With NASA preparing for the Artemis II launch (expected tomorrow, 1 April), a strong solar flare earlier this week is putting space weather back into focus—and highlighting the unpredictable risks astronauts could face beyond Earth's atmosphere.

A massive solar flare produced a coronal mass ejection (CME) heading toward Earth, raising concerns for the Artemis II moon mission.

A new NASA spacecraft has started tracking the particle streams that can make a massive solar flare dangerous while mapping the Sun’s shield. That pairing connects short-term storm warnings near Earth with the far boundary that helps block harsher radiation from deep space.

In October 1989, a blast from the sun flung out a stream of super-powered protons. This solar storm lasted for days and forced astronauts working in low-Earth orbit, aboard NASA’s Atlantis space shuttle, to retreat to a shielded storm shelter in the farthest interior of the craft.

A strong solar flare has increased the possibility of northern lights visibility tonight, following a burst of energy from the sun that triggered heightened geomagnetic activity. The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center reported an X1.

An X1.4 solar flare triggered radio blackouts and launched a fast CME as NASA prepares for its Artemis 2 moon mission.

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The sun emitted some of the most powerful solar flares this week, NASA announced. The star emitted three strong solar flares on Sunday, Feb. 1, peaking at 7:33 a.m. ET, 6:37 p.m. ET and ...

This Feb. 4, 2026, image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captures a strong solar flare erupting from the star. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy that can, along with other types of solar eruptions, impact ... Just as avalanches on ...

Sunspot AR3165 has erupted with several m-class solar flares in a span of a few hours. NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the fireworks in several wavelengths. Credit: Space.com | footage courtesy: NASA/SDO/helioviewer.