To be sure it reaches the necessary speeds, the X-43A will be attached to a booster rocket and ride piggy back on a B-52 to 24, 000 feet.

BBC: Mach 10 scramjet prepares for launch

The intention was to give the US a crew-carrier and rocket technology that could go beyond low-Earth orbit to more distant targets, back to the Moon and further.

BBC: Obama reviews post-shuttle plans

With the same laid-back verve that has characterized his rocket rise to the rarest reaches of the rap world, Wiz took the audience through his latest work, occasionally punctuating the proceedings with his machine-gun chuckle.

FORBES: Wiz Khalifa: I'll Earn $100 Million This Year

"We've seen young men coming back from Iraq who've been injured with rocket-propelled grenades and other things more severe than this, " Gearhart says.

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Nasa's policy of outsourcing its cargo and crew transport needs is intended to find savings that can be ploughed back into building a rocket and capsule system capable of taking humans beyond low-Earth to more challenging destinations.

BBC: SpaceX lifts off with ISS cargo

Way back in November of 1985, on just its second mission, Atlantis experienced a blow-back of hot gases past the primary O-rings in one of its solid rocket boosters, resulting in serious erosion of said O-ring.

ENGADGET: Space Shuttle Atlantis ends its run of predicting disaster for other NASA shuttles

As the spacecraft descended, it sent back signals when critical events occurred: heat shield separation, parachute deployment, retro-rocket firing.

NPR: Mars Rover Marks Second Anniversary of Landing