The commander of the forthcoming space shuttle flight said she and her crew backed Nasa's decision to skip wing repairs despite opposition from half the engineers who took part in the launch review.

A giant leap is about to be made for womankind: when space shuttle Discovery blasts off, a woman will be sitting in the commander's seat. And up at the international space station, a female skipper will be waiting to greet her.

MSN UK News brings you all the latest on the crisis in Pakistan. Hundreds of police clashed with lawyers as security forces blockaded Pakistan courts to quash protests against President General Pervez Musharraf's state of emergency declaration.

Above the distortion of the atmosphere, far beyond rain clouds and light pollution, Hubble has an unobstructed view of the universe - a spectacular vision brought to you in this gallery from MSN UK News.

50 years ago, a bleeping aluminium sphere the size of a basketball became the first man-made object to orbit the Earth. Sputnik 1 took the world by surprise and ushered in the space age...