By Laurence Prusak One of my father’s heroes—and he didn’t have many—was Albert Einstein. He often regaled me with stories of the great physicist.
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![In This Issue by Don Cohen](https://appel.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/in_this_issue-670x370.png)
Don Cohen, Managing Editor At the NASA Project Management Challenge in Galveston, Texas, this past February, Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the European Space Agency, predicted that global collaboration will define future space exploration.
This space-station view of Los Angeles was taken by Astronaut Donald Pettit, who lived aboard the International Space Station for five and a half months. The city is defined by yellow-orange, sodium-vapor-lit streets in north-south, east-west grids. In between the main streets it is relatively dark due to the design of street lighting that minimizes […]
![Shadows of future astrobiologists.](https://appel.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/4a2-670x380.jpg)
By Wendy Dolci, Ed Goolish, and Carl Pilcher How does life begin and evolve? Is there life elsewhere in the universe? What is the future of life on Earth and beyond?
![NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory and its Taurus booster lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base. A contingency was declared a few minutes later.](https://appel.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/1a6-650x380.jpg)
By Rick Obenschain On February 24, 2009, a Taurus XL launch vehicle carrying the Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
![The improvised tracker placed on the US LAB module window.](https://appel.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/3a5-670x380.jpg)
By Donald Pettit Cities at night, when viewed from orbit, offer a spectacular display.
![Masten Space Systems' "Xombie" vehicle ascending during its first flight.](https://appel.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/2a-670x380.jpg)
By Andrew Petro The idea behind NASA’s Centennial Challenges program, which offers cash prizes for successful solutions to important and clearly defined technical problems, is that innovation can come from anywhere.
![Artist's concept of the Voyager spacecraft with its antenna pointing to Earth.](https://appel.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/2a1-670x380.jpg)
By Ken Randle When I was working for the Sperry Corporation in the sixties, we submitted a proposal to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to provide support for their unmanned space exploration programs.
![Chris Beasley, NASA Ames mechanical engineer, places the PRESat payload into a gold press vessel.](https://appel.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/3a1-670x380.jpg)
By Haley Stephenson Satellites that can fit in a backpack are shrinking technology, reframing satellite science, and providing valuable mission training and experience to the next generation of engineers.