Today in Space

NASA's Final Shuttle Launch Faces Possible Weather Delay

The final launch of space shuttle Atlantis on July 8th - designated STS-135 - has a 70 percent chance of being postponed according to shuttle weather officer Kathy Winters. Tropical storms approaching Kennedy Space Center from the Caribbean pose the threat of delay. The weather shows improvement for another opportunity on Saturday and again on Sunday.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope Makes A Record Observation

After 21 years of exemplary service, Hubble made its one-millionth discovery on July 4th. The renowned space telescope was observing an exoplanet's atmosphere for evidence of water. The exoplanet - denoted HAT-P-7b - is a gas giant larger than Jupiter that resides 1,000 light years away.

The James Webb Space Telescope Nears Completion

As the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb telescope is the world's next-generation space observatory. It is the most powerful space telescope ever built with 18 individual gold-coated mirror segments acting as one central mirror. The telescope, scheduled to launch in 2018, will observe the most distant objects in the universe, provide images of the first galaxies ever formed and study planets around distant stars.

Cassini Sees and Hears Saturn Storm

NASA's Cassini spacecraft scientists now have the first-ever, up-close details of a Saturn storm that is eight times the surface area of Earth. At its most intense, the storm generated more than 10 lightning flashes per second. Pictures from Cassini's imaging cameras show the storm wrapping around the entire planet covering approximately 1.5 billion square miles (4 billion square kilometers).

Dawn Spacecraft Nears Its Asteroid Target

NASA's Dawn spacecraft is on track to begin the first extended visit to a large asteroid within the asteroid belt region of our solar system. Launched in 2007, the mission expects to go into orbit around Vesta on July 16. Following a year of scientific discovery at Vesta, the spacecraft will depart for its second destination, the dwarf planet Ceres, in July 2012.

Volunteers Needed for NASA Deep Space Mission

A team from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville has developed the website IceHunters, which challenges the public to discover potential destinations for a NASA mission at our solar system's edge. The New Horizons mission that launched from the Kennedy Space Center in 2006 is on its way to the outer solar system. The spacecraft flew past Jupiter in 2007 giving scientists a wealth of new data. It is scheduled to rendezvous with Pluto in 2015. This will give plenty of time for amateurs to pick out the icy bodies for New Horizons to target.