PHOTOS OF THE DAY... Last night, STS-130 astronauts finally unveiled the long-awaited observation deck known as the "Cupola" onboard the International Space Station (ISS). The seven-windowed Cupola will be used to take high-resolution photography of the Earth as well as view incoming spacecraft as they approach and dock with the ISS. Just thought I’d share some exterior and interior pics of the Cupola below. Oh, and you can probably guess why I included an image of a TIE Fighter (Technically, it's a TIE Advanced if you’re a die-hard Star Wars geek) at the top of this post. The Millennium Falcon would also apply. George Lucas must be proud right now... Images courtesy of Lucasfilm Ltd. & NASA

NASA / Troy Cryder

ONE YEAR AGO TODAY, I flew down to central Florida to visit Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the first time. What would’ve made today even sweeter would’ve been the launch of Endeavour on the first flight of this final year in the space shuttle program. Endeavour’s first launch attempt was scrubbed early this morning due to bad weather...and is making a second liftoff attempt a couple of hours from now (though the weather may be problematic yet again tonight). Will I visit KSC again, you ask? Well, I was planning to just so I could see in person an Ares I rocket on its launch pad, but Obama ruined everything last Monday. Oh well.