This first of its kind video follows the SRB from takeoff strapped to the shuttle to SRB jettison, tumbling through the atmosphere to splashdown in the ocean - with an underwater view! Very cool.

• STS-114 SRB Video

The B&O Museum has to be the best collection of railroad history that I've ever seen. Fourty acres of finely restored steam and diesel locomotives, dozens of railcars and a newly rebuilt climate controlled roundhouse.

Hiked Calvert Cliffs State Park and enjoyed the inaccessbile fossil-filled sandy beach at the base of the cliffs. After cooling off with the onshore breeze, I drove south to the mouth of the Patuxent River and came across a suprisingly cool place called Solomons Island. This quaint seaside village is a blend of Cape Cod and Key West. Great water sporting and seaside dining.

Although the new Russian 10-year space budget will total about $10.5 million (300 billion roubles), it is less than what the United States spends annually on its space program.

The Iraq war substantially intensified the foreign push. Most immediately, it destroyed China's hopes of developing large assets in Iraq. China had been waiting for the end of sanctions to begin work on the Al-Ahdab field in central Iraq, under a $1.3 billion contract signed in 1997 by its largest state-owned firm, China National Petroleum Corp. The field's production potential has been estimated at 90,000 barrels a day. China was also pursuing rights to a far bigger prize -- the Halfayah field, which could produce 300,000 barrels a day. Together, those two fields might have delivered quantities equivalent to 13 percent of China's current domestic production.

"No matter if it's rogue's oil or a friend's oil, we don't care," said an energy adviser to the central government who spoke on the condition he not be identified, citing the threat of government disciplinary action. "Human rights? We don't care. We care about oil. Whether Iran would have nuclear weapons or not is not our business. America cares, but Iran is not our neighbor. Anyone who helps China with energy is a friend."

Big Shift in China's Oil Policy
By Peter S. Goodman
Washington Post Foreign Service

The Enigma of Damscus

Jordan's First Steps

This official NASA document details the areas of the International Space Station that are complete and those that remain to finish the 'core': ISS Technical Configuration

This survey will look beyond the recent post-constitutional doom and gloom about Europe's future, to argue in favour of continued enlargement of the Union as the best way to manage relations with neighbouring countries, save for Russia.

The Economist: Meet the neighbours