To land humans on the Red Planet, NASA will need new equipment, fresh thinking, and advanced technology. These companies are preparing for mankind's next giant leap.

When most people look back at their first summer job, it is usually with a sense of dread. Bank presidents started out mowing lawns, corporate CEOs flipped burgers for minimum wage and small business owners began their working days as lifeguards at the local pool. Seventeen-year-old Slidell native Kate Lowry, however, studied gullies on the surface of Mars during her summer internship at NASA's Ames Research Center in San Francisco.

Mars' moon Phobos casts its shadow across the surface of the Red Planet in this photograph captured by ESA's Mars Express. Phobos is only 27 kilometres by 22 kilometres in size (17 x 14 miles), and it orbits Mars once every 7.5 hours. To an observer on the ground, this eclipse would look similar to one on Earth; however, Phobos would only cover about 20% of the Sun's surface. And it would be over quickly - the shadow moves at 7200 km/h (4400 mph).

When Dr Michael Griffin took charge of the US space agency (Nasa) last year, it seemed as if he was being handed a poison chalice. Whereas some of his predecessors had been in charge of heroic expeditions to the Moon - he had inherited a grounded shuttle fleet that was soon to be scrapped and a partially built International Space Station that critics were labelling expensive and pointless.

Back when Joseph E. Palaia IV and the former Melissa Blom were college sweethearts in New Jersey, at a time when most new couples in love think of being together, not apart, he told his future wife that if she wanted to be with him she'd have to let him leave for several years to live on Mars. ''In fact, it was a criteria. She needed to accept the fact that I'm going to Mars one day," Palaia recalls. ''This is who I am."

A major dust storm has just broken out on Mars and the event will be visible this weekend with good-sized backyard telescopes. The timing is incredible. Amateur skywatchers around the world are planning to gaze at Mars Saturday night because it will be closer to Earth than anytime until the year 2018. The dust storm was no more than a small bright dot Thursday yet it was large and obvious Friday, as seen in images taken by Clay Sherrod at the Arkansas Sky Observatories.

Mars is ready for another close-up. For the second time in nearly 60,000 years, the Red Planet will swing unusually close to Earth this weekend, appearing as a yellow twinkle in the night sky. Mars' latest rendezvous will not match its record-breaking approach to Earth in 2003, when it hovered from 35 million miles away. But more skygazers this time around can glimpse the fourth rock from the sun because it will glow above the horizon.

When Peter H. Diamandis needed the inspiration to finish earning his pilot's license, a friend gave him a copy of The Spirit of St. Louis, Charles Lindbergh's memoir about flying across the Atlantic Ocean. “"I read it at my parents" house,” says Diamandis, “"and it gave me a great idea." ”Just a few pages into the book, a young Lindbergh describes going on a mail flight and thinking about what role he might play in the future of air travel: "Possibly—-my mind is startled at the thought—- I could fly nonstop between New York and Paris." The notion of flying between these two cities did not enter his head at random. It was not even his own idea. Instead, it was the idea of a philanthropist—- a man who motivated not only Lindbergh in his time, but also Diamandis in ours. The result with respect to Lindbergh is well known: He became the most famous pilot in the history of aviation. Diamandis, by contrast, isn't a household name. Yet he has become one of the most innovative and successful philanthropists at work today. As the co-founder, chairman, and president of the nonprofit X Prize Foundation, he is the mastermind behind one of the most thrilling aeronautical achievements of the last quarter century: the amazing flight of SpaceShipOne. When it soared 100 kilometers (nearly 70 miles) above the earth's surface last fall, it became the first privately financed vehicle to enter suborbital space. The ship's designers captured the X Prize, including its purse of $10 million.

The red planet, already intense, is about to get much brighter. Step outside tonight around midnight and look east. About halfway up the sky you'll see the planet Mars. It looks like an intense red star, the brightest light in the midnight sky other than the Moon. Here's the amazing part: Between now and the end of October, Mars, already so bright, will double in brightness again. Imagine that. Mars is getting brighter for the simple reason that it's getting closer. Earth and Mars have been converging for months and on Oct. 30th at 0319 Universal Time, the two worlds will be just 69 million kilometers apart -- the closest approach of Mars and Earth for the next 13 years.

