Tuesday the Earth crosses the trail of the Tempel-Tuttle comet, and while many people will be watching the heavens for a spectacular light show, NASA will have its eyes on two research aircraft it is sending up on an astrobiology mission. Specifically, they are looking at the molecules that are created during the meteor's interaction with the Earth's atmosphere, and the composition and chemistry of the atoms, molecules, and particles detected in the meteor's path. The aircraft will provide three-dimensional views, making high-resolution stereoscopic images and spectrographic observations of meteor dynamics and chemistry. A team of interdisciplinary scientists -- astronomers, meteor specialists, and atmospheric physicists -- will use state-of-the-art sampling techniques to provide a window on the sky over Japan during the storm.

During the Leonid meteor shower, the military will be bracing for star wars. While the Earth's atmosphere protects the planet itself from the flying debris of the storm, satellites in orbit are vulnerable to the cloud of sand-sized meteors traveling 100 times faster than speeding bullets. This is happening just as the Pentagon is beefing up for a showdown with Iraq, and experts are concerned that the meteors could damage spy, communication, and navigation satellites. Over the last couple of years, there has been an intensive effort by the Air Force Space Command to assess the threat. The conclusion is that there is potentially a serious threat and that we need to take it seriously and figure out ways to mitigate that threat. No one knows for sure how the satellites will weather the onslaught, but experts predict a one percent chance that a satellite will get a hit. The impact could bash in the satellite or form an electrical charge that could burn out a critical component. Space Command has contingency plans, including backup satellites that are already in orbit.

Now that John Glenn has gone back into space, testing the effects of weightlessness on the body of a 77-year-old, when can the rest of us go? "It's going to happen, and I'm going to go. And I'm going to take you with me," said X-Prize Trustee Erick Lindbergh. He is the grandson of "Lucky Lindy," Charles Lindbergh, the first man to fly nonstop across the Atlantic in 1927. A $25,000 prize was the motivator for him. Now there's another prize, the shot of the trophy "X-Prize." A $10,000,000 motivator for the first company to get non-astronauts into space, all without the million-dollar Shuttle program. Seattle-based Zegrahm Space Voyages already has 250 people signed up for a ride on their six-seat flights, scheduled to begin December 2001.

The X-Prize is trying to encourage a high-altitude barnstorming, similar to what a Curtiss JN-4D Jenny biplane did back in the 1920's, flying around to county fairs and offering to take people up in the air for a price. This time things are a little more involved and more expensive - $98,000 for a 7-day adventure, including several days of training, orientation, and an up and down space flight 60 miles above the earth. Weightlessness only lasts minutes but the flight suit is yours. "Eventually we'll have orbital tourism. Hilton Hotels is looking at what it would take to build an orbital or lunar resort," said X-Prize director, Gregg Maryniak. Some 15 companies are competing. One has already completed Proteous, a high-altitude plane that will launch a rocket slung underneath. Experts believe the actual costs to get into space will come down from the near $100,000 price tag.

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