Challenger's Enduring Mission: 25 years strong

Challenger's crew twenty days before their launch. (NASA)

The loss of the space shuttle Challenger and her crew of seven a quarter century ago this Friday marked not just a significant place in American history, but helped capture the imagination of the country and it's youth.

As Challenger sat poised to begin the twenty-fifth space shuttle mission, students around the United States and select countries around the world tuned in to CNN to watch the launch as it happened. Cable News Network was the only network to carry the launch live. In fact, the White House staff was tuned to the Atlanta-based network to watch the lift-off.

This flight attracted both the youth of the nation and their teachers. After all, one of their own was on board -- Teachernaut Sharon Christa McAuliffe.

McAuliffe, along with Barbara Morgan as her back-up, were chosen by NASA in July 1985 for the Teacher in Space project, and it was McAuliffe's excitement for science and space which created a media likeness toward her.

As the launch neared on that January morning, television sets clicked on in classrooms and student halls.

This reporter was one of those students, and my school's choral room was one of those rooms.

Challenger's crew of seven included commander Richard Dick Scobee, pilot Michael Smith, mission specialists Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair and payload specialists McAuliffe and Gregory Jarvis.

As an early-teen, I developed a strong respect for several astronauts in the corps. including Dr. Resnik. During 1985, I was able to place several phone calls to her office, including a few letters. She offered a lot of information about training, strength and the choices you make in your life.

A beautiful, personally signed portrait and a few items from Dr. Resnik remains in my possession to this day.

Tuesday, January 28, 1986 was extremely cold. Ice coated the launch tower where Challenger waited passively following a one day delay due to a stuck hatch handle.

I can recall the days leading up to the launch as if it occurred only twenty-five months ago.

Challenger's STS-51L mission, or STS-33 as the technicians handling Challenger's prelaunch payloads knew it, was originally targeted for Jan. 24 at 3:43 pm. The delays of the launch of Columbia weeks earlier forced a three day delay.

Much of America watched the Chicago Bears win in Super Bowl XX, but for the crew of Challenger and the launch support teams it was bedtime before halftime of the game the night before launch.

Recalling that morning before school, I had CNN on watching the smiles on the crew as they left the Operations and Checkout building. I remember thinking, "there (Dr. Resnik) goes."

The freezing temperatures forecast for launch morning did cause concern with key managers and their support personal, however almost everyone concluded late into the night that it would be safe fly.

The concern was the rubber O-ring seals on the solid rocket boosters which help trap hot gases from leaking out of the several sections which stack up the booster.

Recalling that morning before school, I had CNN on watching the crew walk out and their smiles as they left the Operations and Checkout building. I remember thinking, "there (Dr. Resnik) goes."

The space shuttle Challenger lifted-off into the blue skies over Cape Canaveral following a delay to allow for outside temperatures to warm up at 11:38:00 am EST.

"And, lift-off. Lift-off of the twenty-fifth space shuttle mission, and it has cleared the tower," launch commentator Hugh Harris announced.

It was the first space shuttle launch from pad 39-B.

It was to be an exciting mission as McAulliffe planned to make two 15 minute lessons from space from her classroom on the middeck; and collect data on other space news of the month, comet Halley's return.

A science satellite called Spartan-Halley would be deployed by Dr. Resnik using the ship robotic arm for forty hours of comet Halley observations. Experiments on Spartan would look into the ultraviolet regions of the comet.

Two seconds after the boosters ignited and Challenger began to rise, around eight puffs of black smoke shot out of the right hand booster and then stopped.

The tenth mission of Challenger was underway, and her crew of seven soared toward super sonic speeds.

In classrooms, teachers and school children cheered the space shuttle as it sailed out over the Atlantic Ocean.

Then it was over in a flash.

As Challenger passed through a region of strong winds, pressures from Challenger's speed and the crosswinds from a recent jet stream forced the same o-ring seal which had puffed smoke earlier to allow flame to burn through the seal and lick the lower back section of the external fuel tank.

The flame burned the booster's lower attach point to the tank, causing the forward nose of the booster to veer into the upper section of the external tank and puncturing it.

The entire vehicle disintegrated. And, the force of the disintegration broke apart Challenger. The orbiter itself did not explode.

Challenger's crew cabin was thrown free and traveled upward for a few seconds prior to falling into the ocean.

It's hard for most to put into words their memories of that day. I never have wanted to write about this for fear of... I guess I want to keep my memories to myself, many I will not write about here.

Moments after the tragedy, I finished a math exam and literally ran to the school's front office to call my mother.

I went home and mourned for weeks. Not just for the space program and the crew, but for an innocence lost. I grew up a bit and I vowed to improve myself and aim high.

I think a lot of students of all ages learned from the loss of Challenger, and made personal commitments to achieve higher goals.

In the years that followed, the families of the crew began the Challenger Center for space science education. Today, there are 48 learning centers across America, Canada and the United Kingdom teaching the science involved here on earth and in space. They're making math and science fun for young students, and that's important.

We all have our heroes, those who inspire us deep down to stay strong and strive further to meet our dreams. My father who taught me to fly planes, fish and work a computer at an early age, and Dr. Resnik are sincerely those two heroes who have reached out and touched the face of God.

Japan successfully launches cargo craft to space station

Japan's pride and their future lifts-off on Saturday. (JAXA)

Japan's largest rocket successfully carried into earth orbit today their second supply ship loaded with supplies bound for the International Space Station.

The 33-foot long supply craft, also known as the KOUNOTORI 2, is an improved version of the first supply craft launched in 2009 to allow for more cargo.

KOUNOTORI was selected as the name in a contest held by Japan's space agency JAXA, and means "White Stork" in the native language.

On board the supply craft is 9,000 pounds of research equipment, computers, spacewalking equipment and personal gear for the crew.

One of the partners of the space station, the pride of Japan and their space future rode on today's launch.

"Even under the pressure of budget restrictions", HTV Project manager Yoshihiko Torano said prior to launch day, "no failure or excuse is acceptable."

The second flight of the HII-B rocket launched on time at 12:37:57 a.m. EST (2:37 pm local time) from the Tanegashima Space Center, located on the southern tip of Japan.

As the white rocket launched using a cryogenic fueled main stage with a core engine and four strap on solid fueled boosters, it soared into several wind gusts prior to pushing into supersonic speeds.

At lift-off, the space station soared 224 miles high above the equator over the central Atlantic Ocean, while two of the outpost's six crew members stayed up several hours past their bed time to watch the lift-off.

Station crew members Cady Coleman and Paolo Nespoli watched from the Destiny module the launch live over an Internet feed.

As the rocket tracked southeast from the island nation toward an orbital inclination of 51.65 degrees, the four boosters separated just over two minutes into the flight.

At 12:53:08 a.m., the new supply craft broke free from it's booster and was alone to soar upon the ocean of space and toward it's port-of-call.

