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NASA lanseaza Endeavour

A fish-eye view captures space shuttle Endeavour just after liftoff on mission STS-111. Credit: NASA

Mission: STS-130
Orbiter: Endeavour
Primary Payload: Tranquility Node 3, cupola
Launch: Feb. 7, 2010
Launch Time: 4:39 a.m. EST
Launch Pad: 39A
Landing: Feb. 19 - 11:14 p.m. EST
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
Mission Duration: 13 days
Inclination/Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

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Image above: At Launch Pad 39A workers monitor the second of space shuttle Endeavour's payload bay doors as it closes around the Tranquility node. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
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NASA Managers Give "Go" for Endeavour
Space shuttle Endeavour is set to begin a 13-day flight to the International Space Station with a Feb. 7 launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff is planned for 4:39 a.m. EST, making this the final scheduled space shuttle night launch.

Endeavour's launch date was announced Wednesday at the conclusion of a flight readiness review at Kennedy. During the meeting, senior NASA and contractor managers assessed the risks associated with the mission and determined the shuttle's equipment, support systems and procedures are ready.

NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope Discovers its First Five Exoplanets

01.04.10

This artist's concept shows a cloudy Jupiter-like planet that orbits very close to its fiery hot star.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/T. Pyle (SSC)
Click image for full-resolution. NASA's Kepler space telescope, designed to find Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of sun-like stars, has discovered its first five new exoplanets, or planets beyond our solar system.

Kepler's high sensitivity to both small and large planets enabled the discovery of the exoplanets, named Kepler 4b, 5b, 6b, 7b and 8b. The discoveries were announced Monday, Jan. 4, by the members of the Kepler science team during a news briefing at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington.

"These observations contribute to our understanding of how planetary systems form and evolve from the gas and dust disks that give rise to both the stars and their planets," said William Borucki of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. Borucki is the mission's science principal investigator. "The discoveries also show that our science instrument is working well. Indications are that Kepler will meet all its science goals."

Known as "hot Jupiters" because of their high masses and extreme temperatures, the new exoplanets range in size from similar to Neptune to larger than Jupiter. They have orbits ranging from 3.3 to 4.9 days. Estimated temperatures of the planets range from 2,200 to 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than molten lava and much too hot for life as we know it. All five of the exoplanets orbit stars hotter and larger than Earth's sun.