In New Mexico, alien-worshippers from nationwide are flocking to Roswell to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the supposed alien crash. Alien species and UFO’s are, of course, welcome to attend. And yes, this is a serious request.

The festival, which officially commenced on Thursday, includes the standard live band and alien-themed contests. The attendees range from "relatively sane" to "like trekkies at a ‘Star Trek’ convention." Also attending are many guest-speakers, who discuss everything from alien encounters to "What Does NASA Really Know?"

This is the first year the celebration is actually being held at Roswell. While there might not be a high chance of having an alien visitor, it looks like a bit of fun during these boring summer days.

Source 1, Source 2

Okay, so, it’s really a toilet, but as a member of the mail gender, I find that thing utterly terrifying. Consider the tube sticking up between the strap-down feet restraints. Scary. But on a more serious note, it looks like the Russians have something going on here, because NASA was willing to lay out $19 million. They’ll be used, ironically, only in the American section of the International Space Station, while the Russians will continue to use whatever it is they’re currently using. And, oh, by the way, this contraption includes turning urine into potable water, and while I’m familiar with the concept from Dune, that doesn’t mean I’m comfortable with it.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt MD, will house the agency’s new Beyond Einstein Program which seeks to investigate strange cosmic phenomena, such as dark energy, black holes, and microwave background radiation.

The Beyond Einstein Program proposes five new missions of two major observatories and three smaller probes. Technology development is under way on the proposed observatories. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna would orbit the sun and measure gravitational waves, while the Constellation-X observatory would peer at matter falling into supermassive black holes.

NASA is considering commercializing the transport of passengers and cargo to the International Space Station so it can devote its resources to outer space exploration.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said that NASA does not have the resources to run continuous manned space missions and meet all of its goals set by the NASA Authorization Act of 2005.

"By stimulating the growth of commercial space enterprise, NASA plans to free itself to focus on long-range exploration to the moon and Mars," NASA said in Tuesday’s announcement.

NASA is looking in the private sector to take over the Earth-orbit duites activities and has signed three new agreements with private companies to share information regarding its technology.

Constellation Services International (CSI) of Laguna Woods CA,
SpaceDev in Poway, CA and Houston’s Spacehab are three companies which already have former NASA employees and staff. Two more companies are being contacted as well.