I’d like to give a shout out to Clara Ma of Sunflower Elementary in my hometown of Lenexa, Kansas who has named NASA’s newest mars rover, the Mars Science Laboratory, “Curiosity.” Congrats on naming the next big part of NASA’s exploration of Mars and as the state motto in Kansas says and as Christa McAuliffe Elementary (just down the street from Sunflower and my elementary school) would say, “Reach for the stars” Clara!
NASA has also announced the next launch date for the Space Shuttle Endeavor, set tentatively as June 13. The STS-127 mission as it is designated will be delivering the two final components of the Japanese Experiment Module (JEM): the Exposed Facility and the Exposed Section of the Experiment Logistics Module. STS-127 follows on the heals of the successful final flight to repair Hubble, allowing it to last through 2014 and to allow for continued operation of such a versatile space telescope until it’s replacement, the James Web Space Telescope, is launched.