Sunday: July 28, 2002   0300 GMT Solar grand slam While Tiger Woods was trying to claim the top four golf tournaments, the Sun delivered a grand slam of its own, blasting four of its most powerful class of solar flares in just eight days. Solar flares are tremendous explosions in the atmosphere of the Sun, with the most powerful class, called the X class, capable of releasing as much energy as a billion megatons of TNT.    FULL STORY Ariane 5 rocket to launch French Helios 2A craft An Ariane 5 will launch the Helios 2A satellite into a sun-synchronous polar orbit during the second half of 2004 from the Guiana Space Center, Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.    FULL STORY Teachers take NASA mission The nation's top teachers -- chosen by their peers -- will journey on a week-long space "mission" this summer, courtesy of NASA. National Teacher of the Year Chauncey Veatch of Palm Desert, Calif., and the other honorees will be recognized for their dedication to their profession during the annual International Space Camp event.    FULL STORY Saturday: July 27, 2002   0135 GMT Atlas 5 launch delayed from Aug. 12 by satellite issue Launch of the first Atlas 5 rocket is being postponed after technicians ran into delays readying the mission's commercial satellite cargo for flight. A new launch date has not been set, but officials remain optimistic liftoff will occur sometime in August.    MISSION STATUS CENTER    ARCHIVED ATLAS 5 COVERAGE Backup crew member assigned to Expedition Six Donald Pettit, Ph.D., a member of the Expedition Six backup crew, will replace Donald Thomas, Ph.D., on the future mission to the International Space Station.    FULL STORY    BUY ORIGINAL EXPEDITION SIX PATCH Columbia expected to leapfrog station flights Confident shuttle fuel line cracks can be fixed, if necessary, by welding, NASA managers are converging on a plan to resume shuttle launches in late September or early October with the first of two back-to-back space station assembly missions. Under that preferred scenario, launch of the shuttle Columbia, originally scheduled for July 19, would slip to around Dec. 3.    FULL STORY Friday: July 26, 2002   0135 GMT Wiring review delays Delta 2 launch for Air Force The next launch of a replacement Global Positioning System military satellite aboard a Boeing Delta 2 rocket, once envisioned to occur in mid-August, has been postponed while engineers study wiring harnesses in the Delta fleet.    FULL STORY Senate committee approves funding for Pluto mission The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a 2003 budget for NASA on Thursday that includes funding for a controversial mission to Pluto. The full committee passed the budget two days after a subcommittee approved the proposal. The budget would give NASA $15.2 billion in fiscal year 2003.    FULL STORY Thursday: July 25, 2002   0001 GMT Space waves caused by black hole mergers modeled Merging black holes will rock the fabric of space and time with gravitational waves that start quiet, grow to a thunderous roar at the moment of impact, and then resonate from the final gong, according to international team of scientists who have created a novel computer model of such a merger based on Einstein's equations.    FULL STORY Hazy camera on Saturn-bound Cassini clears up Now within two years of reaching Saturn, NASA's Cassini spacecraft took test images of a star last week that reveal successful results from an extended warming treatment to remove haze that collected on a camera lens last year.    FULL STORY New center director named for NASA's Stennis Roy S. Estess, center director for NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, has announced plans to retire after 42 years in government service, 37 with NASA. Administrator Sean O'Keefe named William (Bill) W. Parsons Jr., the current Center Operations and Support Director at Stennis, as Estess' successor, effective August 25th.    FULL STORY Wednesday: July 24, 2002   0300 GMT Dwarf galaxies give a breath of fresh oxygen Astronomers have discovered that a nearby dwarf galaxy is spewing oxygen and other "heavy" elements into intergalactic space. This observation from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory supports the idea that dwarf galaxies might be responsible for most of the heavy elements between the galaxies.    FULL STORY Lockheed instrument to fly on ESA comet probe An instrument called ROSINA, with key components designed and built at the Lockheed Martin, will be launched early next year on the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft. The goal of the ambitious international mission is to catch up with, orbit, and land on Comet Wirtanen in an effort to answer questions about the origin of our Solar System.    FULL STORY Tuesday: July 23, 2002   0202 GMT Pluto mission faces key funding test A proposed mission to Pluto, recently endorsed by an independent scientific panel, will undergo a key test this week in its effort to obtain funding for the project. The New Horizons mission requires $122 million in the fiscal year 2003 budget in order to continue work and meet a 2006 launch deadline.    FULL STORY NASA developing hypersonic technologies Imagine taking off from any U.S. airport and landing on any other runway in the world in less than two hours. Or making a quick hop from that same airport to the International Space Station and back - a trip that normally takes days or weeks - to drop off science experiments, provisions and new equipment.    FULL STORY Weather on brown dwarfs Until recently, "How's the weather up there?" was a question for pilots, NBA stars and friendly giants. Today, however, you might also ask a dwarf. A brown dwarf, that is. Brown dwarfs, which have been described as "failed stars," are celestial bodies more massive than planets like Jupiter but not large enough to sustain the thermonuclear reactions that make a star shine.    FULL STORY Monday: July 22, 2002   0107 GMT Atom research may help detect volcanoes, oceans Breakthrough research on waves of ultra-cold atoms may lead to sophisticated atom lasers that might eventually predict volcanic eruptions on Earth and map a probable subsurface ocean on Jupiter's moon Europa.    FULL STORY Planetary survey supported The Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society fully supports the plan for Solar System exploration just released by the National Research Council "New Frontiers in the Solar System: An Integrated Exploration Strategy". Read about the key recommendations:    FULL STORY				The ultimate Apollo 11 DVD This exceptional chronicle of the historic Apollo 11 lunar landing mission features new digital transfers of film and television coverage unmatched by any other.  U.S. STORE  U.K. WORLDWIDE STORE NEW! Mission Report Apollo 11 - The NASA Mission Reports Vol. 3 is the first comprehensive study of man's first mission to another world is revealed in all of its startling complexity. Includes DVD!  U.S. STORE  WORLDWIDE STORE Contact us If you have a comment or question for Spaceflight Now, just send us an e-mail.