task Group (SCTG) to assess independently its implementation of the 

CAIB’s preflight recommendations―mandatory for NASA’s resuming Space Shuttle flights. 

The 26-member Task Group, headed by former astronauts Thomas P. Stafford and Richard O. 

Covey, stated that it had approved NASA’s compliance plans for eight of the CAIB’s 15 

requirements. The task force did not see any major obstacles to NASA’s resuming Shuttle flights 

by May or June of 2005. The Task Group also noted, however, that NASA continued to have 

difficulty developing methods to repair the exterior heat tiles and thermal-resistant carbon-fiber 

material damaged during Shuttle flights.715

NASA awarded Jacobs Sverdrup a five-year, US$1.2 billion contract to provide engineering and 

scientific products and support services at NASA’s JSC. Under the contract, Jacobs Sverdrup 

 

712 Mark Carreau, “Space Station Crew Endures Food Shortage,” Houston Chronicle, 10 December 2004. 713 Guy Gugliotta, “NASA Chief Formally Steps Down,” Washington Post, 14 December 2004; Warren E. Leary, 

“NASA Leader Cites Finances and Submits His Resignation,” New York Times, 14 December 2004. 714 NASA, “Roadmap for Future of Air Transportation Announced,” news release 04-399, 15 December 2004; Joint 

Planning and Development Office, “NextGen,” http://www.jpdo.gov/nextgen.asp (accessed 4 June 2009). 715 Warren E. Leary, “Panel Sees Shuttle Flights Resuming Soon,” New York Times, 17 December 2004. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

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would provide engineering products and services to support the ISS, Space Shuttles, planetary 

missions, and numerous other NASA programs. In addition, the company would provide those 

services to JSC’s Engineering Directorate and Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science 

Office.716

A NASA-funded study provided the first direct evidence that aerosols affect the absorption and 

release of carbon by ecosystems. Because carbon, in the form of carbon dioxide in the 

atmosphere, acts as a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, the research team sought to identify the 

factors that influence carbon transfer between the atmosphere and soils. Led by Dev S. Niyogi of 

North Carolina State University, the scientists had used NASA satellite data to examine 

atmospheric aerosol content and carbon absorption in different ecosystems. They had discovered 

that high aerosol levels increase carbon absorption in croplands and forests but decrease carbon 

absorption in grasslands. The researchers suggested that this variation occurs because of the way 

that aerosols interact with different types of vegetation canopies to affect the dispersion of 

radiation from sunlight. In the dense vegetation canopies of croplands and forests, aerosols 

scatter sunlight in a manner that enables more radiation to reach a greater quantity of plant leaves 

and increases carbon absorption through plant photosynthesis. However, in the less dense 

vegetation canopy of grasslands, aerosols scatter sunlight in a manner that raises ground 

temperatures, causing the soil to release more carbon dioxide.717

21 December 

Researchers using images from NASA’s Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) found evidence 

of dozens of newly forming galaxies, a discovery that challenged prevailing scientific 

understanding of the creation of galaxies. Many astronomers believe that the universe began 13.7 

billion years ago after a massive explosion of dense matter―an event often referred to as the Big 

Bang―and that galaxy and star formation peaked around 8 to 10 billion years ago. However, the 

researchers using the GALEX data had found evidence of 36 massive galaxies, ranging in age 

from 100 million to 1 billion years old and producing stars at a prodigious rate. The findings 

suggested that the new formation of galaxies had not ended as early as scientists had believed, 

and that the peak of galaxy formation had occurred later than previously thought.718

22 December 

NASA announced the selection of six proposals to provide research and payload instruments for 

the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the first spacecraft that NASA would build under the 

new Vision for Space Exploration. NASA planned the LRO as a robotic mission, which would 

orbit near the Moon, obtaining measurements to use in planning future human and robotic 

landing sites. The selected proposals included remote-sensing instruments, such as the Lunar 

Orbiter Laser Altimeter, which would conduct high-resolution measurements of landing-site 

 

716 NASA, “NASA Awards Engineering and Science Contract,” news release c04-dd, 16 December 2004. 717 NASA, “NASA Study Finds Tiny Particles in Air May Influence Carbon Sinks,” news release 04-394, 16 

December 2004; D. Niyogi et al., “Direct Observations of the Effects of Aerosol Loading on Net Ecosystem CO2

Exchanges over Different Landscapes,” Geophysical Research Letters 31, no. 20 (29 October 2004): L20506. 718 Dennis Overbye, “Three Dozen New Galaxies Are Found in Nearby Space,” New York Times, 22 December 

2004; NASA, “Aging Universe May Still Be Spawning Massive Galaxies,” news release 04-405, 21 December 

2004. 
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220

slopes, and the Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector, which would measure the Moon’s 

radiation.719

23 December 

The Russian Space Agency launched Progress-M 51/ISS-16P, an automatic cargo vehicle, on a 

Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:19 p.m. (GMT). Progress-M 

51, bound for the ISS, carried 2.75 tons (2,500 kilograms or 2.5 tonnes) of equipment, fuel, food, 

and water.720

A NASA study revealed that clouds that form from small haze particles do not reduce Earth’s 

temperatures as much as previous research had suggested. Scientists had thought that low-lying 

clouds cool Earth by reflecting sunlight away from the planet’s surface, and that the reflectivity 

of clouds increases as their volume of water increases. However, NASA scientist Andrew S. 

Ackerman led a group of researchers who found that polluted, low-lying clouds neither hold 

more water nor reflect more solar energy than do cleaner clouds. Using measurements from 

polar-orbiting satellites and from NASA aircraft flying through clouds, the scientists discovered 

that water tends to decrease in polluted clouds, rather than to increase. Because most predictions 

of climate change had incorrectly assumed that polluted clouds counteract greenhouse warming, 

this finding could significantly influence how scientists predict changes in climate.721

25 December 

NASA’s Cassini orbiter successfully released ESA’s Huygens probe on a controlled course to 

Saturn’s largest moon Titan. ESA, NASA, and the Italian Space Agency had created the CassiniHuygens mission to study Saturn and its moons, scheduling the Huygens probe―specifically 

designed to analyze Titan’s atmosphere and surface―to enter the moon’s atmosphere in January 

2005.722

JANUARY 2005 

1 January 

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made a close pass of Saturn’s moon Iapetus, flying within 123,400 

kilometers (76,677 miles) on its closest approach, and coming about 10 times closer to the moon 

than Voyager 2 had come in 1981. Cassini’s closest approach had occurred over the moon’s 

mysterious dark terrain, which scientists had never before seen at close range. Scientists 

described the dark coating, the origin of which was unknown, as rich in carbon-based molecules. 

The dark terrain blankets the side of Iapetus that leads in the direction of the orbital motion 

 

719 NASA, “NASA Selects Investigations for Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter,” news release 04-407, 22 December 

2004. 

720Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 614, 1 January 2005, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx614.html (accessed 5 June 

2009). 

721 Andrew S. Ackerman et al., “The Impact of Humidity Above Stratiform Clouds on Indirect Aerosol Climate 

Forcing,” Nature 432, no. 7020 (23–30 December 2004): 1014–1017; NASA, “NASA Finds Polluted Clouds Hold 

Less Moisture and Cool Earth Less,” news release 04-404, 23 December 2004. 722 ESA, “Huygens Begins Its Final Journey into the Unknown,” ESA news release 67-2004, 25 December 2004, 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMVR53AR2E_index.html (accessed 2 February 2010). 
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221

around Saturn. Voyager’s best images of Iapetus had a resolution of 8 kilometers (4.97 miles) 

per pixel, but Cassini had produced a resolution of about 1 kilometer (0.6 mile) per pixel.723

5 January 

NASA announced that the Chandra X-ray Observatory had detected the most powerful eruption 

measured in the universe to date, generating a supermassive black hole that is growing at a 

remarkable rate. The eruption in the galaxy cluster MS 0735.6+7421 had been in process for 

more than 100 million years, generating energy equal to that of hundreds of millions of gammaray bursts (GRBs). In the past, scientists had usually detected the rapid growth of supermassive 

black holes by observing very bright radiation from galaxies. However, MS 0735.6+7421 had no 

detectable bright, central radiation, and the galaxy cluster’s radio jets were faint. Chandra’s x-ray 

observations of the hot cluster gas had revealed the true nature of the black hole. Michael R. 

Wise of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology remarked that, until Chandra had captured 

this information, scientists had no idea that the black hole was “gorging itself.” Chandra’s 

discovery demonstrated that, to observe and understand some of the most violent events in the 

universe, astronomers need x-ray telescopes.724

6 January

The ISS Expedition 10 crew, comprising Leroy Chiao and Salizhan S. Sharipov, successfully 

reactivated the station’s Elektron oxygen generator, which had shut down on 1 January because 

of air bubbles in the system’s lines. Flight Engineer Sharipov made three unsuccessful attempts 

to repair the Russian-built unit. While the ISS crew continued to work on the problem, flight 

controllers in Russia used oxygen stores aboard the Progress 16 supply ship to repressurize the 

station. Russian engineers then instructed the crew to hook up a backup liquid unit to infuse fresh 

electrolytes into the oxygen generator’s system. The crew reactivated the Elektron generator 

without incident. Engineers planned to monitor the system’s performance to ensure that it 

continued to function properly.725

The White House Office of Science and Technology released the Vision for Space Exploration, 

the new policy for transportation in space and the first wholesale revision of space policy since 

1994. The new policy detailed broad principles and national security goals for providing access 

to space for military satellites, spy spacecraft, and other government missions, emphasizing the 

creation of a robust program for space exploration. The policy called for astronauts to return to 

the Moon by 2020, planned for future human missions to Mars, and supported the 

commercialization of large parts of the space industry. Under the new policy, the government 

would fund Boeing Company and Lockheed Martin Corporation rockets to launch government 

satellites through the end of the decade. At that time, the White House expected that the private 

sector would have developed launchers that were less costly and more flexible. The policy also 

reiterated President George W. Bush’s plan for the retirement of the Space Shuttle at the 

completion of ISS constructionestimated to occur at the end of the decade. The projected 

 

723 BBC News, “Cassini Passes ‘Two-Faced’ Moon,” 3 January 2005. 724 NASA, “Most Powerful Eruption in the Universe Discovered,” news release 05-004, 5 January 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/jan/HQ_05004_chandra.html (accessed 11 May 2009). 725 Tariq Malik, “Repaired Oxygen Generator Fails Again Aboard ISS,” Space.com, 5 January 2005, 

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/exp10_elektron_050104.html (accessed 18 August 2009); William 

Harwood, “Space Station’s Oxygen Generator Back in Action,” Spaceflight Now, 6 January 2005. 
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retirement of the fleet required that the DOD and NASA recommend the best option for 

replacing the Space Shuttle. According to the new policy, the two agencies would work closely 

to determine long-term funding plans. In addition, the agencies would use heavy-lift rockets, 

which the military was developing, for satellites and other robotic missions.726

NASA announced the completion of the most extensive global topographic map ever created, 

using data collected during Endeavour’s Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) in 

February 2000. NASA and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) had processed 

the collected data for more than four years, creating digital elevation maps that encompassed 80 

percent of Earth’s landmass and revealed, for the first time, large, detailed swaths of topography 

previously obscured by persistent cloud cover. The data covered Australia and New Zealand in 

unprecedented, uniform detail, as well as the more than 1,000 islands comprising much of 

Polynesia and Melanesia in the South Pacific and the islands in the South Indian and Atlantic 

oceans, including many that geographers had never topographically mapped. The low 

topography typical of the islands makes them vulnerable to tidal effects, storm surges, and longterm rise in sea level. Mission Project Scientist at NASA’s JPL, Michael Kobrick, remarked that 

the maps would help mitigate the effects of future disasters of the magnitude of the Indian Ocean 

tsunami, because scientists would now be able to see where rising waters would go. Kobrick also 

commented that the SRTM was among the most significant missions the Shuttle had performed 

and, probably, the most significant mapping mission of any single type.727

11 January

James D. Wetherbee, the only U.S. astronaut to command five Space Shuttle flights, announced 

his plans to retire from NASA. Wetherbee had participated in six Space Shuttle missions since 

becoming an astronaut in 1984, serving as pilot aboard Mission STS-32 in 1990 and 

commanding STS-52 in 1992, STS-63 in 1995, STS-86 in 1997, STS-102 in 2001, and STS-113 

in 2002. His missions had included flights both to the Russian Mir space station, including the 

first Shuttle–Mir rendezvous, and to the ISS. Just before retiring, Wetherbee had worked as 

Space Shuttle Lead in the Independent Technical Authority at NASA’s JSC, a group responsible 

for identifying and analyzing possible hazards and determining launch readiness. Wetherbee had 

also served for two years as Director of Flight Crew Operations at JSC and for five years as 

Deputy Director of JSC.728

12 January

The NASA probe known as Deep Impact launched aboard a Delta 2 rocket from Cape Canaveral 

in Florida, on its mission to Comet Tempel One. The craft carried an impactor, intended to 

collide with the comet to create a crater about 100 meters (328 feet) wide and 28 meters (92 feet) 

deep, as well as two instruments designed to observe the impact and its aftermath in visible and 

 

726 U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy, “U.S. Space Transportation Policy Fact Sheet,” 6 January 2005, 

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=15010 (accessed 18 August 2009); Gwyneth K. Shaw, “Space 

Policy Goes Private,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 7 January 2005; Amy Pasztor, “White House Releases New Space 

Strategy,” Wall Street Journal, 7 January 2005. 727 NASA, “NASA Goes ‘Down Under’ for Shuttle Mapping Mission Finale,” news release 05-007, 6 January 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/jan/HQ_05007_srtm_update.html (accessed 11 May 2009). 728 NASA, “Veteran NASA Space Shuttle Commander Retires,” news release 05-017, 11 January 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/archives/2005-all-archives.html (accessed 13 August 2009); Associated 

Press, “Veteran Space Shuttle Commander Retires,” 12 January 2005. 
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223

infrared wavelengths. NASA planned for the craft to launch the impactor into the comet on 4 

July 2005. Mission scientists hoped the data collected from the impact would reveal information 

about the birth of the solar system.729

14 January

ESA announced that its Huygens probe, which had undertaken a seven-year journey through the 

solar system, aboard NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, had successfully landed on the surface of 

Saturn’s moon Titan. ESA intended Huygens to provide the first direct and detailed sampling of 

Titan’s atmospheric chemistry, the first photographs of its surface, and a detailed weather report 

of the moon. ESA had selected Titan as the probe’s destination because Titan’s nitrogen 

atmosphere is rich in methane, and scientists believe its surface may contain chemicals similar to 

those that existed on the young Earth, before life evolved. Before the landing of Huygens, 

scientists had been unable to see Titan’s surface, because the methane in the atmosphere reacts 

with sunlight, creating a permanent blanket of smog. ESA had designed the Huygens probe 

specifically to breach that shroud.730

18 January 

Russian Space Agency Chief Anatoly N. Perminov and ESA Director General Jean-Jacques 

Dordain signed an agreement allowing Russia to use ESA sites for space launches and enabling 

Russia and Europe freely to exchange research and development information. Specifically, ESA 

would permit Russia to conduct Soyuz launches from Kourou, French Guiana. In addition, the 

two would share information on the design of new launchers and fuelsinformation once 

closely guarded by both sideswith the intention of developing new launchers jointly. For 

example, Russia and Europe had studied the option of developing new reusable launchers and 

new propulsion systems.731

In the journal Geophysical Research Letters, researchers studying data from the Mediterranean 

Israeli Dust Experiment (MEIDEX) reported their determination that a strange flash over the 

Indian Ocean, which had occurred on 20 January 2003, was not related to lightning. The 

researchers named the mysterious reddish glow Transient Ionospheric Glow Emission in Red, or 

TIGER. Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, a crew member of the ill-fated STS-107, had recorded the 

glow while aboard Space Shuttle Columbia, using an infrared video camera. During the Shuttle 

flight, Ramon had collected data about dust particles in the atmosphere for the MEIDEX Sprite 

campaign at the Open University in Ra’anana, Israel. Researchers for MEIDEX had analyzed 

Ramon’s video, including a single frame that showed a mysterious reddish glow 150 kilometers 

(93.2 miles) above the ocean near Madagascar. Like blue jets and elves, sprites are 

emissions―transient luminous events (TLEs)―that occur above thunderstorms. Airline pilots 

 

729 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 615, 1 February 2005, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx615.html (accessed 13 

August 2009). 

730 ESA, “Europe Reaches New FrontierHuygens Lands on Titan,” ESA news release PR 03-2005, 14 January 

2005, http://www.esa.int/esaCP/Pr_3_2005_p_EN.html (accessed 14 August 2009); NASA JPL, “NASA Salutes 

Successful Huygens Probe,” news release 2005-017, 14 January 2005, 

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/newsreleases/newsrelease20050114-3/ (accessed 14 August 2009); Guy Gugliotta, 

“Probe Lands on Moon of Saturn: A First Glimpse of Smog-Covered Titan,” Washington Post, 15 January 2005. 731 Agence-France Presse, “Russia and Europe Sign Space Agreement,” 20 January 2005. 
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had first reported TLEs several decades ago. The TIGER phenomenon contrasted with typical 

TLEs because of its shape and its lack of any direct relationship to thunderstorm activity.732

21 January

NASA announced that the NASA-led Swift mission had detected and captured its first image of 

a GRB. On 17 January, the craft had turned, autonomously, to focus on the burstquickly 

enough to capture an image with its X-ray Telescope (XRT), while its Burst Alert Telescope 

(BAT) continued to detect gamma rays. The event marked the first time that an x-ray telescope 

had imaged an in-process GRB. Previous images had captured the burst’s afterglow, but never 

the burst itself. The event had also marked the first time that BAT had detected a burst, and an 

XRT detection had autonomously followed it. Swift had carried a third instrument, the 

Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope (UVOT), which was still in its testing phase. UVOT had not been 

collecting data when the other two telescopes detected the burst. John A. Nousek, Swift’s 

Mission Operations Director at Pennsylvania State University in State College, Pennsylvania, 

remarked that Swift had successfully achieved, early in its mission, its primary purposeto 

detect the fleeting bursts and to focus telescopes on them autonomously within a minute.733

24 January

Northrop Grumman Corporation announced that it had finalized an agreement with the Boeing 

Company to compete as a team to develop NASA’s new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and 

related human lunar-exploration systems, in anticipation of NASA’s formal request for proposals 

(RFPs). NASA intended the CEV to serve as the central human space-transportation system 

within the Project Constellation, which would incorporate human and robotic space systems, 

ferrying astronauts to the Moon and beyond. According to the agreement, Northrop Grumman’s 

Integrated Systems sector would serve as team leader and prime contractor during the initial 

development phase, Spiral 1. During the Spiral 1 phase, the team hoped to demonstrate the 

CEV’s ability to operate safely in low Earth orbit with astronauts aboard. Boeing NASA 

Systems, an operating unit of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, would serve as principal 

subcontractor. The two companies’ roles would reverse to implement the second phase, Spiral 2. 

During the Spiral 2 phase, NASA intended to begin to expand human space exploration to the 

Moon and beyond.734

26 January

NASA announced its selection of the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) as part of NASA’s 

Small Explorer Program (SMEX). Scheduled for launch in 2008, IBEX was the first mission 

designed to detect the edge of the solar system. IBEX planned to use two neutral atom imagers to 

detect the particles created from the termination shock that occurs at the boundary between the 

solar system and interstellar space. IBEX would also study galactic cosmic rays, which pose a 

 

732 Maggie McKee, “Columbia Crew Saw New Atmospheric Phenomenon,” New Scientist, 20 January 2005; 

Michael Schirber, “High-Altitude Mystery Flash Recorded by Space Shuttle,” LiveScience.com, 19 January 2005, 

http://www.livescience.com/environment/050118_tiger_flash.html (accessed 18 August 2009). 733 NASA, “Swift Mission Images the Birth of a Black Hole,” news release 05-019, 21 January 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/jan/HQ_05019_swift_blackhole.html (accessed 11 May 2009). 734 Northrop Grumman, “Northrop Grumman, Boeing Finalize Space Exploration Teaming Agreement,” news 

release, 24 January 2005, http://www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.html?d=71298 (accessed 17 

August 2009); Los Angeles Business Journal, “Northrop, Boeing Finalize Deal To Team for NASA Contract,” 25 

January 2005. 
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health and safety hazard for humans exploring beyond Earth’s orbit. Since 1992, NASA had 

successfully launched six SMEX missions.735 

ISS Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan S. Sharipov 

successfully carried out a spacewalk to install a universal work platform at the station’s Zvezda

module. The excursion was Chiao’s fifth spacewalk and Sharipov’s first. Over a period of 5 

hours and 28 minutes, the crew attached a German-built test robot, ROKVISS (Robotic 

Components Verification on the ISS), to the newly installed work platform. The two-jointed 

robot, with an on-board camera and manipulator arm, would test the application of the 

lightweight robotic systems that may help support the ISS and other spacecraft in the future. 

Chiao and Sharipov encountered some difficulty fastening the power cables of the robot’s 

antenna, but they succeeded in their second attempt. ISS crews would be able to operate the 

robot using a computer, but flight controllers in Germany would operate the robot remotely, 

relying on the antenna. Sharipov also inspected and photographed three vents, which the 

station’s Elektron oxygen generator and other systems used to expel waste matter. He reported 

white residue resembling honeycomb, on the Elektron generator’s vent, and brownish residue on 

the other two vents. Engineers on the ground planned to analyze the photographs to determine 

whether the residue had caused the repeated shutdowns of the main oxygen generator of the 

ISS.736 

28 January

NASA announced that one of its scientific balloons had broken the balloon flight record for 

duration and distance, soaring for nearly 42 days and making three orbits around the South Pole, 

thereby exceeding the previous record of nearly 32 days and two orbits. The flight of the balloon, 

which carried the Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass (CREAM) experiment, demonstrated the 

capabilities of NASA’s Ultra-Long Duration Balloon (ULDB) support system. NASA had 

designed the CREAM experiment to study the supernova acceleration limit of cosmic rays―the 

relativistic gas of protons, electrons, and heavy nuclei arriving at Earth from outside the solar 

system. The ULDB system, which NASA was developing, would extend flights up to 100 

days.737

FEBRUARY 2005 

2 February

NASA announced it had accepted an invitation to join the National Invasive Species Council 

(NISC), a cabinet-level council established in 1999 to coordinate federal responses to harmful 

invasive species. As a member of the council, NASA would provide data acquired using Earthobservation spacecraft and predictive models to assist 12 other federal agencies’ efforts to 

combat invasive species nationwide. The council had extended the invitation because of NASA’s 

 

735 NASA, “NASA Selects Small Explorer Mission,” news release, 26 January 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/jan/HQ_05026_exp_mission.html (accessed 11 May 2009). 736 Tariq Malik, “First Spacewalk a Success for Space Station Crew,” Space.com, 27 January 2005, 

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/exp10_eva1_050126.html (accessed 18 August 2009); Reuters, “Station 

Crew Leaves Outpost for Spacewalk,” 26 January 2005; Todd Halvorson, “Spacewalkers Spy Clue in Oxygen 

Generator Breakdowns,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 27 January 2005. 737 NASA, “NASA Research Balloon Makes Record-Breaking Flight,” news release 05-031, 28 January 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/jan/HQ_05031_balloon_record.html (accessed 13 August 2009). 
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previous work monitoring invasive species: NASA had provided data, predictive models, and 

systems engineering to the USGS, information that had helped the USGS build predictive maps 

of invasive species in Utah’s Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. With NASA’s 

assistance, USGS had converted data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer 

aboard NASA’s Terra satellite, as well as other data, to create predictive maps of plant species 

distribution. USGS had used the National Invasive Species Forecasting System to help improve 

the nation’s response to invasive species.738

The U.S. House Committee on Science held a hearing to examine options for the HST. 