Hawaii's stark volcanic landscape that once served as a training ground for lunar astronauts might soon be a resource for Mars training. A Hawaiian company is seeking state permission to quarry an area between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea to obtain purified volcanic ash for NASA to use in Mars training, the Honolulu Advertiser reported Friday.

Mars is coming back. The Red Planet, the only one whose surface we can see in any detail from the Earth, has begun the best apparition it will give us until the summer of 2018. Planet watchers have already begun readying their telescopes. If this sounds familiar, you might recall a similar setup two years ago. This current apparition of Mars will not be as spectacular as the one in August 2003 when the planet came closer to Earth than it had in nearly 60,000-years. This time around, Mars comes closest to the Earth on the night of Oct. 29 (around 11:25 p.m. Eastern daylight time). The planet will then lie 43,137,071 miles (69,422,386 kilometers) from Earth measured center to center. Mars will arrive at opposition to the Sun (rising at sunset, setting at sunrise) nine days later, on Nov. 7.

President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam exhorted scientists to look towards Moon and Mars to meeting the impending shortage of metals and materials on the earth. Interacting with students of Sree Adi Sankara Institute of Engineering and Technology at Kalady in Ernakulam district yesterday, he said the scientists will have to set up factories in Moon and Mars within 20 to 40 years to tide over the crisis.

The space shuttle Discovery roared into space Tuesday, piercing a Florida morning sky today and launching seven astronauts on NASA’s first orbiter mission since the Columbia disaster. After almost two weeks of delay, two and a half years without a shuttle flight and $1.4 billion in return-to-flight work, Discovery successfully left Earth behind on a 12-day test flight to the International Space Station (ISS) with no hint of the fuel sensor glitch that scrubbed a July 13 launch attempt. Typical Florida weather, including rain storms and a potential launch threat from electrified anvil clouds, was not an issue here at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) spaceport.

On its 449th martian day, or sol (April 29, 2005), NASA's Mars rover Opportunity woke up approximately an hour after sunset and took this picture of the fading twilight as the stars began to come out. Set against the fading red glow of the sky, the pale dot near the center of the picture is not a star, but a planet -- Earth. Earth appears elongated because it moved slightly during the 15-second exposures. The faintly blue light from the Earth combines with the reddish sky glow to give the pale white appearance.

By the time you finish reading this sentence, you'll be 25 miles closer to the planet Mars. Earth is racing toward Mars at a speed of 23,500 mph, which means the red planet is getting bigger and brighter by the minute. In October, when the two planets are closest together, Mars will outshine everything in the night sky except Venus and the Moon. (You're another 50 miles closer: keep reading!)

It's possible that science was never so musical. First-graders at Roadrunner Elementary this week presented "Vacation on Mars," a Broadway-style musical complete with choreography, costumes, props and sets - and all of it helped them learn the first-grade state science standards. In two performances for the school during the day and one showing on Tuesday evening for the parents, the children opened by singing "Mars, Mars," and ran through other space-themed songs.

All herald the return of the god of war. The only catch is, you’re going to have to get up early if you want to see him before sunrise wins the battle. The planet Mars is making a comeback after having spent several months pulling itself up from the eastern horizon haze. It hovers in the constellation Aquarius and is brightening rapidly as it races for a rendezvous with opposition in November.

All herald the return of the god of war. The only catch is, you’re going to have to get up early if you want to see him before sunrise wins the battle. The planet Mars is making a comeback after having spent several months pulling itself up from the eastern horizon haze. It hovers in the constellation Aquarius and is brightening rapidly as it races for a rendezvous with opposition in November.

NASA's shift of focus from Mars to Moon has irked researchers on the Mars Mission working for years to answer the question of life on the red planet and hoping to track any signs of habitability on the faraway land. NASA veterans find moon "an unnecessary stop on the way to Mars".

The European Space Agency (ESA) has confirmed that it plans to send another mission to land on Mars, as part of the pan-European Aurora programme to explore the solar system. The main objectives of the €500m mission will be to search for past or present Martian life; to learn more about the source of the atmospheric methane, and find out whether Mars is still seismically active. ESA also wants to drill into the surface of the planet, something that has not been done before. The robotic exploration will be a prelude to a 2016 sample-return mission. The mission would blast off from Kourou spaceport in French Guiana in 2011 aboard a Soyuz launcher.

