International Space Station

Set your galactic alarms, space cadets! The International Space Station will be making an early-morning flyover tomorrow, and I want you all out there waving to its lonely crew - two men and a woman, on board since Sept. 20. NASA's acre-wide Tinkertoy will soar from Louisiana to Maine at 17,500 mph. Weather permitting, look for a bright, star-like object above the western horizon at 6:34 a.m., rising more than halfway up the northwestern sky by 6:36 before winging off toward the northeast, into the dawn.

Space Cadets! The forecast is poor, but in case there's a break in the clouds, I'll alert you to two potentially fine flyovers this week by the International Space Station. At 6:18 p.m. today, the station will appear in the northwestern sky, fly past the bright star Vega and climb high overhead before disappearing into the Earth's shadow. At 6:21 p.m. Saturday, the station rises in the northwest at 5:25 p.m. and flies directly over Baltimore at 5:28 p.m. before vanishing in the southeast.

HOUSTON -- Astronauts added a room to the International Space Station yesterday morning, working outside the station and inside to move the Harmony module, which will serve as a connection point for two new laboratories in the station, to a temporary location on the side of the station. The space station's robot arm, operated by Stephanie Wilson and Daniel Tani, smoothly moved the 16-ton module out of the shuttle and onto the station, where automatic bolts secured it in a temporary home to the side of the station's living quarters.

Heads up, space cadets! If skies clear as predicted, Baltimore stargazers should get a brief view of the International Space Station around dinnertime tonight. On this pass, our giant Tinker Toy in the sky will rise above the northwest horizon at 6:31 p.m. as it soars over Michigan and Ohio toward Washington. Tell the kids to watch for a steady, starlike light hustling toward the zenith (straight up). At 6:34 p.m., 220 miles overhead, the ISS and crew will slide into Earth's shadow and vanish.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- With their flawless docking behind them, Discovery's astronauts went on a spacewalk late last night to spruce up the outside of the new international space station.Tamara Jernigan and Daniel Barry floated out of the space shuttle around 11 p.m. The seven-story-plus station loomed above them, jutting straight out of Discovery's cargo bay."Unbelievable!" Jernigan said as she unlocked the hatch.Among their duties during the six-hour outing: attaching a pair of 5-foot cranes to the exterior of the station, hanging out three bags of tools for future spacewalkers, installing a glare-reducing shroud over a docking target, and covering an exposed pin.The spacewalk was expected to last into the wee hours of this morning.

When Icarus flew too close to the sun, the heat melted the wax that held his homemade wings together and sent him plummeting to his death.The sun's energy still poses significant, unseen hazards for those who fly too high.Take Russia's aging Mir space station. Launched 13 years ago, Mir has outlasted computer crashes, a fire, a collision with an unmanned supply ship, its five-year life expectancy and even the Soviet Union that designed and built it.More than 100 people, including seven U.S. astronauts, have visited Mir for research in science, engineering and long-term weightlessness.

MOSCOW -- It was the middle of another tumultuous day.One Russian region threatened to secede, three secret police officers gave a press conference to declare they were not terrorists and killers, a pensioner set himself on fire on Red Square and the first stage of a new international space station blasted off into orbit.And the nation's main television news program fell silent.Court officers serving a debt collection order yesterday had impounded the cars and trucks belonging to ORT, the main TV channel and voice of the establishment, and its cameramen were unable to cover the news.

Problems with Russia's space program have delayed its main contribution to the proposed international space station, endangering the entire project, some experts say.The Russian module is a centerpiece of the orbiting outpost, which involves 15 nations and is expected to cost at least $50 billion and be the size of a football field. The station is meant to symbolize, and help foster, a new era of East-West accord and is an important part of the Clinton administration's Russia policy. It is also NASA's biggest and most politically complex project.

ARLINGTON, Va. -- When the Progress cargo ship hit the Russian space station Mir last month, the U.S. astronaut Mike Foale heard ''a big thump, a thud.'' The noise reverberated as an explosion in U.S. political and analytical circles, after a series of recent mishaps to Mir operations, including an on-board fire, failure of an oxygen generator and leaks in the cooling system.Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, who is known for his criticism of the growing Russian involvement in U.S. space activities, asked the NASA administrator, Daniel Goldin, to give his personal assurances, based on independent evaluations, that Mir meets or exceeds U.S. space-safety standards before the next U.S. astronaut is put aboard the station.