It will be Coleman and Nespoli who on Thursday will snare the White Stork with the station's robotic arm and ease it to a docking to the earth facing side of the Harmony module at around 7:42 a.m.

Once the craft docks, sixteen bolts will be driven to secure the cylindrical module to the outpost.

Hours following the berthing of the new Japanese supply craft, Russia will launch their own resupply craft, Progress M-09M to begin a two day orbital trip to station.

One day after Progress' docking to the Russian Pirs module on Jan. 29, the KOUNOTORI 2 will be moved several meters away to the zenith port on Harmony.

Station commander Scott Kelly and Russian flight engineers Dmitry Kondratyev, Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka round out the space station's Expedition 26 crew of six.

Japan became the fourth country in 2009 to have the ability to launch an unmanned craft to the station loaded with fresh supplies.

Spacewalk begins busy weekend on Space Station

Russian Kondratiev early into the spacewalk today. (NASA)

One of the busiest weekends aboard the International Space Station began this morning with the start of a Russian spacewalk.

As two cosmonauts prepared to step outside of the station's airlock, on the ground Japan rolled out to it's launch pad their rocket which will deliver several tons of supplies to earth's orbital outpost in space.

Russian cosmonauts Oleg Skripohcka and Dmitry Kondratiev officially began their six hour orbital walk at 9:29 a.m. EST (1429 GMT) today as they opened the hatch of the Russian Pirs module.

The space station was 224 miles high over the central Pacific Ocean approaching Baja California as the walk began.

It is the twenty-seventh spacewalk by the Russians based from the space station.

"A space walk is a big and important event in an ISS space mission, that's why preparations for it receive special attention on Earth," Kondratyev stated on Thursday.

Kondratyev added, "Spacesuit systems provide a supply of oxygen and dispose of carbon monoxide, maintain a comfortable temperature for a cosmonaut and also provide a radio connection." He refered to his suit as "a small spaceship", the Russian Space Agency added.

The only issue of the spacewalk occurred as Kondratiev's medical harness in his Orlan spacesuit malfunctioned prior to airlock depressurization. He was approved to begin the spacewalk under the understanding he was to report how he was feeling over the six hours outside.

As the pair transitioned to the Zvezda service module a half-hour later, they activated an American helmet camera on Skripohcka blue-stripped suit.

The duo began several tasks including the removal of "the impulse plasma injector from Zvezda’s outer surface, and installation of Russia's high-speed data transmission equipment Photon-Gamma intended to study gamma-bursts and optical radiation during thunderstorms", the Russian space agency stated to this reporter.

By 10:10 am, the space walkers were twenty-two minutes ahead of schedule, having completed task number 8 of 30 planned.

Meanwhile on earth, Japan's HII-B rocket was moved out to it's launch pad during the night at 9 a.m. EST.

Japan's largest rocket the HII-B will carry their second supply ship, KOUNOTORI 2 loaded with supplies for the space station in both a pressurized and non-pressurized section.

Launch remains set for Saturday at 12:37 a.m. (2:37 p.m. JST) from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan. The flight will mark the HII-B second flight.

On Sunday, the six member crew aboard the station will undock the Russian Progress 40P unmanned craft to make way for next Friday's launch of a fresh supply craft.

Massive Delta IV rocket launches from California

Boeing-built Delta IV-Heavy launches today. (VAFB)

A secret military defense satellite for the United States headed into space today aboard the most massive rocket ever launched from the California coast.

The United States' National Reconnaissance Office L-49 satellite is one of the largest payloads to be placed into a polar orbit around earth, and will serve as both an early warning platform for incoming foreign threats and to observe known hostile regions.

This flight marked the first space shot of the new year for the United States and the second worldwide.

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV-Heavy rocket's three liquid-fueled rocket boosters ignited to carry aloft the NROL-49 from launch pad SLC-6 at Vandenberg, AFB, at 4:10:30 pm EST (1:10 pm local) this afternoon.

This fifth flight of a Delta IV-Heavy lifted-off from the south base's space launch complex 6, the same pad which was primed in the mid-1980's for the military's space shuttle launches.

Four previous Delta IV-Heavy's have launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station since January 2004.

The countdown got underway at 10:38 am EDT, at the T-5 hour, 15 minute point. A slight two minute delay later occurred during the counts only hold to avoid space junk orbiting earth.

A half-hour later, the launch team began fueling the liquid oxygen tanks of the common booster core. Just over an hour later, the liquid hydrogen fueling started.

The 236-foot tall rocket features three common booster cores with a single engine, each delivering nearly 745,000 pounds of thrust at launch or 2,234,000 pounds combined.

Launch began at T-4 seconds when the three RS-68 engines ignited and throttled to full thrust.

Once the Delta rose into the blue midday sky, the launch became visible around the Los Angeles region to the south as the vehicle darted south and out over the Pacific Ocean.

Just over six minutes into the launch, the twin booster cores emptied their fuel and was jettisoned as the rocket flew nearly parallel with Baja California.

The exact deployment time of the payload will not be disclosed, according to the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg.

The next Delta IV-H is on the table to fly from Cape Canaveral in December, however two medium size Delta IV's will launch beginning this spring also from the Cape.

Bowen replaces Kopra on Discovery's flight

NASA astronaut Steve G. Bowen was selected this morning to replace one of space shuttle Discovery's six crew members just weeks before their scheduled launch.

Bowen will replace Timothy Kopra who fractured his hip following a bicycle accident on Saturday, as one of the four mission specialists.

Bowen began training with his new crew today.

"Tim is doing fine and expects a full recovery, however, he will not be able to support the launch window next month," chief of NASA's Astronaut Office Peggy Whitson stated today. "If for some unanticipated reason STS-133 slips significantly, it is possible that Tim could rejoin the crew."

Bowen will perform the two planned spacewalks in which Kopra had trained for during the 12 day flight to the International Space Station.

Bowen has flown to the space station twice prior aboard Endeavour in 2008 and last spring aboard Atlantis.

Bowen will become one of only a few who have flown to space on back-to-back flights.

Kopra launched to the space station in July of 2009 aboard the STS-127 flight, and returned to earth on the very next shuttle flight to the station, STS-128.

Discovery's crew includes commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Eric Boe and mission specialists Alvin Drew, Michael Barratt and Nicole Stott.

Discovery's launch remains planned for no earlier than February 24 from the Kennedy Space Center. The orbiter will then dock two days later on a resupply flight and two install a new storage module to the station.

"If you thought of the space shuttle as a dump truck, the MPLM is the thing on the back that carries all the stuff. It’s going to be packed up pretty full," Bowen commented recently about the Multipurpose Logistics Module. "It has a lot of supplies."

It was former chief of the astronaut office, Lindsey selected Bowen for his first space flight.

