Launched in January 2006, the NASA New Horizons mission to distant Pluto is on target to whisk by that faraway world in July 2015. New news from the New Horizons team: Unless significant new hazards are found, the spacecraft is set to stay on its original course past Pluto and its moons. That’s the call [...]

The Space Book: From the Beginning to the End of Time, 250 Milestones in the History of Space & Astronomy by Jim Bell; Sterling Publishing Co. Inc; New York, New York; (hard cover) $29.95; May 2013. This elegant, eye-catching book offers stunning photographs and illustrations that chronicle spacecraft exploits and astronomical observations. That’s the good [...]

NASA’s next mission to the Moon has moved closer to its launch later this year. The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) has arrived at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. LADEE is a robotic mission that will orbit Earth’s Moon to gather detailed information about the lunar atmosphere, conditions near the surface and [...]

The Little Book of Space Law by Matthew J. Kleiman; ABA Book Publishing; Bolingbrook, Illinois; $19.95 (Regular)/$17.95 (American Bar Association Member); 2013. This is an excellent and very readable treatment regarding space law – the international and national laws that govern human activities in outer space. Plus, you’ll find a surprising gaggle of factoids and [...]

Even in outer space…the beat goes on! The heart beat that is. But how best to monitor its condition on lengthy space treks, say to Mars? An engineering team of students has designed a new stethoscope for NASA to deliver accurate heart- and body-sounds to medics who are trying to appraise astronauts’ health on long [...]