Space News Update - March 25, In the News Story 1: Tough Choices Ahead for NASA's Planetary Program Story 2: NASA, ULA Showcase Delta IV Boosters for Orion EFT-1 Story 3: Story 3: Curiosity Pulls into Kimberly and Spies Curvy Terrain for Drilling Action Departments The Night Sky ISS Sighting Opportunities Space Calendar NASA-TV Highlights Food for Thought Space Image of the Week

Tough Choices Ahead for NASA's Planetary Program

NASA, ULA Showcase Delta IV Boosters for Orion EFT-1

Curiosity Pulls into Kimberly and Spies Curvy Terrain for Drilling Action

The Night Sky Sky & Telescope Tuesday, March 25 The biggest and brightest asteroids, 1 Ceres and 4 Vesta respectively, are only about 2° apart in eastern Virgo in the early morning hours, some 12° northeast of Mars. They've brightened to magnitudes 7.3 and 6.1, respectively. They'll be at opposition in mid-April. Wednesday, March 26 As dawn brightens on Thursday morning the 27th, you'll find Venus near the thin waning crescent Moon, as shown here. Thursday, March 27 On the traditional divide between the winter and spring sky is the dim constellation Cancer. It's between Gemini to its west and Leo to its east. Cancer holds a unique object: the Beehive Star Cluster, M44, in its middle. The Beehive shows to the naked eye as a dim, cloudy glow if your sky is fairly dark. Look for it a little less than halfway from Pollux to Regulus. With binoculars it's a snap even in a polluted sky. Friday, March 28 The huge, bright Winter Hexagon nearly fills the southwestern sky at dusk. Start with bright Sirius in the south, marking the Hexagon's lower left corner. High above Sirius is Procyon. From there look even higher to Pollux and Castor with bright Jupiter below them, then from Castor farther lower right to Menkalinen and Capella, then lower left to Aldebaran, then duck lower left around to Rigel at the bottom of Orion, and back to Sirius. Within the Hexagon shine Jupiter and Betelgeuse.

ISS Sighting Opportunities Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting InformationSatellite Sighting Information ISS For Denver : DateVisibleMax HeightAppearsDisappears Tue Mar 25, 4:29 AM< 1 min10°10 above NNE Tue Mar 25, 6:04 AM3 min13°10 above NNW11 above NE Wed Mar 26, 5:14 AM2 min11°10 above NNW10 above NNE Thu Mar 27, 4:26 AM< 1 min10°10 above N10 above NNE Thu Mar 27, 6:01 AM3 min19°10 above NNW18 above NE Fri Mar 28, 5:12 AM3 min15°10 above NNW13 above NE

NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone) Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA websiteNASA website MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA MAVEN Launch November 18, 2013 NASA March 25, Tuesday 7:45 a.m. - ISS Expedition 39 In-Flight Event for JAXA with the Mainichi Newspapers and the Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology - JSC (NTV-1 and NTV-3) 4:15 p.m. - ISS Expedition 39/40 Soyuz TMA-12M Launch Coverage (Launch scheduled at 5:17 p.m. ET; includes video B-roll of the crew’s pre-launch activities at 4:25 p.m. ET) - JSC via Baikonur, Kazakhstan (All Channels) 7 p.m. - Video File of ISS Expedition 39/40 Soyuz TMA-12M Pre-Launch, Launch Video B-Roll and Post-Launch Interviews - JSC (All Channels) 10:30 p.m. - ISS Expedition 39/40 Soyuz TMA-12M Docking Coverage (Docking scheduled at 11:04 p.m. ET) - JSC (All Channels) March 26, Wednesday 12:15 a.m. - ISS Expedition 39/40 Soyuz TMA-12M Hatch Opening and Other Activities (Hatch Opening scheduled at 12:45 a.m. ET) - JSC via Baikonur, Kazakhstan (All Channels) 2:30 a.m. - Video File of ISS Expedition 39/40 Soyuz TMA-12M Docking, Hatch Opening and Other Activities - JSC (All Channels) 12:30 - 4:30 p.m. - NASA’s Asteroid Initiative Opportunities Forum - HQ (NTV-1, NTV-3) 2 - 2:30 p.m. - NASA Exploration Design Challenge - JSC (NTV-2) March 27, Thursday 11:40 a.m. - ISS Expedition 39 In-Flight Interviews with KSNV-TV, Las Vegas and KUSA-TV, Denver - JSC (All Channels)

Space Calendar JPL Space Calendar Mar 25 - Soyuz TMA-12M Soyuz FG Launch (International Space Station 38S) Mar 25 - NROL-67 Atlas 5 Launch Mar 25 - Comet 76P/West-Kohoutek-Ikemura Closest Approach To Earth (2.338 AU) Mar 25 - Asteroid 3122 Florence Closest Approach To Earth (1.546 AU) Mar 26 - Comet C/2014 C3 (NEOWISE) At Opposition (1.075 AU) Mar 26 - Asteroid 2013 FD8 Near-Earth Flyby (0.085 AU) Mar 26 - Asteroid Kriegh Closest Approach To Earth (1.047 AU) Mar 26 - Asteroid Whitneyclavin Closest Approach To Earth (1.559 AU) Mar 26 - Asteroid 624 Hektor Closest Approach To Earth (4.141 AU) Mar 27 - Comet 17P/Holmes Perihelion (2.057 AU) Mar 27 - Comet 288P At Opposition (2.664 AU) Mar 27 - Comet 117P/Helin-Roman-Alu Perihelion (3.056 AU) Mar 27 - Asteroid Dennisritchie Closest Approach To Earth (1.825 AU) Mar 27 - Asteroid 6042 Chesirecat Closest Approach To Earth (3.441 AU) Mar th Anniversary (1969), Mariner 7 Launch (Mars Flyby Mission) Mar 28 - Asteroid NASA Closest Approach To Earth (1.404 AU) Mar 28 - Asteroid 4659 Roddenberry Closest Approach To Earth (1.870 AU) Mar 28 - Asteroid 2099 Opik Closest Approach To Earth (2.142 AU) Mar 28 - Asteroid Babylon Closest Approach To Earth (2.899 AU) Mar 29 - Asteroid Beowolf Closest Approach To Earth (1.117 AU) Mar 29 - Asteroid Peru Closest Approach To Earth (1.136 AU) Mar 29 - Asteroid 1430 Somalia Closest Approach To Earth (1.872 AU) Mar 29 - Asteroid Yucatan Closest Approach To Earth (1.942 AU) Mar 29 - Asteroid Tigerlily Closest Approach To Earth (2.124 AU) Mar 29 - Asteroid 2866 Hardy Closest Approach To Earth (2.448 AU)

Food for Thought NASA's Van Allen Probes Reveal Zebra Stripes in Space New Technique Puts Exoplanets on the Scale

Space Image of the Week The Antennae Galaxies in Collision Image Credit: Hubble Legacy Archive, NASA, ESA; Processing & Copyright: Davide Coverta