Imagine this scenario. The year is 2030 or thereabouts. After voyaging six months from Earth, you and several other astronauts are the first humans on Mars. You're standing on an alien world, dusty red dirt beneath your feet, looking around at a bunch of mining equipment deposited by previous robotic landers. Echoing in your ears are the final words from mission control: "Your mission, should you care to accept it, is to return to Earth--if possible using fuel and oxygen you mine from the sands of Mars. Good luck!"

The NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland announced Friday it's awarded Red Canyon Software Inc. a contract to develop educational software that will simulate flight over the Mars terrain and will be used in NASA exhibits and schools. Denver-based Red Canyon, an aerospace engineering company, will create "MarsFlight" Educational Software Simulator. The Phase I software is scheduled to be displayed in June at the Paris Air Show.

Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., have successfully tested a shape-shifting robotic pyramid. As the engineers watched like anxious new parents, the robot pyramid traveled across the floor of a lab at NASA Goddard. Robots of this type will eventually be miniaturized and joined together to form "autonomous nanotechnology swarms" (ANTS) that alter their shape to flow over rocky terrain or to create useful structures like communications antennae and solar sails.

The brainy rocket scientist nominated by President George W. Bush and endorsed by key members of Congress to lead NASA as it shifts from space shuttles to moon ships seems to have it all and know it all. But Michael Griffin will need every one of his seven degrees plus political savvy to take on the monumental challenges ahead of him. Getting NASA out of the shuttle business and back into hands-on lunar exploration will clearly be his biggest task.

NASA's Office of Safety and Mission Assurance signed an agreement with the U.S. Navy Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) to participate in each other's audits of institutional management programs and projects. NASA's Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance Bryan O'Connor and the Navy's Executive Director for Undersea Warfare John James signed the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) Tuesday at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

A European probe has landed on Saturn's moon Titan a mysterious satellite that has perplexed astronomers for decades. The probe's landing is the farthest touchdown for any human-built object to set land on another world.

Humans reached for the heavens once again in 2004, from the president's push for Mars to SpaceShipOne's daring suborbital adventures to Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic. Fool contributor Tim Beyers wonders if there are profits for investors on Earth in this new space race.

Next time you go for a stroll on Mars, be sure you don't leave any litter behind. A plan to keep parts of the red planet in their pristine state could see seven areas turned into 'planetary parks', regulated just like national parks here on Earth. The scheme has been proposed by Charles Cockell, a microbiologist for the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, and Gerda Horneck, an astrobiologist from the German Aerospace Centre in Cologne, Germany.

The head of China's space agency will visit NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe next week, a move one U.S. expert said could mean increased cooperation between the two countries. The December 2 meeting with Chinese National Space Agency Administrator Laiyan Sun had been under discussion for months, O'Keefe said on Tuesday. He stressed international cooperation was part of President George W. Bush's vision for space exploration, which includes human missions to the moon and eventually to Mars.

Deadline extended to Nov. 30 for UH Mars Rover contest applications. Grade schoolers with aspirations to build their own vehicles to explore the surface of the Red Planet have been given till Tuesday, Nov. 30, to sign up for the 2004-2005 University of Houston Mars Rover Competition. Blanketed in toxic soils, seething with powerful radiation and theorized to host no intelligent civilization, this hostile planet provides many challenges, giving Houston-area students in grades three through eight a chance to create their own homemade solutions. The results will be revealed during a parade of Mars Rover models designed and constructed to carry out a specific science mission on the surface of Mars.

Five spacecraft are circling Mars and creeping across its ruddy surface, looking for traces of long-gone waters and signs that the cold, arid planet may once have been hospitable to life. The robotic martian invasion - three orbiters and two six-wheeled rovers - has already uncovered strong evidence that water once flowed on Mars and is now locked in subsurface ice. But big questions about water on Mars remain. When did it flow? How long did it last? How much was there? Where did it come from? Where did it go? Perhaps the most tantalizing question: Were there long-lived watery environments where microbial life could have gained a foothold?

"Star Trek" star William Shatner and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Dave Navarro are among thousands of people who want to fly on Virgin's proposed commercial space flights, company chief Richard Branson said Friday. Branson said more than 7,000 people had registered their willingness to pay the $210,000 fare for the service, which promises to send passengers 70 miles above the Earth.

Over shadowed by the three Presidential debates and the Vice Presidential debate, a fifth debate recently took place between the Bush and Kerry Campaigns on the subject of space policy. This debate was cosponsored by the Washington Space Business Round Table and Women in Aerospace and took place in Washington in front of an audience of a hundred or so aerospace professionals.

