Shuttle

With the final flight of the stalwart space shuttle Atlantis just a few days away, America is beginning an exciting new chapter in human space exploration. This chapter centers on full utilization of the International Space Station, development of multiple, made-in-America capabilities for astronauts and cargo to reach low-Earth orbit, and pursuit of two critical building blocks for our nation's exploration future: a deep space crew vehicle and an evolvable, heavy-lift rocket. Today, we embark on a new knowledge and innovation-driven approach to space science and exploration that will lead us into the new frontiers of deep space.

While some folks wish to see their names up in lights, students at Folly Quarter Middle School can boast that their names have gone up in space. The students at the Ellicott City school recently participated in the NASA and Lockheed Martin Student Signatures in Space (S3) program, which allows youngsters to sign posters that are scanned onto a disk and sent into orbit. The students signed the posters last spring, and their signatures were sent up in space in late February via the space shuttle Discovery.

AARON COHEN, 79 Space shuttle program co-founder Aaron Cohen, the former director of NASA's Johnson Space Center who helped create the space shuttle program, has died of cancer in College Station, Texas. Mr. Cohen was named director of the Johnson Space Center in 1986 after the space shuttle Challenger exploded, killing teacher Christa McAuliffe and six astronauts. He told the Associated Press then that flying the shuttle safely would depend on "paying attention to detail" and he would encourage those who worked for him to do so. Mr. Cohen was at the helm when shuttle flights resumed nearly three years later and continued to lead the center until 1993.

Madeline Lenox of Baltimore County writes: I like to hike, but I hate the hassle of having to put a car at the trailhead and a friend's car at the end to create a shuttle. It takes up valuable outdoors time. I'm also not a fan of out-and-back hikes - too boring. What should I do? Outdoors Girl replies: How about a stroll around the world? Just walk out your front door and keep going until you get back. Seriously, though, the answer is a circuit hike. The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club just released the eighth edition of its paperback guide, "Circuit Hikes in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania" (116 pages; $9)

Baltimore kicked off its newest version of free downtown bus service Monday morning as the Charm City Circulators began service on its Orange Route from Hollins Market to Harbor East via downtown. Making one of her last public appearances before her resignation takes effect next month, Mayor Sheila Dixon hailed the circulator – which uses hybrid diesel-electric buses to reduce emissions -- as a way to reduce single-operator vehicle traffic downtown. "It's going to be cleaner and greener and it's really going to help us move downtown," she said at a news conference at the Convention Center.

The Charm City Circulator, Baltimore's long-awaited and long-delayed free downtown shuttle bus system, will make its debut today. The Baltimore Transportation Department will launch the Circulator by beginning service on its east-west Orange Route between Hollins Market and Harbor East via the Inner Harbor. It plans to start two other routes -- a north-south route between Penn Station and Federal Hill and a route connecting Johns Hopkins Hospital with Harbor East and City Hall -- in the spring.

In the coming weeks, it should be a lot easier to get around downtown Baltimore. The first of three long-planned circulator bus services designed to shuttle business travelers and tourists through the area is set to open Jan. 11, carrying passengers along a route that runs from the Hollins Market area to Harbor East. Best of all, at least as far as passengers are concerned, the ride will be free. The Charm City Circulator is patterned after free shuttle bus services in other cities that aim to reduce traffic congestion along crowded downtown thoroughfares and cut down on air pollution produced by vehicle emissions.

A delay in Baltimore's free downtown shuttle service will enable the city to save about $3.1 million and pay for the buses more quickly, according to city officials. The Charm City Circulator will ferry its first passengers between the Hollins Market area and Harbor East on Jan.11, about six months after service was originally slated to begin. About $2.5 million that the city saved in operating costs will be used as part of the down payment on the buses, cutting the amount of interest owed, said Jamie Kendrick, deputy transportation director.