After suffering a minor public relations nightmare after reports indicated astronauts flew while intoxicated, NASA yesterday said an internal safety review indicates the accusations were unfounded.  U.S. space agency officials will appear in front of a U.S. congressional committee to discuss the report published by an independent external panel.  

Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance Bryan O'Connor was responsible for reviewing more than 20 years of NASA space flight records, looking for signs that indicated possible alcohol use.

NASA engineers discovered cracks located in an "underlying layer of thermal protection" on shuttle Discovery, forcing engineers to remove the insulating foam before the shuttle's launch on October 23.  Several X-ray tests revealed the Super Light-weight Ablative, or SLA, must be removed to maintain the shuttle's physical integrity.

After the shuttle Columbia disaster – which resulted in the loss of all astronauts aboard -- NASA has paid more attention to the heat shield, but still has had issues.  During the first manned shuttle mission more than two years after shuttle Columbia, a large piece of foam fell off shuttle Discovery nearly striking the vehicle.  Most recently, a piece of falling foam left a small gouge on the underside of shuttle Atlantis.

NASA astronaut Ed Lu announced plans to leave NASA and head towards Google to "pursue private interests."  Google will reportedly have Lu work with the following programs: GoogleSky, GoogleScholar and GoogleBooks.

Working with a PhD from the Stanford University Astrophysics department, Lu is obviously an ideal candidate to help Google with its ambitious GoogleSky program.  Lu flew on two NASA shuttle missions and spent six months on the International Space Station (ISS).