India plans manned space missions. They are still some years away. (Their actual spacecraft is still under development.) But they are busy naming their future space explorers: both selecting them, and deciding what they will be called. First, selection. The initial group of Indian astronauts will be four fighter pilots. They are looking at a [...]

Virgin Galactic is set to show its sub-orbital tourist spacecraft on Monday. There shouldn’t be too many surprises—the design of SpaceShipTwo is all over the company’s website. The “mothership”, WhiteKnightTwo, has already flown a couple of test flights publicly. But WhiteKnightTwo two won’t be going into space—SpaceShipTwo will. The spacecraft will carry two pilots and [...]

NASA’s administrator, Michael Griffin, is a Republican. But his job is to make NASA successful, and he knows that success requires political support. Dr. Griffin sent a note of thanks to Barack Obama, for his support in allowing NASA to continue purchasing rides to the International Space Station from Russia. Without new legislation, the practice [...]