When asked what is the worst part of being an astronaut, "I can tell you the worst part of my job. It’s things like this, smiling and being nice in front of cameras. That’s the worst part of the job."

Japan's hopes ride on resupply trip to space station

Italy's Paolo Nespoli at the station's workstation. (NASA)

Japan will kick-off a very busy week on Saturday as they launch a resupply craft to the International Station Station along with the future of their space program.

The week promises to be one of the busiest periods aboard the space station in it's twelve year history.

Japan's largest rocket the HII-B will carry into earth orbit their second supply ship, KOUNOTORI 2 loaded with supplies located in both a pressurized and non-pressurized section.

The supply craft, also known as the HTV 2, is an improved version of the first supply craft launched in 2009 to allow for more cargo.

KOUNOTORI was selected as the name in a contest held by Japan's space agency JAXA, and means "White Stork" in the native language.

One of the partners of the space station, the pride of Japan and their space future will also be riding on this week's launch.

HTV Project manager Yoshihiko Torano expressed his thoughts on the flight, "I feel that expectations this time (for a successful flight) are probably 100 percent. If, by any chance, we fail this time, we will be criticized".

Japan became the fourth country in 2009 to have the ability to launch an unmanned craft to the station loaded with fresh supplies.

"Even under the pressure of budget restrictions", Torano added, "no failure or excuse is acceptable."

The HII-B rocket is scheduled to lift-off on January 22 at 12:37:05 a.m. EST (2:37 pm local time) from the Tanegashima Space Center. The flight will mark the HII-B second flight.

Clouds forecast for Thursday delayed the launch date by two days.

The HII-B is launched using a cryogenic fueled main stage rocket with a core engine and four strap on solid fueled boosters.

The rocket will head out over the central Pacific Ocean on a 51.65 degree inclination.

"I think we are more strained than the last (flight)," Torano states, "because I believe that the success of the second mission is often believed to be a matter of course."

Once the supply craft reaches orbit, controllers on the ground will spend the next week using it's thrusters to maneuver it higher as it catches up with it's port-of-call.

The KOUNOTORI 2 will arrive at the space station on January 27, and working from the robotics work station (below) in the American Destiny module, NASA astronaut Cady Coleman and Italian Paolo Nespoli will use the station's robotic arm to reach out and grapple the craft.

The station's arm is scheduled to dock the supply ship to the earth facing side of the Harmony module at around 7:42 a.m. later that same day.

During the past two weeks, Coleman and Nespoli have been busy running through software practices at the workstation preparing for the capture and mating of the craft to Harmony.

Once the craft docks, sixteen bolts will be driven to secure the cylindrical module to the outpost.

Station commander and NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian flight engineers Dmitry Kondratyev, Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka round out the space station's crew of six.

Hours following the berthing of the Japanese supply craft, Russia will launch their own resupply craft, Progress M-09M, for a two day orbital trip to station.

One day after Progress' docking to the Russian Pirs module on Jan. 29, the KOUNOTORI 2 will be undocked and moved several meters away to the zenith port on Harmony.

The busy week will also include a Russian spacewalk by Kondratyev and Skripochka from the Pirs airlock on Jan. 21, beginning at 9:21 a.m.

Classified military satellite nears California launch

A secret military defense satellite for the United States will head into space on Thursday aboard the most massive rocket ever launched from the California coast.

The United States' National Reconnaissance Office L-49 satellite is one of the largest payloads to be placed into a polar orbit around earth, and will serve as both an early warning platform for incoming foreign threats and to observe known hostile regions.

This flight will also mark the first space shot of the new year for the United States.

A United Launch Alliance Delta IV-Heavy rocket uses three liquid-fueled rocket boosters at launch, and will carry aloft the NROL-49 from launch pad SLC-6 at Vandenberg, AFB, on January 20 at 4:08:05 pm EST (1:08 pm local).

The brief launch window closes at 4:23 pm, Air Force officials said.

This fifth flight of a Delta IV-Heavy will lift-off from the south base's space launch complex 6, the same pad which was primed in the mid-1980's for the military's space shuttle launches.

Four previous Delta IV-Heavy's have launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station since January 2004.

The countdown will begin at 10:38 am EDT, on Thursday at the T-5 hour, 15 minute point.

A half-hour later, the launch team will begin fueling the liquid oxygen tanks of the common booster core. Just over an hour later, the liquid hydrogen fueling will start.

The 236-foot tall rocket features three common booster cores with a single engine, each delivering nearly 745,000 pounds of thrust at launch or 2,234,000 pounds combined.

Launch begins at T-4 seconds when the three RS-68 engines ignite and throttle to full thrust.

Once the Delta rises into the midday skies, the launch will be visible around the Los Angels region to the south as the vehicle darts south and out over the Pacific Ocean.

Just over six minutes into the launch, the three booster cores will have emptied their fuel and will be jettisoned.

The exact deployment time of the payload will not be disclosed, according to the 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg.

The next Delta IV-H is on the table to fly from Cape Canaveral in December, however two medium size Delta IV's will launch beginning this spring also from the Cape.

Astronaut's wife shot, critical in mass shooting today

Giffords and astronaut Mark Kelly in 2006 prior to marriage.

The wife of the commander of April's space shuttle flight, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was shot and critically injured on Saturday during a meeting with supporters outside a grocery store near Tucson, Arizona.

Giffords, who oversees Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, was attending a “Congress on Your Corner” which began at 10 a.m. local time.

She is expected to survive a gunshot wound to the head according to the medical staff treating her and several others wounded.

Giffords met astronaut Mark Kelly in 2003 while in China. The couple were married four years later, her biography states.

According to a family friend, Kelly proposed to Giffords on the campus of his alma mater, the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, in Kings Point, New York in October 2006.

Moments after the tragedy which left thirteen people injured and six dead including one of her aides, Kelly flew from his home near Houston to Tucson to be with his wife. The couple have no children together.

Dr. Peter Rhee of the the University of Arizona trauma center stated that Rep. Giffords' in critical condition, "The neurosurgeons have finished operating on her and... I'm very optimistic about (her) recovery."

He added that she was "following commands" following the single gun shot to the head. Dr. Rhee could not comment on where she was shot specifically.

NASA administrator Charlie Bolden issued a statement hours after the shooting, "We at NASA are deeply shocked and saddened by the senseless shooting of Representative Giffords and others at Saturday’s public event in Tucson".

"As a long-time supporter of NASA, Representative Giffords not only has made lasting contributions to our country, but is a strong advocate for the nation’s space program and a member of the NASA family," Bolden added. "She also is a personal friend with whom I have had the great honor of working."

Georgia's Rep. Tom Price (R-GA6) of north Atlanta issued a brief statement on Saturday's shooting, "My thoughts and prayers are with Gabrielle Giffords, the Giffords family, and the families of all those affected by this tragedy".

