Ever wonder what was really going on with those classified shuttle missions?  Now, thanks to This Day in Alternate History, we finally know!

The Los Angeles Times reports that an explosion at the Mojave airport killed three workers and injured three others, during a test of the propellant flow system for SpaceShipTwo.
In 2004, SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded manned spacecraft, and won the Ansari X Prize.  SpaceShipTwo has not yet been unveiled, but is being developed as [...]

Wally Schirra flew on the Mercury 8, Gemini 6A, and Apollo 7 missions.

The preliminary results from Gravity Probe B confirm the geodetic effect predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity to within 1%. Data analysis will continue through December, and is expected to test another effect predicted by general relativity as well, frame dragging. [via BBC News]

NASA asked the U.S. Navy to end Nowak’s detail to NASA as an astronaut “because the agency lacks the administrative means to deal appropriately with the criminal charges pending against Nowak. Because Nowak is a naval officer on assignment to NASA, rather than a NASA civil servant, she is not subject to administrative action by [...]

Maybe she just didn’t think being an astronaut got her enough fame.  If so, she’s got her fifteen minutes now.

People do crazy things for love, and apparently NASA astronauts are no exception. On a mailing list, a friend wrote “We’ll never get to Mars at this rate.”
Actually I think we can fund the Mars mission(s) via advertising by making it a “reality” TV show, as well as by government-run gambling.

Phase 1: Lottery [...]

The Bush administration is opposing China’s development of “satellite killer” technology.  However, the US is known to be developing and testing such technology, and has rejected international calls to end such testing.

Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled for launch tomorrow at 3:49 PM EDT, though there is a 60% chance that the weather may force a delay.
Update: the Saturday launch was scrubbed and rescheduled for today, and today it has been rescheduled for Tuesday at 2:38 PM EDT. There is a 40% chance of the weather [...]

I was pleasantly surprised today to receive email from NASA regarding my FOIA request. They sent me PDF files of recent editions (November 2005) of the manuals I requested on the HAL/S programming languages and compilers, which are used for the Space Shuttle software. Since these manuals are in the public domain, I [...]