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Virgin Galactic spaceplane VSS Unity completes successful flight

The Verge

Saturday’s flight, which also carried research payloads for NASA’s Flight Opportunities program, is the latest step toward Virgin Galactic’s goal of a space tourism program. Saturday’s flight was the 400th commercial space launch licensed by the FAA. Unity is able to carry up to six passengers and two pilots.

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‘Mercury 13’ woman aviator Wally Funk will ride with Jeff Bezos on Blue Origin suborbital space trip

GeekWire

She was already a professional aviator when she volunteered for the privately funded Women in Space research program in 1961 at the age of 21. The program, which had the support of NASA but was not officially sponsored by the government, ran 13 women through the medical and psychological tests that NASA used for its male astronauts.

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Who’s an astronaut? FAA weighs in on a murky issue for suborbital space travelers

GeekWire

The answer appears to be no, if you go by the Federal Aviation Administration’s newly issued guidelines for its commercial space astronaut wings program. Those guidelines suggest that astronaut wings can go only to crew members on a licensed spacecraft who contribute to flight safety and rise above the 50-mile altitude mark.

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How to watch the countdown to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin suborbital space trip (and why)

GeekWire

She was one of the “Mercury 13” aviators who were subjected to the same tests as NASA’s Mercury astronauts as part of a research project that some hoped would open the way for women to join NASA’s early astronaut program. Oliver Daemen is due to become history’s youngest spaceflier at the age of 18. ”

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Sen. Ed Markey on the politics of technology

The Verge

You’ve been very supportive of the E-Rate program. And for our listeners at home, the E-Rate program is basically the FCC’s primary program when it comes to connecting schools and students to the internet. That’s what this program was intended to do. But ultimately, it’s an FCC program. Just study hard.

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