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) who flew on the space shuttle Columbia 25 years ago next week stated today, ""I am deeply saddened to learn of today's events in Tucson. My prayers go out to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and all the victims, as well as to our NASA family, which includes her husband, who is training to be the next commander of the space shuttle mission slated for April, and her brother-in-law, who is currently serving aboard the International Space Station."

President Obama addressed the nation in saying, "I ask all Americans to join me and Michelle in keeping Representative Giffords, the victims of this tragedy, and their families in our prayers".

This journalist enjoyed a few drinks with Kelly and his brother, Scott Kelly -- the current commander of the International Space Station -- a few months ago.

The Kelly brothers are a military pair who are very passionate about aerospace and the space program as a whole, and so is Gabrielle Giffords.

Space station crew prepares for a busy start to 2011

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. --  An extremely busy first quarter of the new year is planned for the crew of the International Space Station which will pave the way for new transportation and growth as humankind lives and works in earth orbit.

Several flights to the International Space Station by both manned and unmanned craft will be the focus during the first 90 days of the year.

The station's crew of six known as the Expedition 26 will balance the arrival of several ferry flights of supplies; perform two spacewalks by two Russians and two by Americans; and prepare for the arrival of the six visitors and a new storage module aboard the much delayed space shuttle Discovery.

Japan's space agency JAXA will kick things off on January 20 with the launch of their unmanned resupply craft KOUNOTORI, or "white stork" in Japanese.

The ten-meter long KOUNOTORI craft will lift-off atop the H-IIB rocket from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Tanegashima Space Center at 1:29 am EST (3:29 pm Japan ST time). It will mark the second time a supply craft from Japan will fly to the station.

Seven days later, the craft, loaded with some 16 tons of fresh supplies and hardware, will be captured by the space station's robotic arm and then berthed. The hatches into the KOUNOTORI will not open for nearly three weeks by the crew due to the busy nature of the first quarter.

Making the delayed trip of Discovery family friendly

Several of Discovery's family of six await their trip. (NASA)

Imagine you are a member of the crew of the next space shuttle flight who are taking a family trip into earth orbit.

You arrive at the Kennedy Space Center to review the itinerary for your twelve day trip to your "hotel in space", the International Space Station.

One sunny morning, you and your family of six astronauts head out and board your vehicle known as the space shuttle Discovery.

The last bags are loaded, the family is strapped in and at the last minute, Uncle Mike Massimino remembers to return the family video camera he used on his last vacation.

The family is excited to be going. For several, they haven't left the planet in a year or more.

However, there is a problem.

A neighbor three miles down the gravel road in a white long trailer-styled home next to a garage can tell that gaseous hydrogen is leaking from the vehicle's tank.

"This needs to be repaired," the father thinks, and tells the family to go back inside the house for a few days as the mechanics make a service call to perform the repair.

As the mechanic is draining the vehicle's tank of the fuel, several cracks on the fuel tank can be seen which are unrelated to the earlier leak.

So now the mechanic informs the family that they can make a few repairs at their home, but will need to have a tow service come out and move the vehicle to the garage for several weeks to ensure there are no further cracks.

Well, deep down the father and his family really wanted to be at the hotel in space hanging with several relatives and a few distant cousins, but feel it would be safer to have the mechanic perform the checks in the garage.

The tow service arrives a few weeks later after the mechanic fixes the cracks, puts new fuel in the tank and then empties the tank.

The tow truck then backs in but gets stuck, and has to spend a day adjusting by several inches just to pick up the vehicle for tow.

The technicians in the garage bring in the vehicle known as Discovery to begin examining her tank.

Meanwhile, the family of six wait... and wait through Christmas, and as they wait they think of new plans they want to try and do on their trip.

The boys say they are looking forward to swimming around for seven hours on two of their vacation days. While the mother wants to take a look at the hotel in space she lived in for six months as she worked away from home.

So the family calls the garage several times to check on their vehicle's progress, but the technicians say that they need to add strengtheners to the vehicles tank after discovering new cracks.

The repairs to the additional cracks continue.

The family waits through through the New Year.

They then consider to take that long awaited trip around Super Bowl Sunday in an attempt to get their father out of the house.

After all, he did have a desk job for a while...

NASA repairing new cracks today on Discovery's tank

Technicians have begun work today repairing newly discovered cracks on the support beams on the fuel tank of the space shuttle Discovery.

Four new cracks were discovered last week following x-ray scans of the inter tank region on the opposite side of where Discovery is mated on the external tank.

The four cracks being repaired are located on three vertical support beams known as stringers. The work is expected to finish up on Wednesday.

Around the center area of the tank are 108 twenty-one foot long aluminum brackets call stringers. The stringers help strengthen the tank's skin from crushing like a soda can as the space shuttle passes through MAX-Q -- the time in flight when the shuttle traveling at a high speed encounters the heavy atmosphere beginning at about forty-five seconds after launch.

Once the cracks are repaired, the NASA contractors will apply new foam insulation over the repaired areas.

Engineers today are also making aditional x-ray images on all of the tank's stringers using a backscatter method, NASA stated earlier.

The fuel tank is loaded with 535,000 gallons of super cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen on launch day. The fuels are stored inside two inner tanks and at launch they mix together to power the orbiter's three main engines during the first eight-plus minutes of flight.

Discovery's launch remains targeted for February 3 at 1:37 am EST, from launch pad 39-A.

Discovery must launch during a brief window which ends on Feb. 10, or stand down until Feb. 27 due to activity centered around the orbiter's port-of-call -- the International Space Station.

Space Station crew prepares for a busy 2011 start

The busy crew of six aboard the space station. (NASA)

An extremely busy first quarter of the new year is planned for the crew of the International Space Station which will pave the way for new transportation and growth as humankind lives and works in earth orbit.

Several flights to the International Space Station by both manned and unmanned craft will be the focus during the first 90 days of the year.

The station's crew of six known as the Expedition 26 will balance the arrival of several ferry flights of supplies; perform two spacewalks by two Russians and two by Americans; and prepare for the arrival of the six visitors and a new storage module aboard the much delayed space shuttle Discovery.

Japan's space agency JAXA will kick things off on January 20 with the launch of their unmanned resupply craft KOUNOTORI, or "white stork" in Japanese.

The ten-meter long KOUNOTORI craft will lift-off atop the H-IIB rocket from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Tanegashima Space Center at 1:29 am EST (3:29 pm Japan ST time). It will mark the second time a supply craft from Japan will fly to the station.

Seven days later, the craft, loaded with some 16 tons of fresh supplies and hardware, will be captured by the space station's robotic arm and then berthed. The hatches into the KOUNOTORI will not open for nearly three weeks by the crew due to the busy nature of the first quarter.

