The Space Program Is Over? Nobody Told Us!

With the space shuttle program ending, erroneous reports of NASA's space program being "over" have surfaced on various websites and news outlets. But astronauts on the International Space Station want to assure everyone that NASA is alive and well. A new video series called "Inside the Space Station" premiers with this pilot episode, and has astronaut host Mike Massimino talking with Ron Garan and Mike Fossum, when they were on board the ISS (Garan returned home in September and Fossum in November). The video confirms humans are still doing many things in space (there's been a continuous human presence on the ISS since Nov. of 2000); and also includes great images and footage from the space station.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com