Sunday: April 21, 2002   0408 GMT Flares illuminate the secret life of a quiescent black hole Astronomers probing the intimate details of apparently quiescent stellar black holes have discovered that in reality they are dynamic, lively places, subject to flares that briefly illuminate the whole of the gas disc around the black hole.    FULL STORY Astronomers reveal youngest radio pulsar Astronomers have detected remarkably faint radio signals from an 820 year-old pulsar, making it the youngest radio-emitting pulsar known. This discovery pushes the boundaries of radio telescope sensitivity for discovering pulsars, and will enable scientists to conduct observations that could lead to a better understanding of how these stars evolve.    FULL STORY Saturday: April 20, 2002   1100 GMT Space station astronauts take a ride in capsule The three Expedition Four crew members left their orbital home for 21 minutes today, flying the Soyuz lifeboat from a port on the Russian Zarya module over to the Pirs docking compartment of the International Space Station. The relocation was done in preparation for the arrival of a fresh Soyuz next Saturday.    MISSION STATUS CENTER Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: SOYUZ UNDOCKS FROM THE STATION QT or RV    VIDEO: CAPSULE MANEUVERS TO ALIGN WITH PIRS QT or RV    VIDEO: SOYUZ DOCKS TO PIRS MODULE QT or RV Atlantis returns to Earth Commander Michael Bloomfield, making his first landing at the controls of a space shuttle, guided Atlantis to a smooth touchdown on Runway 33 at the Kennedy Space Center Friday to close out a near-flawless space station assembly mission.    FULL STORY    ENTRY AND LANDING TIMELINE    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN More mission coverage here:       Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: LANDING AS SEEN LIVE WITH FULL AUDIO QT or RV    VIDEO: VIEW OF LANDING FROM VAB ROOF QT or RV    VIDEO: SIDE VIEW OF ATLANTIS' TOUCHDOWN QT or RV    VIDEO: REPLAY FROM CAMERA AT RUNWAY MID-POINT QT or RV    VIDEO: TOUCHDOWN FROM SOUTH END OF RUNWAY QT or RV    VIDEO: VIEW FROM NORTH END OF THE RUNWAY QT or RV    VIDEO: CREW POST-LANDING COMMENTS QT or RV    VIDEO: SHUTTLE PROGRAM UPDATE WITH LINDA HAM QT or RV Stardust spacecraft sets new distance record Since its launch on February 7, 1999, the Stardust spacecraft has traveled over two billion kilometers completing one and a half elliptical orbits around the Sun. On Thursday, the mission reached a major milestone when it arrives at its furthest distance from the Sun.    FULL STORY Friday: April 19, 2002   0216 GMT Atlantis returns today After a trouble-free space station assembly mission, space shuttle Atlantis and her crew of seven astronauts are headed home today to wrap up an 11-day voyage. Touchdown at Kennedy Space Center's shuttle runway is scheduled for 12:26 p.m. EDT (1626 GMT).    MISSION STATUS CENTER - live updates!    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN European Space Agency to probe asteroid blind spot In the past five weeks two asteroids have passed close by Earth. Another asteroid has recently been shown to have a 1 in 300 chance of colliding with Earth in 2880. Monitoring known asteroids allows astronomers to predict which may collide with Earth. But that is only true for the asteroids we know of. What about those that lie in the asteroid blind spot between the Sun and Earth?    FULL STORY Discover a comet while on the Internet with SOHO A new comet was discovered over the Internet by a Chinese amateur astronomer visiting the website for the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. XingMing Zhou of BoLe city found the comet while watching SOHO real-time images of the Sun on the Internet.    FULL STORY Mars Viking leader dies Former NASA manager of the Viking missions to Mars, James S. Martin, Jr., died April 14, in Rising Sun, Md., after a long battle with cancer. Martin was 81.    FULL STORY Thursday: April 18, 2002   0407 GMT Shuttle Atlantis and station go their separate ways Space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station on Wednesday after a successful week-long stay that delivered the S0 truss and featured four spacewalks to bring the structure to life. Atlantis is due home Friday.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER    UNDOCKING TIMELINE    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN More mission coverage here:       Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: ATLANTIS UNDOCKS FROM STATION QT or RV    VIDEO: VIEWS OF SHUTTLE AFTER UNDOCKING QT or RV    VIDEO: ATLANTIS ASTRONAUTS ON THE FLIGHT DECK QT or RV    VIDEO: ANIMATION OF UNDOCKING AND FLY-AROUND QT or RV    MORE: COMPLETE SFN+ VIDEO INDEX Air Force delays launch of military navigation satellite Deployment of the next Global Positioning System satellite by a Boeing Delta 2 rocket is being delayed at least a month while the Air Force reviews new changes to the launcher's self-destruct system.    FULL STORY Hubble hunts down objects at fringe of solar system NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is hot on the trail of an intriguing new class of solar system object that might be called a Pluto "mini-me" -- dim and fleeting objects that travel in pairs in the frigid, mysterious outer realm of the solar system called the Kuiper Belt.    