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The Senator Returns to Orbit.
On October 29, 1998, Space Shuttle Discovery lifted
off from Kennedy Space Center on mission STS-95.
Aboard was 77-year-old Senator John H. Glenn, Jr.,
returning to space 36 years after becoming the first
American to orbit the Earth aboard Friendship 7.
Senator Glenn served as a payload specialist on a
nine-day mission, completing 134 orbits and helping
conduct experiments on the relationship between aging
and the physiological effects of spaceflight. Discovery
returned safely to Kennedy Space Center on November 7,
1998.
» Read the STS-95 mission summary
» See photos from the flight deck
» Watch the launch (RealVideo)
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"We choose to go to the Moon —
and to do the other things,
not because they are easy,
but because they are hard."
— President John F. Kennedy, Rice University, September 12, 1962
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International Space Station
Construction has begun. The Russian-built Zarya
module reached orbit on November 20, 1998. The U.S.-built
Unity connecting node, delivered by Endeavour on
STS-88, was mated to Zarya on December 4. Permanent crew
operations are planned for 2000.
» ISS assembly schedule
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Mars Pathfinder & Sojourner
Pathfinder landed in Ares Vallis on July 4, 1997. The
tiny Sojourner rover — the first wheeled
robot to operate beyond the Earth-Moon system —
spent 83 sols exploring Martian terrain. The mission
concluded on March 10, 1998.
» Pathfinder image gallery
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Galileo at Jupiter
The Galileo orbiter continues its extended mission
around Jupiter, returning detailed observations of the
Jovian moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. Recent
images suggest a liquid-water ocean beneath Europa's
icy crust.
» Galileo mission updates
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Cassini en Route to Saturn
Launched October 15, 1997, the Cassini-Huygens
spacecraft is en route to Saturn for arrival in 2004.
Cassini will spend at least four years in the Saturnian
system; the Huygens probe will descend through Titan's
atmosphere.
» Cassini mission profile
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Other Active Missions.
The Hubble Space Telescope continues to return
breakthrough imagery from low Earth orbit, including
deep-field exposures and observations of distant
galaxies. Lunar Prospector, launched January 6,
1998, is mapping the Moon's gravity, magnetism, and
surface composition from polar orbit. The
Mars Climate Orbiter, launched December 11, 1998,
is on a nine-month cruise to the Red Planet to study
Martian weather and water history.
» Complete missions list
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Did You Know?
NASA was established by the National Aeronautics and
Space Act of 1958, signed into law by President
Eisenhower. As a U.S. Government agency, all NASA
images, video, and scientific data are released into
the public domain and are freely available
to schools, libraries, journalists, and the general
public.
» Browse the public image archive
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