December 15 2008—Onlookers got a close up look at Space Shuttle Endeavour as it coasted to the Kennedy Space Center aboard its 747 carrier jet. NASA bypassed a Florida landing at the end of November due to bad weather, which prompted a touchdown in California. That set the stage for the cross country ferry flight to get the Shuttle back to Florida. Reminds me of when I was attending Brevard Community College in the early 1980’s. I nearly wiped out the family car when Shuttle Challenger, on its 747, flew barely five hundred feet above the Indian River. Quite a sight. And for 2009…

Discovery and its seven astronaut crew will lead off 2009 by installing the last set of solar electricity panels on the International Space Station. Their crew patch is pictured to the left. The crew includes Japanese space veteran Koichi Wakata. A later mission this year will carry up the last section of Japan’s KIBO lab, which is an opened “porch” which will hold experiments exposed to the environment of space. The last Hubble repair flight is set for May.

Space tourism, and a possible competitor for Virgin Galactic, was the subject of a recent interview I did for “Word of Mouth” on New Hampshire Public Radio. If you like, you can click here to listen…

http://www.nhpr.org/node/19602

On the book front, many thanks for all the kind responses to the Bob Edwards Show that aired the week after Endeavour’s launch. Bob and I talked about “Final Countdown” and he and his producers did a great job reporting on the night-time liftoff. Also, my first book signing was at the Southern Independent Booksellers Conference in Atlanta. I’ll be dropping by some signed copies of the book at Orlando’s own Urban Think bookstore in Thornton Park, which is a SIBA member. If you’re looking for a last minute stocking stuffer, and want to support an independent bookstore, well there you go…

More to come,