Two Russian cosmonauts on January 21 will don their Orlan MK spacesuits and set out for an orbital walk in space to begin a multi-hour job outside Russia's Zvezda service module. The spacewalk should get underway just after 9 a.m. EST.

Cosmonauts Oleg Skripohcka and Dmitry Kondratiev will perform several tasks including the removal of "the impulse plasma injector from Zvezda’s outer surface, and installation of Russia's high-speed data transmission equipment Photon-Gamma intended to study gamma-bursts and optical radiation during thunderstorms", the Russian space agency stated to this reporter.

A second Russian-based spacewalk is planned for one month later.

The crew will undock the trash filled old Progress 40P from the Russian Piers docking module on Jan. 23 for it's fiery return to earth.

This will make room for Russia to then launch their freshly supplied Progress M-09M craft to dock with the Russian side of earth's orbital outpost in space.

Lift-off of the Soyuz U rocket with the Progress 41P unmanned craft is scheduled for January 27 at 8:30 pm EST ( 01:30 GMT on the 28th), from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in western Kazakhstan.

The Progress will dock three days later to the Russian Piers docking module.

In the United States, the space shuttle Discovery will be poised to lift-off on her 39th and final space flight. Delayed due to a gaseous hydrogen leak and a half-dozen cracks on the ship's external fuel tank, the current target launch date of February 3 will likely be delayed at least one week based on what several insiders at the Kennedy Space Center have stated.

Discovery's brief February launch window closes on the 10th, and reopens again on the 28th.

When Discovery does fly, the orbiter will dock to the space station to begin eight days of off loading supplies; install a new permanent storage module; and perform two spacewalks.

South of Florida and into the northern jungles of South America lies the European spaceport in French Guiana -- home to the Arianespace's Ariane 5 heavy lift rocket.

An Ariane 5 is scheduled to launch after Discovery's lift-off on an unmanned cargo supply flight to the European Columbus module on the station.

Launch of the Ariane 5 with the automated transfer vehicle nicknamed Johannes Kepler is currently set for February 15 at 5:09 pm EST (2209 GMT), from Kourou.

Kepler is currently scheduled to dock with the Russian side of station on February 26

On March 16, three of the station's crew members will depart for their return to earth. Alexander Kaleri, Scott Kelly and Skripochka will undock aboard the Soyuz TMA-01M craft and land several hours later in Kazakhstan.

Once the Soyuz departs, the remaining crew of three -- new station commander Dmitry Kondratiev and flight engineers Catherine "Cady" Coleman and Paolo Nespoli -- will form the core of the new Expedition 27.

The first quarter of 2011 will conclude with the launch of a new crew of three to the space station to begin a nearly six month stay.

Russian Soyuz 26 commander Alexander Samokutyaev and flight engineers Andrei Borisienko and Ron Garan will lift-off aboard a Soyuz rocket on March 29 at 8:43 pm EST (0043 GMT on the 30th), on a two day journey to the space station.

Of special interest to this reporter is what Garan will carry with him into earth orbit -- a Space Tweep Society patch.

In talking with Garan last spring, I asked him if he could represent those of us who write and discuss aerospace activities via Twitter and in blog form by flying the nearly 4-inch patch.

"Sure I'd be happy to take a patch with me", the NASA astronaut told me on May 26. "It will probably be a one way trip though since we will have retired the Shuttle by then."

The black circular patch features the society's logo of a bird named Meco high above a celestial object, and was created by the society's co-founder Jen Scheer.

Everyone involved with STwS would just as soon see the Meco patch stay in earth orbit.

Ariane 5 lifts-off on final space shot of 2010

Ariane heads to space with a pair of satellites today. (arianespace)

Europe's mighty Ariane rocket carried two telecommunications satellites into earth orbit this evening on the final space shot of the year.

Moments after the setting sun dropped below the South American horizon, the pride of the European Space Agency illuminated the darkening sky as the Ariane 5 soared from it's pad.

Riding on twin solid rocket boosters and a core main engine, the Ariane 5 launched on time at 4:27:07 pm EST tonight, from pad ELV-3 at the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana.

It was the sixth launch of 2010 for the heavy lifter, and will mark the fifty-fifth for the Ariane 5 program.

The 165-foot launcher shot through scattered clouds at 31,000 feet and out over the southern Atlantic Ocean in a beautiful sunset flight.

It was the second launch attempt in as many days.

As the final minutes ticked away on Tuesday's first attempt, the count was halted at T-7 minutes and eventually scrubbed due to upper level winds over Kourou.

Just over twenty-seven minutes in the flight, the Hispasat 1E - which rode to orbit at the top of the nose cone - separated.

The twin solar arrays will deploy to charge the batteries, and a series of four burns and a few maneuvers will occur over the coming weeks to position the satellite over 30-degrees West longitude.

Seven minutes later, the Koreasat 6 was then released on it's own and will head for a geostationary orbit over 116 degrees East. It will replace the Koreasat 3.

Koreasat will span 59 feet across space from one solar array tip to the second array tip, and also maneuver over the coming weeks into it's location.

The next Ariane 5 flight is scheduled for February, and will mark the 200th Ariane launch in the program's thirty-one year history.

Ariane 5 ES will carry aloft the European Automated Transfer Vehicle 2 on a resupply flight to the International Space Station.

Lift-off is planned for February 15 at 5:05 pm (22:05 GMT) from Kourou.

Europe's Ariane 5 awaits second launch try tonight

Ariane 5 on Tuesday evening after it's scrub. (arianespace)

Arianespace will try again this evening to launch the flagship of the European Space Agency on a multi-satellite delivery flight.

High upper level winds scrubbed last night's launch attempt of the Ariane at the T-7 minute mark.

The launch countdown began this morning, leading up toward fueling of the Ariane 5's main cryogenic first stage at 11:36 am EST, with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen fuels.

Launch is set for the opening of a 59 minute window at 4:27 pm (6:27 pm local) from the Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

The current weather forecast calls for scattered clouds at 2,300 feet, and a chance of thunderstorms in the hours before launch time. The weather worsens into New Year's Day and the weekend.

The Ariane heavy lift rocket will deliver two telecommunications satellites into geostationary orbit, the HISPASAT 1E and KOREASAT 6, beginning twenty-seven minutes into the flight.

Tonight's launch will mark the 55th flight of an Ariane 5 and the sixth of the year.

Ariane 5 prepares for Tuesday's end of year launch

Ariane prepares for it's sixth flight of 2010 today. (arianespace)

The final rocket launch of the year is scheduled for Tuesday from the jungles of South America.

This flight will also mark the fifty-fifth Ariane 5 flight in the program's history.

Arianespace's Ariane 5 heavy lift rocket is set to deliver two communications satellites into geostationary orbit, the HISPASAT 1E and KOREASAT 6.

Earlier today, the Ariane 5 launcher was moved from it's protective housing out to launch pad ELV-3 at Europe's Spaceport located in French Guiana.

