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Probably the first rock hit with a space theme was "Telstar" by The Tornados. In the early years, there were many rock tributes to the stars of the space age. Other rock and pop songs followed. (See our Top Space Songs) Which of these songs is your favorite?

Skylab was America's first space station and orbital science and engineering laboratory.

Skylab was launched into Earth orbit by a Saturn V rocket on May 14, 1973 as part of the Apollo program. Three crews visited the station, with their missions lasting 28, 59 and 84 days.

Image Credit: NASA

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How cool would it be to have your name on board the spacecraft that discovers the first known Earth-like planet beyond our solar system? Well, here’s your chance.

NASA today announced an opportunity for anyone to submit their name to be included on a DVD and rocketed into space as part of NASA’s Kepler Mission, scheduled to launch in February 2009 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla.

“This mission will provide our first knowledge of Earth-like planets beyond our solar system,” said Kepler Mission principal investigator William Borucki.

The Name in Space DVD will be mounted on the exterior of the spacecraft in November 2008. A video of the DVD being mounted on the spacecraft will be taken and posted on the Kepler Mission Website prior to the spacecraft being shipped to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in December of this year. A copy of the DVD with all of the names and messages will be given to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, Washington.

“It’s a way for the public to participate in our space program,” explained David Koch, deputy principal investigator for the Kepler Mission. According to Koch, there’s no limit to the number of names that can be submitted for inclusion on the DVD.

“We’re looking for several million names,” Koch said. “The only limitation is people’s interest.”

Anyone who wants to participate in the Name in Space project should submit their name, the state or country they live in and if they desire, a short statement (500 words or less) answering the question: “Why do you think the Kepler Mission is important?” The deadline for submissions to the Kepler Mission Web site is Nov. 1, 2008.

Certificates of Participation will be available for printing from the Kepler Mission Web site. The certificate states that the person whose name has been submitted has been included on the list of names launched in 2009 with the Kepler spacecraft into orbit around the sun. There is no charge for participating in the project or for printing the certificate.

Name in Space is an international activity associated with the International Year of Astronomy 2009 in recognition of the 400th anniversary of Johannes Kepler’s publication of his first two laws of planetary motion.

Kepler is a NASA Discovery mission. NASA Ames is the home organization of the science principal investigator and is responsible for the ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. Kepler Mission development is managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo., is responsible for developing the Kepler flight system.

To submit names and learn more about the Kepler Mission, visit the Kepler website.

Image Credit: NASA

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Is life unique to Earth? Could life have developed anywhere else in the universe? We're not asking about UFOs. Do you believe that it's possible that life exists on another planet?

Students from coast to coast will have the opportunity to make an out of this world call to the International Space Station on Monday, May 12, from 11:20 a.m. to 11:40 a.m. CDT. The students and educators from One Stop Richmond Hill Community Center, Richmond Hill, N.Y., and Valley Christian Elementary School, Bellflower, Calif., will participate in the event.

The two locations will be part of a 20 minute in-flight education downlink, allowing students from across the country to share in this unique collaborative experience. During the event, students and educators will interact with Expedition 17 astronaut Garrett Reisman. Both locations used NASA education resources to enhance their existing curriculum and worked together to develop a comprehensive education plan to compliment the downlink. Students designed mission patches, learned about space station science experiments, made models of the space station, and explored the NASA Web site for student research and activities.

NASA's education downlinks support the agency's efforts to encourage students to study and possibly pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). These events, facilitated by NASA's Teaching From Space Office, use the unique experience of human space flight to promote and enhance STEM education.

The downlink will air live on NASA Television and be streamed on the NASA Web site.

Image Credit: NASA

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Over the centuries, many theories for the origin of our solar system have been suggested, then discounted. Even today there is no satisfactory model that both completely explains all the facts and is consistent with the known laws of physics.

