Space Tourism

Russia will fly two tourists to ISS onboard the same Soyuz spacecraft in 2021.

The deal was brokered by Space Adventures.

Sample Snatcher

Japan's Hayabusa2 probe has successfully snatched samples from Asteroid Ryugu.

The samples are due on Earth in December 2020.

Space Force

President Trump signed a space policy directive Tuesday that orders the Department of Defense to create a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces.

Congress still has the final say in the creation of such a force.

NASA

NASA's next annual budget will be $21.5 billion.

That's an increase of $1.6 billion.

Perspective

Wal-mart announce quarterly revenues this morning of $138.793 billion.

That's seven times NASA's current annual budget.

Tombaugh

Om this date in 1930, Clyde Tombaugh, after a meticulous search, discovered Pluto.

Pluto has since been demoted to dwarf planet status, but that takes nothing away from Tombaugh's achievement.

Solar Flares

Astronomers are studying solar flares as a way to learn about solar systems.

Flares generally are associated with younger stars, and extremely powerful flares can affect entire systems.