With its funding cut and its plans under review, NASA is facing a questionable future. Endeavor is scheduled for launch tomorrow, and the Ares 1-X—the early version of the booster for NASA shuttle replacement—is being tested. NASA does the near-impossible…regularly Personally, I find it strange that NASA takes such a hit. This is an agency [...]

Brazilian villagers, descendants of slaves, built a log blockade to prevent workers from expanding the country’s rocket base. An feature story in today’s The Wall Street Journal covers it all, but I’ll give the outlines here. The Brazilian Space Agency has been expanding their Alcântara launch facility. Nearby inhabitants are not happy. They say it [...]

Quick! Name a rocket scientist! Yeah, maybe you thought of Robert Goddard, but most likely the name Wernher von Braun came to mind. More than 3 decades after his death, he probably remains the world’s most famous rocket scientist. So famous that an important new biography of him was published late last year. Michael J. [...]