Lift-off of the rocket's sixth flight of the year is planned for 4:26:07 pm EST (6:26 pm local time), the opening of a forty-nine minute launch window.

Once the 165-foot tall Ariane clears the launch tower, the rocket will aim out into the dark skies over the southern Atlantic Ocean powered by duel solid fuel boosters and a liquid fueled core Valcain 2 engine.

The Vulcain 2 uses a fuel mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen during it's nearly nine minute firing.

Just over two minutes into the climb to orbit, the spent boosters separate and fall into the Atlantic as the Ariane continues it's engine burn for another 6 1/2-minutes.

Seconds later, the first stage is jettisoned and the engine of the second stage ignites four seconds later.

The first of the satellites to be deployed will be the Hispasat at 4:53 pm, which will ride to space at the top of the stack inside the nose cone.

Over the next few weeks, Hispasat 1E will use it's thrusters to position itself in a geostationary orbit over 30 degrees West longitude.

The 11,704 pound Spanish satellite was built by Space Systems/ Loral and will carry 53 Ku-Band transponders to provide telecommunications service to western Europe and the Americas -- including high definition television.

Seven minutes later, the Koreasat 6 will be released on it's own and will head for a geostationary orbit over 116 degrees East.

Koreasat was built by Orbital Sciences Corporation and Thales Alenia Space for South Korea's Korea Telecom, and will also provide telecommunication service via 30 Ku-Band transponders.

Korea Telecom is a global communications company which supports broadband and satellite services, as well as sports teams.

Once on orbit, the satellite will span 59 feet across space from one solar array end to the second array end.

This flight will also mark the 199th flight of an Ariane rocket since arianespace was founded thirty years ago.

India's GSLV rocket explodes after launch

India's pride soared and a minute later fell as their hopes for a successful space program fell to earth for the second time this year.

Approximately 47 seconds after the GSLV F06 rocket lifted-off at 5:34 am EST (4:04 pm local) from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, and as the first stage continued to burn, the rocket exploded.

The 161-foot white rocket uses four strap-on liquid boosters and a solid fueled core engine at launch.

The core engine's burn time is about 100 seconds.

At the top of the rocket was the GSAT-5P geostationary communications satellite.

No solid information has been released as of this writing.

Santa Claus to approach Space Station tonight

Tracking map shows the Station in green and Santa in red.

Christmas Eve marks a special day for most Americans as they share their love and friendship with family and friends.

It will also mark a time in which jolly St. Nick flies over several NASA space centers and the International Space Station en route to the homes of children here in America.

Led by Rudolph and eight reindeer, Santa Claus is expected over the United States during a night time pass by the space station at about 9:03 pm EST, this evening.

The six person crew aboard the station are expected to train cameras on the sleigh for the brief three minute visit.

He is then expected to swoop down over the Kennedy Space Center prior to visiting the homes of children across Florida.

NORAD and Peterson AFB in Colorado will begin tracking Santa several hours earlier to assist with weather reports and air traffic, the military base stated to SpaceLaunch News.

We will have live updates tonight via our Twitter feed: @SpaceLaunchNews.

Merry Christmas.

Discovery returned to assembly building for tests

The transporter is moved under Discovery on Tuesday. (NASA)

In the hopes of performing new x-ray scans on the back side of the external tank, technicians moved space shuttle Discovery from her launch pad overnight to the vehicle assembly building.

The 3.4 mile rollback from launch pad 39-A to the massive assembly building began Tuesday night at 10:48 p.m. EST, following a one day delay due to a clearance issue with the crawler transporter.

It is the 1960's built crawler which travels underneath the space shuttle's launch platform and carries it to and from the launch pad at a speed of 1 m.p.h.

The combined stack of the space shuttle, mobile launcher platform and the crawler transporter weighs 17,501,000 pounds.

Discovery arrived back inside the building's high bay at 7:01 a.m. today, and will stay there until about January 14, the Johnson Space Center states.

This was the sixth time Discovery was hauled back to the assembly building from her launch pad, and only the 20th time in the space shuttle program.

Over the next three weeks, technicians will perform extensive x-ray inspections of the shuttle's rust-colored external fuel tank's inner tank area to check for cracks.

It is that region where several cracks were discovered following a November 5 launch scrub after cryogenic fuels began draining from the tank.

Discovery's fuel tank is loaded with 535,000 gallons of super cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen on launch day. The fuels are stored inside two inner tanks and at launch they mix together to power the orbiter's three main engines during the first eight minutes of flight.

The inner tank, or middle region, has a total of eight panels around its diameter, and two 2-inch thick aluminum panels at the section where the forward solid rocket boosters attach.

The Nov. 5 cracks were located on two of the 108 twenty-one foot long aluminum brackets known as stringers, and later were repaired at the launch pad.

Several panels could not be reached from at the launch pad to be x-rayed. Engineers will x-ray scan all 108 stringers and reapply new insulation once the tests are complete.

Crews will also remove several sensors from the external tank which were installed for a Dec. 17 fueling test.

The fueling of Discovery tank last Friday was to check if additional cracks would occur as the super cold fuels left; and to check an unrelated repaired bracket panel for leaking gaseous hydrogen which was the root cause of the launch scrub.

NASA managers are aiming to launch Discovery no earlier than February 3, however several at Kennedy have told this aerospace journalist that a slip of one week is likely.

Once underway, Discovery and her crew of six will fly up to the International Space Station for one week. The STS-133 mission is designed to add a new module for storage to the complex and deliver fresh supplies for the crew of two Americans, three Russians and one Italian.

Piloting Discovery on her 39th and final flight will be former Chamblee, Georgia resident Colonel Eric Boe.

Boe grew up in Atlanta and graduated from Henderson High School in 1983.

Boe's thoughts of growing up in metro Atlanta are many, "I remember, just getting started, being involved... very involved with sports in school and also a lot of other activities".

A veteran of a 2008 shuttle flight, Boe still keeps in touch with his connections in the area, "I still talk to friends back home in Atlanta", the Georgia Tech graduate said.

North America treated to total lunar eclipse

The moon during Tuesday morning's eclipse in this NASA image.

Overcast skies across the Unites States forced many amateur astronomers inside to watch Tuesday morning's lunar eclipse by way of live video on the Internet.

Clouds over much of the country disappointed astronomers from watching the celestial show on this the first day of winter as the earth wedged between the Sun and the moon.

Low clouds over metro Atlanta forced many residents to give up their backyard moon parties and observations and head indoors.

Bill Sullivan of Lawrenceville, Georgia, was one resident dejected by the cloudy evening.

"My son and I had hoped to watch the eclipse, but I guess we'll just have to watch it on TV or something," he told this reported by phone.

Along the Texas Gulf Coast, residents were treated to an astronomical show as clear skies prevailed.

