[Friday, September 1, 2006] Millie Hughes-Fulford, PhD, will send human T-cells up to the International Space Station aboard ISS Soyuz 13. That science mission, operated by ESA, is scheduled to launch from Baikonur between September 14 and September 18, 2006.

[Wednesday, September 6, 2006] During the next two weeks, the robotic geologist is likely to reach the rim of a hole in the Martian surface wider and deeper than any it has visited. The crater, known as "Victoria," is approximately 750 meters wide and 70 meters deep.

[Thursday, September 7, 2006] Enceladus (505 kilometers across) is a source of much interest for planetary scientists, being nearly seven times smaller than Earth's own moon, yet having active geology that appears to involve near-surface liquid water.

[Thursday, September 7, 2006] Astronomers have photographed one of the smallest objects ever seen around a normal star beyond our Sun. 12 times the mass of Jupiter, the object is small enough to be a planet. It's also large enough to be a brown dwarf, a failed star.

[Thursday, September 7, 2006] More than one-third of the giant planet systems recently detected outside Earth's solar system may harbor Earth-like planets, many covered in deep oceans with potential for life, according to a new study.

[Thursday, September 7, 2006] Boston University today announced it has received an eight-year, $42.5 million contract from NASA to study Earth's radiation belts, a region which can be dangerous to astronauts and orbiting satellites.

[Monday, September 11, 2006] NASA will fund a dozen new research proposals to better understand and reduce the risks that crews of future moon and Mars missions could face from space radiation. The total potential value of the selected proposals is approximately $14 million.

[Thursday, September 14, 2006] It is only a matter of time before astronomers find an Earth-sized planet orbiting a distant star. When they do, the first questions people will ask are: Is it habitable? And even more importantly, is there life present on it already?

[Thursday, September 14, 2006] Using a network of small automated telescopes, astronomers have discovered a planet unlike any other known world. This new planet, designated HAT-P-1, orbits one member of a pair of distant stars 450 light-years away in the constellation Lacerta.

[Thursday, September 14, 2006] Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) has detected what appears to be a massive ethane cloud surrounding Titan's north pole. The cloud might be snowing ethane snowflakes into methane lakes below.

[Tuesday, September 19, 2006] Scientists using NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope have discovered and directly imaged a small brown dwarf star, 50 times the mass of Jupiter, orbiting with a planet around a Sun-like star.

[Tuesday, September 19, 2006] Earth is captured here in a natural color portrait made possible by the passing of Saturn directly in front of the sun from Cassini's point of view.

[Wednesday, September 27, 2006] NASA hosts a science update at 1 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, Oct. 4, to discuss a Hubble Space Telescope discovery of extrasolar planet candidates orbiting a variety of distant stars. The update will be in the NASA HQ Auditorium, 300 E Street S.W., Washington.

[Wednesday, September 27, 2006] Astronomers have discovered two new planets outside our solar system, both extremely close to their stars and thus among the hottest ever found.

[Thursday, September 28, 2006] With the VISIR instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope, astronomers have mapped the disc around a star more massive than the Sun. The very extended and flared disc most likely contains enough gas and dust to spawn planets.

[Friday, September 29, 2006] This Cassini radar image shows two lakes "kissing" each other on the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. The image from a flyby on Sept. 23, 2006, covers an area about 60 kilometers (37 miles) wide by 40 kilometers (25 miles) high.