Quoted: Hoping to save a ripped space station solar wing, astronauts ventured outside Saturday for one of the most difficult and dangerous spacewalking repairs ever attempted.

The part about exploiting the "high frontier's resources" sounds kind of ominous, but the solar collectors could become a great source of energy.

Quoted: India now plans lunar missions and a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) that takes an innovative approach using a scramjet hyperplane.

Origami is the greatest, but I didn't know it could also be this useful.

Quoted: NASA is joining a Japanese team in a space experiment that uses reverse origami to show the way to help keep satellites in their proper orbits, or to return spent rocket stages quickly to Earth.

Quoted: NASA-supported scientists and engineers have successfully tested a methane-powered rocket engine. The firing was not only remarkably beautiful (a must-see movie is featured in today's story) but also may herald a new type of spacecraft that one day roams the outer solar system gathering fuel from planets and moons that it visits.

Stephen Hawking is preparing for a space flight on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic in 2009. Such a brave and inspiring person. For thrill seekers, here is a link to the company that arranges these space-simulation flights: http://www.gozerog.com

Quoted: For Zero Gravity Corp., the company that offers the microgravity excursions to the general public for $3,500 a ride (soon to be available through Sharper Image), the flight served as a publicity vehicle.

Clear photos from the Hubble Telescope, with corresponding information and higher resolution versions. The photos are also catagorized by subject matter (Galaxies, Nebulae, Star Fields & Globular Clusters, and Solar System Objects).

Beautiful images and video of the Sun and Moon, taken from two NASA satellites currently orbiting the Sun. New York Times commentary: http://acrosstheuniverse.blogs.nytimes.com/

Quoted: The fantastically-colored star is our own sun as STEREO sees it in four wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light. The black disk is the Moon. "We caught a lunar transit of the sun," she explains.

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District is amazing. They maintain thousands of acres of undeveloped land and organize a variety of interesting outdoor activities. Great web site as well.

Quoted: The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District is a regional greenbelt system in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is comprised of over 50,000 acres of land in 25 open space preserves protected for public enjoyment, making a preserve system of diverse and unparalleled beauty in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country.

This would be quite the thrill. I hope it's strong enough to withstand space debris.

Quoted: When the suborbital craft SpaceShipOne first lifted off from the Mojave desert in June of 2004, it ignited lofty dreams of space travel for tourists.