A total lunar eclipse occurs when the earth moves between the Sun and the moon, thus the Sun's light is blocked from reflecting off the moon's surface. The Sun's rays however do pass through the earth's atmosphere generating an orange to red light upon the moon's surface.

Just as predicted, the totality, or time when the earth's shadow fully covered the 1,060 mile wide face of the moon, began at 2:41 a.m. EST, and lasted just over seventy minutes.

The earth's dark shadow then gave way to a redish light upon the lunar surface as the Sun's light beamed through our planet's atmosphere.

Several observers in the south described the total eclipse to this reporter as looking like a "copper penny" or "copper and red".

A camera aboard the International Space Station was able to catch several dramatic views of the eclipse from 220 miles above earth.

On a historic note, the last time a lunar eclipse occurred on the first day of the winter solstice was 372 years ago -- Dec. 21, 1638. A time when Galileo de' Galilei, the father of modern astronomy, was alive and well in Italy.

The next total lunar eclipse to be visible from North America will happen again in April 2014.

Inda's GSLV rocket launch scrubbed due to leak

India today has scrubbed Monday's launch attempt of their GSLV-F06 rocket with the GSAT-5P satellite bound for geostationary orbit.

The launch countdown was due to pickup at the T-29 hour point, however "a minor leak in one of the valves of the Russian Cryogenic stage" was discovered during checks of the vehicle prior to picking up the count, the country's Satish Dhawan Space Center stated.

The cryo stage in question is the third stage which uses a mixture of super cold liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen to burn the stage's KVD engine.

The 161-foot white rocket uses four strap-on liquid rocket boosters and a solid fueled core engine at launch. The core engine's burn time is about 100 seconds.

A new date will be announced in the coming days, the space center adds, once the reason for the leak is discovered.

A GSLV launch last April resulted in it's satellite reaching a lower than planned orbit and being lost.

America awaits total lunar eclipse on Tuesday

A total eclipse of the earth's moon on Tuesday will have sky watchers across North America braving cold temperatures to witness a rare celestial show.

Astronomers and space enthusiasts alike will have necks turned high and telescopes trained on earth's only natural satellite.

A total lunar eclipse is when the earth moves between the Sun and the moon, thus the Sun's direct light is blocked from reflecting off the moon's surface. Instead, the Sun's rays pass through the earth's atmosphere generating an orange to red light upon the moon's surface.

Astronomers from the east coast of the United States will begin to see the moon pass into the earth's shadow at 1:33 a.m. EST on Tuesday. Observers on the west coast will begin to see the eclipse at 10:33 p.m. local time Monday.

Even if you do not own a telescope, your own eyes or binoculars will do just fine.

As the earth flies around the Sun, and the moon orbits the earth, the totality -- or time when the earth's shadow fully covers the moon -- will last 72 minutes beginning at 2:41 a.m.

Weather permitting, thousands of amateur astronomers are expected to visit their local planetariums for the inside story on eclipse events on the first day of the winter solstice.

Cold temperatures and scattered clouds are forecast for the southeast early on Tuesday.

That's not stopping several we spoke with in north Georgia.

"I'm just planning on bundling up and letting my adrenaline fuel my observations on Tuesday morning," Jeff Weston of Alpharetta said on Friday.

At NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., a live camera feed of the eclipse is planned and can be viewed by visiting NASA's Eclipse page.

Also, follow this reporter via Twitter (@CAtkeison) for images and updates during the sky show.

This will be the last total lunar eclipse visible to North America until April 15, 2014.

New space station crew arrives at outpost

Newly docked Soyuz craft at Space Station (NASA TV)

A manned Russian spacecraft docked to the International Space Station on Friday following it's two day chase in earth orbit.

The Soyuz TMA-20 with an American, Russian and Italian docked to the station's Rassvett module at 3:11 pm EST (2011 GMT), as the two crafts flew 224 miles high in the darkness above southwestern Africa.

Russian Dmitry Kondratyev, American Catherine "Cady" Coleman and Italian Paolo Nespoli lifted off on Wednesday afternoon from Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket bound for a six month excursion in space.

The crew of three then spent several hours completing post-docking tasks, including the opening of three select hatches prior to joining the current space station residents.

At the time of docking, the total time in which Americans have continuously lived in space is 3,697 days.

The current Expedition 26 crew of three, led by commander Scott Kelly and flight engineers Alexander Kaleri and Oleg Skripochka, grew to six with the arrival of the craft's crew members.

Soyuz commander Kondratyev, 41 and the youngest of the three, is making his first spaceflight and will later command the space station this March as a member of the Expedition 27.

Flight engineer and NASA astronaut Coleman is making her third space flight having flown aboard space shuttle Columbia twice in 1995 and 1999. She celebrated her fiftieth birthday with friends at the launch site the day before her flight began.

Flight engineer Nespoli is a European Space Agency astronaut, and is the only member of the trio to have visited the station before having flown aboard shuttle Discovery in 2007.

On Christmas Eve, much of the world will have the opportunity to view the brightest star in the night sky as the nearly 1 million pound station flies over head.

The Johnson Space Center near Houston informed this reporter that the space station will pass over several American cities for three minutes. Sky watchers need to look after sunset as the massive complex will appear as a non-flashing star heading toward the horizon.

The newly arrived crew will also mark a milestone in spaceflight this April 12, as they help the planet celebrate humankind's first trip into space. Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin departed from the same launch pad in which the Soyuz launched on Wednesday.

SpaceX orbits and returns spacecraft today

Falcon 9 second stage engine above earth today. (SpaceX)

A private rocket company launched an unmanned spacecraft and returned it safely to earth today in a test flight for NASA to demonstrate future ferry flights to the International Space Station.

Space Exploration Technologies or Space X is a private company founded by PayPal founder Elon Musk. The company has developed their Falcon 9 rocket in support of lofting an unmanned cargo craft to the space station in 2011, and attempt human space flights over the next decade.

The 180-foot tall Falcon 9 launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with an active Dragon C1 craft at 10:43 am EST, following a brief delay due to a technical issue.

The white candle stick darted straight up and then out over the central Atlantic Ocean on a chilly, beautiful morning along the Space Coast.

The Falcon 9 later delivered the Dragon into an orbital inclination of 34.53 degrees, and an altitude of about 140 miles.

The active cargo craft performed two orbits of earth testing on board systems and performing several firings of it's eighteen cone-shaped thrusters.

The Dragon, loaded with patches, ID badges and not much else from the company's hundreds of employees, completed two orbits of the earth before being maneuvered for it's return to earth.

The craft made an on target splashdown at 2:04 pm about 500 miles east of the Mexican coastline, SpaceX announced.

"It was a moment of jubilant and great relief," Musk stated when asked of his thoughts as the parachutes opened and the craft approached landing.

