SOHO is stationed 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth, on the sunward side, and the Sun is about 150 million km away. Grounded three days in a row last month by weather, NASA is again gearing up to launch shuttle Atlantis on a long-awaited space station repair mission. Follow the countdown to Thursday's sunrise liftoff in our Mission Status Center. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is developing space sails technology that will power humankind's first planned venture outside our solar system. For the latest spaceflight news and features visit our sister-site, Spaceflight Now .
More news See our weekly archive of astronomy and space news.
Subscriptions Subscribe to Astronomy Now and have Britain's best selling astronomy magazine delivered to your door every month. Subscribe now and save more than 10 percent off the newsstand price. The night sky Our night sky pages contain details of this month's celestial highlights.