Lockheed Martin, developers of the X-33 vehicle that will test technologies for a reusable single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle, recently opened this site to sell people on the X-33 and its planned operational version, the VentureStar. Much of this site is still in development, but you can sign onto a list to get mission updates, enter a contest to win a X-33 model, and more. The introduction to the site uses frames and heavy amounts of graphics; if you're using an older browser or are on a slower connection, you may want to skip directly to http://www.venturestar.com/public_html/homepage/index.html.

http://www.venturestar.com/

NASA's new space station Web site, opened last month, is a notable improvement over the old version. There is updated information about the station assembly plan as well as some special feature articles about the station, the first crew scheduled to stay on the station, the proposed X-38 crew return vehicle, and more. There are also some nice new images of the station generated by computer modeling programs.

http://station.nasa.gov/

This October a Titan 4B will launch the Cassini spacecraft towards Saturn. Because the spacecraft uses a plutonium RTG to provide power during the mission, the program has raised a number of protests among anti-nuclear activists, who fear the consequences of a launch accident or an accidently reentry of the spacecraft during an Earth flyby on its way to Saturn. George Herbert has created a site with background information about the dangers, real and perceived, of using RTGs for the mission. He does an excellent job explaining the arguments for and against using RTGs on Cassini, and includes links to sites that are both pro- and anti-RTG, leaving the decision up to the reader.

http://www.crl.com/~gherbert/Space/Cassini/

The Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission, launched last year, will be the first to perform an up-close, extended study of an asteroid, in this case Eros. This educators' guide, created by several teachers on summer fellowships from Lockheed Martin, combines lesson plans and other information that can be used in the classroom to study asteroids, and math and science in general, based on the NEAR mission. While meant for children and teachers it's a good resource of information for anyone looking for the basics of the mission and what we can learn from it.

http://hurlbut.jhuapl.edu/NEAR/Education/