Dennis Tito's plan to send a crew of two around Mars is getting a big assist from NASA via a Space Act Agreement (SAA) with its Ames Research Center (see page 24). While Tito will repay NASA for its work, the agency's inspector general and a powerful member of Congress are examining SAAs—which are less restrictive than standard federal business arrangements—to see if they are being abused. That is one of the charges in a whistle-blower report on alleged malfeasance at Ames (AW&ST Feb. 18, p. 19). Rep.

From NASA to DARPA, an old practice spurs new ideas

David S. McKay, a NASA planetary geologist who studied the soil and rock samples Apollo astronauts returned from the Moon and argued that a Martian meteorite found in Antarctica contained fossil evidence of extraterrestrial life, died in Houston Feb. 20 of heart disease. He was 76. McKay joined NASA in 1965. He trained Apollo 11 crewmembers Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to help them return useful samples from the Moon's surface, and stood by in Mission Control during the first Moonwalk on July 20, 1969, as a resource.

More than 280 Earth-observation-satellite systems are planned

Size can matter when it comes to prizes and, for one of last remaining competitions for human endeavor in flight, a significant boost in the purse has spurred a neck-and-neck race for the finish line. By the time these words are read, one of the longest-standing prizes in aviation could have been won, with two teams vying for the American Helicopter Society (AHS) International's $250,000 Sikorsky Prize for a human-powered helicopter.

Entrepreneurial space ventures born from X Prize are about to bear fruit