When Gravity Probe B was first proposed by NASA, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. Cuba was still considered a friendly country and Vietnam was a place few Americans could point to on a map. Manned space flight was still an unrealized dream. Now, 45-years later, Gravity Probe B is finally being prepared for lift-off at Vandenberg AFB (CA). It's mission: test two linchpin theories first proposed by Albert Einstein. In 1916, Einstein figured a planet like Earth could actually mold and twist the fabric of space and time. Think of a lead weight resting in the middle of a soft mattress and you'll get an idea of what he had in mind. That very effect, he proposed, is directly responsible for gravity.

For the second year in a row the team from North Dakota State University in Fargo led the field over the weekend in the college division of NASA's 11th annual "Great Moonbuggy Race" in Huntsville (AL).