Space Programs

In a major turnaround, the Obama administration intends this week to order a review of the spacecraft program that NASA had hoped would replace the space shuttle, the Orlando Sentinel has learned. According to administration officials and industry insiders, the review would examine whether the Ares 1 rocket and Orion capsule are the best option to send astronauts into orbit by 2015. The review of the so-called Constellation program could be finished by fall.

Rising over the battered surface of the moon, Earth loomed in a shimmering arc covered in a swirling skin of clouds. The image, taken in 1966 by NASA's robotic probe Lunar Orbiter 1, presented a stunning juxtaposition of planet and moon that no earthling had ever seen before. It was dubbed the Picture of the Century. "The most beautiful thing I'd ever seen," remembered Keith Cowing, who saw it as an 11-year-old and credited it with eventually luring him to work for NASA.

Space shuttle Discovery arrived at the International Space Station on Tuesday, delivering one last set of solar wings that should boost the orbiting complex to full power. The crafts linked up 220 miles above Australia. "Welcome . . . we are dang glad to see you," said Mike Fincke, the station's skipper. The two crews -- 10 people in all -- shook hands and hugged when the hatches between them swung open.

Space shuttle Discovery and its crew of seven rocketed into orbit Sunday evening, setting off on a mission cut short by launch delays that dragged on for more than a month. Discovery rose from its seaside pad at 7:43 p.m. EDT just as the sun was setting. As the shuttle sped away from Kennedy Space Center like a brilliant star, part of the launch plume glowed a brilliant mix of pink, peach and gold. Clear skies allowed the shuttle to be visible for several minutes.

President Obama said Wednesday that NASA was an agency afflicted by "a sense of drift" and that it needed a "mission that is appropriate for the 21st century." During an interview, Obama said the first priority of a new agency administrator -- whom he promised to appoint soon -- would be "to think through what NASA's core mission is and what the next great adventures and discoveries are under the NASA banner."

NASA's Kepler spacecraft blasted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday on a three-year mission to find Earth's twin, a Goldilocks planet where it's neither too hot nor too cold, but just right for life to take hold. The Delta II rocket, carrying the widest-field telescope ever put in space, lifted off the launch pad at Cape Canaveral at 10:49 p.m. Eastern time.

NASA delayed next week's launch of the space shuttle Discovery while it runs tests to determine whether newly installed valves would cause serious damage if they broke during liftoff. The launch will take place no sooner than Feb. 19, seven days after the shuttle had been scheduled to leave on a space station construction mission. The delay is needed to make certain that Discovery can fly safely with the valves that control the flow of gaseous hydrogen into the external fuel tank, NASA's space operations chief, William H. Gerstenmaier, said at Cape Canaveral.

Space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of seven blasted into clear tropical skies under a spectacular moon Friday night, heading for the International Space Station. The mission: extreme interior redecoration, with a little outdoor lighting work. Endeavour rumbled off its launch pad on time, just before 8 p.m. EST. As the engines and rocket boosters illumined Cape Canaveral, night briefly turned into day. The shuttle crew, commanded by Navy Capt. Christopher J.

A Chinese astronaut stepped outside the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft Saturday and waved a small red Chinese flag for the millions of his countrymen watching on live television and cheering over their nation's latest conquest. With the 15-minute spacewalk, China became the third country to accomplish the feat, following the United States and Russia.

In an unprecedented step, a space shuttle was moved to the launch pad Friday for a trip NASA hopes it will never make -- a rescue mission. The shuttle Endeavour is on standby in case the seven astronauts on Atlantis next month need a safer ride home. Atlantis is headed for one last repair job on the 18-year-old Hubble Space Telescope. The venture was canceled when first proposed a few years ago because it was considered too dangerous.