Astronauts had serviced the HST four times since its entry into orbit in 1990. NASA had 

scheduled a fifth servicing mission for 2004, planning to make repairs and upgrades. However, 

because it had grounded the Shuttle fleet following the Columbia disaster in February 2003, 

NASA had not performed the scheduled servicing mission. The decision about whether to 

service or to decommission the telescope hinged upon the expense of the mission and on 

NASA’s budgetary allocation of funds for the mission. Joseph H. Taylor of Princeton University, 

head of the National Academy of Sciences committee that set priorities for planning astronomy 

missions for the first decade of the 21st century, testified that his committee had identified the 

servicing mission to the HST as a priority for NASA’s space program, but only if the cost of the 

mission did not exceed US$400 million. Taylor stated that he would not support the mission if it 

would delay other programs or if NASA would have to rearrange its priorities to fund the 

mission. Newly revised NASA estimates placed the total cost of a fifth servicing mission at 

US$1 to US$2 billion, a cost that NASA’s Space Science Division could not sustain on its own. 

Experts testifying before the committee agreed that, if the Office for Human Space Flight and the 

Space Sciences Division could share the expense, the mission would be well worth it.739

3 February

ESA and the government of the United Kingdom (UK) officially published the report of the 

investigation into the circumstances and possible reasons for the failure of the Beagle 2 mission. 

Beagle 2, the Mars lander that had “piggybacked” aboard ESA’s Mars Express Orbiter, had 

failed to communicate after its landing date of 25 December 2005. The UK government and ESA 

had commissioned the report in February 2004, and the commission had completed the report in 

April 2004. Initially, ESA and the UK government had refused to publish the report, citing 

details of confidential intergovernmental agreements, as well as commercially sensitive 

information. Instead, they had issued a set of recommendations for future missions. However, the 

New Scientist had requested the report’s publication under the UK’s new Freedom of 

Information Act, in force since the beginning of 2005. Colin Pillinger, the planetary scientist 

who had first proposed the Beagle 2 project, and Mark Sims, the mission’s project 

managerboth at the Open University in the UKagreed that the report contained little, if any, 

commercially sensitive information. However, the report concluded that ESA and the UK 

government should never have approved the project. ESA committee investigating the loss of the 

 

738 NASA, “NASA Research to Aid Federal Invasive Species Council Efforts,” news release 05-035, 2 February 

2005, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/feb/HQ_05036_Invasive_Species.html (accessed 19 August 2009). 

739 Warren E. Leary, “Repair Costs for Hubble Are Vexing to Scientists,” New York Times, 3 February 2005; 

Deborah Zabarenko for Reuters, “Hubble Repair Could Hinge on Who Pays at NASA,” 3 February 2005; U.S. 

Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Options for Hubble Science, 109th Cong., 1st sess., 2 

February 2005. 
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227

probe had found several fundamental errors, such as classifying the lander as an instrument 

aboard Mars Express, instead of as a separate spacecraft, and making inaccurate estimates about 

the characteristics of the Martian atmosphere. The committee also determined that ESA and the 

UK had underfunded the mission from the start. Moreover, the committee found that the 

mission’s logistics were too complex for Pillinger’s team.740

The U.S. Air Force successfully launched two military satellites aboard an Atlas 3B, the last of 

Lockheed Martin’s Atlas 3 rockets. The launch marked the 145th and final launch from Complex 

36 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, after 43 years of operation. NASA had built the complex in the 

early 1960s, specifically for its Atlas-Centaur program, which included the launches of NASA’s 

historic Surveyor, Mariner, and Pioneer missions. Launches from the site had proved highly 

successful; the launch of the last Atlas 3B marked the 75th consecutive successful Atlas rocket 

launch, including all six Atlas 3 flights. Launch Complex 36 was one of the United States’ oldest 

continuously operating launch sites and the last of the U.S. launch sites to use a traditional 

blockhouse to control the launch. The final Atlas 3B carried a pair of formation-flying, classified 

satellites, which analysts believed were part of the Naval Ocean Surveillance System (NOSS) of 

the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Satellites in the NOSS, a network for monitoring 

ships around the globe, were reportedly capable of detecting radio transmissions from ships to 

pinpoint their locations precisely.741

4 February

NASA announced the inauguration of SERVIR, an innovative regional monitoring system 

designed to provide early warnings to Central American decision makers about various 

ecological and climatic changes. SERVIR, Spanish for “to serve,” is the acronym for the Spanish 

phrase, Sistema Regional de Visualización y Monitoreo (Regional Visualization and Monitoring 

System). The purpose of the system was to aid the governments and industries of the seven 

countries of Central America and the southern Mexican states. NASA scientists had developed 

the system to track weather, climatological, and ecological eventsfor example, to monitor 

wildfires, red tides, and toxic algae bloomsusing NASA’s research in Earth sciences and 

space-based observations. Daniel E. Irwin, SERVIR Project Manager at NASA’s MSFC, 

remarked that the system was an excellent tool for gauging slow or periodic shifts in climate that 

could lead to drought or other long-term problems, in addition to identifying quick-forming 

weather phenomena that threaten human lives.742

8 February 

Officials of the Personal Spaceflight Federation announced the newly formed organization’s 

establishment. The Federation’s stated purpose was to design and uphold the standards and 

processes necessary to ensure public safety, while promoting the growth of the private 

spaceflight industry. Pursuant to landmark legislation signed by President George W. Bush in 

 

740 British National Space Centre, “Beagle 2”; Justin Mullins, “Beagle 2 ‘Should Never Have Been Built’,” New 

Scientist, 4 February 2005; BBC News, “Report Scorns Beagle 2 Decision,” 4 February 2005. 741 Justin Ray, “Last Atlas 3 Rocket Launches a Pair of Spy Satellites” and “Atlas Rocket Workers Say Goodbye to 

Complex 36,” Spaceflight Now, 4 February 2005; Todd Halvorson, “Atlas 3 Climbs Through Fog to Final 

Successful Mission,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 4 February 2005. 742 NASA, “NASA Develops Central American Monitoring System,” news release 05-038, 4 February 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/feb/HQ_05038_panama.html (accessed 19 August 2009). 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

228

December 2004Pub. L. No. 108-492, the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 

2004the industry group planned to work with federal regulators to draft rules and standards for 

suborbital space tourism. The new federation brought together visionary space entrepreneurs, 

including SpaceShipOne designer Burt Rutan, whose team had won the US$10 million X Prize 

in October 2004 for conducting the first private suborbital spaceflight, and video-game developer 

John D. Carmack II, whose Armadillo Aerospace team had been among the leading contenders 

for the X Prize. Executive Director of the X Prize Foundation Gregg E. Maryniak, serving as the 

Federation’s spokesperson, remarked on the law’s new mandate that government and industry 

work together to develop safety standards. Maryniak stated that the Federation believed strongly 

that private industry must devise a suborbital product considerably safer than that of the current 

civil space program.743

9 February

The U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation held a hearing to 

explore the regulation of the nascent commercial spaceflight industry. Members of the newly 

formed Personal Spaceflight Federation and its Industry Consensus Standards Organization 

voiced their concern that the government would attempt to implement additional regulations, 

thereby overregulating the new industry and stifling innovation. The Commercial Space Launch 

Amendments Act of 2004 required the FAA to issue licenses for the launches of privately built 

spacecraft and had given the FAA three years to issue rules for licensing. However, the Act also 

prohibited the FAA from issuing safety regulations for passengers and crew for eight years, 

unless specific design features or operating practices had resulted in serious or fatal injuries. U.S. 

Representative James L. Oberstar (D-MN), ranking member of the Transportation Committee, 

objected to that approach and had introduced his own bill (H.R. 656), requiring the FAA to 

include in its licensing rules minimum safety and health standards for spacecraft passengers and 

crew. FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey agreed with regulation of private spaceflight in 

principle but suggested that such oversight needed to develop alongside the industry, 

emphasizing the difficulty in stipulating regulations for vehicles that did not yet exist.744

12 February

ESA successfully launched from its base in Kourou, French Guiana, an Ariane 5 ECA rocket, the 

world’s most powerful commercial launcher, more than two years after its inaugural flight in 

December 2002 had ended in disaster. Capable of carrying up to 10 tons (9,071 kilograms or 

9.07 tonnes) into space, the rocket lifted a 7.3-ton (6,623-kilogram or 6.62-tonne) payload 

consisting of two satellitesthe U.S.-Spanish XTAR-EUR satellite and the Dutch experimental 

SLOSHSAT-FLEVO microsatellite. Fitted with 12 wideband, X-band transponders, the XTAR-

 

743 Personal Spaceflight Federation, “Space Entrepreneurs Resolve To Create Industry Group To Promote Safety 

Standards and Growth of the Personal Spaceflight Industry,” news release, 8 February 2005, 

http://www.commercialspaceflight.org/pressreleases/PSF%20Press%20Release%20-

%20Original%20Announcement.pdf (accessed 27 August 2009); Alan Boyle, “Space Racers Unite in Federation: 

Industry Group Will Follow Up on New Law,” MSNBC.com, 9 February 2005, 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6936543/ (accessed 28 August 2009). 744 Leslie Miller for the Associated Press, “Space Entrepreneurs Fret Over Federal Regulation,” 10 February 2005; 

Kelly Young, “Fledgling ‘Space Federation’ Fears Over-Regulation,” New Scientist, 11 February 2005; Beth 

Dickey, “FAA Proposes Rules for Future Spaceliners,” Government Executive, 15 February 2005; U.S. Congress, 

House of Representatives, Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Aviation, Commercial 

Space Transportation: Beyond the X Prize, 109th Cong., 1st sess., 9 February 2005. 
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229

EUR geostationary satellite would provide military communications for the United States and 

Spain. For 10 days, the Netherlands’ microsatellite SLOSHSAT-FLEVO, weighing just 127 

kilograms (0.127 tonnes or 0.139 tons), would test the dynamics of de-ionized water in orbit. 

FLEVO was the acronym for Facility for Liquid Experimentation and Verification in Orbit, as 

well as the name of the latest Dutch province that the Netherlands had reclaimed from the sea. 

ESA also sent aloft a monitor, MAQSAT, which remained attached to the rocket to gather data 

about the rocket’s dynamic behavior, from launch through the release of the two satellites. In its 

inaugural launch, the rocket had veered off course, prompting Mission Control to destroy it. An 

inquiry board had determined that the cooling system of the rocket’s Vulcain engine had 

malfunctioned.745

15 February

NASA awarded a US$9.8 million, five-year research grant to the University of Texas’s 

Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas to study the cancer risks of radiation exposure during 

space travel, adding another NASA Specialized Center of Research (NSCOR) to NASA’s space 

radiation program. The name of the newest NSCOR was NASA Specialized Center of Research 

for the Estimation of Solid Tumor Cancer Risks from Space Radiation. The grant enabled 

researchers to study the relationship of lung cancer pathogenesis and exposure to HZE-particles 

(high-energy charged particles) at the cellular and molecular level, using data collected from 

animal models and tissues.746

17 February

The U.S. House Committee on Science held a hearing to discuss NASA’s FY 2006 budgetary 

request and priorities. Committee Chair Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-NY) expressed doubt that 

NASA would receive the full US$16.45 billion it had requested. Committee members questioned 

Deputy Administrator Frederick D. Gregory on several topics: NASA’s long-term plan to return 

to the Moon and to send a human mission to Mars; its projected cuts to science and astronautics 

programs; its decision not to fund a servicing mission to the HST; and its plans for its workforce. 

The committee also questioned the US$858 million NASA had designated for Mars and lunar 

exploration, while reducing spending in other space science programs, including that of the HST. 

The committee questioned budgetary proposals based on plans for 28 Shuttle flights to the ISS 

and no flights to repair the HST. Representative Vernon J. Ehlers (R-MI) remarked that that the 

HST was capable of conducting more and better scientific research in one week than the ISS 

could produce in its entire lifetime. Boehlert reminded NASA officials that the U.S. Congress 

had never endorsed or even discussed the President’s January 2004 declaration urging NASA to 

return humans to the Moon within 15 years and, ultimately, to launch human missions to Mars 

and beyond. Representative Bart Gordon (D-TN) remarked that Congress had no consensus 

regarding the proposed changes in NASA’s priorities, changes that he described as “almost 

staggering in terms of magnitude.”747

 

745 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 616, 1 March 2005, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx616.html (accessed 26 

August 2009); Associated Press, “European Rocket Delivers Payload,” 14 February 2005; Laurent Marot for 

Reuters, “Upgraded Ariane-5 Rocket Orbits Satellites,” 13 February 2005. 746 NASA, “NASA Satellite Observes Mysterious Earth Energy,” news release 05-054, 22 February 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/feb/HQ_05045_cancer_grant.html (accessed 19 August 2009); Associated 

Press, “NASA Awards UT Southwestern $9.8 Million Grant to Study Radiation,” 25 February 2005. 747 James Janega, “House Science Panel Questions NASA Officials about Budget,” Chicago Tribune, 18 February 

2005; Jim Abrams, “Lawmakers Question White House on NASA,” Kansas City Star (MO), 18 February 2005; U.S. 
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230

18 February

NASA officially refuted news reports that had circulated on 16 February claiming that NASA 

scientists affiliated with ARC had found strong evidence that life might exist on Mars. 

According to the news reports, during a private meeting in Washington, DC, two astrobiologists 

from Ames had told a group of space officials that they had found strong evidence, in the form of 

methane signatures, that life currently exists on Mars, hidden in caves and sustained by pockets 

of water. NASA stated that it did not have any observational data from any current Mars 

missions to support the claim. NASA further stated that the work the scientists had conducted did 

not directly support any conclusion regarding the existence of life on Mars but, rather, that the 

scientists’ research could help formulate a strategy for searching for such life. The scientists had 

not submitted any research papers asserting the existence of Martian life to any scientific 

journal.748

22 February

The Boeing Company announced that it had reached an agreement to sell its Rocketdyne 

Propulsion and Power business to Pratt & Whitney, a United Technologies Corporation unit, for 

about US$700 million in cash. Rocketdyne, primarily a rocket engine developer and builder that 

provided booster engines for the Space Shuttle and the Delta series of expendable launch 

vehicles, had helped pioneer space exploration in the 1950s and1960s. The sale reflected 

Boeing’s struggle to make a profit in the space-launch business and marked the company’s latest 

move toward focusing on large-scale weapons and aerospace systems. United Technologies 

intended the acquisition to broaden the product line at Pratt & Whitney, which, in recent years, 

had lost market share in its core business of providing jet engines.749

24 February

NASA announced the completion of its pioneering Advanced Air Transportation Technologies 

(AATT) project, which, since 1996, had focused on developing technologies to improve the 

capacity of transportation aircraft operations at and between the major airports of the National 

Airspace System. The AATT project had collaborated with the FAA and the airline industry to 

develop decision-support tools for air-traffic controllers, airline pilots, and air-operations 

managers. Tools developed and implemented through the AATT project included: the Traffic 

Management Advisor, operational at eight Air Route Traffic Control Centers, which helped 

controllers manage air traffic by sequencing aircraft as the craft approached their destinations; 

the Surface Management System, scheduled for transfer to the FAA, which helped airport 

controllers and company traffic managers coordinate aircraft departures from the gate, 

preventing delays at the runway; other technologies, which helped aircraft fly the most direct 

 Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science, NASA’s Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Proposal, 109th

Cong., 1st sess., 17 February 2005. 748 NASA, “NASA Statement on False Claim of Evidence of Life on Mars,” news release 05-052, 18 February 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/feb/HQ_05052_mars_claim.html (accessed 19 August 2009); Bloomberg 

News, “NASA Says Claims of Evidence of Current Life on Mars Are False,” 19 February 2005; Brian Berger, 

“Exclusive: NASA Researchers Claim Evidence of Present Life on Mars,” Space.com, 16 February 2005, 

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_life_050216.html (accessed 28 August 2009). 

749 The Boeing Company, “Boeing To Sell Rocketdyne Propulsion Unit to Pratt & Whitney; news release, 22 

February 2005, http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2005/q1/nr_050222o.html (accessed 19 August 2009); Los 

Angeles Times, “Maker of Rocket Engines Is Sold,” 23 February 2005. 
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231

route to their destination and assisted traffic managers in managing in-flight aircraft 

collaboratively; and new communication and visualization technologies, which helped airline 

industry personnel better understand air-traffic patterns and future trends. Michael R. Landis, 

Manager of the AATT project, remarked that NASA would incorporate many of the technologies 

and concepts developed by the AATT project into the Next Generation Air Transportation 

System, the initiative of the government and industry to modernize the National Airspace 

System.750

26 February

Japan successfully launched a geostationary weather satellite MTSAT-1R aboard an H-2A rocket 

from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima prefecture, after a glitch in communications 

between the rocket and ground systems had caused a 76-minute delay. The launch was Japan’s 

first launch of a heavy-lift vehicle since November 2003, when one of the H-2A’s solid boosters 

had failed to jettison as expected after completing its burn, causing the launch to fail. In the 

failed launch, Japan had lost the second pair of the four spy satellites that it had built after North 

Korea had fired a missile into Japanese territory in 1998. The other pair of the four 

satellitesone optical and one radar-sounding satellitewere all Japan had left to monitor its 

threatening neighbor. Furthermore, the launch failure had dashed Japan’s plans to enter the 

commercial satellite-launch business and had caused Japan to lose its international credibility. 

The successful launch of the MTSAT-1R restored morale to Japan’s rocketry program. A second 

mission of the MTSAT-1R was to replace a satellite lost in November 1999 when the final H-2 

rocket, the predecessor of H-2A, had failed to reach orbit. Japan had designed the MTSAT-1R to 

service the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau and the Japan Meteorological Agency, fulfilling the two 

missions of facilitating air-traffic management and obtaining satellite imagery for 

meteorologists.751

MARCH 2005 

1 March

NASA’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the 

Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) that NASA intended to use to transport astronauts beyond low 

Earth orbit and to the Moon by 2020. NASA had set the deadline for submissions for 2 May 

2005 and planned to select two contractors in September 2005. The two contractors would 

develop competing prototypes with a December 2008 completion date, at which time NASA 

would select the prime contractor. NASA stipulated that the minimum specifications for the CEV 

were that the craft weigh 20 tonnes (18.14 tons) or less; house as many as four astronauts, for as 

long as 16 days; have the ability to rendezvous and dock with future lunar landers and 

interplanetary modules; and allow a safe abort throughout all phases of its flight. NASA 

stipulated that it would permit contractors to design spacecraft that exceeded these specifications. 

For instance, the RFP permitted the design of craft that could maintain a crew in space for longer 

 

750 NASA, “NASA Developed Tools for Successful Air Travel Program,” news release 05-058, 24 February 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/feb/HQ_05058_Improving_Air_Travel.html (accessed 19 August 2009). 751 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 616; James Brooke, “After Failures, Space Effort in Japan Gets a Lift,” New York Times, 

28 February 2005; Justin Ray, “Beleaguered H-2A Rocket Roars Into Orbit,” Spaceflight Now, 26 February 2005. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

232

than 16 days or accommodate a crew of six. The RFP also gave contractors the flexibility to 

decide whether the CEV would be able to dock with the ISS.752

NASA signed a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the United Nations Education, 

Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), in an effort to improve global conservation 

through increased use of NASA’s Earth science research and remote-sensing data. Under the 

agreement, UNESCO would use NASA-generated data to share scientific information about how 

Earth functions. In addition, the MOA would further an existing partnership between the NASAsupported Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) education 

program and UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre. NASA and UNESCO would train teachers in 

UNESCO-member states to work with UNESCO’s Natural World Heritage Site managers on 

collaborative conservation program activities.753

3 March

J. Stephen Fossett landed the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer experimental aircraft in Salinas, 

Kansas, after flying the first solo, nonstop, non-refueled, around-the-world airplane trip. The 

flight had lasted three days, during which Fossett had not slept and had only consumed 12 

milkshakes. The craft, designed by X Prize–winning SpaceShipOne creator Burt Rutan, carried 

NASA’s advanced experimental Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) transceiver, 

the Low Power Transceiver (LPT) that NASA researchers believed would provide a flexible and 

inexpensive option for relaying information between spacecraft. NASA had placed the new 

transceiver on board GlobalFlyer to test the device’s function during a real flight, especially its 

performance in delivering a constant video feed. NASA had loaned GlobalFlyer a modified 

version of its Personal Cabin Pressure Monitor to alert the pilot of potentially dangerous or 

deteriorating cabin pressure. Because the background noise in GlobalFlyer’s cockpit was too 

loud for the pilot to hear an alarm, the modified monitor vibrated to signal a problem. The 

mission had successfully overcome periodic failures of GlobalFlyer’s navigation system. 

Furthermore, while passing through Japanese airspace, the aircraft had appeared to be running 

out of fuel too quickly, but a solid tailwind had helped Fossett avoid making a landing in 

Hawaii.754

7 March 

Aera Corporation, which had competed as American Astronautics in the X Prize private 

spaceflight competition, signed a five-year launch support agreement with the U.S. Air Force, 

securing access to Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida. Although Aera had yet to launch a 

single test vehicle, the company planned to launch paying customers by the end of 2006. Aera’s 

President and Chief Operating Officer Lewis Reynolds explained that the company had used 

computer-based modeling for most of its testing and had done very little testing of actual 

physical components for the spacecraft. The company intended to apply for a FAA launch 

 

752 NASA, “NASA Issues Solicitation for Crew Exploration Vehicle,” news release 05-063, 1 March 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/mar/HQ_05063_crew_exploration.html (accessed 2 September 2009); 

Robert Zimmerman for United Press International, “Space Watch: Spacefaring by Bureaucrats,” 18 March 2005. 753 NASA, “NASA Research Aids UNESCO Global Conservation Efforts,” news release 05-061, 1 March 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/mar/HQ_05061_unesco-global.html (accessed 2 September 2009). 754 NASA, “NASA Technology Supports Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer,” news release 05-068, 3 March 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/mar/HQ_05068_globalflyer_congrats.html (accessed 29 June 2009); John 

Kelly, “NASA Helps Record Flight,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 9 March 2005. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

233

license within 30 days and to secure a manufacturing facility for its seven-seat spaceship, the 

Altairis, by the end of April.755

8 March 

NASA-funded researchers reported that they had discovered that lightning in clouds a few miles 

above the ground clears a safe zone in the Van Allen Beltthe radiation belt located thousands 

of miles above Earth. Without this zone, satellites would have no safe area in which to orbit. The 

discovery, which NASA described as unexpected, resolved a 40-year debate about how the safe 

zone forms and how the region clears after magnetic storms fill it with radiation. Previously, the 

prominent theory held that turbulence in the zone generates radio waves in space, which clear the 

radiation. However, lightning also generates radio waves. The research team had confirmed the 

lightning theory using a global map of lightning activity created from data that the Micro Lab 1 

spacecraft had collected. The team had also collected radio-wave data from the Radio Plasma 

Imager aboard the Imager for Magnetopause to Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) spacecraft, 

combining that data with archival data from the Dynamics Explorer spacecraft. These two data 

sets showed that radio-wave activity in the safe zone closely follows terrestrial lightning 

patterns; if the radio waves had originated in space rather than Earth, no such correlation would 

exist. Therefore, the team had concluded that lightning clears radiation within a few days 

following magnetic storms. According to NASA, engineers could eventually design spacecraft 

that generate radio waves at the correct frequency and location to clear radiation belts around 

other planets, enabling humans to explore planets and moons such as Jupiter’s Europa.756

9 March

The GAO published a report warning that the lack of a detailed, long-term strategy regarding 

NASA’s workforce could threaten the safety of Space Shuttle operations and delay 

implementation of the Bush administration’s 2004 directive to return astronauts to the Moon. 

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation had tasked GAO with 

tracking NASA’s efforts to develop a strategy for sustaining the Space Shuttle workforce until 

the Shuttle’s retirement and identifying factors that impeded those efforts. GAO reported that 

NASA had made limited progress toward this goal. GAO found that NASA had taken 

preliminary steps: identifying lessons learned from the retirement of programs comparable to the 

Space Shuttle, such as the Air Force Titan 4 Rocket Program; enlisting the assistance of human 

capital experts; and revising its acquisition strategy for updating specific prime contracts. 

However, GAO concluded that NASA’s failure to make decisions regarding contractor 

requirements during the remainder of the Shuttle program would hinder its progress. Moreover, 

GAO stated that NASA must develop a detailed strategy for retiring the Shuttle program, to 

enable it to protect agency-wide goals from the potential impact of workforce problems. GAO 

cited several factors hampering NASA’s ability to accomplish this, such as NASA’s near-term 

focus on returning the Shuttle to flight, a focus that had caused a delay in assessing hardware and 

 

755 Alan Boyle, “Dark Horse Makes Bold Claims in Space Race,” MSNBC.com, 8 March 2005, 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7121988// (accessed 2 September 2009). 756 NASA, “NASA Finds Lightning Clears Safe Zone in Earth’s Radiation Belt,” news release 05-070, 8 March 

2005, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/mar/HQ_05070_radiation_belt.html (accessed 29 June 2009); 

Agence-France Presse, “Lightning Cuts Safe Zone Between Earth Radiation Belts: NASA,” 9 March 2005. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

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facility needs. Furthermore, program officials remained uncertain about how to implement future 

aspects of the President’s Vision for Space Exploration.757

11 March

International Launch Services (ILS) successfully launched the European satellite Inmarsat 4-F1 

from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a stretched version of the Atlas 5 rocket. Weighing 13,138 

pounds (5,959 kilograms or 5.96 tonnes), the EADS Astrium-built Inmarsat 4 was the largest 

commercial satellite ever to launch. As part of a three-satellite constellation comprising the new 

Broadband Global Area Network, the spacecraft would provide wireless, broadband connections 

to ships, planes, and remote areas that had not previously had reliable access to ground-based, 

high-speed networks.758

15 March

NASA and the FAA brought a demonstration of the Small Aircraft Transportation System 

(SATS) to Foley Square in downtown New York City. SATS represented one aspect of a publicprivate partnership focused on developing technology that would enable more people to fly 

directly to their destinations at their own convenience. The ultimate goal of the SATS project 

was for people to be able to access air travel in much the same way that they hail a cab. NASA’s 

SATS Project Manager Jerry N. Hefner described a scenario in which a person would board a 

plane in his or her neighborhood to fly to a destination 500 miles away, without changing planes 

and without going through a hub. Instead, SATS would fly into and out of underused rural and 

suburban airports, reducing congestion at larger airports and easing traffic on interstate highways 

across the country. SATS Project Manager for the FAA Peter C. McHugh commented that those 

involved in the project believed that, as the travel population using SATS aircraft grew, minimal 

interference or intersection with the larger airline system would occur.759

NASA selected Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation of Broomfield, Colorado, to 

develop, manufacture, and provide prelaunch and postlaunch support for the Global Precipitation 

Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) instrument. The total contract value was 

approximately US$100.2 million over a period of seven years and nine months. The GMI, a 

conical-scan microwave radiometer, would fly on the GPM Core spacecraft as part of a 

multinational collaborative effort to measure global precipitation. The spacecraft, which NASA 

had not yet built, would be the first in a constellation of spacecraft deployed under NASA’s 

GPM mission. The GMI instrument would make calibrated, radiometric measurements from 

space at multiple microwave frequencies and polarizations. NASA’s Deputy Associate 

Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate Ghassem R. Asrar remarked that scientists 

need to know the amount and distribution of precipitation worldwide so that they can assess the 

quantity and quality of fresh water resources for food and fiber production, human consumption, 

and other societal needs. Experts in water resource management, agriculture, transportation, 

 

757 U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Space Shuttle: Actions Needed To Better Position NASA To Sustain 

Its Workforce Through Retirement” (report no. GAO-05-230, Washington, DC, March 2005), 1–19, 

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05230.pdf (accessed 3 September 2009). 758 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 617, 1 April 2005, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx617.html (accessed 31 

August 2009); Associated Press, “Atlas 5 Rocket Hauls Satellite into Space,” 12 March 2005. 

759 Roger Clark for NY1 Cable TV, “NASA Tries To Change the Way Americans Fly,” 16 March 2005. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

235

forestry, weather forecasting, and other fields, would be able to use future research findings 

based on GMI data.760

16 March

The U.S. House Science Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics held a hearing to examine 

NASA’s proposal to reduce spending on aviation research by 20 percent over five years, which 

would necessitate the closure of some wind tunnels and other centers. Overall, the Bush 

administration had proposed a 2.4 percent increase in NASA’s budget, with most of that increase 

directed toward funding travel to the Moon and Mars, initiatives requiring NASA to eliminate or 

reduce its other programs, such as aviation research. NASA’s Associate Administrator for 

Aeronautics Research J. Victor Lebacqz defended the program, remarking that the United States 

remained a global power in aviation and had developed technologies to improve safety, reduce 

environmental impact, and increase efficiency of aviation operations. However, Lebacqz stated 

that NASA needed a clearer vision for the goals of the program. John M. Klineberg, a retired 

NASA official and industry executive, who had headed a National Research Council (NRC) 

study group in 2004, testified before the committee. The NRC study group had published a 

review of NASA’s aeronautics programs. Klineberg warned against using the group’s 

recommendations out of context to justify major cuts in programs. He testified that NASA’s 

proposed aviation-research budget was a disaster, putting the program at risk of becoming 

irrelevant to the future of aeronautics in the United States and throughout the world. In an 

interview following the hearing, Klineberg emphasized that the study group had suggested 

consolidating and focusing programs but did not support budgetary cuts eliminating entire areas 

of research.761

The U.S. Air Force announced the findings of its investigation into the December 2004 inaugural 

launch of Boeing’s Delta 4 Heavy Rocket, which had failed when engines shut down 

prematurely. The Air Force and Boeing had intended the launch of the rocket, which was 

transporting a dummy payload, as a full dress rehearsal. The plan had been to test the newest and 

largest member of Boeing’s next-generation rocket series before critical national security 

satellites began using it. Boeing had designed the rocket with three Common Booster Cores, each 

with a cryogenic main engine. The three cores, secured together, formed a craft capable of 

launching large cargo into space. The investigation had determined that each booster’s engines 

had undergone premature shutdown during the launch, after internal sensors incorrectly 

determined that the engines had exhausted their liquid-oxygen fuel supply. Investigators had 

concluded that cavitationbubbles in the liquid oxygen plumbinghad caused the glitch. Major 

Rodney Houser, the lead investigator for the Air Force, stated that the investigating team would 

focus on determining the cause of the cavitation within the liquid-oxygen feed system and on 

implementing corrective measures to prevent the problem’s repetition.762

 

760 NASA, “NASA Selects Firm To Provide GPM Microwave Imager Instrument,” news release c05-g, 15 March 

2005, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/mar/HQ_c05g_gpm_imager.html (accessed 29 June 2009); Matt 

Branaugh, “Ball Gets In On NASA Mission,” Boulder Daily Camera (CO), 16 March 2005. 761 Warren E. Leary, “NASA Proposal To Reduce Spending for Aviation Research by 20% Dismays Experts,” New 

York Times, 17 March 2005; Malia Rulon for Associated Press, “Lawmakers Question Proposed NASA Cuts,” 17 

March 2005; U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science, Subcommittee on Space and 

Aeronautics, The Future of Aeronautics at NASA, 109th Cong., 1st sess., 16 March 2005. 762 Justin Ray, “Delta 4-Heavy Investigation Identifies Rocket’s Problem,” Spaceflight Now, 17 March 2005. 
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17 March

NASA announced the successful completion of flight tests above a virtual forest fire to evaluate 

new flight-control software on board two small UAVs. The software experiment had sought to 

guide the UAVs simultaneously around obstacles, using principles derived from studies of the 

movements of fish and birds. Engineers and technicians from NASA’s ARC and DFRC had 

conducted the flight tests over a remote area of Edwards Air Force Base in California, to 

investigate cooperative flight strategies for atmospheric sampling and for airborne monitoring 

and surveillance of natural disasters. John E. Melton of ARC, Principal Investigator for the 

Networked UAV Teaming Experiment, explained that his team had used two autopilot-equipped 

APV-3 UAVs, each with a 12-foot wingspan, to flight-test several novel approaches for assisting 

wildfire-suppression crews. The two craft had flown along computer-generated paths to 

demonstrate their ability to avoid obstacles in a cooperative and synchronized manner, without 

the assistance of flight personnel. Melton commented that the technology could eventually 

enable swarms of aircraft to move safely from one area to another as a group, collecting air 

samples on scientific missions or helping ground personnel monitor natural disasters.763

22 March

NASA announced that the Spitzer Space Telescope had captured the light from two known 

planets that are orbiting stars other than the Sun, enabling scientists to measure and compare 

extrasolar planets directly. This event marked the beginning of a new era in planetary science. 

Previously, scientists had confirmed the existence of extrasolar planets using one of two 

techniques of indirect discoverythe “wobble” technique or the “transit” technique. The wobble 

technique detected the gravitational tug that a planet exerts on its parent star, and the transit 

technique inferred the presence of a planet when the planet passed in front of its star, causing the 

star to dim. Both techniques depended on visible-light telescopes. By contrast, Spitzer observed 

infrared light, enabling astronomers to contrast a planet against the glow of its parent star. If 

detected using the transit technique, the glow of the parent star would have overwhelmed the 

glimmer of light reflected by the planet.764

23 March

NASA announced findings from research exploring the impact of black carbon or soot on Earth’s 

climate, findings that provided new and additional evidence that pollution generated through the 

process of incomplete combustion contributes to the accelerated melting of sea ice and snow, as 

well as to the changing atmospheric temperatures in the Arctic region. Dorothy M. Koch, of 

Columbia University and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), and James E. 

Hansen, also of GISS, coauthored the study, using satellite data and computer models to recreate 

the climate and to track pollution. In addition to confirming past findings regarding the 

relationship between pollution and climate change in the Arctic region, the study had found that 

most of the pollution in the environment and the atmosphere of the Arctic did not originate in the 

developed world, but rather in southern Asia, which had the highest level of industrial soot 

emissions in the world. Using the GISS General Circulation Model (GCM) to locate the origins 

of Arctic soot, Koch and Hansen had found that one-third of the pollution originated in southern 

 

763 NASA, “New Software Allows UAVs to Team Up for Virtual Experiments,” news release 05-078, 17 March 

2005, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/mar/HQ_05078_UAV_Software.html (accessed 6 June 2009). 764 NASA, “NASA’s Spitzer Marks Beginning of New Age of Planetary Science,” news release 05-082, 22 March 

2005, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/mar/HQ_05082_Spitzer_First_Light.html (accessed 29 June 2009). 
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Asia, one-third was the result of burning vegetation and natural materials around the world, and 

the remainder originated in Russia, Europe, and North America.765

NASA and its partner the Spaceward Foundation, a publicly funded, nonprofit organization 

dedicated to advancing the cause of space access, announced prizes totaling US$$400,000 for 

four competitions. The competitions would be the first under NASA’s Centennial Challenges 

program, designed to promote technical innovation in support of the Vision for Space 

Exploration and NASA’s goals. The first two competitions, the Tether Challenge and the Beam 

Power Challenge, would challenge innovators to focus on developing lightweight, yet strong, 

tether materials and wireless power transmission technologies. Winners of each of the initial 

2005 challenges would receive a prize of US$50,000. The Tether Challenge would require teams 

to make the strongest tether of a specified diameter. Competing in a tournament-style bracket 

system, the tethers would be stretched until they broke, with the overall winner competing 

against NASA’s “house tether” to win the cash. The Beam Power Challenge would require teams 

to use wireless technology to lift a weight off the ground. NASA planned a second set of Tether 

and Beam Power challenges, with a greater degree of difficulty, for 2006.766

28 March

ISS Expedition 10 Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhan S. Sharipov 

completed the second and final spacewalk of their mission 1 hour ahead of schedule, returning 

into the ISS after 4.5 hours. To help in navigation, Chiao and Sharipov installed a set of space-tospace antennas around a section of Zvezda, the Russian service module that would aid in the 

docking operations of Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) during a future cargo 

mission. The crew also attached a GPS unit to the Zvezda module to help the ATV. The ATV, 

scheduled to arrive during the next year, had the capability to deliver up to 8.5 tons (7,711 

kilograms or 7.71 tonnes) of cargo, including 10,000 pounds (4,536 kilograms or 4.54 tonnes) of 

propellant. After the crew finished connecting the antennas, Sharipov returned to the Pirs

docking compartment to retrieve a small satellite called NanoSputnik. The satellite, which 

weighed just 11 pounds (5 kilograms) and measured only 1 foot (0.31 meter) long, carried a 

transmitter designed to test control and orientation systems for small spacecraft during its 100-

day mission. Sharipov released the satellite into a retrograde orbit by hand, while Chiao 

photographed the launch.767

 

765 NASA, “NASA Study Finds Soot May Be Changing the Arctic Environment,” news release 05-084, 23 March 

2005, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/mar/HQ_05084_arctic_soot.html (accessed 29 June 2009); Miguel 

Bustillo, “Airborne Soot Adds To Arctic Melting, Study Finds,” Los Angeles Times, 24 March 2005. 766 NASA, “NASA Announces First Centennial Challenges’ Prizes,” news release M05-083, 23 March 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/mar/HQ_m05083_Centennial_prizes.html (accessed 2 September 2005); 

Robert Roy Britt, “NASA Details Cash Prizes for Space Privatization,” Space.com, 24 March 2005, 

http://www.space.com/news/050323_centennial_challenge.html (accessed 2 September 2009). 767 Tariq Malik, “Spacewalking Astronauts Outfit ISS for New Cargo Ship,” Space.com, 29 March 2005, 

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/exp10_eva2_050328.html (accessed 3 September 2009); Marcia Dunn for 

Associated Press, “Two Astronauts Complete Spacewalk Work,” 29 March 2005. 
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APRIL 2005 

5 April

NASA announced that scientists analyzing images from the its Polar Orbiting Environmental 

Satellite (POES) and from the Imager for Magnetopause to Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) 

spacecraft had discovered that Earth’s northern and southern auroras are not mirror images of 

each other, as previously thought. Images from the two spacecraft showed that auroras move and 

change, depending on the tilt of Earth’s magnetic field toward the Sun and on solar wind 

conditions. Knowing more about how auroras react to the solar wind could help scientists predict 

space weather. Timothy J. Stubbs of the Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics at NASA’s 

GSFC remarked that the analysis was the first to track the locations of the auroras using 

simultaneous observations, in both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, of the auroras in 

their entirety.768

6 April

NASA announced that it had approved the extension of operations for the twin Mars Rovers, 

Spirit and Opportunity, for up to 18 months. The robotic craft had already surprised engineers 

and scientists, having completed 11 months of extended activity beyond their successful threemonth primary missions. Opportunity had driven more than three miles since arriving at Mars, 

eight times the distance originally planned, and, in March 2005, had set a new record of 722 feet 

(220 meters) in a single day’s drive. Spirit had driven a shorter distance but was working in a 

much rougher terrain than Opportunity. Both rovers were exhibiting signs of wear and exposure, 

and scientists recognized that either mission could end suddenly because of a random part 

failure. James K. Erickson, Project Manager for the rovers at NASA’s JPL, remarked that, 

despite the wear and the effects of exposure, both rovers remained in exceptional shape. Erickson 

said that NASA would work to get as much benefit as possible for as long as the craft were 

capable of producing worthwhile scientific results. Director of NASA’s Mars Exploration 

Program J. Douglas McCuistion added that the rovers’ successes had strengthened NASA’s 

commitment to achieving the ambitious goals of returning samples from Mars and eventually 

sending a human expedition to the planet.769

7 April

NASA announced that Space Shuttle Discovery had reached a major milestone, arriving at 

Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s KSC in preparation for its Return to Flight Mission, scheduled for 

15 May. Over more than two years, Discovery had undergone 41 major modifications in 

response to the Columbia accident, including the addition of the new sensor system at the far end 

of the orbiter boom; cameras and laser systems to inspect its thermal protection system while in 

space; sensors in the leading edge of its wings to monitor for debris impacts; and a new digital 

camera for viewing the external tank during launch.770

 

768 NASA, “NASA Study Finds Earth’s Auroras Are Not Mirror Images,” news release 05-089, 5 April 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/apr/HQ_05089_aurora_images.html (accessed 29 June 2009). 769 NASA, “Durable Mars Rovers Sent into Third Overtime Period,” news release 05-091, 6 April 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/apr/HQ_05091_mer_extension.html (accessed 29 June 2009). 770 NASA, “Space Shuttle Discovery at Launch Pad for Return to Flight,” news release 05-095, 7 April 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/apr/HQ_05095_Discovery_Roll_Out.html (accessed 29 June 2009). 
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11 April

Russian space officials and officials from the French rocket company Arianespace signed an 

agreement in Moscow allowing Russia to launch medium-weight satellite payloads from ESA’s 

spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Under the agreement, Europe would provide 344 million 

euros to build a launchpad for Russian Soyuz rockets, and Russia would erect a tower for the 

launchpad, ship the rockets from Russia, and make any changes to the rockets necessary for them 

to operate in the equatorial climate. Locating launches at the equator would allow Russia to 

increase the weight of its payloads from 1.6 tonnes (1,600 kilograms or 1.7 tons) to about 3 

tonnes (3,000 kilograms or 3.3 tons). The arrangement also filled a niche that Arianespace’s two 

rocket fleets did not. Arianespace Vega rockets launched small scientific satellites weighing no 

more than 1.5 tonnes (1,500 kilograms or 1.65 tons) into a low orbit. The two models of Ariane 5 

rockets could launch payloads weighing 6.6 tonnes (6,600 kilograms or 7.3 tons) or 10 tonnes 

(10,000 kilograms or 11 tons), respectively, into geostationary transfer orbit. Expecting to launch 

three or four Soyuz rockets per year, beginning in 2008, Arianespace had already booked three 

launches from Kourou using the Russian Soyuz rocket―launches of one Australian 

telecommunications satellite and two French scientific satellites.771

12 April 

The Apstar 6 satellite launched aboard a Chinese Long March 3B rocket from Xichang Satellite 

Launch Center in China’s Sichuan Province. The 4.8-tonne (4,800-kilogram or 5.3-ton) satellite 

carried 38 C-band and 12 Ku-band transponders. Replacing the ageing Apstar 1A, the craft 

would provide digital, multimedia transmissions to Australia, India, and countries in eastern 

Asia. The satellite was the first Western-built, commercial telecommunications spacecraft to 

carry almost no U.S.-made components, as well as the first commercial Chinese satellite with an 

antijamming payload. Hong Kong–based APT Satellite Company had requested that Alcatel 

Space include the antijamming technology in response to the threat of satellite-signal piracy, 

which had occurred several times over the previous two years. The new Alcatel Spacebus 4000 

C1 satellite platform selected for Apstar 6 included no U.S. parts subject to the export controls of 

the U.S. Department of State. Because the U.S. government had refused to grant export licenses 

for U.S. satellite parts destined for launch in China, Alcatel Space had substituted European, 

Russian, and other non-U.S. components.772

13 April 

NASA announced that the U.S. Senate had confirmed the nomination of Michael D. Griffin as 

NASA’s 11th Administrator. Griffin replaced Sean O’Keefe, who had resigned in February to 

become Chancellor of Louisiana State University. Since 2004, Griffin had served as the Space 

Department Head at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Baltimore, 

Maryland. Before holding that position, he had served as President and Chief Operating Officer 

of In-Q-Tel and had held several positions within Orbital Sciences Corporation. Earlier in his 

career, he had served as Chief Engineer at NASA and as Deputy for Technology at the Strategic 

Defense Initiative Organization. Griffin held a doctorate in aeronautical engineering and five 

master’s degrees, credentials that had led Senator Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland, ranking 

Democrat on the Appropriations Subcommittee, which oversees NASA, to introduce Griffin as 

 

771 Maggie McKee, “Russian Rockets To Launch from South American Base,” New Scientist, 13 April 2005. 772 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 618, 1 May 2005, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx618.html (accessed 8 

September 2009); Peter B. de Selding, “Apstar 6 Launched from China,” Space News, 13 April 2005. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

240

the ideal person to lead NASA. During his confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce, 

Science and Transportation Committee, Griffin had stated that, as Administrator, he would 

reevaluate NASA’s decision not to send astronauts to repair and service the HST. He had named 

his priorities for NASA, including the Space Shuttles’ safe return to flight. Furthermore, he had 

stated that he planned to speed up NASA’s development of a replacement craft for the Shuttle, so 

that the United States could continue to send humans into space. Griffin had stated that the 

United States’ dependence on other nations to ferry astronauts to space was unacceptable in 

terms of national security. Griffin had also testified that he supported President George W. 

Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration, which included returning humans to the Moon and, 

ultimately, sending human explorers to Mars and beyond.773

14 April

NASA’s Space Shuttle Program reached another milestone: filling a 154-foot-high (47-meterhigh) external tank with fuel and oxygen. The test, intended to assure engineers that all changes 

to the tank operated as expected, marked the first time since Columbia’s accident that NASA had 

prepared an external tank for flight. The foam was necessary to keep the liquid fuel cool and to 

reduce ice build-up on the tank, but NASA and Lockheed Martin had redesigned the tank to 

reduce the amount of foam debris during launch. Changes to the tank design included removing 

the foam from the bipod ramp and replacing the foam with heaters. The designers had also added 

a “drip-lip” to reduce ice accumulation on the joints that permit the adjustment of the tank’s fuel 

line. In a dress rehearsal for Discovery’s upcoming launch, engineers pumped more than 500,000 

gallons of fuel into the tank, monitoring the tank and the Shuttle’s systems down to the T-minus 

31-second mark in a mock countdown. N. Wayne Hale Jr., Deputy Manager of the Space Shuttle 

Program and Chair of NASA’s Mission Management Team, remarked on the outstanding 

performances of the newly modified external tank, the Shuttle, and the launchpad.774

15 April

Soyuz TMA-6 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying the Expedition 11 

crew of three to the ISS. Russian Commander Sergei K. Krikalev and American Flight Engineer 

John L. Phillips would replace Leroy Chiao and Salizhan S. Sharipov. Italy’s Roberto Vittori, 

also aboard, would conduct scientific experiments at the ISS before returning to Earth with 

Chiao and Sharipov.775

The Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft, a NASA 

technology demonstrator, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, aboard a 

 

773 NASA, “Michael D. Griffin To Become NASA Administrator,” news release 05-250, 13 April 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/apr/HQ_05250_griffin_confirmed.html (accessed 29 June 2009); Warren 

E. Leary, “NASA Nominee Says He’ll Reassess Decision Not To Send Astronauts To Fix Hubble Telescope,” New 

York Times, 13 April 2005. 774 Philip Chien, “NASA Tests Tank on Space Shuttle,” Washington Times, 15 April 2005; William Harwood, 

“NASA Managers Elated with Shuttle Fueling Test,” Spaceflight Now, 15 April 2005; Kelly Young, “Shuttle’s 

External Fuel Tank Tested Successfully,” New Scientist, 15 April 2005, 

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn7270-shuttles-external-fuel-tank-tested-successfully.html (accessed 25 

November 2009); Physorg.com, “NASA Puts Space Shuttle External Tank to the Test,” 15 April 2005, 

http://www.physorg.com/news3738.html (accessed 25 November 2009). 775 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 618; Chris Kridler, “Soyuz Rocket Blasts Off to Station,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 

15 April 2005. 
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241

Pegasus-XL HAPS rocket released from an L-1011 cargo aircraft. NASA intended the launch to 

test the 360-kilogram (793.76-pound or 0.4-ton or 0.36-tonne) satellite’s video-guidance-system 

technology, which would enable DART to rendezvous with an experimental military 

communications satellite and maneuver around it. The technology would allow future spacecraft 

to approach and dock with another craft automatically.776 

17 April 

The Soyuz TMA-6 crew arrived at the ISS. After greeting the new arrivals, the Expedition 10 

crew held a safety briefing to familiarize the Expedition 11 crew and Roberto Vittori, the Italian 

astronaut visiting the ISS, with emergency escape procedures. The mission was Commander 

Sergei K. Krikalev’s third long-term space assignment and his second aboard the ISS. Krikalev 

was the first person to serve more than one tour at the station.777

22 April

NASA announced that it had awarded Rice University’s Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory 

(CNL) an US$11 million contract to produce a prototype power cable constructed of carbon 

nanotubes. The engineers expected the so-called quantum wires to conduct electricity up to 10 

times better than copper, at 1/6th the weight. NASA anticipated that the technology would help 

return humans to the Moon and enable travel to Mars and beyond. Richard E. Smalley, the 

project’s Lead Investigator, explained that the Space Shuttle’s primary power-distribution system 

accounted for almost 7 percent of its weight. However, NASA’s next generation of human and 

robotic spacecraft would need far more power to support additional instrumentation and 

broadband communications, requiring a copper power-distribution system that would account for 

up to 25 percent of the craft’s weight. Under the contract, CNL would provide NASA with a 1-

meter (3.2-foot) prototype of quantum wire by 2010, a task requiring major breakthroughs in the 

production of nanotubes. To date, scientists had succeeded in producing wires no longer than 

several centimeters. At the time NASA awarded the contract, only armchair nanotubesa type 

comprising 2 percent of all nanotubes were suitable for use as quantum wires. Researchers at 

CNL planned to grow these nanotubes like crystals, placing “seeds” in a laboratory reactor and 

pumping in a source of carbon, such as carbon monoxide, with the hope of creating perfect, long 

armchair nanotubes each time. The researchers would then twist the tubes together to produce a 

quantum wire according to NASA’s specifications.778

NASA announced the establishment of the DART Mishap Investigation Board to determine why 

the DART spacecraft had failed to complete its mission on 15 April. Initially, NASA had 

believed that DART had come within 300 feet (91.4 meters) of the target satellite before low fuel 

readings prompted it to abort its mission. However, NASA spokesperson Kimberly D. Newton 

later explained that new data had indicated that DART had bumped the satellite, boosting its 

orbit by as much as 5.75 miles (9.3 kilometers). However, DART had abandoned its target 

 

776 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 618; Chris Kridler, “Failed DART Spacecraft Bumped Its Satellite Target,” Florida 

Today (Brevard, FL), 26 April 2005. 777 NASA, “11th Crew Arrives at Space Station” (International Space Station Status Report SS05-020, 17 April 

2005), http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/apr/HQ_ss05020_ISS_status_report.html (accessed 29 June 2009); 

John Kelly, “New Crew Arrives at Station,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 17 April 2005. 778 NASA, “NASA Awards $11 Million “Quantum Wire” Contract to Rice,” news release J05-018, 22 April 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/news/releases/J05-018.html (accessed 9 September 2009); Amit Asaravala, 

“NASA Funds ‘Miracle Polymer’,” Wired News, 28 April 2005. 
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242

approximately halfway through its 24-hour mission. The Board consisted of seven voting 

members from NASA’s MSFC, NASA’s GSFC and ARC; the Defense Advanced Research 

Projects Agency; and the U.S. Air Force Space Command. NASA assigned eight federal 

employees to serve as advisors to the Board―six from MSFC, and one each from NASA’s JSC 

and NASA Headquarters. NASA selected Scott D. Croomes of MSFC to chair the Board and 

Kerry L. Remp of GRC to serve ex officio, to assure that board activity conformed to NASA’s 

procedural requirements.779 

24 April 

The Expedition 10 crew, American astronaut Leroy Chiao and Russian cosmonaut Salizhan S. 

Sharipov, returned to Earth from the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-5 after almost 193 days in space. 

Together with Italian astronaut Roberto Vittori, who had conducted scientific experiments at the 

ISS after his arrival on 17 April with Expedition 11, the crew landed on target in north-central 

Kazakhstan. Although the crew and recovery team encountered no major problems, weeks of 

heavy snow and rain had caused flooding in the steppes, complicating the recovery. Only three 

of the 10 recovery helicopters were able to land in the wet conditions. During their mission, 

Chiao and Sharipov had maintained ISS systems and conducted scientific research. They had 

replaced critical hardware in the Joint Quest Airlock, repaired U.S. spacesuits, completed two 

spacewalks to prepare the ISS for the arrival of a new European cargo spacecraft during the next 

year, and submitted a scientific research paper on the use of ultrasound in space. Chiao had voted 

in the U.S. presidential election the previous November, the first astronaut to do so in space. 

Vittori had spent 10 days in space, eight of them aboard the ISS, and had performed 22 

experiments, including tests of astronaut fatigue, research on the durability of components of 

microsatellites, research into the electromagnetic waves that emanate from Earth and may be 

related to earthquakes, and experiments growing shoots as a potential food source for people in 

orbit.780

25 April

NASA celebrated the HST’s 15th anniversary with the release of new images of the Eagle 

Nebula and the Whirlpool galaxy (spiral galaxy M51), two of the most well-known objects that 

the Hubble had observed to date. The new images, made with the HST’s newest camera, the 

Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), were among the largest and sharpest the Hubble had yet 

captured, so sharp that, even if enlarged to billboard size, the image would preserve the stunning 

details. The new image of the Eagle Nebula revealed ultraviolet light originating from a group of 

massive hot stars and sculpting a tall, dense tower of gas. The new image of the Whirlpool 

galaxy, in addition to displaying its classic features, revealed a companion galaxy located at the 

 

779 NASA, “NASA Announces Dart Mishap Investigation Board Members,” news release 05-105, 22 April 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/apr/HQ_05105_DART_mishap_board.html (accessed 29 June 2009); 

NASA Engineering and Safety Center, NESC Review of Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology 

(DART) Mission Mishap Investigation Review Board (MIB) (NESC Request No. 05-020-E, NASA Langley 

Research Center, Hampton, VA, December 2006), http://klabs.org/richcontent/Reports/Failure_Reports/dart/ 

167813main_rp-06-119_05-020-e_dart_report_final_dec_27.pdf (accessed 18 November 2009); Chris Kridler, 

“Failed DART Spacecraft Bumped Its Satellite Target,” Florida Today (Brevard, FL), 26 April 2005. 780 NASA, International Space Station Status Report SS05-020a, 24 April 2005, http://www.nasa.gov/

home/hqnews/2005/apr/HQ_ss05020a_ISS_status_report.html (accessed 29 June 2009); Shamil Zumatov for 

Reuters, “Russian, U.S., Italian Space Crew Return to Earth,” 25 April 2005; Agence-France Presse, “Astronauts 

Home Safely from International Space Station,” 26 April 2005. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

243

end of one of the Whirlpool galaxy’s arms. The launch of the HST in 1990 had ushered in a new 

era in astronomy. Before the existence of the HST, no telescope had viewed the universe in 

visible light from above Earth’s atmosphere, which blurs light and causes images to appear 

fuzzy. Among its many achievements, the HST had helped astronomers calculate the precise age 

of the universe; helped confirm the existence of dark energy; detected small protogalaxies; 

proved the existence of supermassive black holes; provided sharp views of a comet hitting 

Jupiter; and demonstrated that the process of planetary system formation is common throughout 

the galaxy.781

NASA announced the establishment of the Exploration Systems Advisory Committee (ESAC), 

composed of leading experts from government, academia, and industry. NASA named Lester L. 

Lyles, a former commander of the U.S. Air Force Materiel Command to chair ESAC. Lyles had 

extensive experience managing large, high-technology organizations involving aeronautical and 

astronautical research, development, acquisition, and logistics. The committee would provide 

advice and recommendations to NASA’s Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems, 

including input regarding plans, policies, programs, and other matters pertinent to the 

directorate’s responsibilities.782 

26 April

Spaceway 1, a DirecTV satellite, launched from Sea Launch’s Odyssey floating platform at the 

equator aboard a Zenit-3SL rocket. Sea Launch used a self-propelled launch platform and a 

command ship that had sailed from Long Beach, California, to the equator. At the equator, the 

physics of Earth’s rotation make it possible to launch heavier payloads than elsewhere. Sea 

Launch announced that the 13,376-pound (6,067.3-kilogram or 6.1-tonne) satellite was the 

heaviest commercial satellite ever launched.783

27 April

NASA announced that on 25 April its Deep Impact spacecraft had successfully photographed 

comet Tempel 1, Deep Impact’s target destination. The craft’s Medium Resolution Instrument 

had captured the image on its first attempt. The image was the first of thousands that NASA 

planned for the craft to capture over the following 10 weeks. The images would aid Deep 

Impact’s navigators, engineers, and scientists, as they plotted the craft’s final trajectory toward 

its encounter with Tempel 1, scheduled for 4 July.784

30 April

USA 182, a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) classified military satellite, launched atop a 

Titan 4B rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida. The rocket was the last Titan to 

launch from the Florida coast, signaling the end of the historic program after five decades and 

168 launches. Only one Titan remained, scheduled for a July launch from Edwards Air Force 

 

781 NASA, “Hubble Celebrates 15th Anniversary with Spectacular New Images,” news release 05-104, 25 April 

2005, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/apr/HQ_05104_HST_anniversary.html (accessed 29 June 2009). 782 NASA, “NASA Establishes Exploration Systems Advisory Committee,” news release 05-106, 25 April 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/apr/HQ_05106_esac_meeting.html (accessed 29 June 2009). 783 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 618; Associated Press, “DirecTV Satellite Launched from Sea Launch Ocean Platform,” 

27 April 2005. 

784 NASA, “NASA’s Deep Impact Spacecraft Spots Its Quarry, Stalking Begins,” news release 05-108, 27 April 

2005, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/apr/HQ_05108_Deep_Impact_Image.html (accessed 29 June 2009). 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

244

Base in California. The United States was retiring the Titan, which had begun as a two-stage 

intercontinental ballistic missile in the 1950s and had made its first launch from Cape Canaveral 

in 1959, in favor of the less-expensive and more modular Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rocket series, 

which could fulfill the need for heavy-lifting to space. Titan 2 missiles had served as the boosters 

for NASA’s Gemini missions, and various Titan 3 and Titan 34D rockets had launched satellites, 

as had Titan 4, the largest and most powerful version in the program. Titan rockets had also 

launched space probes―Viking to Mars, Voyager to the outer planets, and Cassini to Saturn.785

MAY 2005 

2 May

Lockheed Martin and the Boeing Company announced the formation of a joint venture called 

United Launch Alliance, combining the production, engineering, testing, and launch operations 

associated with U.S. government launches of Boeing Delta and Lockheed Martin Atlas rockets. 

The merger ended a two-year legal battle between the two largest government contractors, in 

which Lockheed Martin had accused Boeing of cheating to win rocket-launch work. The venture 

eliminated market competition for launching weather satellites for NOAA, scientific satellites for 

NASA, spy satellites for the National Security Agency, and communications satellites for the 

U.S. Air Force. According to the agreement, the joint venture would produce both Boeing’s 

Delta and Lockheed’s Atlas rockets, consolidating production at Boeing’s Decatur, Alabama, 

facility. Lockheed’s Denver, Colorado, office would serve as headquarters, housing the 

engineering and administrative functions. Lockheed Martin’s Vice President of Financial 

Strategies Jeffrey D. MacLauchlan remarked that the preservation of the two separate rocket 

families was the crux of the venture’s appeal to the federal government.786 

3 May

The National Institute of Aerospace (NIA) in Hampton, Virginia, released a report commissioned 

by the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, which had 

concluded that, to keep pace with Europe, the U.S. government would need to spend more on 

aeronautics, not less. The report, “Responding to the Call: Aviation Plan for American 

Leadership,” recommended that, over the next five years, the U.S. government should restore 

NASA’s aeronautics funding to 1998 levels, a goal that implied a spending level approximately 

twice that of President George W. Bush’s proposal for FY 2006. The study team comprised more 

than 250 of the nation’s top aviation experts representing industry and academia. NIA President 

and Executive Director Robert Lindberg remarked that the United State’s aviation capabilities 

had eroded, despite the position of aviation as a critical component in the U.S. balance of trade. 

The report of more than 1,000 pages provided detailed investment plans, budgets, and needs 

assessments for seven aeronautics sectors: airspace systems, aviation safety and security, 

 

785 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 618; Justin Ray, “Reality Realized: Titan Has Left Cape Canaveral,” Spaceflight Now, 

30 April 2005. 

786 Lockheed Martin, “Boeing, Lockheed Martin To Form Launch Services Joint Venture,” news release, 2 May 

2005, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2005/BoeingLockheedMartin FormLaunchServi.html

(accessed 17 September 2009); Renae Merle, “Boeing, Lockheed Join Rocket Division,” Washington Post, 3 May 

2005. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

245

subsonic aircraft, supersonic aircraft, hypersonic technologies, rotorcraft, and workforce and 

education.787

4 May

After a delay of more than one year, ESA’s Mars Express deployed the first of three booms that 

form the craft’s Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (MARSIS). The 

MARSIS booms would search for evidence of water under the surface of Mars. The deployment 

marked the beginning of a 10-day sequence, originally scheduled for April 2004. NASA’s JPL 

had conducted an investigation that had warned of the possibility that one or more of the antenna 

components could swing back and hit the spacecraft, a risk that had caused ESA to delay the 

deployment. Although an ESA review board had concluded that, even if such an event were to 

occur, the risk of damaging Mars Express remained low, scientists had voiced concerns that a 

strike from any of the booms could damage delicate instruments on board the orbiter. According 

to Mars Express Mission Manager Fred Jansen, engineers had analyzed the problem over the 

past year to assure themselves that any existing risks would not affect the spacecraft. As 

deployment commenced, telemetry data indicated that the first boom, which formed half of 

MARSIS’s primary antenna, had deployed successfully. ESA had scheduled the second half of 

the antenna to deploy four days later.788

5 May

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched its Cartosat-1 Earthmapping and remote-sensing satellite aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle-C6 (PSLV-C6) 

from the newly built launchpad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, 

India. The 1.56-tonne (1,560-kilogram or 1.72-ton) Cartosat-1, the heaviest payload that the 

PSLV had ever ferried to space, carried two f/4.5 Panchromatic cameras, which together would 

enable the production of a stereoscopic image at a resolution of 2.5 meters (8.2 feet). ISRO 

planned to use the images to generate digital terrain-elevation maps, which would aid in 

assessing and monitoring land use, forest cover, and river flow. The launch vehicle also carried 

into orbit HAMSat, a 43-kilogram (0.043-tonne or 0.047-ton) microsatellite designed to relay 

amateur VHF radio communications.789

6 May 

Alliant Techsystems announced the successful completion of the first in a series of ground tests 

for solar-sail technology, developed to enable solar-powered interplanetary probes and solar 

observatories. At NASA’s GRC’s Plum Brook Station in Ohio, NASA engineers fully deployed 

a 20 x 20 meter (65.6 x 65.6 feet) version of the solar-sail system, in a 100-foot-diameter (30.5-

meter-diameter) vacuum chamber, to test the system’s functional deployment and attitude 

control. The test marked a critical milestone in the development of in-space propulsion 

technology using the Sun’s energy, instead of fuel propellant, to provide thrust. The In-Space 

 

787 National Institute of Aerospace, “NIA Releases Congressionally-Requested Aviation Plan,” 3 May 2005, 

http://www.nianet.org/pressreleases/AviationPlan_050305.php (accessed 16 September 2009); Allison Connolly, 

“Survey: NASA Can’t Afford To Fall Behind in Aeronautics,” Virginian Pilot (Hampton Roads, VA), 4 May 2005. 788 BBC News, “First Marsis Radar Boom Deployed,” 6 May 2005; Maggie McKee, “Mars Express To Deploy 

‘Divining Rod’ at Last,” New Scientist, 4 May 2005. 

789 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 619, 1 June 2005, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx619.html (accessed 17 

September 2009); K. S. Jayaraman, “India Launches Cartosat-1 Satellite,” Space News, 6 May 2005. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

246

Propulsion Program of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate was developing the solar-sail 

propulsion system.790

9 May

NASA launched a 40 million-cubic-foot (12.2 million-cubic-meter) balloon, the Deep Space Test 

Bed facility, from Fort Sumner, New Mexico, carrying an automobile-sized aluminum gondola 

containing scientific experiments prepared by university and elementary school students. NASA 

had collaborated with the students to carry out research to analyze characteristics of Earth’s 

atmosphere from the unique laboratory traveling 30 miles (48.3 kilometers) above Earth. The 

primary payload was the High Energy Replicated Optics (HERO), a hard x-ray–focusing 

telescope. Engineers from NASA’s MSFC had designed HERO to create images from highenergy x-ray light. Undergraduate students from Pennsylvania State University, Montana State 

University, the University of Alabama, and Auburn University in Alabama had prepared 

experiments for the new laboratory. The experiments would identify pollution-related aerosols in 

the atmosphere, measure radiation and its impact on the integrity and behavior of the balloon, 

measure the external temperature of the balloon material, and gather magnetic-field data. 

Students from eight grade schools had prepared experiments to observe the effect of the flight 

environment on microscopic organisms and seeds, placing their experiments in brick-size plastic 

containers inside two large containers on board the balloon.791

12 May

NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin, who had been in his new position for only one month, 

appeared as the sole witness before the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, 

Justice, and Science, to testify regarding NASA’s FY 2006 budget request. Key issues that the 

panel discussed with Griffin included several related to the Space Shuttle Program: the four-year 

gap between the planned decommissioning of the Space Shuttle in 2010 and the first scheduled 

flight of the new Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) in 2014; the United States’ obligation to 

complete the ISS before the retirement of the Space Shuttle; and servicing the HST. In his 

responses, Griffin stated that, in mid-July, he would release a plan for the first flight of the new 

CEV. He suggested that, if the ISS partners postponed some scheduled on-board scientific 

research, they could complete the ISS before the Shuttle’s retirement, without cancelling any 

research programs. Regarding the HST, Griffin stated his opposition to a robotic servicing 

mission and said that he wished to assess the first two Shuttle flights before making a decision. 

The panel also discussed recommended cuts in Earth Science research. Griffin responded that 

NASA had listened to the concerns of the scientific community and was reexamining that area. 

Griffin clarified that NASA would not cut science programs to fund the spaceflight program.792

17 May

President of Canadian Arrow Geoff Sheerin and Indian-American entrepreneur Chirinjeev 

Kathuria joined forces to create a new corporation called PlanetSpace. The company’s goal was 

 

790 Alliant Techsystems, “ATK and NASA Successfully Test First Solar Sail Propulsion System,” news release, 6 

May 2005, http://atk.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=118&item=447 (accessed 16 September 2009). 

791 NASA, “NASA and Students Partner for High Altitude Research,” news release 05-121, 11 May 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/may/HQ_05121_Student_Experiments.html (accessed 14 September 2009). 

792 Richard M. Jones for the American Institute of Physics, “New NASA Administrator Appears Before Senate 

Appropriators,” FYI Bulletin 69, 17 May 2005, http://www.aip.org/fyi/2005/069.html (accessed 17 September 2009). 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

247

to make spaceflight available to the public within two years. Canadian Arrow was creating a 

rocket based on the German World War II V-2 rocket. Although the company had not completed 

its rocket in time to compete for the US$10 million X Prize in 2004, it had successfully 

completed a drop test of the vehicle in August 2005 and expected to complete the rocket within 

one year. PlanetSpace planned to charge US$250,000 per person for a suborbital flight that 

would include 14 days of training and 15 minutes of flight time. The rocket would launch from a 

Canadian site with a pilot and two passengers and would reach a maximum velocity of four times 

the speed of sound. The rocket would coast to a maximum height of 70 miles (112 kilometers), 

providing a few minutes of weightlessness and a view of the curving Earth with a black sky 

above. Finally, a crew capsule would separate from the rocket during its descent and would 

parachute down to a water landing.793

19 May

NASA’s JPL released a series of images that Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) had captured on 20 

and 21 April, which showed, for the first time, NASA’s Mars Odyssey and ESA’s Mars Express 

spacecraft orbiting Mars. MGS had orbited the planet since 1997, Mars Odyssey had arrived in 

2001, and Mars Express had arrived in late 2003. MGS and Mars Odyssey followed similar nearpolar orbits, sometimes passing within 9 miles (15 kilometers) of each other, but Odyssey orbited 

higher than MGS to prevent collision. MGS had captured two images of Odyssey 7.5 seconds 

apartthe first from a distance of 56 miles (90 kilometers) and the second from 84 miles (135 

kilometers). The following day, MGS had captured an image of Mars Express from a distance of 

155 miles (249 kilometers).794

NASA and the Florida Space Research Institute (FSRI) announced the third Centennial 

Challenges competition: the Moon Regolith Oxygen (MoonROx) challenge. The MoonROx 

challenge would require teams to develop hardware, within mass and power limits, able to 

extract a minimum of 5 kilograms (0.005 tonnes or 0.006 tons) of breathable oxygen from 

simulated lunar soila volcanic ash called JSC-1within a period of 8 hours. The first team to 

accomplish the oxygen-production goal before June 2008 would win US$250,000. Existing 

state-of-the-art technologies were incapable of extracting oxygen from simulated lunar soil. FSRI 

Executive Director Samuel T. Durrance remarked that oxygen-extraction technologies would be 

critical for robotic and human missions to the Moon.795

20 May

NASA launched a new environmental satellite for NOAA, aboard a Boeing Delta 2 7320-10 

expendable launch vehicle, from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The NOAA-18 (N), 

the fourth in the series of five Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (POES) carrying improved 

imaging and sounding capabilities, would improve weather forecasting and monitor 

 

793 PlanetSpace, “Canadian Arrow Partners with Leading American Entrepreneur To Launch First Commercial 

Passengers to Space,” news release, 17 May 2005, http://www.planetspace.org/pdf/ps-press-rel-001.pdf (accessed 

17 September 2009); Alan Boyle, “Space Partners Plan Flights in 2007,” MSNBC.com, 18 May 2005, 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7879142/ (accessed 17 September 2009). 

794 Tariq Malik, “New Photos Are First of Spacecraft Orbiting Mars,” Space.com, 20 May 2005, 

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/050519_mgs_orbiters.html (accessed 16 September 2009). 

795 NASA, “NASA Announces New Centennial Challenge,” news release 05-128, 19 May 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/may/HQ_05128_Centennial_Challenge.html (accessed 14 September 

2009); Jeremy McGovern, “Astro Bytes: Extracting Oxygen from ‘Lunar’ Soil,” Astronomy News, 24 May 2005. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

248

environmental events globally, collecting data about Earth’s surface and atmosphere. The craft 

also carried instruments used in COSPAS-SARSAT, the international Search-and-Rescue 

Satellite-Aided Tracking System (COSPAS is the Russian acronym for “Cosmicheskaya Sistema 

Poiska Avariynyh Sudo,” which means “Space System for the Search of Vessels in Distress”). 

Established in 1982, COSPAS-SARSAT had saved 5,000 lives in the United States and 18,000 

worldwide.796

21 May

A California Launch Vehicle Education Initiative (CALVEIN) research team successfully 

launched and recovered the Prospector 6 (P6) test vehicle at the Mojave Test Area owned and 

operated by the Reaction Research Society. The test was part of a joint industry/academic effort 

to develop a low-cost Nanosat Launch Vehicle, a booster capable of delivering 22-pound (10-

kilogram) payloads to low Earth orbit. Researchers at Garvey Spacecraft Corporation of Long 

Beach, California, and California State University at Long Beach had designed and built the 

partially reusable 27-foot (8-meter) P6 test vehicle, which had flown to just under 3,000 feet 

(914 meters), a milestone toward the team’s goal. P6 had also carried student payloads from 

across the country: a mini-DV camera to capture on-board video of the entire flight sequence; a 

real-time telemetry system that adapted off-the-shelf Wi-Fi technology to relay key propulsionsystem parameters; and a measurement-logging package to record acceleration, pressure, and 

temperature data that the research team would use to assess the vehicle’s performance.797

23 May

NASA announced results of the Cassini probe’s first radio occultation observations of Saturn’s 

rings, atmosphere, and ionosphere, which had taken place on 3 May. Scientists had labeled the 

seven main rings in the order of discovery; however, from the planet outward, the rings are 

labeled D, C, B, A, F, G, and E. During the experiment, Cassini had been 

occulted―hidden―behind the planet’s rings. The craft had simultaneously transmitted Ka, X, 

and S, three radio signals of different frequencies―the first occultation experiment to do so. 

NASA’s ground-based Deep Space Network had received the signals, but their passage through 

Saturn’s ring material had affected their strength―the denser the ring, the weaker the signal. 

Cassini’s radio signals had revealed Saturn’s ring structure with clarity never before seen, in 

particular the structure of ring B, which had eluded previous robotic explorers. Cassini had 

revealed ring B’s composition as a thick, 5,000-kilometer-wide (3,100-mile-wide) core, 

containing several bands of material nearly 4 times as dense as that found in ring A, and nearly 

20 times as dense as ring C. Cassini had also shown that the structure of ring B varies 

dramatically, contrasting sharply with the relatively flat structure of ring A and the wavy 

structure of ring C.798

 

796 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 619; NASA, “NASA Successfully Launches Environmental Satellite,” news release 05-

129, 20 May 2005, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/may/HQ_05129_ NOAA_ 

success.html (accessed 14 September 2009). 797 Leonard David, “High Hopes for Low-Cost Rocket After Successful Launch Test,” Space.com, 27 May 2005, 

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/050526_prospector6_test.html (accessed 16 September 2009). 

798 NASA, “Cassini Radio Signals Decipher Structure of Saturn’s Rings,” news release 05-130, 23 May 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/may/HQ_05130_Cassini.html (accessed 14 September 2009); David 

Whitehouse, “Cassini Makes Detailed Ring Map,” BBC News, 25 May 2005. 
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249

24 May

NASA announced that scientists had finally agreed that Voyager 1, launched in 1977, had 

reached the solar system’s final frontier, passed through the termination shock region―the point 

at the edge of the solar system where the solar wind slows abruptly, and entered the 

heliosheath―a frontier of unknown thickness defining the border with interstellar space. In 

November 2003, the Voyager team had announced unusual events in the mission’s history, 

signaling that Voyager 1 had reached the edge of the solar system. However, scientists disagreed 

as to whether the craft had actually encountered termination shock or was merely approaching 

the region at the edge of interstellar space. NASA explained that scientists had based the 

evidence that Voyager 1 had encountered termination shock on the craft’s measurement of a 

sudden increase in the strength of the magnetic field carried by the solar wind, combined with an 

inferred decrease in speed, which happens when the solar wind slows down. Additionally, 

Voyager had observed an increase in the number of high-speed, electrically charged electrons 

and ions, as well as a burst of plasma-wave noise, which scientists had expected to occur when 

Voyager 1 passed the termination shock. Eric Christian, Discipline Scientist for the Sun-Solar 

System Connection Research Program at NASA Headquarters, remarked that Voyager’s 

observations over the past few years had shown that termination shock is far more complicated 

than previously thought. When Voyager 1 entered the heliosheath, the craft was 8.7 billion miles 

(14 kilometers) away from Earth, the farthest any human-made object had traveled.799

25 May

Khrunichev Center announced that it had signed a contract with Russia’s defense ministry, valid 

through 2010, to research, develop, and flight-test the Angara launch vehicle. The Angara project 

included a series of liquid oxygen/kerosene expendable launch vehicles. The Khrunichev Center 

intended for Angara 5 to have greater capabilities than the company’s existing Proton rocket and 

to be far more environmentally friendly. In addition, the Angara 5 would launch exclusively 

from Plesetsk, rather than from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. According to the 

contract, near the end of 2006, the Khrunichev Center would launch the first vehicle carrying a 

Russian government payload.800 

26 May

NASA returned Discovery to the Vehicle Assembly Building from its launchpad, to attach a 

newer fuel tank and booster set to the Space Shuttle. While Discovery was sitting on the 

launchpad, NASA had determined that ice could break off the outside of its external fuel tank 

and could prove as lethal as the falling foam insulation that had led to the demise of Columbia. 

To minimize the risk of such debris striking the orbiter’s fragile heat shield, NASA had decided 

to install an additional heater on the fuel tank. Ice forms on the external tank when the fuel is 

extremely cold, and a heater would reduce the amount of ice build-up on the tank.801

 

799 NASA, “Voyager Spacecraft Enters Solar System’s Final Frontier,” news release 05-131, 24 May 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/may/HQ_05131_Voyager_agu.html (accessed 14 September 2009); Guy 

Gugliotta, “Voyager at Edge of Solar System,” Washington Post, 25 May 2005. 800 Dmitry Pieson, “Khrunichev, Defense Ministry To Build Angara Jointly,” Aerospace Daily and Defense Report,

27 May 2005. 

801 Irene Mona Klotz, “Shuttle Heads Back to Workshop,” BBC News, 27 May 2005; “Shuttle Rolls Back to 

Hangar,” Washington Post, 27 May 2005. 
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250

JUNE 2005 

7 June 

France and the United States agreed to establish a Space Shuttle landing site in southern France. 

NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin and French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte signed the 

agreement, which covered NASA’s Space Shuttle support for the ISS. Under the agreement, 

France would permit Shuttles encountering problems during launch to land at Istres Air Base 

125, near Marseilles, and allow the U.S. government to conduct additional support activities for 

Space Shuttles on French soil, such as weather monitoring and search-and-rescue operations.802

8 June 

The Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group (SCTG) provided an update on NASA’s efforts 

to comply with the Columbia Accident Investigation Board’s (the CAIB’s) recommended safety 

and operational practices for Shuttle launches. The Task Group stated that it had approved 

NASA’s efforts regarding five of the CAIB’s critical recommendations, bringing the total 

number of CAIB recommendations with which NASA had complied to 12. Among the five 

recommendations that NASA had implemented were the installation of cameras on the Shuttle to 

observe critical events and steps to ensure that budgetary issues and other outside pressures 

would not influence flight schedules in the future. The Task Group stated further that, although 

NASA had not yet complied with three of the CAIB recommendations, it saw no circumstances 

that might prevent NASA’s planned launch of Space Shuttle Discovery in July 2005. The three 

CAIB recommendations that NASA had not yet implemented were establishing in-orbit repair 

techniques for the orbiter, preventing catastrophic debris from falling off the orbiter’s fuel tank 

during launch, and fortifying the orbiter against debris impacts.803

13 June 

Scientists announced that they had found the most Earth-like planet ever before observed. 

Experts described the discovery as a milestone in efforts to find extraterrestrial life. Scientists led 

by Eugenio J. Rivera of the University of California, Santa Cruz, had discovered the planet, 

called GJ 876 d, orbiting the star GJ 876, which is 15 light-years from Earth. The planet, with a 

mass seven times that of Earth, is mostly composed of silicates, iron, and nickel―compositional 

matter more similar to that of Earth than the material of any other planet yet discovered. 

However, the planet is unlikely to support life, because estimated temperatures on the side of the 

planet facing the star are around 400° to 700°F―temperatures too hot for liquid water. Experts 

described the scientists’ method of discovering the planet as a significant demonstration of the 

state-of-the art technologies for finding exoplanets―planets outside the solar system―that are as 

small as Earth. The scientists had used a spectrometer to discover GJ 876d, which is the smallest 

exoplanet yet found. Using the spectrometer had enabled them to observe changes in the 

exoplanet’s reflected light. They had used the data to measure the planet’s gravitational effects 

on the movements of its accompanying star.804

 

802 NASA, “U.S. and France Agree To Establish NASA Shuttle Landing Site,” news release 05-143, 7 June 2005. 803 Mark Carreau, “Shuttle Safety Issues Unresolved,” Houston Chronicle, 9 June 2005; Warren E. Leary, “NASA 

Near to Meeting Safety Requirements for Launching in July,” New York Times, 9 June 2005. 804 John Johnson Jr., “Distant Object May Be a Planet Similar to Ours,” Los Angeles Times, 14 June 2005; Eugenio 

J. Rivera et al., “A ~7.5 Earth-Mass Planet Orbiting the Nearby Star, GJ 876,” Astrophysical Journal 634, no. 1 (20 

November 2005): 625–640. 
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14 June 

During a hearing of the House Science Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics―Live from 

Space: The International Space Station―NASA astronaut John L. Phillips became the first 

person to provide congressional testimony while in space. The Subcommittee on Space and 

Aeronautics had convened the hearing to gather information on numerous topics concerning the 

ISS, such as current activities on the ISS, scientific and research accomplishments resulting from 

ISS operations, and long-term human spaceflight. At the time of the hearing, Phillips was aboard 

the ISS serving as a member of Expedition 11, along with Russian cosmonaut Sergei K. 

Krikalev. Former ISS crew members E. Michael Fincke and Peggy A. Whitson also provided 

testimony at the hearing.805

21 June 

The Planetary Society and Cosmos Studios launched Cosmos 1, the first solar-powered 

spacecraft, at 3:46 p.m. (EDT), on a Volna rocket from a Russian submarine in the Barents Sea. 

Russian Space Agency officials, however, were not certain that the spacecraft had attained orbit. 

The spacecraft’s sponsors, the Planetary Society and Cosmos Studios, are U.S. nonprofit 

organizations that seek to increase the public’s knowledge of and involvement in space 

exploration. The late American scientist Carl Sagan had helped found the Planetary Society, and 

Ann Druyan―Sagan’s widow―had founded Cosmos Studios. The two organizations had 

designed the craft and launched the mission to demonstrate the feasibility of solar power 

technology as an effective means of space travel. The pressure of solar light 

particles―photons―on the spacecraft’s large, triangular, mirror-like “solar sails” were to propel 

the engineless, fuel-free Cosmos 1.806

22 June 

The Russian Space Agency announced that the launch of Cosmos 1 had failed. According to the 

agency, the rocket that had launched the spacecraft had experienced failure 83 seconds after 

ignition. Consequently, the experimental solar-powered spacecraft had crashed soon after its 

launch.807

During its 179th meeting, held at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, 

the ESA Council elected Sigmar Wittig as its Chair, effective 1 July 2005. Wittig, head of the 

German delegation to ESA and the Chair of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace 

Center (Deutsche Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt), replaced Per Tegnér of Sweden, whose 

term of office was ending on 30 June 2005. The ESA Council is ESA’s governing body and 

provides policy guidelines for ESA’s space programs.808

 

805 NASA, “NASA Astronaut Gives First Congressional Testimony from Space,” news release 05-152, 14 June 

2005; U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Space 

and Aeronautics, Live from Space: The International Space Station, 109th Cong., 1st sess., 14 June 2005, 3. 806 John Antczak for Associated Press, “Solar Sail Spacecraft Launched from Russian Submarine,” 21 June 2005; 

The Planetary Society, “Projects: Solar Sailing,” http://planetary.org/programs/projects/ solar_sailing/ (accessed 10 

August 2009). 

807 David Holley and Alex Raksin, “Solar Craft Falls Short of Cosmos,” Los Angeles Times, 23 June 2005. 808 ESA, “German Chair for ESA Council,” ESA news release 35-2005, 22 June 2005, 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/Pr_35_2005_p_EN.html (accessed 11 August 2009); ESA, “What is ESA?” 

http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/About_ESA/ SEMW16ARR1F_0.html (accessed 11 August 2009). 
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23 June 

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences released “United States Space Policy: Challenges 

and Opportunities,” a research paper highly critical of the Vision for Space Exploration. In the 

paper, former Director of NASA’s JSC George W. S. Abbey and former White House science 

advisor Neal F. Lane stated that the Vision for Space Exploration does not address major 

obstacles to the United States’ progress in space exploration and science. Those problems 

include predicted shortfalls in the U.S. engineering and science workforce and declining 

international cooperation on existing and planned space missions. Abbey and Lane also stated 

that the United States would be unlikely to realize the Vision’s objectives because of the 

diminishing U.S. commitment to the country’s commercial space industry and the declining role 

of basic science in the U.S. space program and in the national economy. NASA officials did not 

comment on the paper, stating that they had not yet seen it.809

NASA-funded physicists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced that they had 

created the first superfluid, a form of matter that flows without internal mechanical resistance or 

viscosity. The scientists had created the superfluid by cooling a gas of lithium atoms to nearly 

absolute zero (approximately -459°F), applying a magnetic field, to get the atoms of the gas to 

form pairs without creating molecules, and then using a laser to stir the gas. The last step 

produced vortexes―or microscopic whirlpools―throughout the resulting fluid. The vortexes 

provided conclusive evidence of superfluidity because, whereas rotating a container of normal 

fluid causes the fluid to spin, rotating a container of superfluid does not cause the frictionless 

superfluid to spin but, instead, produces vortexes in the superfluid that continue to spin as long as 

the fluid remains a superfluid. Experts described the research as a major breakthrough in physics. 

The findings could lead to the development of products such as room-temperature 

superconductors, which could help in other applications, such as transporting energy and 

assisting in medical diagnostics.810

27 June 

The Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group (SCTG) announced that it considered the Space 

Shuttle Discovery safe enough to fly again, even though NASA had not undertaken some steps 

recommended by the CAIB to ensure the Shuttle’s safe launch. NASA had planned to launch 

Discovery as the first Shuttle flight since the Columbia accident in 2003 and had established the 

Task Group to review NASA’s compliance with the CAIB’s critical recommendations. Task 

Group members stated that, although NASA had not complied with all of the CAIB’s 15 critical 

recommendations, the Space Shuttle was ready to resume flight, and NASA was responsible for 

making the final decision to launch the Shuttle. NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin was 

unclear about how the Task Group’s findings would influence Shuttle launch plans.811

 

809 John Schwartz, “Report Says Space Program Is Lacking Money and Focus,” New York Times, 23 June 2005; 

George W. S. Abbey and Neal F. Lane, “United States Space Policy: Challenges and Opportunities” (Occasional 

Paper, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, MA, 2005), 1–2. 

810 NASA, “Whirling Atoms Dance into Physics Textbooks,” news release 05-163, 24 June 2005; M. W. Zwierlein 

et al., “Vortices and Superfluidity in a Strongly Interacting Fermi Gas,” Nature 435, no. 7045 (23 June 2005): 1047–

1051. 

811 Traci Watson, “Safety Panel: NASA Failed To Fix Critical Issues with Shuttle,” USA Today, 28 June 2009. 
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28 June 

The House Committee on Science held a hearing entitled The Future of NASA in preparation for 

a subcommittee to consider, on the following day, legislation reauthorizing NASA’s aeronautics, 

human spaceflight, and science programs through FY 2006 (H.R. 3070). President George W. 

Bush had requested US$16.5 billion in funding for NASA for FY 2006. NASA Administrator 

Michael D. Griffin provided testimony to the committee about NASA’s intentions regarding 

issues contained in the President’s budget request, including NASA’s plans for human and 

robotic space exploration, the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), and Space Shuttle safety. 

Griffin told the committee that, despite the fact that NASA had not yet complied with all 15 of 

the CAIB’s critical recommendations, NASA was preparing to launch Shuttle Discovery on 13 

July 2005, pending the results of NASA’s own inspection. Furthermore, Griffin discussed 

President Bush’s intention to amend the Iran Nonproliferation Act, which had effectively 

prevented NASA from purchasing or bartering for space on Russian spacecraft. The amendment 

of the act would permit NASA to send astronauts to the ISS after April 2006.812

30 June 

An international group of astronomers led by Debra A. Fischer of San Francisco State University 

announced that they had discovered the largest solid core yet found in an exoplanet. The planet, 

called HD 149026b, has a solid core that is approximately 70 times larger than Earth’s mass. The 

discovery was the first observational evidence of the core accretion theory of planetary 

formation, which posits that planets begin as small rock-ice cores and acquire additional mass 

through gravitational attraction of gas and other matter. The competing gravitational instability 

theory holds that planetary formation occurs after the rapid gravitational collapse of large gas 

clouds. Fischer and the other astronomers reported that they had determined that the mechanism 

of gravitational instability was unlikely to have produced the large, rocky core of HD 

149026b.813

JULY 2005 

4 July 

NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft, created to analyze the comet Tempel 1, successfully completed 

a planned crash into Tempel 1, becoming the first mission to probe beneath the surface of a 

comet. Astronomers believe that analyzing comets can help them better understand the solar 

system’s formation and evolution, because comets are composed of materials from distant 

regions of the solar system, which formed 4.5 billion years ago. The Deep Impact 

spacecraft―one of a series of low-cost space science ventures developed under the NASA 

Discovery Mission―consisted of two vehicles: an impactor and a flyby vehicle. NASA had 

designed the impactor to crash into Tempel 1, thereby exposing the comet’s internal material, 

and to capture images of the comet until just seconds before impact. NASA intended the flyby 

vehicle to capture images of Tempel 1’s substrata, the internal material of the comet that the 

 

812 U.S. Congress, House of Representatives, Committee on Science, The Future of NASA, 109th Cong., 1st sess., 28 

June 2005, 3–5; Guy Gugliotta, “NASA Says Shuttle Should Be Ready on July 13,” Washington Post, 29 June 2009. 813 NASA, “NASA Researchers Discover Planet with Largest Solid Core,” news release 05-169, 30 June 2005; 

Bun’ei Sato et al., “The N2K Consortium. II. A Transiting Hot Saturn Around HD 149026 with a Large Dense 

Core,” Astrophysical Journal 633, no. 1 (1 November 2005): 465–473. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

254

impactor’s crash would expose, and to conduct chemical analyses of comet debris ejected during 

the crash.814

7 July 

NASA scientists announced the first measurements ever taken of changes in sea level that were 

unrelated to changes in land height. Although researchers believed that rising sea levels were 

related to global warming, they were unsure of how much sea levels had changed, the degree to 

which sea-level changes were attributable to upward and downward land movements, and the 

causes of those changes. However, using data from numerous satellites, NASA scientists had 

discovered that global sea levels had increased during the previous 50 years, at an estimated rate 

of 1.8 millimeters (0.07 inches) annually, and that the rate of increase had accelerated to 3 

millimeters (0.12 inches) annually in the previous 12 years. The scientists attributed half of the 

rise in sea levels to the expansion of water from warmer ocean temperatures and the remainder to 

various other sources, such as the melting of ice covers in Antarctica, Greenland, and 

elsewhere.815

10 July 

JAXA launched its Suzaku astronomy satellite at 3:30 a.m. (GMT) from Uchinoura Space Center 

(formerly called the Kagoshima Space Center) on an M-5 rocket. Suzaku, known as Astro-E2 

before the launch, was JAXA’s replacement for its first Astro-E satellite, which had been lost 

during launch in 2000. JAXA and the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science had 

built the satellite to monitor space in conjunction with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and 

ESA’s XMM-Newton. The Suzaku satellite was equipped with three telescopes: a Hard X-ray 

Detector, an X-ray Spectrometer, and an X-ray Imaging Spectrometer.816

14 July 

Maciej Konacki of the California Institute of Technology reported the first discovery of a planet 

occupying an orbit among three stars. The planet, dubbed HD 188753, has a mass that is slightly 

larger than Jupiter. HD 188753 closely orbits a primary star, along with a pair of similarly sized 

stars. According to scientists, Konacki’s findings challenged conventional scientific 

understanding of the architecture of planetary systems. Scientists had believed that other 

planetary systems have a structure like Earth’s solar system, in which only planets―and not 

stars―orbit a star. Konacki’s research cast doubt on conventional theories of planetary system 

development, because his findings provided the first evidence that a planet could develop and 

survive in a gravitationally complex stellar system. According to conventional scientific theory, 

HD 188753’s two companion stars would have burned away the primary star’s surrounding gas 

and dust, which would have provided the materials to form the new planet. In addition, although 

other existing theories had suggested that a planet of HD 188753’s size could have migrated to 

the massive star from elsewhere, those theories had posited incorrectly that the secondary pair of 

 

814 Guy Gugliotta, “NASA Succeeds in Crashing Craft into Comet,” Washington Post, 5 July 2005; NASA, “Deep 

Impact: Mission to a Comet, Spacecraft and Instruments,” http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/ 

deepimpact/mission/index.html (accessed 12 June 2009). 815 Juliet Eilperin, “NASA Able To Pinpoint Changes in Sea Levels,” Washington Post, 8 July 2005; NASA, 

“NASA Satellites Measure and Monitor Sea Level,” news release 05-175, 7 July 2005. 816 Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 621, 1 August 2005, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/spacewarn/spx621.html (accessed 12 

June 2009); NASA, “Suzaku: Mission Overview,” 3 June 2009, http://www.nasa.gov/ mission_pages/astro-e2/ 

main/index.html (accessed 12 June 2009). 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

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stars would have prevented HD 188753 from orbiting the primary star as closely as does. HD 

188753 completes a single orbit in 3.4 Earth days.817

20 July 

Researchers at NASA’s GRC successfully tested a new type of fire detector, which could 

significantly reduce false alarms in the baggage and cargo compartments of commercial aircraft. 

