Injured US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords sees husband Mark Kelly take the helm as Nasa shuttle nears retirement Endeavour has blasted off on its final space shuttle flight as the mission commander’s wounded wife, the US congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, watched along with an exhilarated crowd well into the thousands.Nasa is winding down its 30-year-old shuttle programme before embarking on something new. The event generated the kind of excitement seldom seen near Kennedy Space Centre on such a grand scale, despite a delay of more than two weeks because of an electrical problem.Just before the launch, commander Mark Kelly said: “It’s in the DNA of our great country to reach for the…

It is a common question people have about astronauts. There must be complications at zero gravity when it involves this highly personal activity that everyone, even those in the highest ranks of power, must do, the act of visiting the John, as we have nicknamed the necessary room, named after inventor of the flushable toilet was named Sir John Harrington. According to a Time magazine article, going to the bathroom in space, involves a complicated invention known as “WCS” or “waste collection system.” To learn more visit Time magazine  online.

Apollo 13 returns to Earth, 1970 AMERICAN REVOLUTION Colbert launches raid on Fort Carlos, Arkansas, 1783 AUTOMOTIVE Ford Mustang debuts at World’s Fair, 1964 CIVIL WAR Battle of Plymouth, North Carolina, begins, 1864 COLD WAR The Bay of Pigs invasion begins, 1961 CRIME A single horsehair uncovers a murderer, 1936 DISASTER Volcanic eruption kills 80,000, 1815 GENERAL INTEREST Benjamin Franklin dies, 1790 Yugoslavia surrenders, 1941 Architect of Czechoslovakia’s Prague Spring resigns, 1969 HOLLYWOOD General Hospital airs 10,000th episode, 2002 LITERARY Isak Dinesen is born, 1885 MUSIC Eddie Cochran dies, and Gene Vincent is injured, in a UK car accident, 1960 OLD WEST Life of Billy the Kid arrives at Library…

Tuesday, August 3, 2010 NASA has stated that it intends to put up its three space shuttle orbiters — Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour — on museums for public display after the fleet is retired. The agency requested interested museums submit statements of interest, including details for how they plan to meet the requirement of exhibiting an orbiter in an environmentally-controlled, enclosed display. NASA has reserved Discovery for the Smithsonian but the fates of Atlantis and Endeavour, as well as the prototype Enterprise have yet to be decided. In the interim, some of the 20 organizations vying for an orbiter have released concepts for how they plan to exhibit a retired…