According to a new report by the National Research Council, NASA needs more astronauts. C'mon, what are you waiting for? It's not like there are any jobs here on earth.

It's been a horrible year for wildfires in Texas—six of the state's ten largest recorded wildfires have come in the last eight months, and nearly 3.5 million acres have burned so far. Right now, a large fire in Bastrop State Park—near Austin—rages completely out of control, and another in Montgomery County has forced 4,000 to evacuate, destroyed 80 homes, and likely caused the cancellation of a Renaissance Fair. Here are some breathtaking photos of the fires, and the damage they've caused—including a video taken from the International Space Station.

A new report from the National Research Council entitled, "Limiting Future Collision Risk to Spacecraft: An Assessment of NASA's Meteoroid and Orbital Debris Programs," says we've already managed to pollute Earth's orbit with enough space junk to pose a serious risk to future space flight missions.

Coffee mystery! Asteroid deflection! Earth expansion! Fly paranoia! Acoustic cloaking! Bear strings! Homo sapienism! Smartest insect! And stupid fish are all like, "Which hand makes the 'L?'" It's your Wednesday Science Watch, where we watch science—as best we can!

NASA astronaut Ron Garan yesterday photographed this Perseid meteor from a window in the International Space Station and posted the image online. Nice shot, