Tragic Start To Aviation's Premier Race Event With the annual excitement of the Reno Air races not quite underway, a tragic accident has taken the life of a pilot in the process of final preparation for her race efforts. Formula One air-racer Erica Simpson, 32, of Phillipsburg, N.J., flying a Cassutt IIIM racer, was killed when her aircraft experienced a structural failure during an evaluation flight.

This couldn't have been a lot of fun, but thankfully, the injuries were minor. A somewhat uncommon Rallye Minerva (file photo, below) experienced an engine failure after its engine pretty much destroyed itself from the inside out...

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Boeing's commercial launch business has successfully launched the GeoEye-1 satellite today aboard a Delta II rocket procured from United Launch Alliance (ULA). Liftoff occurred, Saturday, at 11:50 a.m. Pacific time from launch pad SLC-2W at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The ULA Delta II rocket deployed the spacecraft approximately 58 minutes after liftoff.

"Joe has played an extremely important role for both our office and the agency as a whole throughout his many years with NASA... Not only has he performed critical roles in each of his four shuttle missions, from servicing the Hubble Telescope to assembly work on the International Space Station, but his leadership and expertise have been invaluable resources to us on the ground as well. He will be missed." Source: Steve Lindsey, NASA's Astronaut office chief, commenting on the departure of Astronaut Joe Tanner, for a job in private industry.