Aug. 18, 2006 Michael Braukus/Beth Dickey Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1979/2087 Kelly Humphries Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 RELEASE: 06-295 NASA SELECTS CREW AND CARGO TRANSPORTATION TO ORBIT PARTNERS NASA selected SpaceX, El Segundo, Calif. and Rocketplane-Kistler, Oklahoma City, to develop and demonstrate commercial orbital transportation services that could open new markets and pave the way for contracts to launch and deliver crew and cargo to the International Space Station. NASA and ...Continue Reading

Aug. 18, 2006 David Steitz/Sonja Alexander Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1730/1761 Jonas Dino Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. 650-604-5612 RELEASE: 06-296 NASA AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT TOOL WINS SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR AWARD The Future Air traffic management Concepts Evaluation Tool (FACET) was selected as NASA's 2006 Software of the Year. The FACET software is designed to help improve the safety and efficiency of the national airspace system and is being recognized for innovation and significant co ...Continue Reading

SPACE.com Update for August 18, 2006 A {color: 333366; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: bold}  * DESTINATIONS:* *News* *|* *SpaceFlight* *|* *Science/Astronomy* *|* *SETI* *|*   *Space Business News* *August 18, 2006*   *TOP STORY* *posted: August 18, 2006 11:24 am EDT* *What a Sight! The Moon and Three Planets*Three planets and a crescent Moon will be putting on an ever-changing display ...Continue Reading

Aug. 17, 2006 Erica Hupp Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1237 Donna Weaver Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore 410-338-4493 RELEASE: 06-292 HUBBLE SEES FAINTEST STARS IN A GLOBULAR CLUSTER NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has uncovered what astronomers are reporting as the dimmest stars ever seen in any globular star cluster. Globular clusters are spherical concentrations of hundreds of thousands of stars. These clusters formed early in the 13.7-billion-year-old universe. The cluster NGC 6397 is ...Continue Reading

The following sections were updated since 16 August 2006. -- FIRE (1 updated events, 1 new images) -- CHARLESTON FIRE, NORTHERN NEVADA In northeastern Nevada, a 20,000-acre fire was racing through sagebrush, grass, and juniper on August 16, 2006. * http://naturalhazards.nasa.gov/shownh.php3?img_id=13786 *** MODIS(Aqua) image from Aug 16 2006 (Posted on Aug 17 2006 10:26AM) -- FLOOD (1 updated events, 2 new images) -- FLOODS ACROSS AFRICA'S SAHEL The Sahel region of Africa was about halfway through the rainy season ...Continue Reading

Aug. 17, 2006 Erica Hupp/Dwayne Brown Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1237/1726 Rachel Weintraub Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. 301-286-0918 RELEASE: 06-294 NASA SATELLITES WILL IMPROVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE SUN NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory mission will dramatically improve understanding of the powerful solar eruptions that can send more than a billion tons of the sun's outer atmosphere hurtling into space. The STEREO mission comprises two nearly identical spacecraft the size ...Continue Reading

LiveScience.com Thursday, August 17, 2006 ...Continue Reading

Space Weather News for August 17, 2006 http://spaceweather.com AURORA WATCH: An explosion on the sun yesterday (Aug. 16) hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) toward Earth. The approaching cloud could spark a geomagnetic storm when it arrives, probably on August 18th. Sky watchers should be alert for auroras. If a storm erupts, the best displays will be at higher latitudes: e.g., Alaska, Canada, and Scandinavia. However, auroras could descend to lower latitudes, too, spreading across northern-tier US states from Ma ...Continue Reading

Aug. 17, 2006 Allard Beutel Headquarters, Washington 202-358-4769 James Hartsfield Johnson Space Center, Houston 281-483-5111 MEDIA ADVISORY: M06-131 NASA ANNOUNCES BRIEFINGS TO DISCUSS SPACE STATION MISSIONS NASA will hold two media briefings next week on the current and next missions to the International Space Station. The briefings will occur at 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 22, and will be broadcast live on NASA TV. The briefings will focus on the station's ongoing Expedition 13 mission and the u ...Continue Reading

SPACE.com Update for August 17, 2006 A {color: 333366; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 8pt; font-weight: bold}  * DESTINATIONS:* *News* *|* *SpaceFlight* *|* *Science/Astronomy* *|* *SETI* *|*   *Space Business News* *August 17, 2006*   *TOP STORY* *posted: August 17, 2006 10:49 am EDT* *Orion Unveiled: Spitzer Telescope Spies NebulaÂ’s Infrared Secrets*The Spitzer Space Telescope has taken an unpre ...Continue Reading