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Well since the Space Shuttle is landing at 4:45 am, I figure I start a live thread now (I won't be awake)...

British entrepreneur, Sir Richard Branson, has teamed up with aerospace designer, Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites to form a new aerospace production company. The new firm will build a fleet of commercial suborbital spaceships and launch aircraft.

Poised for Liftoff Space Shuttle Discovery rests in full view on the launch pad. Image above: The rolling back of Launch Pad 39B's Rotating Service Structure reveals orbiter Discovery. + Click for larger image. Image credit: NASA/KSC Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-114, NASA's Return to Flight mission, is set for Tuesday at 10:39 a.m. EDT. The launch pad's Rotating Service Structure (RSS) was rolled away from Discovery at 3:38 p.m. on Monday. When in place, the giant enveloping appendage is used to install payloads into an orbiter's cargo bay and provide protection from inclement weather. With the...

It’s late at night, and you receive an urgent phone call from the White House. “The President wants to know why we should continue to put humans in space. He wants a one-page summary on his desk by tomorrow morning.” What do you write?

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO -- An initial step towards the creation of mass transit beyond our planet is the emerging public space travel market. At present, a number of technologies are being developed for other applications by non-aerospace industries deemed useful in fostering space colonization. These technologies will automate many aspects of large scale space system development, as well as drive down costs – thereby advancing the onset of colonization. That’s the view among a group of visionary practitioners of the future taking part in the Space Technology & Applications International Forum (STAIF), held here February 13-17.

June Malone Marshall Space Flight Center Huntsville, Ala. (Phone: 256/544-0034) RELEASE: C02-gg NASA AWARDS CONTRACTS FOR FLIGHT DEMONSTRATORS NASA today awarded contracts under the Cycle 2 Space Launch Initiative (SLI) solicitation to two companies for flight demonstrator technologies. The awards for flight demonstrators are required at this stage to mature technologies needed to support full-scale development design of a future competitively selected Orbital Space Plane under the restructured SLI effort. The Boeing Company-Phantom Works Division, Seal Beach, Calif., was awarded approximately $301 million (including options through 2006) to continue the development of the X-37 flight demonstrator. This contract includes a...