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/ 9:02 a.m. CT (1402 GMT)
Atlantis leaves on last museum move: On Friday, space shuttle Atlantis left on its last move and the final delivery of an orbiter to a museum for exhibit. Atlantis, riding aboard a 76-wheel NASA transporter, exited Kennedy Space Center's 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at dawn and was expected to pull up to the center's visitor complex 12 hours later. Once there, Atlantis will roll into a new $100 million facility, opening to the public in 2013.
/ 12:22 p.m. CT (1722 GMT)
Last out, last in: Space shuttle Atlantis, the last of NASA's orbiters to return from space, became the final shuttle to be delivered to a museum for exhibit on Friday. Arriving at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex just before sunset, Atlantis was welcomed by a parade of more than 30 astronauts and a fireworks display before entering its new $100 million home. Visitor Complex guests can get an up-close "sneak peek" at Atlantis through Nov. 11; its finished display will then open to the public in July 2013.
/ 6:51 a.m. CT (1251 GMT)
'No-go' for astronaut candidate: Voters in California's 10th District on Tuesday passed over astronaut Jose Hernandez, choosing to reelect incumbent Jeff Denham, an almond farmer and Air Force veteran, instead. With all precincts reporting, Hernandez received 46.2 percent of the votes. Had Hernandez won, he would've been the sixth member of Congress to have flown in space. Bill Nelson, who like Hernandez flew on the space shuttle, won his bid Tuesday for reelection to the Senate representing Florida.
/ 9:38 a.m. CT (1538 GMT)
Seattle's shuttle opening: The Museum of Flight in Seattle is opening its Full Fuselage Trainer space shuttle mockup to public tours on Saturday. Used by every astronaut to fly aboard the winged orbiters, the FFT will now be used to teach museum visitors about the shuttle, life in space and how what we've learned will lead to trips into the solar system. Guests are welcome to wander into the 60 foot payload bay and some may have the chance to enter the crew cabin to explore where the astronauts trained.
/ 6:00 a.m. CT (1200 GMT)
Planet collectSPACE? It is estimated there are 160 billion planets populating our galaxy, so why not name one collectSPACE? That's more or less the idea behind a new website from the space startup Uwingu (pronounced "oo-wing-oo"), which gives anyone with an extra 99 cents the chance to nominate or vote for a potential name for an extrasolar planet. The leading 1,000 names will be shared with planet hunters for consideration and the proceeds will go to funding space exploration, research and education.
/ 6:00 p.m. CT (0000 GMT Nov 16) - UPDATED
Cece Bibby (1928-2012): An artist by talent and trade, Cecelia "Cece" Bibby became the first to design and apply the insignia to the outside of a US manned spacecraft headed for orbit in 1962. Bibby worked with three of the Mercury astronauts – John Glenn, Scott Carpenter and Wally Schirra – to customize their space capsules and, in the process, saw her artwork lift off into history. Bibby, 84, died on Wednesday, according to friends close to her.
/ 10:34 p.m. CT (0434 GMT Nov 19)
Soyuz TMA-05M lands: Three members of the Expedition 33 crew undocked from the International Space Station and returned to Earth Sunday, wrapping up a mission lasting four months. ISS commander Sunita "Suni" Williams of NASA, flight engineer Akihiko Hoshide with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko separated their Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft from the station at 4:26 p.m. CST and landed northeast of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, at 7:56 p.m. The three orbited Earth 2,032 times and traveled 54,090,628 miles over the course of their 127 days in space (125 spent aboard the station).
/ 7:00 a.m. CT (1300 GMT)
Turkey in space: What do one Skylab crew, eight space shuttle crews, and 12 expedition crews living onboard the International Space Station share in common? Turkey in space. The astronauts (and cosmonauts, too) spent Thanksgiving off the planet. The history of turkey in space goes beyond Earth orbit, too — to the moon and back.
/ 6:00 a.m. CT (1200 GMT)
Houston, 905 has landed: One of NASA's most familiar and recognizable aircraft, the modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) 905, has landed at Ellington Field in Houston, to end 35 years of service to the now-former space shuttle program. The jumbo jet, which was used to ferry the orbiters around the country and to their museum homes, will be retired and eventually placed on public display near NASA's Johnson Space Center.
/ 9:37 a.m. CT (1537 GMT)
A trip around the sun: NASA, the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos, and their international partners have selected veteran space travelers Mikhail Kornienko and Scott Kelly for a one-year expedition on board the International Space Station in 2015. The 12-month mission will include collecting science data important to the future of human exploration out into the solar system.
/ 4:38 p.m. CT (2238 GMT)
Minnesota's moon rocks: Five tiny pieces of the moon have turned up in the Veterans Services Building in St. Paul, Minn., where they have been stored with military artifacts, the National Guard revealed this week. The Apollo 11 lunar sample display, which was among the 185 gifted to the states, U.S. territories and foreign nations, will be transferred to the Minnesota Historical Society for safe keeping and display. The find is just the latest chapter in a decade long search for the missing goodwill moon rocks.
/ 9:59 p.m. CT (0359 GMT Nov 30)
Neil A Armstrong Flight Research Center: Five years after a similar effort, lawmakers from California are again looking to rename NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center after Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. Congressmen "Buck" McKeon and Kevin McCarthy have introduced a bill to redesignate the center as the Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center as a "small token of our public gratitude" for the moonwalker and to ensure "his legacy is honored for generations to come." The bill would move Hugh L. Dryden's name to the center's test range in recognition of the prominent aeronautical engineer's role as NASA's first deputy administrator, from 1958 to 1965.
/ 9:40 p.m. CT (0340 GMT Dec 1)
Atlantis raised (and tilted): Inside its $100 million exhibit facility, space shuttle Atlantis has now been shrink-wrapped, lifted into the air and tilted exactly 43.21 degrees. The end result is that visitors next summer will get to see the orbiter as it looked in space. With Atlantis now in place, work at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will turn to completing the building and moving in the more than 60 exhibits that will help share the shuttle's story.
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