Thursday’s event was less a debate than a preview of what will happen to NASA after January 20, 2005...The participants in the debate reflected how space rated in both campaigns: while knowledgeable about space topics, neither Lori Garver, representing Kerry, nor Frank Sietzen, representing Bush, rank high in the hierarchy of either campaign organization.

(Links to other debate roundups included)

Peter Diamandis wasn't thinking about history as he stood in the Mojave Desert and watched a small, shuttlecock-shaped craft glide back to Earth, having nudged the edge of space. He just thought it looked beautiful. It was the next day, after the thousands of cheering spectators had disappeared, after the jubilant speeches had dried up along with the champagne, as Diamandis was driving his father back to Los Angeles, that euphoria - and relief - swept over him.

Roskosmos chief Anatoly Perminov said at the International Space Congress in Vancouver that according to Russia's federal space program for 2006-2015, Russia is going to develop a new orbital basic platform available for cosmonauts.

Some time ago there was an article in The Republic about scientists finding a rock from Mars here on Earth. How do they know that it did not come from somewhere else in the universe or from anywhere in our solar system? I can't see how it can be anything but a wild guess. It is true that every now and again, they find rocks from Mars here at home. Mostly they find them in places like Antarctica, not because Antarctica is especially prone to getting hit by rocks from outer space, but because it's easier to find them there. There aren't a lot of trees or underbrush or buildings or stuff to cover them up.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Aquarius habitat went live today 62 feet underwater off the Florida coast for an 11-day experiment in remote robotic telesurgery and spacelike maneuvers. In cooperation with NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and several universities, the six-member habitat crew and a remote Canadian surgeon will operate commercial robotic medical equipment during the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operation 7 [see GCN story].

Human flight took a significant step forward today as the privately built SpaceShipOne flew into suborbital space for the second time in five days, securing the $10 million Ansari X Prize. With pilot Brian Binnie at the controls, SpaceShipOne rocketed to an unofficial height of 368,000 feet, setting a new altitude record for the craft and proving that private industry can build a viable vehicle for sending paying passengers to space. "This is a milestone for humanity," said John Spencer, president of the Space Tourism Society in Los Angeles.

The UK is almost certainly going back to Mars and is set to become a major player in Europe's efforts to explore the Solar System. Science minister Lord Sainsbury says the country will pay the £5m interim subscriptions needed to maintain a premier place in the Aurora programme. Aurora sets out a vision for Europe to visit the planets with robotic probes and perhaps one day even with humans.

If there are any native Martians on Mars, they may be shocked to learn that U.S. scientists are renaming places on their planet as fast as they can, in the same way that explorers and every wave of newcomers gave their own foreign place names to the Eastern Arctic. A little bit of Canada's North has been transported to Mars as names for places, people and events on Earth are transported to locations on the Red Planet. Borrowed place names for Martian craters include Inuvik, Nain, Nutak and Thule. The names of vessels used in past polar exploration are also now on Mars.

SpaceShipOne landed safely Wednesday after blasting off up into space in what appeared to be the successful start to its bid to win a $10 million prize for private spaceflight. Officials on the ground said the ship had unofficially cleared the 100-kilometer mark, crossing the internationally accepted boundary of outer space. That came after tense moments immediately after the plane's separation from its carrier aircraft. As SpaceShipOne's rocket engine completed its 90-second burn, the plane went into a severe roll upwards. Stunning images showed the plane corkscrewing in as many as 10 revolutions per minute, before pilot Mike Melvill brought it back under control.

While a team of aerospace engineers takes aim this week on the $10 million Ansari X Prize competition for privately developed suborbital spaceflight, a Nevada millionaire is planning an even loftier contest. Robert Bigelow, chief of Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace, is apparently setting higher goals for private spaceflight endeavors with America's Space Prize, a $50 million race to build an orbital vehicle capable of carrying up to seven astronauts to an orbital outpost by the end of the decade, according to Aviation Week and Space Technology. Bigelow told Aviation Week that not only would Space Prize winners secure the $50 million purse, half of which he's putting up himself, but also snag options to service inflatable space habitats under development by Bigelow Aerospace.