"There's so much that can go wrong and it all went right," Musk added. "I'm sort of in semi-shock."

The ten-foot high, capsule styled module ran solely on lithium ion batteries on this brief flight. Future flights lasting several weeks will use dual solar arrays to generate power.

SpaceX is working toward launching a fully loaded supply craft to the space station as early as next November as NASA prepares to retire the space shuttle program. The Falcon 9 is rated to carry as much as 23,050 pounds to the space station.

Musk said on Wednesday he feels confident that his company can launch an empty craft to the station, fly around and return it back home. The first docking flight with the complex is scheduled for around November.

Only two planned shuttle flights are all that is left, and each will be destined to deliver supplies and equipment to earth's orbital outpost.

Russia, Japan and the European Space Agency will launch their own government ran supply crafts in January and February, each destined to bring supplies for their county's own module.

Commercial rocket delayed until 10:43 am EST

T-0 of the new Falcon 9 rocket now reset for 10:43 am EST this morning from Cape Canaveral.

The launch countdown earlier got down to just under 3 minutes before a hold was called followed by an engineer shouting, "Abort, abort, abort!".

SpaceX announced later that, ""We had a false abort on the Ordnance Interrupter (OI) ground feedback on position in our terminal count".

Adding that a false telemetry reading caused earlier abort.

The countdown has been recycled to the T-13 minute point and holding.

SpaceX successfully tests Falcon 9 engines as launch nears

Falcon 9's engines ignite this morning in a successful test.

A private rocket destined for trips to resupply the International Space Station performed a successful engine test this morning just days before it's launch.

A private company known as SpaceX is developing their Falcon 9 rocket in support of lofting an unmanned cargo craft to the space station in 2011, and human space flights over the next decade.

The engine test occurred at 10:50 am EST, and last a few seconds before computer commands were sent to shut the engines down.

Scheduled for launch on Tuesday, the Falcon 9 will carry a dummy test payload known as the the Dragon C resupply craft.

The launch window will run from 9:00 am thru 12:22 pm EST, on December 7.

The nearly ten-foot high Dragon is a capsule styled module designed to carry several tons of supplies to station; and according to the company's founder Elon Musk, it will begin carrying as many as seven astronauts into orbit by 2014.

The 180-foot tall rocket uses nine Merlin 1C main engines as it rises from launch complex 40 here at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and arcs out over the Atlantic waters.

Each Merlin 1C is fueled by a mixture of liquid oxygen and kerosene, and burn for nearly the first three minutes of ascent.

The first stage will then separate and the second stage's single engine will begin it's five minute burn.

SpaceX reminded this reporter that both the first and second stages are reusable, and following splash down can be recovered for a future flight.

According to SpaceX, the Falcon 9 is rated to carry as much as 23,050 pounds into low earth orbit, and up to 10,000 pounds into geostationary orbit.

NASA is watching over the shoulder of SpaceX as the space agency looks at using private companies in launching their astronauts and supplies to the Space Station.

In 2008, NASA approved for the company to pick up where the space shuttle will leave off in delivering supplies to earth's orbital outpost in space.

Currently, NASA has a contract with the Russian Space Agency in which American astronauts will use their Soyuz to reach earth's orbital outpost. NASA's direction under the Obama administration is to privatize space flight so that American's can ride their own vehicle's into earth orbit in the coming years beginning with Falcon 9.

The NASA directed Constellation program was scaled back to a lighter version of the Orion crew module, and will likely begin flying no earlier than 2015 from Kennedy Space Center.

Air Force X-37B space plane lands in California

The Air Force's first unmanned space shuttle glided home to a night time landing in California this morning following a historic mission.

The X-37B mini-shuttle made a pinpoint touchdown at Vandenberg, AFB northeast of Los Angeles today at 4:16 am EST, following nearly 225 days in space.

X-37B program manager Lt Col Troy Giese stated moments after landing, "We are very pleased that the program completed all the on-orbit objectives for the first mission."

The craft's long flight was cloaked in military silence, with little known about the performance of the craft and if any issues arose.

The X-37B is a winged, aerodynamic spacecraft with a similar style to NASA's space shuttle.

Launched from Florida last April 22, the X-37B craft has a wing span of nearly 15 feet and a 29-foot body length.

A second flight by a second unmanned vehicle is due to launch from Cape Canaveral around May 1.

Air Force space shuttle nears California landing

A prototype of an advanced space plane by the U.S. Air Force will make it's long awaited landing in California as early as Friday morning.

In earth orbit for nearly 225 days, the space plane's exact landing time is secret and will likely be announced in the final hour of it's flight.

The 29-foot long, 11,000-pound Orbital Test Vehicle (X37-B) is a white winged craft with a similar style as the U.S. space shuttle.

Air Force Space Command informed this reporter tonight that the craft is expected back on earth overnight tonight.

"The OTV has the potential to revolutionize how the Air Force operates in space by making space operations more aircraft like and adding in the capability for returnable plug-and-play experiments," David Hamilton, Director of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities office stated last week.

A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket lifted-off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on April 22, pushing the military spacecraft into earth orbit.

The X-37B has the ability to stay aloft for 270 days, the Air Force stated to this reporter.

During it's classified time in space, the robotic spacecraft was maneuvered around as ground controllers tested it's "advanced guidance, navigation and control, thermal protection systems, avionics and high temperature structures and seals", Staff Sgt. Vanessa Young reported.

The orbital vehicle is powered via Gallium Arsenide Solar Cells with lithium-Ion batteries.

Once the Air Force brings the reusable space plane home, it will reenter just like the space shuttle and will aim for a touchdown on runway 12 at Vandenberg, AFB, located northeast of Los Angeles.

The belly of the vehicle is protected with a black thermal protection system designed by NASA. The X37-B has a wing span of 14 feet, 11 inches from tip to tip.

Lt. Col. Troy Giese, the OTV systems program director said, "Upon being given the command to return to Earth, the X-37B will automatically descend through the atmosphere and land on the designated runway. There is no one on the ground with a joystick flying it."

If weather or technical issues arise on landing day, then Edwards, AFB will be called up with it's longer runway.

The question on the minds of most in both military and civilian uniforms are asking if this is a one time event, or the start of a second generation space shuttle.

The military was to have taken over shuttle Discovery in 1986 for DoD flights from Vandenberg. However fuel contamination issues and the Challenger break-up forced the cancellation of a military launch pad in California.

In 1999, NASA begun the X37 project, however the space agency handed it over to DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) in September 2004. DARPA is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.

DARPA, originally formed in 1958 as the Advanced Research Projects Agency, is an office designed to prevent technological surprises against the United States, such as the Soviets launch of Sputnik in 1957.

The OTV project partnership between the military, DARPA and NASA was announced in October 2006.

Following a successful flight, the next OTV flight with a second craft is slated for this spring.