Space Near and Far

A host of stories from the world of space. First, another potential candidate to run NASA takes his name out of the running. Who is running NASA? And what about those big decisions that need to be made? What about Congress deciding that an aging vehicle can be extended and extended (until another one goes "sprang", than suddenly it is NASA's fault...and not the fault of Congress, of course).

Over in the Constellation program there are hints that initially the Orion will fly with a smaller crew than originally planned (but could eventually be upgraded). And that the lunar base is out of the running (but a trip to a near-Earth asteroid is a possibility...as is a Mars voyage—insane without extensive testing such as a Lunar base would give us, in my opinion). A small plus is that money is finally being made available for commercial manned flights.

Further out (way further out), hints as to why the plane of our galaxy "glows" with X-rays. And watch out! Rogue black holes may roam the galaxy, hungry for mass.