FULL STORY NASA selects proposals for new Explorer missions Mission proposals that would discover the brightest galaxy in the universe, measure the chemical building blocks of life, track magnetic storms in the Earth's magnetosphere and study massive explosions on the Sun were recently selected by NASA as candidates for the next missions in the agency's Explorer Program of lower cost, highly focused, rapid-development scientific spacecraft.    FULL STORY Wednesday: April 17, 2002   0529 GMT European Ariane rocket launches on its 150th flight The 150th voyage of an Ariane rocket blasted off from the jungles of South America Tuesday evening and soared above the Central Atlantic Ocean to deliver a powerful telecommunications satellite into Earth orbit.    FULL STORY    MISSION STATUS CENTER Spacewalks bring new station truss to life With the completion of the fourth and final spacewalk of Atlantis' mission, NASA managers Tuesday declared the new $790 million S0 truss mounted atop the International Space Station fully operational.    FULL STORY    UPDATED SPACEWALK STATS PAGE    MISSION STATUS CENTER    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN More mission coverage here:       School teacher eager to fly in space Teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan does not view her role on a shuttle flight in 2004 as the fulfillment of Christa McAuliffe's legacy. Instead, McAuliffe's backup said Tuesday, the flight will mark the first step in an ongoing education initiative to attract more students to math, science and engineering.    FULL STORY Tuesday: April 16, 2002   0243 GMT Last spacewalk of Atlantis' mission on tap The fourth and final spacewalk of this shuttle flight is scheduled to begin around 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) Tuesday as astronauts Jerry Ross and Lee Morin venture outside the International Space Station to wrap up a variety of odds and ends before Atlantis departs Wednesday.    MISSION STATUS CENTER    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN More mission coverage here:       Station's mobile transporter takes a test-drive Astronaut Carl Walz restarted rail service aboard the International Space Station Monday, sending a $190 million flatcar creeping down the length of the lab's new S0 truss, from one station to another, after tests were interrupted earlier in the day by a subtle glitch.    FULL STORY    PREVIEW STORY Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: CREW IN-FLIGHT NEWS CONFERENCE QT or RV    MORE: COMPLETE SFN+ VIDEO INDEX Antifreeze found in space Ethylene glycol, the chemical commonly used as automobile antifreeze, was discovered recently in a massive interstellar cloud of dust and gas near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Ethylene glycol actually is associated with the formation of more complex sugar molecules that are necessary for life.    FULL STORY Progress made on proposed robotic mission to Pluto Now almost halfway through its NASA-funded Phase B development effort, the New Horizons project is making significant progress as it approaches its first major review, officials said Monday.    FULL STORY Monday: April 15, 2002   0132 GMT Another spacewalk completed by Atlantis crew Atlantis astronauts Steve Smith and Rex Walheim performed their second spacewalk of this shuttle visit to the International Space Station on Sunday. The 6 1/2-hour spacewalk rewired the station's Canadian-built robotic arm and readied the complex's newly-delivered rail-car to move.    FULL STORY    UPDATED SPACEWALK STATS PAGE    MISSION STATUS CENTER    MASTER FLIGHT PLAN More mission coverage here:       Video coverage for subscribers only:    VIDEO: SUNDAY'S MISSION STATUS BRIEFING QT or RV    MORE: COMPLETE SFN+ VIDEO INDEX Ariane set for No. 150 Arianespace's 150th launch is set to take off Tuesday evening with a major new addition to the communications spacecraft fleet of Netherlands-based New Skies Satellites. Liftoff of the Ariane 4 rocket is scheduled for 2253 GMT (6:53 p.m. EDT) from Kourou, French Guiana.    MISSION STATUS CENTER Space Infrared Telescope Facility begins testing NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) is now in test at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. SIRTF is a cryogenically-cooled space observatory that will conduct infrared astronomy when it's launched in January.    FULL STORY Team cuts on-orbit testing of Milstar 2 satellite in half Testing of the second Milstar 2 secure communications satellite, launched by a Titan 4 rocket in January, has been completed in record time. The military now has a four-satellite operational constellation -- achieving global coverage -- of the most complex military communications satellite system.    FULL STORY    LAUNCH COVERAGE				News Archive April 8-14: Atlantis launches to space station and installs new truss; NASA relaunches teacher-in-space program; Evidence suggests a new form of matter; Astronomers detect stellar ashes at the dawn of time. April 1-7: Hydrogen leak scrubs launch of shuttle Atlantis; Deep Space 1 finds Comet Borrelly has hot, dry surface; Hubble resumes scientific work after servicing; Chinese unmanned space capsule returns to Earth. March 25-31: China's third Shenzhou launches; Intelsat 903 spacecraft launched by Proton booster; Ariane 4 launches a pair of commercial satellites; Project cleared to build Mercury orbiter; Chandra discovers black holes in distant quasars. More news  See our weekly archive of space news. Contact us If you have a comment or question for Spaceflight Now, just send us an e-mail.