The food-stamp economy
On the last day of every month, shoppers at Walmart load their carts with food and household items and wait for the midnight hour. Is this the new normal in America? Full Article
FACTBOX: Atlantis astronaut crew includes four rookies
(Reuters) - The seven men flying aboard the space shuttle Atlantis include four rookies and a commander who helped put together the first two modules of the International Space Station.
-- Mission specialist: Clayton Anderson, 48, of Ashland, Nebraska, joined NASA in 1983 and helped plan previous shuttle missions but has never flown in space.
-- Pilot: Air Force Col. Lee Archambault, 46, of Bellwood, Illinois, joined the U.S. space agency in 1998 and is also new to spaceflight. He is one of four robot arm operators on the crew.
-- Mission specialist: Retired Army Col. Patrick Forrester, 50, of El Paso, Texas, joined NASA in 1993 as an aerospace engineer and was on one prior shuttle mission, in 2001.
-- Mission specialist: John "Danny" Olivas, of El Paso, Texas, joined NASA in 1998 after nine years of trying to become an astronaut. He is making his first spaceflight.
-- Lead spacewalker: James Reilly, 53, of Mesquite, Texas, came to NASA as an astronaut in 1994 after working as a geologist for an oil and gas exploration company. He has flown aboard two previous shuttle missions and made three prior spacewalks.
-- Commander: Marine Col. Frederick "Rick" Sturckow, 46, of Lakeside, California, joined NASA as an astronaut in 1994. He has been on two prior flights to the space station as a pilot.
-- Flight engineer: Steven Swanson, 46, of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, is new to spaceflight. He became an astronaut in 1998 after working as a software engineer for telephone systems.
