... Forty years ago, on April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alexseyevich Gagarin became the first human in space. ... The cosmic explosion, an enormously bright gamma-ray burst (GRB), originated in a galaxy billions of light-years away and was detected by the BeppoSAX satellite on February 22. ... Large Sunspot Group AR 9393 . ... The largest sunspot group of the past ten years crossed the surface of the Sun late last month and early this month. ... Mars Odyssey Lifts Off for Mars . ... Next stop:...