Whereas most fire detectors only detect smoke particles, the GRC-developed sensor 

system―called the MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS)―could compare gas 

concentrations and smoke-particle dimensions in the environment to those commonly found in 

fires. The MEMS was equipped with carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide sensors, a smokeparticle detector, and integrated software, elements that, collectively, rendered it less vulnerable 

to false alarms than smoke-sensing detectors, which can give false alarms when sensing dust and 

other airborne particles. According to the FAA, the ratio of false alarms to actual fires on aircraft 

was around 100 to 1.818

26 July 

NASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from NASA’s KSC in Florida at 10:39 a.m. (EDT) in 

NASA’s first Space Shuttle launch since the February 2003 Columbia tragedy. Although 

officially designated STS-114, NASA had frequently referred to the Discovery mission as the 

Return to Flight Mission. In addition, STS-114 was the first step toward implementation of the 

Vision for Space Exploration, the U.S. space policy calling for human and robotic missions to 

the Moon, Mars, and other planets in the solar system. The primary objectives of STS-114 were 

to test and evaluate new safety procedures at the ISS and to conduct construction and 

maintenance tasks at the ISS. Mission crew members were Commander Eileen M. Collins, Pilot 

James M. Kelly, Mission Specialists Charles J. Camarda, Wendy B. Lawrence, Stephen K. 

Robinson, and Andrew S. W. Thomas, and Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi, also a Mission 

Specialist.819

27 July 

NASA announced that it would once again ground the Space Shuttle fleet, because mission 

personnel had discovered that Shuttle Discovery had experienced a problem similar to the one 

that had fatally damaged Columbia. Specifically, analysts had discovered that, during launch, 

Discovery’s external fuel tank had shed portions of foam insulation. At least one of the pieces of 

insulation had come from the same area of the tank as the foam that had ended the Columbia

mission. Although the problem did not affect Discovery’s launch, the Shuttle’s crew had spent 

much of their first full day in orbit closely examining the orbiter’s exterior to determine the 

extent of the problem.820

 

817 John Noble Wilford, “Discovery of a First: A World with 3 Suns,” New York Times, 15 July 2005; Maciej 

Konacki, “An Extrasolar Giant Planet in a Close Triple-Star System,” Nature 436, no. 7048 (14 July 2005): 230–

233. 

818 NASA, “New NASA Design Concept Smokes Out False Alarms,” news release 05-191, 20 July 2005. 

819 NASA, “NASA Launches Space Shuttle Return to Flight Mission,” news release 05-203, 26 July 2005; NASA, 

“STS-114: Return to Flight,” http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/main/index.html (accessed 19 June 2009); NASA, 

“Return to Flight: Mission Overview,” http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/crew/index.html (accessed 19 June 2009). 820 Michael Cabbage and Robyn Shelton, “NASA Grounds Shuttles,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 28 July 2005. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

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29 July 

A group of astronomers led by Michael E. Brown of the California Institute of Technology 

announced the discovery of a new planet in the solar system. The scientists had temporarily 

called the planet 2003 UB313 until the International Astronomic Union could formally approve 

the name that the scientists had proposed, but had not yet disclosed to the public. Although the 

scientists did not yet know the planet’s exact size, they believed it was larger than Pluto, which 

astronomers estimate is 1,400 miles (2,300 kilometers) in diameter. In addition, the newly 

discovered planet, which the scientists believed to be composed of rock and ice, was the furthest 

known object in the solar system, with a 560-year elliptical orbit around the Sun at distances 

ranging from 3.3 to 9 billion miles (5.3 to 14 billion kilometers) from the Sun. By comparison, 

Pluto’s orbit ranges from 2.7 to 4.6 billion miles (4.3 to 7.4 billion kilometers) from the Sun. The 

astronomers had also discovered that the orbit of 2003 UB313 is quite different from that of most 

planets in the solar system―it possesses an orbit skewed at an angle 44o from Earth’s orbit, 

whereas most planets orbit in planes that are close to that of Earth.821

30 July 

Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts, Stephen K. Robinson of NASA and Soichi Noguchi of 

JAXA, completed a spacewalk during which they tested new prototype methods to repair heatresistant tiles on the orbiter’s exterior. Robinson applied an experimental compound inside 

cracks in damaged panels, and Noguchi applied a thick, dark-colored paint to thermal protection 

tiles, to replace cracked or missing black surface coatings. NASA had developed the repair 

techniques in response to recommendations from the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. 

During the spacewalk, the two astronauts also performed several tasks to upgrade the ISS, such 

as replacing a broken GPS antenna and installing a bracket designed to hold a toolbox and parts 

kit for use during future spacewalks.822

AUGUST 2005 

1 August 

Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts Soichi Noguchi of JAXA and Stephen K. Robinson of NASA 

performed the second of three scheduled spacewalks for STS-114. The two astronauts conducted 

tests on materials designed to service the orbiter’s heat-shielding tiles and replaced a 600-pound 

(272.2-kilogram) gyroscope on the exterior of the ISS. The device was one of four gyroscopes 

that help maintain the station’s orientation in space.823

3 August 

Space Shuttle Discovery astronauts Soichi Noguchi and Stephen K. Robinson completed a final 

spacewalk during which Robinson performed an unprecedented maneuver to complete a critical 

operation of the orbiter’s thermal protection system. The principle objective of the spacewalk 

 

821 Kenneth Chang and Dennis Overbye, “Planet or Not, Pluto Has Far-Out Rival,” New York Times, 30 July 2005; 

NASA, “World Book at NASA: Pluto,” http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/pluto_worldbook.html (accessed 2 July 

2009); Richard A. Kerr, “Newfound ‘Tenth Planet’ Puts Pluto Behind the Eight Ball,” Science 309, 5736 (5 August 

2005): 859. 

822 Warren E. Leary, “Astronauts Test Repair Methods on Heat Tiles,” New York Times, 31 July 2005; Guy 

Gugliotta, “NASA Adds One Day to Shuttle’s Mission,” Washington Post, 31 July 2005. 823 NASA, “STS-114 MCC Status Report #13,” 1 August 2005, http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/ news/STS-114-

13.html (accessed 24 June 2009). 
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was to remove two pieces of protruding heat shielding―called gap fillers―from the bottom of 

the orbiter. NASA was concerned that the fillers might add extra heat to the orbiter’s heatshielding tiles upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, thereby threatening the mission. Astronauts 

James M. Kelly and Wendy B. Lawrence used the robotic arms of the Shuttle and those of the 

ISS to lower Robinson to the underside of Discovery, while Noguchi monitored the operation. 

Despite concerns that Robinson might lose communication with the other astronauts, the 

operation was a success. The maneuver was the first time that an astronaut had worked on the 

underside of an orbiter while in space. During the spacewalk, Noguchi and Robinson also 

installed an external stowage platform and a new iteration of an experiment to test materials in 

the environment of space.824

Astronomers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) detected, for the first time, a large 

population of black holes known as type-2 quasars. Quasars―supermassive black holes―are the 

universe’s brightest objects. Although scientists had observed the light from type-1 quasars, they 

had never before been able to detect type-2 quasars because, despite the brightness of type-2 

quasars, the gas and dust rings that surround them obscure the quasars’ visible light and block 

their emission of x-rays. Space telescopes and other scientific instruments rely on x-ray 

emissions to detect and to analyze these celestial phenomena. However, Alejo Martínez-Sansigre 

of the University of Oxford led a team of astronomers who used the SST to detect infrared light 

emitted by type-2 quasars, thereby capturing evidence of 21 quasars. The research also indicated 

that the growth of black holes has been concentrated in obscure regions of the universe and has 

tended to occur in the cores of forming galaxies during brief, highly productive periods. The new 

data suggested that thousands more such quasars might exist in the universe.825

9 August 

The Space Shuttle Discovery returned to Earth, landing at California’s Edwards Air Force Base 

at 5:11 a.m. (PDT). The mission―officially designated STS-114―was NASA’s first Shuttle 

mission since the February 2003 loss of Columbia. The Shuttle’s successful reentry was 

particularly important, because the Columbia accident had occurred during the reentry phase of 

its mission. The mission’s primary objectives were to test and evaluate new safety procedures for 

Shuttle missions and to continue construction and maintenance of the ISS. Soichi Noguchi and 

Stephen K. Robinson had performed some of the ISS and Shuttle maintenance tasks during three 

spacewalks on 30 July, 1 August, and 3 August. The total duration of STS-114 was 13 days, 21 

hours, and 32 minutes.826

12 August 

NASA launched its Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) at 7:43 a.m. (EDT) from Cape 

Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on an Atlas 5 launch vehicle. The occasion marked the 

first time that NASA had used an Atlas 5 to launch an interplanetary mission. NASA had 

designed the MRO to conduct highly detailed analyses of Mars’s atmosphere, surface, and 

 

824 NASA, “NASA’s Spacewalking Astronaut Completes Unique Repair,” news release 05-212, 3 August 2005; 

NASA, “Space Shuttle Mission Archives: STS-114,” http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/

shuttlemissions/archives/sts-114.html (accessed 24 June 2009). 825 NASA, “NASA’s Spitzer Finds Hidden, Hungry Black Holes,” news release 05-211, 3 August 2005; Alejo 

Martínez-Sansigre et al., “The Obscuration by Dust of Most of the Growth of Supermassive Black Holes,” Nature

463, no. 7051 (4 August 2005): 666–669. 

826 NASA, “Space Shuttle Mission Archives: STS-114.” 
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258

subsurface. From low orbit, the MRO would evaluate landing sites for future Mars missions and 

search for sites where water might have previously existed. NASA planned to examine the MRO 

data to seek evidence of previous life on the planet and to study planetary climate change. After 

two years of gathering data, the MRO would relay the information to Earth, using two robotic 

probes scheduled to arrive on Mars in 2008 and 2010.827

16 August 

Russian cosmonaut and ISS crew member Sergei K. Krikalev set a world record of 748 days for 

total time spent in space. Krikalev had begun his cosmonaut training in 1985 and had first served 

as a crew member of Russia’s Mir space station in 1988. Krikalev had served on the Mir crew 

again in 1991 and had later become a member of the first ISS crew comprising both Russian 

cosmonauts and U.S. astronauts. In addition, he had been the first Russian to travel on a NASA 

Space Shuttle, achieving that distinction on Shuttle Discovery in 1994. The ISS partners had 

scheduled Krikalev’s return to Earth for October 2005―by then he would have spent 814 days in 

space.828

NASA scientists led by Karel J. Schrijver announced the results of their research on the 

development of better methods of forecasting solar storms. Radiation from solar 

storms―extremely powerful explosions in the Sun’s atmosphere―can affect unprotected 

astronauts and airplane passengers, as well as satellites. In the past, scientists had usually 

analyzed changes in solar magnetic fields to forecast solar storms (also called solar flares), but 

this method had demonstrated limited reliability. However, a team of NASA scientists using 

NASA’s Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) had found that strong electrical currents in 

the solar atmosphere―currents associated with changes in solar magnetic fields―are the 

primary drivers of solar flares. Therefore, observing the electrical currents is a more reliable 

method of forecasting solar flares than the method previously used. The researchers had also 

discovered that solar flares are strongest and most likely to occur in regions of the Sun where 

electrical currents accumulate until they have reached an explosive threshold. According to 

Schrijver and the other researchers, these findings would enable scientists better to forecast 

periods of potentially hazardous space weather.829

17 August 

The Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group (SCTG) released its final report on NASA’s 

efforts to meet the CAIB’s recommendations for resuming piloted Shuttle flights. Former NASA 

Administrator Sean O’Keefe had established the task group to provide an independent 

assessment of NASA’s implementation of the CAIB’s 15 critical recommendations. In the final 

report, the CAIB concluded that NASA had met or exceeded 12 of the 15 recommendations and 

had made substantive progress on the remaining three. The task group explained that the final 

three recommendations were of a type that would be nearly impossible to complete. However, 

 

827 NASA, “NASA’s Multipurpose Mars Mission Successfully Launched,” news release 05-218, 12 August 2005; 

Thomas H. Maugh II, “New Mars Orbiter Embarks on Ambitious Fact-Finding Mission,” Los Angeles Times, 13 

August 2005. 

828 Mark Carreau, “Russian Cosmonaut Sets a World Record of 748 Days in Space,” Houston Chronicle, 17 August 

2005. 

829 NASA, “NASA Scientists Closer to Timely Space Weather Forecasts,” news release 05-226, 16 August 2005; 

Carolus J. Schrijver et al., “The Nonpotentiality of Active-Region Coronae and the Dynamics of the Photospheric 

Magnetic Field,” Astrophysical Journal 628, no. 1 (20 July 2005): 501–513. 
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259

major media highlighted an appendix of the document in which seven of the 28-member task 

group provided a highly critical assessment of NASA’s management. These seven task force 

members claimed that some of the same organizational behaviors of NASA managers that had 

contributed to the destruction of Space Shuttle Columbia had also jeopardized the July 2005 

Space Shuttle Discovery mission. They stated further that NASA had failed to address the 

problem of Discovery’s loss of foam insulation from its fuel tank and had failed to take steps to 

protect the Space Shuttles from the damage caused by such debris.830

18 August 

A group of scientists led by David N. Burrows of Pennsylvania State University announced that 

they had found evidence of black holes behaving in a manner previously unknown. Using 

observations from NASA’s Swift satellite, the scientists had discovered newly formed black 

holes that were simultaneously consuming matter while propelling away other material. They 

also observed that, after the black holes had emerged from large star explosions, the energy from 

the black holes’ initial formative activities had caused several subsequent explosions during the 

following minutes, with a gamma-ray burst (GRB) from the first explosion followed by x-ray 

flares from later explosions. Previously, scientists had believed that black holes and GRBs were 

only associated with single explosions of collapsing stars, rather than with a rapid succession of 

explosions. The scientists had been able to conduct their analyses because NASA’s Swift 

satellite could observe GRBs within minutes after their occurrence, whereas other satellites had 

only been able to observe GRBs hours after they had occurred.831

24 August 

NASA and NOAA announced their joint development of procedures to improve the accuracy of 

medium-range weather forecasts in the Northern Hemisphere. NASA and NOAA scientists had 

incorporated into weather prediction models the data from the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder 

(AIRS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite, improving the accuracy range of experimental six-day 

weather forecasts of the Northern Hemisphere by 6 hours. Observers called this improvement of 

4 percent a significant development in weather forecasting. NASA had launched Aqua on 4 May 

2002, enabling the AIRS to produce three-dimensional maps of air and surface temperature, 

cloud properties, and water vapor. Moreover, the instrument had a spectral resolution more than 

100 times greater than that of other infrared sounders.832

SEPTEMBER 2005 

6 September 

Scientists published the first research findings from NASA’s Deep Impact mission, which had 

revealed important and unexpected findings about comets. On 4 July 2005, a probe from the 

Deep Impact spacecraft had performed a planned crash into the comet Tempel 1, while various 

observatories and the spacecraft’s observational vehicle analyzed the impact. One of the most 

 

830 Return to Flight Task Group, Final Report of the Return to Flight Task Group (Washington, DC, July 2005); 

John Schwartz, “Minority Report Faults NASA as Compromising Safety,” New York Times, 18 August 2005. 831D. N. Burrows et al., “Bright X-ray Flares in Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows,” Science 309, no. 5742 (16 

September 2005): 1833–1835; NASA, “NASA’s Swift Satellite Finds Newborn Black Holes,” news release 05-229, 

18 August 2005. 

832 NASA, “NASA/NOAA Announce Major Weather Forecasting Advancement,” news release 05-231, 24 August 

2005; NASA JPL, “AIRS: Overview,” http://airs.jpl.nasa.gov/overview/ overview/ (accessed 2 July 2009). 
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important findings was the presence of organic material in the comet, a discovery that supported 

theories that comets may have seeded Earth with the chemical precursors to life. However, 

scientists were surprised to find that the frozen comet contained minerals that require liquid 

water, not frozen water, to form. Scientists also puzzled over the presence of minerals that form 

in warmer temperatures than those present in the outer margins of the solar system, where they 

believed that comets had originated. Just as surprising to researchers was the discovery that the 

comet was not composed of solid ice, but that, instead, it had a fragile shell of ice covering a 

highly porous interior composed largely of dust.833

9 September 

NASA Deputy Administrator and former astronaut Frederick D. Gregory announced his 

resignation from NASA. Gregory, who had become Deputy Administrator in 2002, stated that he 

was leaving the post so that a younger and more motivated individual could have the experience 

of serving. During his 31-year career with NASA, Gregory had served as Associate 

Administrator for Space Flight and Associate Administrator for NASA’s Office of Safety and 

Mission Assurance. Gregory also had logged 455 hours in space as an astronaut, and in 1989 he 

had become the first African American to command a Space Shuttle mission. In his resignation 

letter to President George W. Bush, Gregory stated that he would remain Deputy Administrator 

until NASA had a confirmed successor.834

The GAO issued a report detailing numerous problems with NASA’s financial management 

operationsproblems that could threaten NASA’s major programs. The report addressed 

NASA’s implementation of its Integrated Financial Management Program (IFMP)NASA had 

begun implementing the IFMP in 2000 as a single accounting system to replace 11 separate 

accounting systems. At the request of the U.S. Congress, in 2003 GAO had examined NASA’s 

progress on IFMP implementation and had recommended that NASA make 45 changes to the 

program. In its assessment of NASA’s efforts to implement those recommended changes, GAO 

stated that NASA had made slow progress and still needed to implement most of the 

recommendations. The report also stated that NASA’s financial management problems were in 

danger of threatening its capacity to manage its programs and to allocate its budget to projects 

and programs. NASA responded that it had made significant improvements under the IFMP and 

had made progress on more of GAO’s recommendations than GAO had indicated in its report.835

12 September 

Astronomers announced the detection of the most distant explosion ever observed, at 

approximately 12.6 billion light-years from Eartha gamma-ray burst (GRB) occurring after a 

massive star’s collapse and transformation to a black hole. The explosion, which astronomers 

had named GRB 050904, had occurred nearly 1.1 billion years after the Big Bang, which itself 

had happened 13.7 billion years ago. The astronomers used ground-based telescopes and 

 

833 Kenneth Chang, “Composition of a Comet Poses a Puzzle for Scientists,” New York Times, 7 September 2005; 

John Johnson Jr., “Snowy Dirtball Is Melting Old Theories,” Los Angeles Times, 7 September 2005. 834 NASA, “NASA Deputy Administrator Frederick Gregory Resigns,” news release 05-258, 9 September 2005; 

Mark Carreau, “NASA Deputy Administrator Resigns,” Houston Chronicle, 10 September 2005. 835 U.S. Government Accountability Office, “Business Modernization: Some Progress Made Toward Implementing 

GAO Recommendations Related to NASA’s Integrated Financial Management Program” (report no. GAO-05-799R, 

Washington, DC, 9 September 2005); Tamara Lytle, “NASA Still Can’t Balance Its Books, Auditors Say,” Orlando 

Sentinel (FL), 28 October 2005. 
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NASA’s Swift satellite to detect GRB 050904’s emitted infrared light. Because the event had 

occurred so far away, the infrared light had just begun to reach Earth. However, the explosion 

was not the most distant object or event that astronomers had ever observed. Scientists had 

detected a quasar and a galaxy located 12.7 billion light-years from Earth.836

18 September 

Scientists announced that NASA’s Cassini spacecraft had detected water vapor on Enceladus, 

one of Saturn’s moons. Scientists described this as one of the most important findings in 

planetary science, because the discovery suggested that liquid water might exist on Enceladus. 

Liquid water is a prerequisite for the formation of life. Scientists had already known that 

Enceladus has a crystalline ice covering, the most reflective type of surface in the solar system, 

making Enceladus the brightest object in the solar system with the exception of the Sun. In 

addition, scientists had already known that diminutive Enceladus, which is only 310 miles (500 

kilometers) in diameter, is the smallest object in the solar system to have volcanic activity. 

However, scientists were surprised to discover water vapor over Enceladus’s south pole, and 

they were unable to explain the finding. NASA and ESA had launched Cassini in 1997 to survey 

Saturn and its moons.837

19 September 

NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin released to the public NASA’s detailed master plan for 

meeting goals established under the Vision for Space Exploration, including transporting humans 

to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere in the solar system. The US$104 billion plan, called the 

Exploration System Architecture Study, addressed the technologies and strategies that NASA 

planned to use to transport crews to the ISS, the Moon, and Mars. NASA proposed to replace the 

Space Shuttles with a Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) similar in design to the Apollo and Soyuz 

spacecraft, but incorporating new fuels and technologies.838

William W. Parsons replaced Thomas Q. Donaldson as Director of NASA’s SSC. Parsons had 

served as Director of SSC from August 2002 to May 2003 before leaving SSC to serve as Space 

Shuttle Program Manager from May 2003 to September 2005. Donaldson had left SSC to serve 

on a Federal Emergency Management Agency special assignment concerning recovery efforts 

for areas affected by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.839

25 September 

The U.S. Air Force launched the most technologically advanced GPS satellite ever developed, 

the GPS IIR-14, on a Delta-2 rocket at 11:37 p.m. (EDT) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station 

in Florida. The GPS IIR-14 was the first of eight satellites planned for the new GPS, which the 

Air Force had created to provide improved encryption and GPS antijamming capabilities for the 

 

836 Guy Gugliotta, “Satellite Detects Massive Explosion,” Washington Post, 13 September 2005; NASA, “Most 

Distant Explosion Detected, Smashes Previous Record,” news release 05-259, 12 September 2005. 