Image at right: Ghost Nebula - Our Solar System may have formed from a similar nebula.
Image Credit: George Herbig and Theodore Simon

Beginning with a "Solar Nebula," the process took millions of years to end up with the planets we know today. The sun still contains most of the material of the original solar nebula. Its internal nuclear reactions have modified the material at the sun’s core. However, the surface layers, which have not mixed with the core in its present state, have quite accurately preserved the original nebular composition.

Read more about The Origin of the Solar System.

NASA invites people of all ages to join the lunar exploration journey with an opportunity to send their names to the moon aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, spacecraft.

Image at right: Artist's concept of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Image Credit: NASA

The Send Your Name to the Moon Web site enables everyone to participate in the lunar adventure and place their names in orbit around the moon for years to come. Participants can submit their information online, print a certificate and have their name entered into a database. The database will be placed on a microchip that will be integrated onto the spacecraft. The deadline for submitting names is June 27, 2008.

"Everyone who sends their name to the moon, like I'm doing, becomes part of the next wave of lunar explorers," said Cathy Peddie, deputy project manager for LRO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "The LRO mission is the first step in NASA's plans to return humans to the moon by 2020, and your name can reach there first. How cool is that?"

The orbiter, comprised of six instruments and one technology demonstration, will provide the most comprehensive data set ever returned from the moon. The mission will focus on the selection of safe landing sites and identification of lunar resources. It also will study how the lunar radiation environment could affect humans.

LRO will also create a comprehensive atlas of the moon's features and resources that will be needed as NASA designs and builds a planned lunar outpost. The mission will support future human exploration while providing a foundation for upcoming science missions. LRO is scheduled for launch in late 2008.

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is being built at Goddard. The mission also will be managed at the center for NASA's Explorations Systems Mission Directorate in Washington.

Send Your Name to the Moon is a collaborative effort among NASA, the Planetary Society in Pasadena, Calif., and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.

Astronauts Robert D. Cabana and Bryan D. O'Connor along with former astronauts John E. Blaha and Loren J. Shriver will be added to an elite list of Astronaut Hall of Fame members that includes Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Jim Lovell, Sally Ride and John Young.

Image at right: Robert Cabana, John C. Stennis Space Center Director.
Image Credit: NASA/SSC

A public ceremony to commemorate the veteran astronauts will be held on May 3 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida and will be broadcast live on NASA TV at 3 p.m. EDT.

The 2008 inductees were selected by a committee of former NASA officials and flight controllers, journalists, historians and Hall of Fame astronauts.

Image at right: Bryan O'Connor is NASA's Chief of Safety and Mission Assurance.
Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

With four space shuttle missions to his credit, Cabana was the commander of the first International Space Station assembly mission. Currently, he is the director of NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

O'Connor was shuttle pilot on mission STS-61B and commander of STS-40, the first shuttle mission dedicated to life science studies. He now serves NASA as the Chief, Safety and Mission Assurance with responsibility for the safety, reliability, maintainability and quality assurance of all NASA programs.

Over the span of 17 years, Blaha flew on five space shuttle missions and set the American men's space record for time in space during his four months on orbit. Blaha retired from NASA in 1997 and is active in private industry.

Image at right: John E. Blaha, NASA astronaut, veteran of space shuttle missions STS-29, STS-33, STS-43 and STS-58. In 1996, he flew aboard STS-79 to the Mir Space Station where he served as a Board Engineer 2 for 4 months before returning to earth aboard STS-81.
Image Credit: NASA

Shriver, a veteran of three shuttle flights, commanded the STS-31 mission to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope and served at NASA's Kennedy Space Center as the Launch and Payload Processing deputy director from 1997 to 2000.

This esteemed assembly is the seventh group of space shuttle astronauts named to the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame and brings the total number of inductees to 70.

Image at right: Loren J. Shriver, NASA astronaut who flew on STS-51C in 1985, STS-31 in 1990, and STS-46 in 1992, and has logged over 386 hours in space. In October 1992, he was assigned as Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office.
Image Credit: NASA