The Bigelow Aerospace project to privately develop inflatable Earth-orbit space modules is beginning to integrate diverse U.S. and European technologies into subscale and full-scale inflatable test modules and subsystems at the company's heavily guarded facilities here. While much public attention is focused on the massive International Space Station (ISS), Bigelow has quietly become a mini-Skunk Works for the NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). Ongoing technical assistance to Bigelow from JSC is focused on helping the company spawn development of orbiting commercial inflatable modules by the end of the decade, with the possibility of JSC later using the Bigelow technology for inflatable modules on the Moon or Mars.

Richard Branson, Britain's best-known entrepreneur and part-time daredevil, plans to launch the world's first passenger service to space in 2007, offering zero-gravity flights for $198,600.

Branson, whose Virgin empire stretches from planes and trains to vodka, music and personal finance, is teaming up with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to build five, fish-shaped capsules for the two-to-three hour flights.

Virgin Galactic will be the latest offshoot of Branson's business empire, which started in mail-order recorded music in the 1970s. It will invest $100 million in ground infrastructure and spacecraft capable of carrying five passengers.

The aerospace firm SpaceDev cast its hat into the ring of private human spaceflight today, announcing its plans to build a reuseable spacecraft that may one day carry passengers into orbit. Based in Poway, California, SpaceDev is designing a piloted sub-orbital spacecraft that could eventually be scaled up for orbital flights.

The inside story of how NASA responded to the 2003 Columbia accident in never-before-reported detail The secret deliberations within NASA on how to make way for a new goal such as manned lunar and Mars flight The story of the major U.S. political figure who came to NASA’s aid during the debates, and whose support became crucial to helping get Bush on board The role of the president himself in shaping-and reshaping-the space plan How NASA reached the decision to abandon the space shuttle and station to free up funds to pay for the new plan How the Sean O’Keefe administration built a quiet political coalition to support the proposal-and why it almost came undone during the critical weeks following the Bush announcement What it was like at the helm of U.S. civil space as tragedy gave way to an unexpected opportunity, told from the insider’s unique perspective in a you-are-there- in- the- room style with Sean O’Keefe and his inner circle, battling over options to save NASA-and what President George W. Bush really believed the space program should do for America.

This latest volume brings the exploration of Mars up to date. Including the latest results from the amazingly successful Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, as well as progress reports from the Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey missions. 416 pages with 248 pages of color images INCLUDES DVD-V / DVD-ROM.

A team taking a low-budget stab at the $10 million Ansari X Prize for private manned spaceflight suffered a setback Sunday, when their rocket malfunctioned and exploded after shooting less than 1,000 feet in the air. No one was hurt in the test of the Rubicon 1 just south of Olympic National Park. The 23-foot-long, 38-inch-diameter spacecraft held three dummies simulating the weight of astronauts. Click "Full Story" to see a video of the launch attempt...

It is becoming increasingly difficult to tally US declarations about the International Space Station (ISS) with reality. On the one hand, President Bush and NASA have given repeated assurances that the US still sees the ISS as a unique international project in manned space flight. On the other hand, words alone cannot make equipment, especially sophisticated space equipment, keep functioning. Money is needed for the final version of the space station to appear in all its beauty, complete with new Russian and US-Canadian elements, the European Columbus orbital facility and the Japanese Kibo module.

Russia will resume construction of a new section of the International Space Station (ISS) and will cease being a free “space carrier” for NASA, Aleksandr Aleksandrov, head of the test-flight service of Russia’s Rocket and Space Corporation (RKK) Energiya told ITAR-TASS. According to Aleksandrov, the new section of the station may be built on the basis of the 2nd functional cargo bloc (FGB-2), currently stored on the premises of the Khrunichev space center.

For those who want to explore Mars but can’t wait for a spacecraft to take them there, NASA scientists have reformulated a website that lets the general public search data and images from previous missions. The website called Marsoweb had been designed to help scientists select possible landing sites for the Mars Exploration Rovers. By making the web pages more user friendly, NASA hopes that space enthusiasts will electronically survey the red planet’s terrain for interesting geological features.

NASA scientists have modified a scientific Web site so the general public can inspect big regions and smaller details of Mars' surface, a planet whose alien terrain is about the same area as Earth's continents. After adding 'computer tools' to the 'Marsoweb' Internet site, NASA scientists plan to ask volunteers from the public to virtually survey the vast red planet to look for important geologic features hidden in thousands of images of the surface.

