09.08.09 - As it nears 11,000,000 miles distance from Earth, the Kepler spacecraft continues to scan the Milky Way galaxy, near the Cygnus constellation, for Earth-sized planets.
08.21.09 - Kepler is more than 10,000,000 miles from Earth and continues in its drift away, heliocentric orbit.
08.06.09 - NASA's new exoplanet-hunting Kepler space telescope has detected the atmosphere of a known giant gas planet, demonstrating the telescope's extraordinary scientific capabilities.
08.03.09 - NASA will hold a media briefing on Thursday, Aug. 6, at 11 a.m. PDT, to discuss early science results of the Kepler mission. Kepler is the first spacecraft with the ability to find Earth-size planets orbiting stars like our sun in a zone where liquid water could exist.
07.23.09 - Kepler remains in its science attitude and Earth-trailing, helio-centric orbit.
07.07.09 - On July 4, Kepler passed a point 12,500,000 kilometers (7,767,140 miles) from Earth.
06.19.09 - Kepler is more than 10,700,000 kilometers (about 6,600,00 miles) from Earth and continues its planned drift-away orbit.
06.09.09 - Kepler is nearing 10 million kilometers from Earth, and will pass that mark on June 12.
05.29.09 - Kepler remains safe and stable in its "drift-away" heliocentric orbit.
05.14.09 - Following a successful readiness review, Kepler began its search for planets around other stars on May 12, 2009.
05.13.09 - MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. NASA's Kepler spacecraft has begun its search for other Earth-like worlds. The mission, which launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 6, will spend the next three-and-a-half years staring at more than 100,000 stars for telltale signs of planets.
05.13.09 - NASA's Kepler spacecraft has begun its search for other Earth-like worlds.
05.07.09 - Kepler is now more than six million kilometers (3.7 million miles) from Earth.
05.01.09 - Kepler's calibration data collection is drawing to a close.
04.23.09 - The Kepler telescope's focus has been successfully optimized.
04.20.09 - The Kepler science team has decided that further refinement of the telescope's focus would significantly improve the mission's science return.
04.17.09 - Kepler's "first light" image taken the day after cover release is now available to the public.
04.16.09 - NASA's Kepler mission has taken its first images of the star-rich sky where it will soon begin hunting for planets like Earth.
04.13.09 - Up until a few days ago, NASA's Deep Space Network stations have had their Ka-band radio receivers cross polarized to the spacecraft radio transmitter.
04.08.09 - The dust cover was successfully jettisoned from the front of the telescope last evening at about 7:18 p.m. PDT.