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• Photos: Galaxies inside our Universe photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope

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- Nov 26: The end effector of Endeavour's Canadian-built robot arm appears amidst elements of the International Space Station. Endeavour and the orbital outpost have been docked for almost two weeks while their crews have joined efforts in home improvement on the station and other work Credit: NASA

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- Nov 26: Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, STS-126 mission specialist, works with transfer of supplies in the Columbus lab of the International Space Station making preparetions for the Endeavour crew for lieving the station on Nov 28. Photo Credit: NASA

- Nov 27: The astronaut class of 1996 was able to have its own mini-reunion with three members of that group sharing home improvement and other duties aboard the International Space Station over the last two weeks. From left, astronauts Donald Pettit, Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper and Michael Fincke pose for a photo on the middeck of Endeavour on the eve of the day the crews of the space shuttle and the orbital outpost's Expedition 18 went separate ways. Fincke, Expedition 18 commander, later stayed behind on the orbital outpost as Stefanyshyn-Piper and Pettit and the rest of the shuttle crew bade farewell with plans of being home on Nov. 30.
- Photo Credit: NASA - News Coverage: http://weatherspace.org/archives/1050

- Nov 26: Astronaut Eric Boe, STS-126 pilot, floats near the hatchway of the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo, temporarily docked with the International Space Station to aid in the transfer of supplies and hardware. Leonardo, like Boe and the rest of the Endeavour crew, will return to Earth over the coming weekend (Nov.30).
Photo Credit: NASA - News: http://weatherspace.org/archives/1050

- Nov 27: The aft portion of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, with the multi-purpose logistics module Leonardo in stow mode, was captured in a series of photographs by one of the STS-126 crewmembers on Nov. 27, Thanksgiving day, also the eve of departure from the International Space Station on Nov. 28. - Photo Credit: NASA

Bye, Bye, Space Station. A last view for the space shuttle crew on the Earth before lieving the ISS

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Space.gs

Adv. Thin Ionizat. Calorimeter (ATIC): Unidentified Source of Nearby Cosmic Rays.
By Steve Cole, NASA Headquarters, 11/20/08


• Science: Discovered: Cosmic Rays from a Mysterious, Nearby Object

- An artist's concept of cosmic rays hitting Earth's upper atmosphere. Credit: Simon Swordy, University of Chicago. NASA Astr. Photo Of the Day: Cosmic Rays


Scientists announced on Wednesday the discovery of a previously unidentified nearby source of high-energy cosmic rays. The finding was made with a NASA-funded balloon-borne instrument high over Antarctica. Researchers from the Advanced Thin Ionization Calorimeter (ATIC) collaboration, led by scientists at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, published the results in the November 20 issue of the journal Nature. The new results show an unexpected surplus of cosmic ray electrons at very high energy - 300-800 billion electron volts - that must come from a previously unidentified source or from the annihilation of very exotic theoretical particles used to explain dark matter.

'This electron excess cannot be explained by the standard model of cosmic ray origin,' said John P. Wefel, ATIC project principal investigator and a professor at Louisiana State. 'There must be another source relatively near us that is producing these additional particles.' According to the research, this source would need to be within about 3,000 light years of the sun. It could be an exotic object such as a pulsar, mini-quasar, supernova remnant or an intermediate mass black hole.




- The ATIC cosmic ray detector is prepared in the Antarctica by scientists to ascend to the stratosphere tethered to a high-altitude research balloon.


'Cosmic ray electrons lose energy during their journey through the galaxy,' said Jim Adams, ATIC research lead at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. 'These losses increase with the energy of the electrons. At the energies measured by our instrument, these energy losses suppress the flow of particles from distant sources, which helps nearby sources stand out.' The scientists point out, however, that there are few such objects close to our solar system.

'These results may be the first indication of a very interesting object near our solar system waiting to be studied by other instruments,' Wefel said. An alternative explanation is that the surplus of high energy electrons might result from the annihilation of very exotic particles put forward to explain dark matter. In recent decades, scientists have learned that the kind of material making up the universe around us only accounts for about five percent of its mass composition. Close to 70 percent of the universe is composed of dark energy (so called because its nature is unknown). The remaining 25 percent of the mass acts gravitationally just like regular matter, but does little else, so it is normally not visible.




- The ATIC cosmic ray detector ascends to the stratosphere tethered to a high-altitude research balloon. More launch images: 1


The nature of dark matter is not understood, but several theories that describe how gravity works at very small, quantum distances predict exotic particles that could be good dark matter candidates. 'The annihilation of these exotic particles with each other would produce normal particles such as electrons, positrons, protons and antiprotons that can be observed by scientists,' said Eun-Suk Seo, ATIC lead at the University of Maryland, College Park.

The 4,300-pound ATIC experiment was designed to be carried to an altitude of about 124,000 feet above Antarctica using a helium-filled balloon about as large as the interior of the New Orleans Superdome. The goal was to study cosmic rays that otherwise would be absorbed into the atmosphere.

ATIC is an international collaboration of researchers from Louisiana State University, the University of Maryland, Marshall Space Flight Center, Purple Mountain Observatory in China, Moscow State University in Russia and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany. ATIC is supported in the United States by NASA and flights are conducted under the auspices of the Balloon Program Office at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia by the staff of the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility. Antarctic logistics are provided by the National Science Foundation.
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On the Net:
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Reuters

Bad weather in Florida at the KSC delays space shuttle landing
By Irene Klotz, Reuters, Nov. 30, 2008


- Shuttle Endeavour Wikip.