The ability of NASA to rise to the occasion and put into practice U.S. President George W. Bush's vision for space exploration appears to be up for grabs as his 2005 budget request now founders in Congress. Meanwhile entrepreneurs believe the U.S. space agency's preoccupation with Mars is eclipsing in importance our closest celestial neighbor: the Moon.

India and Russia on Monday signed a protocol to boost co-operation in space including joint development of global navigation system and launching Russian spacecraft by Indian rockets. The protocol signed by Gen. Anatoly Perminov of Russian Federal Space Agency -"Roskosmos"- and ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair also provides for the joint projects in space exploration.

The many wonders of the Red Planet will be explored July 16, 2004 when the National Air and Space Museum celebrates Mars Day! with a host of activities at the museum's flagship building on the National Mall in Washington and the new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia. The annual Mars Day! festivities give the public a chance to learn the latest about our "next-door neighbor" from the staff of the museum's Education Division, Space History Division and Center for Earth and Planetary Studies (CEPS).

Japanese researchers, who gave up on an attempt to explore Mars last December, have begun planning another probe to the Red Planet in cooperation with Russia. Japanese researchers are exchanging information with their Russian counterparts, who will launch their own probe for the first time in 10 years, with an eye to the possibility of installing in the probe a small Japanese satellite that can orbit Mars to study the atmosphere.

The first non-governmental rocket ship flew to the edge of space today and was piloted to a safe landing on a desert airport runway here.

Civilian test pilot, now turned astronaut Mike Melvill brought SpaceShipOne down to the Mojave Airport tarmac after flying to 100 kilometers (62 miles) in altitude, leaving the Earth’s atmosphere during his history-making sub-orbital space ride.

Editor's Note: News postings have been sporatic over the last few days since Tourdemars attended the launch of SpaceShipOne in Mojave, and JBurk was on vacation in Fiji & Hawaii. The normal pace of news entries will now resume; thanks for your patience.

Mars, a new digitally animated space show, will open at OMSI's Harry C. Kendall Planetarium on Saturday, June 12. The museum's newest ultra-high definition, full-dome SkyVision(tm) show attempts to answer some of the questions that come to mind when we think of Mars: What happened out there? Was there once life? What happened to the water? Could there still be life...somewhere?

In the coming days our nation will pause to mourn the loss and honor the tremendous legacy of our 40th President, Ronald Wilson Reagan. President Reagan's boundless optimism about America manifested itself in many ways. Among them was his energetic and unbridled support for NASA's space exploration program. Less than three months after he took the oath of office, on April 12, 1981, the Space Shuttle Columbia launched on its first mission, and after a six-year hiatus, Americans were back in space to stay.

A NASA official known as the "Mars czar" will give a free talk Thursday at UC Santa Cruz. G. Scott Hubbard, who has been working on space missions since 1974, will visit as part of a lecture series sponsored by the UCSC Foundation. His talk, titled "Space Exploration: The Moon and Mars — A Vision of the Future," will be at 3:30 p.m. in the multipurpose room at Colleges Nine and 10. The public is invited.

Andrei Perkhounkov pointed at a small hole in the large pipe that would act as the cannon for the launch of the Mars probes. "Don't look here," he warned the crowd of 17 Longfellow third- and fourth-graders. "By the time you look here, the probe will be in the sky."

Russia's space agency is seeking to join the European space agency (ESA) but only as an equal member, its director Anatoly Perminov told ITAR-TASS. He said the issue had been recently discussed with the ESA director Jean-Jacques Dordain. But the discussions dealt with Russia joining as no more than an associate, a status that would give it less power than other nations in the European space alliance.

The Chinese, who launched their first astronaut into space last year, are "shocked" the United States has not welcomed them into the tight-knit community of space-faring nations, a leading U.S. expert said on Tuesday. Joan Johnson-Freese, who chairs the National Security Decision Making Department at the U.S. Naval War College, said one space official she met on a recent trip to China was in tears as he pleaded for U.S. recognition and cooperation.

Here's something to remember as we observe Earth Day today. There's just one. "At present, there is no demonstrated alternative to maintaining the viability of Earth," said Joel E. Cohen, a populations professor at The Rockefeller University in New York City. "Despite its mysteries and hazards, Earth remains the only known home that can sustain life." Arizona was host to the grandest experiment to re-create a piece of Earth: Biosphere 2. And the experiment failed.