When Marianne Dyson, former NASA Mission Control specialist and author of “Space Station Science,” speaks with school children, she uses an exercise to demonstrate the difficulty of working in space. She has them try to pick a dime off a table top...while wearing boxing gloves.

On December 8, 2009, SpaceShipTwo was unveiled to an audience composed of dignitaries, including California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, in the face of an impending hurricane.

Yesterday, October 7, 2009, the X-Prize Foundation announced that Masten Space Systems completed the first stage toward winning the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge. Masten’s vehicle, Xombie, successfully completed two vertical take-offs and landings, at 93 and 91 seconds, respectively. But with other challengers such as BonNova nipping at Masten’s heels, the race for the US$2 million purse is far from over.

On 31 January 2009, the New Mexico-based Spaceport America (NMSA) has announced that Spaceport America now has a new “sister spaceport.” The NMSA has successfully entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with officials of Spaceport Sweden, based in Kiruna, Sweden.

In the book by Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, our hero finds a golden ticket in a candy bar wrapper.

Richard Garriot will be boarding the International Space Station in October after spending months in training, as well as millions of dollars.

Throwing the first pitch of the baseball season is an honor typically reserved for dignitaries such as presidents, mayors, baseball hall-of-famers, and, um, Lillian Carter.

by Carol Pinchefsky

by Carol Pinchefsky

American-Iranian businesswoman Anousheh Ansari will be the next space tourist to travel to the International Space Station. Ansari will be replacing Japanese businessman Daisuke Enomoto, who did not pass his physical examination.