NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has driven up to a football-size rock that will be the first for the rover's arm to examine. Curiosity is about 8 feet from the rock. It lies about halfway from Curiosity's landing site, Bradbury Landing, to a location called Glenelg. In coming days, the team plans to touch the rock with a spectrometer to determine its elemental composition and use an arm-mounted camera to take close-up photographs.
Chairman Hall Calls NASA Claim Of Ownership A 'Miscarriage Of Justice'
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously approved H.R. 4158, a bipartisan bill introduced by Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Ralph Hall (R-TX) to confirm full ownership rights to artifacts received by Apollo-era astronauts from their space missions.
Endeavour is making the last leg of its journey to becoming a museum piece Friday morning. Following an overnight stay at Edwards AFB in California, NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA), with Endeavour riding on its back, will perform a low flyby northbound to Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area early Friday morning.
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Board of Directors has approved the appointment of Sandra H. Magnus, Ph.D., as the new executive director of the 35,000-member professional organization, effective October 22, 2012.
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