The American space agency, NASA says it has again made contact with a spacecraftstudying the sun and space weather.

NASA said it lost contact with the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories, also known as the STEREO-B spacecraft, two years ago.

Communications with the spacecraft were lost after NASA attempted to try to prevent overheating of the spaceship’s antenna.

The space agency said contact with STEREO-B was restored last week.

NASA has another spacecraft that is nearly identical to STEREO-B called STEREO-A. It also was launched in 2006 to study the sun and space weather. STEREO-A is working normally.

NASA said it will now test STEREO-B to see if the spacecraft’s instruments andsensors are operating correctly.

Both spacecraft are located on the other side of the sun from earth.

NASA says they have added to the understanding of how the sun works. The ships have studied the sun’s gasses, wind, particles and its atmosphere.

I’m John Russell.

_______________________________________________________

Words in This Story

spacecraft – n. a vehicle that is used for travel in outer space

overheating – v. becoming too hot

antenna – n. a device such as a wire or a metal rod for sending or receiving radio or television signals

sensors –n. a device that detects or senses heat, light, sound or motion and then reacts to it in a particular way