The USSR was notably silent about its plans for space missions. They typically announced their missions afterwords—and boasted about their accomplishments, often achieving “firsts.” They had the first satellite, first man in space, first space walk, first space station, etc. The U.S. announced plans and then carried them out—at great risk—in sight of the whole [...]

New Mexico’s “Spaceport America” had a successful launch last week. And now Hawaii is looking to get its own spaceport. Because of the budget crisis, the state’s governor, Linda Lingle, may decide not to release the $500,000 required to get a spaceport license. Or, in order to promote her state in the growing private space [...]

We lost our first “teacher-in-space,” Christa McAuliffe, when the Challenger blew up in 1986. McAuliffe’s backup, Barbara Morgan, became a full-fledged astronaut and had a successful flight aboard STS-118 in 2007. The next 2 teachers in space Now, we’re going to have our first flight with 2 (former) teachers. Joseph Acaba and Richard Arnold II [...]