• Slideshow: Space Shuttle • Endeavour in 3D Images


CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) – NASA delayed the landing of space shuttle Endeavour on Sunday due to bad weather at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and may have to divert the spaceship to a backup landing site in California.

Endeavour is returning from a successful renovation mission to the International Space Station and had been scheduled to land in Florida at 1:19 p.m. EST (1819 GMT). "Currently, the forecast is no-go," Alan Poindexter of Mission Control in Houston radioed to Endeavour commander Chris Ferguson.

The next landing opportunity in Florida is at 2:54 p.m. EST (1954 GMT) but meteorologists expected thunderstorms and wind gusts near the Kennedy Space Center would still exceed the limits NASA imposes for safety reasons. With weather conditions also expected to be marginal on Monday for a Florida landing, flight directors could divert Endeavour to the backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base in California. A touchdown there would occur at 4:25 p.m. EST (2125 GMT). Weather conditions at the Mojave desert base are forecast to be suitable for a shuttle landing.


• http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov


Endeavour is returning from a marathon home-improvement mission at the International Space Station. The crew delivered and installed a water recycling system that will enable NASA to add three more astronauts to the permanent live-aboard crew and repaired the station's power system. A Russian cargo ship arrived at the station early Sunday with fuel, water and supplies for the crew. NASA's next station visit is slated for February when the outpost's last solar wing panel will be installed.

AP

Space shuttle Endeavour begins descent to California
By John Antczak, AP, November 30, 2008


» Photos » Live: NASA TV

- On its flight back to Earth the space shuttle Endeavour entered, after 51 orbits of the planet, at an altitude of 42 miles into the Earth atmosphere, traveling at a speed of 15700 miles p.h., 15 times the speed of sound, towards its landing site in California.


Edwarsds Air Force Base, Calif. (AP) – Space shuttle Endeavour and its seven astronauts streaked toward a Sunday afternoon arrival in sunny California, diverted there by stormy weather at the primary landing strip in Florida. Endeavour was scheduled to touch down at Edwards Air Force Base at 4:25 p.m. EST.

NASA ordered the detour after dangerously high wind and a stormy sky prevented a Florida landing for the space station delivery and repair mission. With the weather at Kennedy Space Center looking no better for Monday, Mission Control opted for its backup landing site. "It is what it is," shuttle commander Christopher Ferguson radioed. "We'll see you on the ground in California." An hour before the scheduled landing, the astronauts fired the braking rockets and began the descent.

Endeavour and its crew were wrapping up a 16-day trip that left the international space station freshly remodeled and capable of housing bigger crews. Returning home was former space station resident Gregory Chamitoff, who rocketed away from the planet at the end of May. The space shuttle's journey spanned 6.6 million miles and 250 orbits of Earth. NASA always prefers to land the space shuttles at its home base in Florida. It takes about a week and costs $1.8 million to transport a shuttle from California to Florida, atop a modified jumbo jet. The astronauts also had been rooting for a Florida touchdown; that's where their families were waiting. But the crosswind at the Florida landing strip was too strong, and thunderstorms were moving in. Monday's outlook was just as dismal; NASA officials said it would make no sense to keep Endeavour in orbit an extra day if the weather wasn't expected to improve in Florida.

As Endeavour soared over Houston, home to Mission Control, Ferguson could see all the bad weather in Florida. "I think you made a good call," he radioed. This would be the first space shuttle landing at Edwards in more than a year. Ferguson was aiming for a temporary runway that's shorter and more narrow than the Kennedy landing strip. Edwards' main runway — which parallels the temporary one — just underwent maintenance and upgrades, and has yet to be equipped with all the necessary navigation equipment. NASA officials weren't concerned, saying both Ferguson and his co-pilot, Eric Boe, practiced on the temporary runway in training aircraft. Flight surgeons were standing by at Edwards. Chamitoff, in particular, was expected to need assistance at touchdown; he had not experienced gravity for six months.

Endeavour blasted into orbit Nov. 14, carrying up all kinds of home improvement equipment for the space station. It dropped off a new bathroom, kitchenette, exercise machine, two sleeping quarters and a recycling system designed to convert astronauts' urine and sweat into drinking water. The additions — and a few more scheduled to go up on the next shuttle flight in February — should enable NASA to double the size of the space station crew by June. Endeavour's astronauts helped install the recycling machine and had to put in extra effort to get the urine processor working. About seven liters of recycled urine and condensation were coming back aboard Endeavour for extensive testing. No one at the space station will drink the recycled water until the equipment runs for 90 days and ground tests ensure it's safe. More samples will be returned on the next shuttle flight.

The shuttle crew also conducted four spacewalks to clear metals shavings from a solar wing rotary joint at the space station. The joint had been jammed for more than a year and hampered energy production at the orbiting outpost. Initial tests indicated the repairs on the joint were successful. Overshadowing the clean and lube job, however, was the loss of a $100,000 tool bag. Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper let go of the bag during the first spacewalk; it wasn't tied down and floated away. Early Sunday morning, a Russian supply ship arrived at the space station with Christmas presents, food, clothes and other items.

Web Images: Space shuttle Endeavour / 2 /3 / 4 /5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 /10- http://daily-news.us - Photos / 2 / 3 - Reuters
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On the Net:

NASA: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov (more links)
The Global Documents Website: www.scribd.com
Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-126 Mission Fact Sheet