IT IS DIFFICULT to have confidence in the Russian government's promise to budget the money needed to fulfill its role in building an international space station. Russia's prior verbal support for the project has not translated into the funds necessary to prevent dangerous delays. It now appears the Russians are a year behind in building a service module scheduled for launch in April 1998. They now contend it will be ready by November 1998, but that's hard to believe.The country is cash-starved and its leadership is tenuous.

Jay Slater of Baltimore watched Sunday's flyover by the International Space Station. He asks: "Why does it appear much lower and brighter than airplanes also in the sky?" A clear, dark sky provides no reference points by which to judge distance. So our brains interpret brighter as closer. A gigantic space station reflecting sunlight is far brighter than aircraft lights, so the ISS - 212 miles up - seems closer. Up-to-the-minute local data and radar at marylandweather.com

Attention, Space Cadets! If the skies clear in time tonight, we'll get a fine view of the International Space Station and its crew of three as they zip from Alabama to Maine. Look for a bright, star-like object above the western horizon at 9:56 p.m. It will climb to more than halfway up the northwest sky by 9:59, to just below the Big Dipper, then race off toward the northeast, disappearing at 10:01 p.m.

Attention, Space Cadets! Planning an early start Friday? Catch the International Space Station before dawn as it races toward Maine atop clear skies. Our giant money pit will fly into sunlight at 4:51 a.m., appearing like a bright, moving star well above the northwest horizon. At 4:52 it will pass the handle of the Big Dipper. Wave as it slips away to the northeast, disappearing at 4:55 a.m.

Space Cadets! Shuttle Discovery remains on the pad, but the International Space Station flies on. Tonight's pass will be clouded out, so try again on Tuesday. Look for a bright, star-like object rising in the southwest at 7:39 p.m. It will fly close to the bright star Aldebaran in Taurus, then pass the zenith - straight up - at 7:42 p.m. The ISS will disappear into the Earth's shadow at 7:46.

Space cadets! Up early with the dog? Watch the International Space Station as it flies 220 miles over Baltimore early Saturday. It will rise in the northwest at 5:36 a.m., as bright as Venus, pass the Big Dipper and soar directly overhead at 5:39 a.m. From there, it slides off to the southeast, disappearing at 5:42 a.m. Please pick up after your pet.

Space cadets! Do you have to work on Presidents Day? Me too. As long as we're up, let's step outside for a look at the International Space Station. If skies are clear, watch it rise like a star in the southwest tomorrow at 6:22 a.m. Climbing past the waning moon, it will be high in the southeast by 6:25 a.m. It slips between Vega and Altair before vanishing in the northeast at 6:28. Then it's off to work we go.

Space cadets! Did you miss the International Space Station on Thursday? Shoo the clouds and watch the ISS and docked shuttle Endeavour as they cross the sky tonight, 221 miles over Baltimore. The pair will rise at 5:29 p.m., in the southwest, just to the right of bright Venus and Jupiter. They'll be high overhead by 5:32, passing very close to the bright star Vega, before moving off toward the northeast.

Space Cadets! First, welcome to the new Weather Page. We've moved. We're leaner. But the WeatherBlog is still here. If skies are clear Wednesday morning you can watch the International Space Station fly up the East Coast and soar right over Baltimore. Look for a bright, star-like object rising in the southwest at 5:56 a.m. It will be 230 miles straight up by 5:59 before heading into the dawn, disappearing at 6:02 a.m.

The Russian invasion of Georgia complicated what was already a major headache for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration: how to get to and from the International Space Station, which was funded mostly by U.S. taxpayer dollars, after NASA's aging fleet of space shuttles retires in 2010. NASA expected Russian rockets to ferry its astronauts between 2010 and 2015, when the shuttle's replacement is due to fly. But a chill in U.S.-Russian relations could throw a monkey wrench into that plan.

Attention, space cadets! If skies stay clear enough, Marylanders can step outside this evening and watch the $100 billion-plus International Space Station as it flies up the East Coast. Look for a very bright, star-like object rising above the southwestern horizon at 9:48 p.m. The ISS will climb about halfway up the southeastern sky by 9:51. It will be nearly as bright as Jupiter, visible just below it. Zipping away at 17,500 mph, the station will fade to black, low in the northeast, at 9:53.