837 Guy Gugliotta, “Water Vapor Discovered on Tiny Moon of Saturn,” Washington Post, 19 September 2005. 838 NASA, “NASA Releases Plans for Next Generation Spacecraft,” news release 05-226, 19 September 2005; 

NASA, “NASA’s Exploration Systems Architecture Study,” November 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/news/ESAS_report.html (accessed 10 July 2009). 

839 NASA History Division, “NASA Center Directors,” http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/ director.html

(accessed 9 July 2009); NASA, “NASA Names New Stennis Center Director,” news release 05-260, 13 September 

2005. 
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262

U.S. military, as well as an improved GPS signal for civilian users. At the time of the launch, the 

GPS constellation consisted of 28 satellites, which the Air Force was operating for both civilian 

and military users.840

28 September 

The FAA issued the first airworthiness certificate for a civil UAVthe General Atomics Altair. 

The UAV had a wingspan of 86 feet (26.2 meters), could fly to an altitude of 52,000 feet (9.8 

miles or 15.8 kilometers), and could remain airborne for more than 30 hours. General Atomics 

and NASA had jointly built the Altair to perform scientific and commercial research.841

30 September 

The Russian Space Agency launched the crew of ISS Expedition 12 in a Soyuz spacecraft at 

11:55 p.m. (EDT) from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The members of Expedition 12 

were American astronaut Commander William S. McArthur Jr. and Russian cosmonaut Valery I. 

Tokarev. The two men would replace the crew of Expedition 11, comprising Russian cosmonaut 

Commander Sergei K. Krikalev and American astronaut John L. Phillips. The ISS partners 

planned for the new crew to remain at the station for nearly six months. The launch also included 

American executive Gregory Olsen, who would conduct scientific experiments under a 

commercial contract with the Russian Space Agency. Olsen planned to return to Earth with the 

Expedition 11 crew on 10 October 2005.842

OCTOBER 2005 

3 October 

Lesa B. Roe replaced the retiring Roy D. Bridges Jr. as Director of NASA’s LaRC. Roe, who 

had begun working with NASA in 1987, had served as LaRC’s Deputy Director since June 2004. 

Before that, she had been LaRC’s Associate Director for Business Management since August 

2003. Bridges had served as Director of LaRC from June 2003 until his retirement from 

NASA.843

Astronomers announced that they had discovered the source of short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), 

which had been an enigma for decades. Gamma rays are the most energetic and deadly form of 

electromagnetic radiation. Although scientists had already discovered that supernovas cause long 

GRBs, which last for approximately 2 seconds, they had remained uncertain of the causes of 

short GRBs, which last less than 1 second. Using data from numerous NASA satellites, 130 

astronomers from around the world found that short GRBs originate from neutron stars and 

not―as some theories had suggested―from supernovas. More specifically, satellite data showed 

that short GRBs originate from collisions involving a neutron star and either another neutron star 

 

840 Lockheed Martin, “First Modernized GPS Satellite Built by Lockheed Martin Launched Successfully by the U.S. 

Air Force,” news release, 26 September 2005, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2005/ 

FIRSTMODERNIZEDGPSSATELLITEBUILTBYL.html (accessed 28 January 2010). 841 FAA, “FAA Certifies First Civil Unmanned Aerial Vehicle,” news release AOC 34-05, 28 September 2005, 

http://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsid=5780&print=go (accessed 28 January 2010). 842 NASA, “Expedition 12 on the Way to International Space Station,” news release 05-292, 30 September 2005. 843 NASA, “Langley Center Director Lesa B. Roe,” 3 October 2005, http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/

about/roe_bio.html (accessed 13 July 2009); NASA, “Gen. Roy D. Bridges Named Langley Center Director,” news 

release 03-042, 13 June 2003. 
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263

or a black hole. However, the data was not conclusive regarding the exact type of collision that 

causes short GRBs, because the brevity of these events makes them difficult to observe 

directly.844

8 October 

ESA’s CryoSat spacecraft was destroyed during a failed launch from Russia’s Plesetsk 

Cosmodrome. ESA had intended CryoSat as one of a series of Earth-observation spacecraft 

called Earth Explorers. ESA had built CryoSat to monitor the thickness of land and sea ice, to 

determine whether climate change is reducing Earth’s ice masses. Initial assessments of the 

launch failure indicated that the rocket launching the satellite had experienced a problem with its 

on-board flight-control system, a problem that had prevented the rocket’s upper stage from 

separating from its second stage.845

10 October 

JAXA successfully tested an experimental aircraft capable of flying at Mach 2, which is twice 

the speed of sound. JAXA launched the aircraft, formally known as the Scaled Experimental 

Supersonic Transport (SST), on a rocket from Australia’s Woomera Test Range at 7:06 a.m. 

(local time). After its release from the rocket, the SST flew for nearly 15 minutes at speeds of 

Mach 1.9 to 2 (1,446 to 1,522 miles per hour or 2,327 to 2,449 kilometers per hour) and at 

altitudes ranging from 12 to 19 kilometers (7.5 to 11.8 miles). Mitsubishi Heavy Industries had 

developed the SST as part of a US$10 million program to create an aircraft capable of 

transporting 300 passengers between Los Angeles and Tokyo in approximately 4 hours.846

The crew of Expedition 11 returned to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, landing at 9:09 

p.m. (EDT) in Kazakhstan. The members of Expedition 11 were Russian cosmonaut Commander 

Sergei K. Krikalev and American astronaut John L. Phillips. The two men had spent 179 days in 

space, during which time they had performed a variety of scientific experiments and maintenance 

tasks at the ISS. Accompanying Krikalev and Phillips on their return was American contractor 

Gregory Olsen, who had spent eight days on the ISS performing research under a commercial 

agreement with the Russian Space Agency.847

12 October 

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) launched its second piloted spacecraft, the 

Shenzhou 6, on a Long March 2F rocket from Jiuquan, China, at 1:00 a.m. (GMT). The Shenzhou 

6 carried taikonauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng. The CNSA planned for them to remain in 

low Earth orbit for five days. The CNSA provided few details about the mission and declined to 

publicize information, such as the taikonauts’ names and the spacecraft’s scheduled return date, 

 

844 Luigi Pir, “Short-Burst Sources,” Nature (London) 437, no. 7060 (6 October 2005): 822–823; Dennis Overbye, 

“Scientists Trace Gamma Rays to Collision of Dead Stars,” New York Times, 6 October 2005. 845 ESA, “CryoSat Mission Lost Due to Launch Failure,” ESA news release 44-2005, 8 October 2005. 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMR3Q5Y3EE_index_0.html (accessed 14 July 2009); New York Times, “Arctic Study 

Satellite Crashes into Ocean,” 9 October 2005. 

846 Meraiah Foley, “Flying High: Speedy Japanese Jet Passes Test,” Houston Chronicle, 11 October 2005; JAXA, 

“Flight Trial Result of Scaled Experimental Supersonic Transport,” news release, 10 October 2005, 

http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2005/10/20051010_sst_e.html (accessed 15 July 2009). 847 NASA, “Expedition 11 Safely Returns from International Space Station,” news release 05-340, 10 October 2005. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

264

until hours before the launch. According to a CNSA spokesperson, Junlong and Haisheng would 

conduct scientific experiments while in orbit.848

13 October

Scientists published research based on data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, which 

provided the first observational evidence that black holes not only destroy stars, but also create 

them. Sergei Nayakshin of the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and Rashid A. 

Sunyaev of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany, compared x-ray 

emissions from stars in the Orion nebula with x-ray emissions from stars orbiting within one 

light-year of the central Milky Way’s black hole Sagittarius A*. According to current scientific 

theories, a black hole’s immense gravity is able to pull millions of stars close to the black hole 

and to destroy stars. However, Nayakshin and Sunyaev had discovered that Sagittarius A* is not 

consuming its surrounding stars. Furthermore, the number of stars near the black hole is around 

10,000, far less than scientists would expect if the black hole’s gravity had drawn the stars 

toward it. Therefore, the scientists had concluded that the Chandra data supports an alternative 

theory of why stars are near black holes. This theory holds that dust around a black hole creates 

dense gas clouds. The gravity of the clouds counteracts the gravity of the black hole, thereby 

creating an environment in which stars form.849

14 October 

NASA announced findings from its investigation into the causes of the foam loss on Discovery’s 

external tank during the Space Shuttle’s launch in July 2005, a problem similar to the one that 

had caused the destruction of Space Shuttle Columbia in February 2003. A team of NASA 

investigators stated that they had uncovered several possible factors that may have caused a 3-

foot (0.9-meter) portion of insulating foam to separate from Discovery during launch. They 

reported that the most likely cause was inadequate methods of applying and repairing the foam 

on Discovery’s external tank. The investigators stated that workers might have sprayed the foam 

in a manner that introduced fissures into it and might have crushed the foam while standing on it 

in the course of conducting the repairs on Discovery. Although the foam debris had not damaged 

Discovery, the incident had prompted NASA to suspend Shuttle launches until May 2006, so that 

engineers could identify the problem and correct it.850

17 October 

The crew members of China’s Shenzhou 6 returned to Earth safely, landing at 8:33 p.m. (GMT) 

at Siziwang Banner in China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. During the five-day 

mission, which was China’s second piloted space mission, the Shenzhou 6 had flown 3.25 

million kilometers (2 million miles) in low Earth orbit. Although the CNSA provided few details 

about the mission, Chinese news outlets reported that crew members Fei Junlong and Nie 

Haisheng had practiced several procedures that astronauts must perform when living in the 

 

848 Howard W. French, “On Live Television, 2 Chinese Astronauts Begin 5 Days in Low Orbit of Earth,” New York 

Times, 12 October 2005; China National Space Administration, “Shenzhou-6 To Take Off Wednesday Morning,” 

news release, 11 October 2005. 

849 NASA, “NASA’s Chandra Reveals New Star Generation,” news release 05-344, 10 October 2005; Sergei 

Nayakshin and Rashid Sunyaev, “The ‘Missing’ Young Stellar Objects in the Central Parsec of the Galaxy: 

Evidence of Star Formation in a Massive Accretion Disc and a Top-Heavy Initial Mass Formation,” Monthly Notices 

of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters 364, no. 1 (13 October 2005): L23–L27. 850 Guy Gugliotta, “Discovery Launch Is Still On for May,” Washington Post, 15 October 2005. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

265

environment of space, such as changing their spacesuits, testing their blood pressure, and moving 

about the spacecraft.851

19 October 

NASA researchers announced the possible discovery of oxygen sources on the Moon, which 

astronauts might be able to use in future human explorations. Using NASA’s HST, the 

researchers had examined the first high-resolution ultraviolet images of the Moon ever captured. 

The images had revealed high concentrations of a mineral called ilmenite in an area called the 

Aristarchus Plateau. Human visitors to the Moon could conceivably use ilmenite―composed of 

iron, oxygen, and titanium―as a source of oxygen, by extracting the oxygen from the mineral 

through chemical or heating processes. However, the NASA scientists stated that they would 

continue evaluating the findings, as well as their potential usefulness for future lunar missions.852

31 October 

Scientists using the HST announced that they had discovered two additional moons orbiting 

Pluto, increasing the number of Pluto’s known moons to three. Planetary scientists with the 

Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory had found two moons, of approximately 30 to 100 

miles (48 to 161 kilometers) in diameter, orbiting Pluto at distances of 30,000 miles (48,000 

kilometers) and 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers), respectively. Because of Pluto’s diminutive 

size, elliptical orbit, and compositional material, scientists continued to debate whether or not 

Pluto is a planet. Some experts believed that the discovery of the two additional moons, 

provisionally named P1 and P2, supported the classification of Pluto as a planet.853

NOVEMBER 2005 

2 November 

The FAA announced that it would install a new runway safety system at the nation’s airports to 

reduce the likelihood of runway collisions between aircraft. The system―Airport Surface 

Detection Equipment, Model X (ASDE-X)―combined data from radar and airplane 

transponders to provide air traffic controllers with a continuously updated map of airport-surface 

operations, even during conditions of poor visibility, such as night and bad weather. Previously, 

most airports had relied on radar-based systems, which were susceptible to providing poor or 

false information during darkness and inclement weather and were unable to detect near 

collisions on intersecting runways. The FAA stated that it would begin installing the ASDE-X at 

14 of the nation’s busiest airports in January 2006.854

 

851 China National Space Administration, “Shenzhou-6 Spacecraft Lands Safely,” news release, 17 October 2005, 

http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/n615709/n620682/n639462/54429.html (accessed 16 July 2009); Xinhua News Agency, 

“China’s Shenzhou-6 Spacecraft Lands Safely After Successful Mission,” 17 October 2005. 

852 Warren E. Leary, “Hubble Telescope Turns to Moon and Sees Possible Oxygen Source,” New York Times, 20 

October 2005; Mark Carreau, “Lunar Observations Yield Signs of Oxygen-Bearing Minerals,” Houston Chronicle, 

20 October 2005. 

853 Dennis O’Brien, “Hubble Spots Two Moons Orbiting Smallest Planet,” Baltimore Sun (MD), 1 November 2005. 854 Mac Daniel, “FAA Is Set to Improve Ground Radar at Logan,” Boston Globe, 3 November 2005; FAA, “Major 

Airports to Receive New Runway Safety System,” news release AOC 38-05, 2 November 2005, http://www.faa. 

gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsid=5784 (accessed 28 January 2010). 
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266

7 November 

Both crew members of the ISS, NASA astronaut William S. McArthur Jr. and Russian 

cosmonaut Valery I. Tokarev, performed a spacewalk to prepare the ISS for the first assembly 

work since the 2003 accident of Space Shuttle Columbia, which had led to the suspension of 

construction on the station. The two removed broken and disused equipment and installed a new 

television camera, designed to aid in the assembly of additional truss segments for the ISS. 

McArthur and Tokarev were performing these tasks to prepare the ISS for the future installation 

of a new solar power module, planned for 2006.855

9 November 

ESA successfully launched the Venus Express on a Soyuz-Fregat rocket from Baikonur 

Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:33 a.m. (CET). ESA had created the spacecraft to analyze 

Venus’s atmosphere, chemistry, and structure, while the craft was orbiting the planet. ESA 

planned to use the analysis of Venus’s surface and its hot, stormy atmosphere to study climate 

change on Earth, as well as to help determine why Venus had evolved so differently from Earth, 

despite numerous structural similarities between the two planets. The spacecraft was ESA’s 

second probe designed to orbit a specific planet, the first being Mars Express, which ESA had 

launched in 2003.856

18 November 

ISS Expedition 12 crew members William S. McArthur Jr. and Valery I. Tokarev left the ISS 

temporarily unoccupied so that they could relocate the orbiting station’s Soyuz spacecraft from 

the Pirs module’s docking compartment to the Zarya module’s docking port. The Soyuz

spacecraft had remained docked at the ISS to serve as a return vehicle to Earth and an emergency 

escape vehicle. McArthur and Tokarev were relocating the Soyuz so that Pirs could serve as an 

airlock for future spacewalks.857

22 November 

President George W. Bush signed into law Pub. L. No. 109-108, legislation that provided 

US$16.5 billion in appropriations to NASA for FY 2006. In the bill’s conference report, 

Congress noted some specific programs that it wanted NASA to pursue. For example, Congress 

specified that NASA use the funds to develop the Crew Exploration Vehicle and Crew Launch 

Vehicle, as described in the Exploration Systems Architecture Study, NASA’s master plan for 

meeting the goals of the Vision for Space Exploration. Moreover, Congress also directed NASA 

to make more effective use of NASA Television―NASA’s own television station, which it had 

primarily used for internal communications―to promote public knowledge about and interest in 

space exploration.858

 

855 NASA, “International Space Station Status Report: SS05-051,” status report SS05-052, 8 November 2005, 

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/nov/HQ_SS05052_station_status-html (accessed 19 July 2009); Mark 

Carreau, “Camera Installed, Despite a Few Snags,” Houston Chronicle, 8 November 2005. 856 ESA, “Venus Express En Route To Probe the Planet’s Hidden Mysteries,” ESA news release 50-2005, 9 

November 2005, http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM56Q638FE_index_0.html (accessed 19 July 2009); Melissa Eddy for 

Associated Press, “European Space Agency Launches Venus Probe,” 9 November 2005. 857 NASA, “International Space Station Status Report: SS05-054,” status report SS05-054, 18 November 2005. 858 H.R. Rep. 109-272, at 169 (2005) (Conf. Rep.); NASA, “NASA Administrator’s Statement of Passage of FY 

2006 Budget,” news release 05-407, 16 November 2005. 
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267

President George W. Bush signed into law Pub. L. No. 109-112, the Iran Nonproliferation Act, 

which effectively allowed U.S. astronauts to continue flying on Russian spacecraft, thereby 

maintaining the United States’ access to the ISS. The terms of the original act, passed in 2000, 

did not permit U.S. government agencies to make “extraordinary payments” to Russia, including 

purchasing space on Soyuz spacecraft, unless the President of the United States had certified that 

Russia was not exporting missile and nuclear technologies to Iran. However, at the time that 

Congress had passed the original act, Russia had an agreement with the United States to provide 

11 free voyages on Soyuz spacecraft to U.S. astronauts, so that NASA did not have to purchase 

space on Soyuz. In September 2005, American astronaut William S. McArthur Jr. had become 

the 11th U.S. passenger on a Soyuz, and, subsequently, Russia had required payment for any 

carriage of U.S. astronauts. Therefore, NASA had asked Congress to amend the act so that it 

could buy space on Russian spacecraft.859

23 November 

Former NASA astronaut Michael L. Coats became Director of NASA’s JSC, replacing Jefferson 

D. Howell Jr., who had left to become a visiting professor at the University of Texas in Austin. 

Coats had begun working at NASA in 1978 and had flown three Space Shuttle missions before 

retiring from NASA in 1991. Before becoming JSC Director, Coats had worked for Lockheed 

Martin in Denver, Colorado.860

26 November 

JAXA’s Hayabusa spacecraft successfully landed on the asteroid Itokawa, marking the first 

landing of a Japanese spacecraft on an extraterrestrial body. JAXA had created the spacecraft to 

collect samples from the asteroid―named after Japanese space scientist Hideo Itokawa. 

Scientists had theorized that asteroids are composed of material that has remained unchanged 

since the solar system’s formation, and they hoped that analyzing the composition of that 

material could provide information about the origins of celestial bodies. JAXA planned for a 

capsule with samples from Itokawa to launch from the asteroid within a few days and to land in 

the Australian outback in June 2007.861

29 November 

Shana L. Dale became Deputy Administrator of NASA, replacing Frederick D. Gregory, who 

had announced his resignation from NASA in September 2005. Before joining NASA, Dale had 

worked at the Office of Science and Technology Policy, serving as Chief of Staff, General 

Counsel, and, finally, as Deputy Director for Homeland and National Security. In addition, Dale 

had served as Staff Director for the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics from 1995 

to 2000.862

 

859 Guy Gugliotta, “U.S. Access to Space Station Is Preserved,” Washington Post, 11 November 2005. 860 NASA JSC, “NASA Names Former Astronaut New Johnson Center Director,” news release J05-055, 7 

November 2005; NASA History Division, “NASA Center Directors,” 14 April 2009, 

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/director.html (accessed 21 July 2009). 861 George Nishiyama for Reuters, “Update 1–Japan Probe Lands and Collects Samples on Asteroid,” 26 November 

2005. 

862 NASA, “Dale Sworn In as NASA Deputy Administrator,” media advisory M05-186, 29 November 2005; NASA, 

“Griffin Applauds Confirmation of Dale as NASA Deputy Administrator,” news release 05-386, 4 November 2005. 
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268

The NASA Advisory Council (NAC), responsible for providing counsel and policy advice to the 

NASA Administrator on important programs and issues, held its first meeting after its 

organizational restructuring. NASA had restructured the NAC to provide it with better support as 

NASA implemented the Vision for Space Exploration. Under the reorganization, the NAC had 

incorporated standing committees that it had previously chartered. The six committees 

composing the restructured Council were Aeronautics, Audit and Finance, Exploration, Human 

Capital, Science, and Space Operations. Each committee was responsible for examining 

particular subject areas and providing findings to the full Council, which would consider the 

findings and supply specific recommendations to the Administrator. Former U.S. Senator and 

Apollo program astronaut Harrison H. Schmitt chaired the 24-member NAC, which also 

included former Apollo program astronaut Neil A. Armstrong, the first person to walk on the 

Moon.863

30 November 

ESA announced that its Mars Express spacecraft had discovered ancient geological structures 

and ice reservoirs―but not liquid water―below Mars’s surface. Mars Express, equipped with 

radar capable of conducting subsurface analyses of the planet, had detected a crater 

approximately 250 kilometers wide (155 miles wide) below the planet’s surface, as well as 1.8 

kilometers (1.1 miles) of subsurface water ice near its north pole. However, the spacecraft had 

not detected the liquid water necessary to support life. Even deep below the surface of Mars, the 

planet’s polar temperatures decline to -129oC (-200oF), preventing its ice from melting. Scientists 

regarded the discovery of subsurface ice as evidence that Mars’s environment was unable to 

harbor life.864

DECEMBER 2005 

6 December 

NASA announced a major discovery: images from the Cassini spacecraft had revealed geological 

activity on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. ESA, the Italian Space Agency, and NASA had jointly 

created Cassini to study Saturn and its moons. Although scientists had previously believed that 

Enceladus is too small to be geologically active, data from Cassini had revealed that the moon is 

one of the solar system’s most geologically dynamic objects. The images showed surface 

features such as deep canyons and flowing material, a south polar hot spot, and jets of icy 

particles supplying matter to one of Saturn’s rings.865

7 December

The FAA announced that it would deploy a new communications system―called the En Route 

Communications Gateway (ECG)―in all 20 en route, air traffic–control centers (formally called 

 

863 NASA, “New NASA Advisory Council Holds Inaugural Meeting,” news release 05-416, 29 November 2005; 

NASA, “NASA Advisory Council (NAC),” 19 July 2009, http://www.nasa.gov/offices/nac/home/ index.html

(accessed 22 July 2009). 

864 John Johnson, “European Mars Express Show[s] That the Red Planet Was Not as Warm or Wet as Previously 

Thought,” Los Angeles Times, 1 December 2005; “Radar Provides Deeper View of Ice on Mars,” Nature 438, no. 

7068 (1 December 2005): 545. 

