Also: Aero-Integrity, Iran's Monkey-In-Space Program, and Remembering Columbia, Challenger and Apollo 1
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has announced to the employees of the U.S. Department of Transportation that after serving for four years in President Obama’s Cabinet, he would not be staying on for the second term. In its sixth update on its investigation into a battery fire aboard a JAL Dreamliner January 7, the NTSB said its examination of the damaged battery has transitioned from macroscopic to microscopic. The Islamic Republic of Iran says it has taken another step towards becoming a space-faring nation by launching a monkey into space and recovering the animal alive after a sub-orbital flight - though a prior attempt failed.