Space News for June 18, 1999

Space Station Nearly Struck By Debris

NASA controllers attempted to fire the International Space Station’s rockets to move it out of the way of a piece of Russian space junk which was going to pass too close for comfort. Unfortunately, the computer program designed to execute the maneuver crashed the ISS for 90 minutes. Fortunately the debris missed the station by a safe margin.

ABC News
FOX News
MSNBC

Mir Will Have One Last Crew

Although they’re still planning for Mir’s fiery destruction later this year, Russian space officials have announced they’ll be sending one final crew to the doomed station. It’s still unknown how the Russians will be able to guide Mir’s 100 tonnes safely back to Earth and crash into an uninhabited area.

BBC News
SpaceViews

Hubble Completes Image of Spiral Galaxy

Hubble finished what it started over four years ago, when it completed imaging of spiral galaxy NGC 4414. The image was obtained by Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera through three different colour filters.

CNN Space

Gemini Demonstrates its Power on Pluto

The new Gemini telescope in Hawaii’s first target was the planet Pluto, which it resolved with a level of quality equal to the Hubble Space Telescope. This telescope, with its Chilean twin has 10 times the resolution power of any telescope on Earth.

BBC News