865 NASA, “NASA’s Cassini Images Reveal Spectacular Evidence of an Active Moon,” news release 05-422, 6 

December 2005; Jeffrey S. Kargel, “Enceladus: Cosmic Gymnast, Volatile Miniworld,” Science 311, no. 5766 (10 

March 2006): 1389–1391. 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

269

Air Route Traffic Control Centers) in the continental United States. En route centers manage 

high-altitude air traffic between airports and serve as the National Airspace System’s hubs. The 

FAA had designed ECG to communicate data from existing radar sites and other legacy sources 

to the en route centers, as well as to enable future air traffic–communications systems to receive 

radar and other data through the Internet. Lockheed Martin had designed the ECG as a 

replacement for the Peripheral Adaptor Module Replacement Item, which was susceptible to 

system-wide outages.866

9 December 

ESA and JAXA performed the first bidirectional, optical, interorbital communication, a form of 

communication in which satellites use lasers to transmit and receive commands and data over 

long distances. Laser-based communications have numerous advantages over communications 

using radio waves, including freedom from interference and higher data-transmission speeds and 

volumes. ESA and JAXA performed the communication between ESA’s Advanced Relay and 

Technology Mission satellite and JAXA’s Optical Inter-Orbit Communications Engineering Test 

Satellite. Previously, ESA and JAXA had conducted unidirectional, optical communications 

between their satellites, but this event was the first bidirectional form of this type of 

communication.867

14 December 

JAXA officials announced that the agency would delay the Hayabusa spacecraft’s return to Earth 

by two years. JAXA had created Hayabusa to collect samples from the asteroid Itokawa, and 

Hayabusa had successfully landed on the asteroid in November 2005. However, problems with 

the spacecraft’s thrusters had prevented a probe containing samples from launching during a 

period when the asteroid’s alignment with Earth and the Sun provided an opportunity for the 

probe to return to Earth successfully. In addition, JAXA officials reported that they were 

uncertain whether Hayabusa’s probe had actually collected samples from the asteroid.868

15 December 

NASA announced that it would remove the potentially problematic foam insulation ramps from 

the Space Shuttles’ external fuel tanks before the next Shuttle launch, which NASA had 

scheduled for 2006. NASA had examined the foam ramps after a portion of foam had separated 

from Discovery during its July 2005 launch, nearly striking the Shuttle. The event was similar to 

the one that had contributed to the destruction of Columbia in 2003. Engineers had designed the 

foam ramps―formally called Protuberance Air Loads (PALs)―to protect Shuttle tanks’ fuelpressurization lines and electrical cables from potentially damaging winds during launch. NASA 

 

866 FAA, “FAA Deploys New Communications Gateway at Air Traffic Control Centers,” news release AOC 41-05, 

7 December 2005; Lockheed Martin, “FAA, Lockheed Martin Complete National Rollout of New Radar Data 

Communications Gateway,” news release, 8 December 2005, http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/ 

2005/FAALOCKHEEDMARTINCOMPLETENATIONALRO.html (accessed 28 January 2010). 867 ESA, “Successful Optical Data Relay Link Between OICETS and Artemis,” 

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMIJVVLWFE_index_0.html (accessed 27 July 2009); JAXA, “Toward the Era of 

Optical Communications in Space,” news release, 9 December 2005, http://www.jaxa.jp/press/2005/12/ 

20051209_oicets_e.html (accessed 27 July 2009). 868 Guy Gugliotta, “Japan to Wait Two Years Before Starting Space Probe’s Return,” Washington Post, 15 

December 2005; JAXA, “Status of the Hayabusa,” news release, 14 December 2005, http://www.jaxa.jp/press/ 

2005/12/20051214_hayabusa_e.html (accessed 28 July 2009). 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

270

technicians remained unsure of why the foam ramp had separated from Discovery, but 

inspections conducted in November 2005 had revealed small cracks in a PAL. The PAL with the 

cracks was on a tank that NASA had tested before Discovery’s launch but had not used for that 

mission.869

22 December 

Scientists using NASA’s HST announced the discovery of two new rings and two new moons 

around the planet Uranus. The newly discovered rings―faint bands of dust that undergo 

continual change, with dust spiraling out of the rings―are replenished by debris from collisions 

between asteroids and the newly discovered Uranian moon called Mab. The discovery of the 

rings increased the number of known Uranian rings to 13. The discovery of the two moons, 

which the scientists named Cupid and Mab after mythological and Shakespearean characters, 

increased the number of known Uranian moons to 27, the most of any planet in the solar system. 

Scientists also remarked that the orbits of known Uranian moons had changed since Voyager 2 

had last observed them in 1986. Scientists described the dynamic nature of Uranus’s moons and 

rings as indicative of dynamism throughout the solar system. Scientists hoped that observing 

Uranus would help them better understand this dynamism.870

25 December 

Woodrow Whitlow Jr. became Director of NASA’s GRC, replacing the retiring Julian M. Earls. 

Whitlow had served as Deputy Director of NASA’s KSC since September 2003. Before that, he 

had served as Director of Research and Technology at GRC. Whitlow, who held bachelor’s, 

master’s, and doctoral degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute 

of Technology, had begun working for NASA in 1979 as a research scientist at LaRC.871

28 December 

ESA launched the satellite Giove A on a Soyuz-Fregat rocket at 5:19 a.m. (UT) from Baikonur 

Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The satellite was the first component of a satellite navigation 

system called Galileo. According to ESA’s plan, the Galileo system would consist of 30 satellites 

and would commence operations by 2008. ESA had created Galileo to reduce European 

dependence on the United States for satellite navigation services and to provide more accurate 

civilian services than the GPS, a system that the U.S. military had created. According to ESA, 

users who had mobile phones with integrated chips would be able to use Galileo to find 

directions to particular destinations, such as parks and restaurants. Galileo would be capable of 

providing civilian users with real-time positioning accuracy to within 1 meter (3.28 feet). 

Civilian services from the GPS were accurate to nearly 5 meters (16 feet).872

 

869 Warren E. Leary, “NASA Plans To Remove Some Foam from Shuttle,” New York Times, 16 December 2005; 

Michael Cabbage, “Shuttle To Lose Fuel-Tank Foam,” Orlando Sentinel (FL), 16 December 2005. 870 Mark R. Showalter and Jack J. Lissauer, “The Second Ring-Moon System of Uranus: Discovery and Dynamics,” 

Science 311, no. 5763 (17 February 2006): 973–977; Frank D. Roylance, “Hubble Images Show More Rings, Moons 

Around Uranus,” Baltimore Sun (MD), 23 December 2005. 871 NASA Glenn Research Center, “Center Director: Dr. Woodrow Whitlow Jr.,” 10 July 2008, 

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/bios/whitlowbio.html (accessed 31 July 2009). 872 Molly Moore, “With Satellite Launch, E.U. Positions Itself to Compete,” Washington Post, 29 December 2005; 

ESA, “First Galileo Satellite on Orbit to Demonstrate Key Technologies,” ESA news release 61-2005, 28 December 

2005, http://www.esa.int/esaCP/Pr_61_2005_p_EN.html (accessed 31 July 2009). 
Aeronautics and Astronautics: A Chronology, 2001-2005 

271

29 December 

The FAA published the first proposed regulations on commercial human spaceflight, a growing 

industry often referred to as space tourism. The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 

2004 (Pub. L. No. 108-492) required the U.S. Department of Transportation, which oversees the 

FAA, to implement regulations on commercial human spaceflights. Congress had passed the bill 

for to establish a balanced and clear regulatory regime that promoted the development of the 

growing commercial human spaceflight industry. Most of the FAA’s proposed regulations 

addressed passengers’ informed consent and crew members’ qualifications, as well as the 

training of both passengers and crew. The proposed regulations would remain subject to public 

comment for 60 days (until 27 February 2006). The FAA was required to issue the final 

regulations by 23 June 2006.873

30 December 

President George W. Bush signed into law Pub. L. No. 109-155, the National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration Authorization Act of 2005, which authorized NASA’s appropriations for 

fiscal years 2006 through 2010 and directed NASA to pursue particular programs during that 

period. More specifically, the new law directed NASA’s Administrator to ensure that NASA 

would pursue a balanced set of programs related to aeronautics research and development, 

human spaceflight, and scientific research―including robotic missions to the Moon. Among the 

specific programs the law directed NASA to pursue was the launch of the Crew Exploration 

Vehicle (CEV) at a date as close to 2010 as possible, and the landing of Americans on the Moon 

by 2020. Both objectives were components of the Vision for Space Exploration. Moreover, the 

law specifically authorized appropriations for only two years―US$17.9 billion for FY 2007 and 

US$18.7 billion for FY 2008.874

 

873 Darlene Superville for the Associated Press, “Gov’t Issues Proposed Space Tourism Rules,” 29 December 2005; 

Human Space Flight Requirements for Crew and Space Flight Participants, 70 Fed. Reg. 77, 262 (29 December 

2005) (to be codified at 14 C.F.R. pt. 401, 415 et al.). 

874 H.R. Rep. 109-354, at 22 (2005) (Conf. Rep.). 
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APPENDIX A: TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS 

AATT Advanced Air Transportation Technologies 

ACES Altus Cumulus Electrification Study 

ACS Advanced Camera for Surveys 

ADEOS Advanced Earth Observing Satellite 

ADS-B Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast 

AIRS Atmospheric Infrared Sounder 

AlSAT Algerian satellite 

AML acute myelogenous leukemia 

AMP Avionics Modernization Program 

AOD Aircraft Operations Division 

ARC Ames Research Center 

ASAP Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel 

ASDE Airport Surface Detection Equipment 

ASI Agenzia Spaziale Italiana―Italian Space Agency 

ATV Automated Transfer Vehicle 

AU astronomical units 

AURA Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy 

AWACS Airborne Warning and Control System 

 

BAT Burst Alert Telescope 

BEC Bose-Einstein condensate 

BeppoSAX “Beppo,” nickname of physicist Giuseppe Occhialini―Satellite per 

Astronomia X―Italian for “X-Ray Astronomy Satellite” 

BOOMERANG Balloon Observation of Millimetric Extragalactic Radiation and 

Geophysics 

 

CAIB Columbia Accident Investigation Board 

CAPPS checkout, assembly, and payload-processing services 

CALVEIN California Launch Vehicle Education Initiative 

CBERS China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite 

CCD charged-coupled device 

CDT Central Daylight Time 

CERES Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System 

CET Central European Time 

CEV Crew Exploration Vehicle 

CHIPSat Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer 

CIP Current Icing Potential 

CNSA China National Space Administration 

CNL Carbon Nanotechnology Laboratory Rice University 

COBE Cosmic Background Explorer 

COMINT Communications Intelligence 

CONTOUR Comet Nucleus Tour 

CONTOUR MIB Comet Nucleus Tour Mishap Investigation Board 
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APPENDIX A: TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS 

COSPAS-SARSAT Cosmicheskaya Sistema Poiska Avariynyh Sudo―Russian for 

“Space System for the Search of Vessels in Distress”―Searchand-Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System 

CP violation charge-party violation 

CPAF cost-plus-award-fee 

CREAM Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass 

CRV crew return vehicle 

CSA Canadian Space Agency 

CSOC consolidated space operations contract 

CST Central Standard Time 

 

DART Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology 

DC Docking Compartment 

DEM digital-elevation-model 

DFRC Dryden Flight Research Center 

DMC Disaster Monitoring Constellation 

DMSP Defense Meteorological Satellite Program 

DOD U.S. Department of Defense 

DOE U.S. Department of Energy 

DS Deep Space 

DSCS Defense Satellite Communications Systems 

DTUSAT Danish Technical University satellite 

 

EADS Aeronautic Defence and Space Company 

ECG En Route Communications Gateway 

EDMS Emissions and Dispersion Modeling System 

EELV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle 

EDD Boeing Electronic Dynamic Devices Inc. 

EDT Eastern Daylight Time 

EKV exoatmospheric kill vehicle 

EMU Extravehicular Mobility Unit 

ENSO El Niño Southern Oscillation 

EO Earth Observing 

EOS Earth Observing System 

ESA European Space Agency 

ESA SPC Science Programme Committee of the European Space Agency 

ESAC Exploration Systems Advisory Committee 

EST Eastern Standard Time 

ESTOL extremely short takeoff and landing 

EU European Union 

EUSO Extreme Universe Space Observatory 

Eutelsat European Telecommunications Satellite Organization 

EUVE Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer 

EVA extravehicular activity 
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APPENDIX A: TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS 

FAA Federal Aviation Administration 

FLEVO Facility for Liquid Experimentation and Verification in Orbit 

FSRI Florida Space Research Institute 

FTS Fourier Transform Spectrometer 

FUSE Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer 

 

GALEX Galaxy Evolution Explorer 

GAO U.S. General Accounting Office or Government Accountability 

Office (name change effective 7 July 2004) 

GCM General Circulation Model 

GP-B Gravity Probe B 

GISS Goddard Institute for Space Studies 

GLOBE Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment 

GLONASS Global Satellite Navigation System 

GMD Ground-based Midcourse Defense 

GPM Global Precipitation Measurement 

GPRA Government Performance and Results Act 

GMI Global Precipitation Measurement Microwave Imager 

GMT Greenwich Mean Time 

GPS Global Positioning System 

GRACE Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment 

GRB gamma-ray bursts 

GRC Glenn Research Center 

GSA U.S. General Services Administration 

GSAT geosynchronous satellite 

GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center 

GSLV Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle 

 

HALOE Halogen Occultation Experiment 

HERO High Energy Replicated Optics 

HESSI High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager 

HETE High Energy Transient Explorer Mission 

HHT Hilbert-Huang Transformation 

HiPEP High Power Electric Propulsion 

HSSSI Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International 

HST Hubble Space Telescope 

HZE-particle high-energy charged particle 

 

IBEX Interstellar Boundary Explorer 

IBIS Imager on Board the Integral Satellite 

ICBM intercontinental ballistic missile 

ICESat Ice Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite 

IDIQ indefinite quantity/indefinite delivery 

IDP interplanetary dust particle 
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APPENDIX A: TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS 

IFMP Integrated Financial Management Program 

IGS Information Gathering Satellite 

ILS International Launch Services 

IMAGE Imager for Magnetopause to Aurora Global Exploration 

IMCE International Space Station Management and Cost Evaluation Task 

Force 

INSAT Indian National Satellite 

INTEGRAL International Gamma Ray Astrophysics Laboratory 

IPIC ISS payload-integration contract 

ISAS Institute of Space and Astronautical Science 

ISC Inertial Stellar Compass 

ISRO Indian Space Research Organisation 

ISS International Space Station 

ISTAR Integrated System Test of an Air-breathing Rocket 

ISTP Integrated Space Transportation Plan 

IVVF Independent Verification and Validation Facility 

 

JAXA Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency 

JEM-PM Japanese Experiment Module-Pressurized Module 

JIMO Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter 

Joint STARS Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System 

JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory 

JSC Johnson Space Center 

JST Japan Standard Time 

JSF Joint Strike Fighter 

JWST James Webb Space Telescope 

 

KAITSAT Korea Aerospace Institute of Technology satellite 

KICS Kennedy Space Center Integrated Communications Services 

KSC Kennedy Space Center 

 

L2 second Lagrange point 

LAGEOS Laser Geodynamics Satellite 

LaRC Langley Research Center 

LEE latching-end effector 

LeRC Lewis Research Center 

LISA Laser Interferometer Space Antenna 

LOE level of effort 

LPT Low Power Transceiver 

LRO Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter 

 

M4 Messier 4 

MAESTRO Measurements of Aerosol Extinction in the Stratosphere and 

Troposphere Retrieved by Occultation 
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APPENDIX A: TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS 

MAP Microwave Anisotropy Probe 

MARSIS Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding 

MBS Mobile Base System 

MBSAT Mobile Broadcasting Satellite 

MC2A Multi-Sensor Command and Control Aircraft 

MDA Missile Defense Agency 

MEIDEX Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment 

MEIT Multi-Element Integrated Test 

MEMS MicroElectroMechanical Systems 

MER Mars Explorer Rover 

MESSENGER Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging 

METSAT Indian meteorological satellite 

MGS Mars Global Surveyor 

MIB Mishap Investigation Board 

MIDEX Medium-Class Explorer 

MILSATCOM Military Satellite Communications 

MIMOSA Micromeasurements of Satellite Acceleration 

MISSE Materials International Space Station Experiments 

MLS Microwave Limb Sounder 

MLTI Mesosphere and Lower Thermosphere/Ionosphere 

MOA Memorandum of Understanding 

MoonROx Moon Regolith Oxygen 

MOPITT Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere 

MOST Microvariability and Oscillation of Stars 

MPLM Multi-Purpose Logistics Module 

MSFC Marshall Space Flight Center 

MT Mobile Transporter 

MRO Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter 

 

NAC NASA Advisory Council 

NACA National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics 

NAI NASA Astrobiology Institute 

NAIT NASA Accident Investigation Team 

NAS National Academy of Sciences 

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration 

NAVSEA Naval Sea Systems Command 

NBL Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory 

NCAM National Consortium for Aviation Mobility 

NCS NICMOS Cooling System 

NASDA National Space Development Agency of Japan 

NEAR Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous 

NEP nuclear electric propulsion 

NESC NASA Engineering and Safety Center 

NEXIS Nuclear Electric Xenon Ion System 
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APPENDIX A: TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS 

NEXT NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster 

NextGen Next Generation Air Transportation System 

NGA National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency 

NGST Next Generation Space Telescope 

NIA National Institute of Aerospace 

NIAA National Institute of Aerospace Associates 

NICMOS Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer 

NIMA National Imagery and Mapping Agency 

NISC National Invasive Species Council 

NMOC Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command 

NOAA National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 

NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command 

NOSS Naval Ocean Surveillance System 

NRC National Research Council 

NRO National Reconnaissance Office 

NSC National Security Council 

NSCOR NASA Specialized Center of Research 

NSF National Science Foundation 

NSPD National Security Presidential Directive 

NSRL NASA Space Radiation Laboratory 

NTSB National Transportation Safety Board 

 

OBPR Office of Biological and Physical Research 

OCO Orbiting Carbon Observatory 

OIG Office of Inspector General 

OMB Office of Management and Budget 

OSC Office of Space Commercialization, U.S. Department of Commerce 

OSP Orbital Space Plane 

 

P1 Port 1 Truss 

PAD Pad Abort Demonstration 

PAL Protuberance Air Load 

PDT Pacific Daylight Time 

PMA Pressurized Mating Adapter 

PMRF Pacific Missile Range Facility 

PNNL Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 

POA Payload Orbital Replacement Unit Accommodation 

POES Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite 

PPR Pho-Radiometer 

PSLV Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle 

PST Pacific Standard Time 

 

QASAR Quality and Safety Achievement Recognition Award 

QuikSCAT Quick Scatterometer 
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APPENDIX A: TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS 

QuikTOMS Quick Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer 

 

RBC3 Rocket Based Combined Cycle Consortium 

RCC reinforced carbon-carbon 

ReMAP Research Maximization and Prioritization Task Force 

RFP request for proposals 

RLV reusable launch vehicle 

RNP Required Navigation Performance 

ROKVISS Robotic Components Verification on the ISS 

RSRM reusable solid rocket motor 

RTG radioisotope thermoelectric generator 

 

S Zero Starboard Zero 

S0 Starboard Zero 

S1 Starboard 1 

SAGE Stratospheric Aerosol and Gas Experiment 

SAIC Science Applications International Corporation 

SARSAT Search-and-Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System 

SATS Small Aircraft Transportation System 

SciSat 1 Scientific Satellite 

SCTG Stafford-Covey Return to Flight Task Group 

SERPL Space Experiment Research and Processing Laboratory 

SERVIR Sistema Regional de Visualización y Monitoreo―Spanish for 

“Regional Visualization and Monitoring System”; servir is 

Spanish for “to serve” 

SETI Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence 

SFLC Space Flight Leadership Council 

SFOC spaceflight operations contract 

SIAT Space Shuttle Independent Assessment Team 

SIRTF Space Infrared Telescope Facility 

SLEP Service Life Extension Program 

SLI Space Launch Initiative 

SMART Small Mission for Advanced Research in Technology 

SMCDS Space Mission Communications and Data Services 

SMEX Small Explorer Program 

SOFC solid oxide fuel cells 

SOHO Solar and Heliospheric Observatory 

SORCE Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment 

Space PCC Space Policy Coordinating Committee 

SPC Science Programme Committee of the European Space Agency 

SPI SPectrometer on INTEGRAL 

SRM solid rocket motor 

SRTM Shuttle Radar Topography Mission 

SSBD Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration 
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APPENDIX A: TABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS 

SSC Stennis Space Center 

SST Scaled Experimental Supersonic Transport 

SST Spitzer Space Telescope 

SVMF Space Vehicle Mockup Facility 

SWAS Submillimeter Wave Astronomy Satellite 

 

TDRS Tracking and Data Relay Satellite 

TDRSS Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System 

TES thermal emission spectrometer 

THEMIS Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during 

Substorms 

TIGER Trans-Iron Galactic Element Recorder 

TIGER Transient Ionospheric Glow Emission in Red 

TIMED Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics 

TLE transient luminous event 

TOMS Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer 

TRMM Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission 

 

UAV uninhabited aerial vehicle 

ULDB Ultra-Long Duration Balloon 

UNESCO United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization 

USA United Space Alliance 

USERS Unmanned Space Experiment Recovery System 

USGS United States Geological Survey 

USRP Undergraduate Student Research Program 

UT Universal Time 

UVOT Ultraviolet/Optical Telescope 

 

VASIMR Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket 

VISAR Video Image Stabilization and Registration 

VSB-30 Veículo de Sondagem Booster-30 (Sounding Booster Vehicle) 

 

WFF Wallops Flight Facility 

 

XMM-Newton X-Ray Multi-Mirror Newton scientific satellite 

XRT X-ray Telescope 

XSS-10 Experimental Spacecraft System 
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Federal Computer Week, Florida Today, FYI Bulletin, Government Executive, Hampton Roads 

Daily Press, Houston Chronicle, Huntsville Times, Kansas City Star, Los Angeles Business 

Journal, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Times, M2 Presswire, New York Times, Orlando 

Sentinel, Palm Beach Post, Reuters, Rocky Mountain Collegian, Rocky Mountain News, New 

Scientist, Space News, Spaceflight Now, Star-Ledger, Telesat, United Press International, USA 

Today, Utility Automation and Engineering T&D, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, 

Washington Times, World Reporter, and Xinhua News Agency; Web sites, including those of 

Astronomy.com, CNN.com, Encyclopaedia Astronautica, the European Space Agency, the 

Fundación Príncipe de Asturias, the Indian Embassy, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 

Johns Hopkins University, MSNBC.com, NASA, NASA Watch, the National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration, the Nobel Foundation, the Russian Space Agency, Scaled 

Composites, Space.com, SpaceRef.com, and the University of Texas Center for Space Research; 

and television broadcasts such as BBC News, CNN, and NY1-Cable TV.