A New Century

Earth's post-modern space era begins here...

On March 23, 2001, the Mir space station fell to the ground over the South Pacific, under command from mission control, reflecting the desire of many scientists that Russia’s manned space program focus its resources on building and operating the international space station. The International Space Station (ISS) was already underway at that time. The station’s first expedition crew, Russian cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Uyuri Gidzenko and American astronaut Bill Shepherd had arrived at the station, called Alpha, in November 2000. They were replaced in early March 2001 by the Expedition Two crew. The tenth science research mission on ISS began in October 2004. Arriving aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, the mission was designated 9S because it was the ninth Soyuz visit to the station. A two-person crew, consisting of Commander Leroy Chiao and Flight Engineer Salizhon Sharipoy , replaced Expedition 9 crew Michael Fincke and Gennedy Padalka.

There were also new robotic missions. In 1999, an orbiting x-ray telescope named Chandra was launched. It revealed the high-energy universe in greater detail than had ever been seen before. On February 12, 2001, the NEAR-Shoemaker spacecraft landed on the surface of the asteroid Eros. On September 22, 2001, Deep Space 1 flew by Comet Borrelly producing the sharpest pictures of a comet’s nucleus ever taken. The Mars Odyssey spacecraft entered Martian orbit in October 2001, where it soon began searching for water and mapping surface minerals. In March 2002, Shuttle astronauts installed a new camera on the Hubble telescope, extending its reach even further. In November 2004, Cassini, a Saturn orbiter, carried a European-built probe called Huygens to land on Saturn’s moon, Titan. A probe called Stardust, which was launched in 1999, rendezvoused with Comet Wild 2 in 2004, providing images of the comet, and is scheduled to return to Earth with dust samples in 2006.

The Pioneer 10 spacecraft continues to head out into space. In 1983, it became the first manmade object to cross Pluto’s’ orbit. On March 1, 2002, controllers on Earth sent it a signal, which was then 7.4 billion miles from Earth and moving at a speed of over 27,000 miles per hour. NASA received a response 22 hours later at its 210-foot dish antenna in Madrid. The response included data on the intensity of cosmic rays in deep space. Pioneer 10 was first launched in 1972; scientists hope that, for a few years more, it will continue to relay data to Earth as it crosses interstellar space.