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Space pioneer John Young has been named a NASA Ambassador of Exploration. Young received the award and commemorative moon rock Wednesday at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, where the items remain on display. The Ambassador of Exploration Award recognizes the sacrifices and dedication of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts. The awards remain property of NASA, but are displayed at a museum or educational institution of the recipient's choice. The goal of the awards is to inspire a new generation of explorers. In a letter to the astronaut, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin stated Young's superb service had earned him...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The success of next week's space shuttle launch is crucial to the future of US space exploration, more than two years after the Columbia disaster grounded manned flights. NASA has undertaken major safety changes on its shuttle fleet since the February 2003 crash in which seven astronauts died, but the space agency acknowledges that flying into space will always carry risks. "Returning the space shuttle safely to flight and resuming flight operation is the first step in the vision for space exploration," NASA administrator Michael Griffin told a congressional committee in late June. "The risk won't be...

Fox News just showed, live, the attempted centenial flight of the replica of the Wright Flyer at Kitty Hawk in North Carolina. With an audience of dignitaries in the stands, including President Bush, a smattering of astronauts, and John Travolta watching, the flight was a failure. After great difficulty in getting the engines running, the reproduction flyer came down the wooden runway, got its nose up just before the end of the wooden rail it was to launch from. But then it reached the end with its tail still dragging, and dropped unceremoniously into a puddle. I'm willing to wager...

Teacher In Space Highlights O’Keefe NASA Vision Speech Space News, April 15, 2002, page 3 A highly touted policy speech by NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe disclosed plans to send teachers to space, but con-veyed no dramatic change in the direction of the U.S. space agency. NASAs plans to send astronaut-in-train-ing Barbara Morgan, a former elementary school teacher, to the international space station no sooner than 2004 was the highlight of O'Keefe's April 12 speech at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University in New York. NASAs public affairs operation billed O'Keefe's speech as a major address,...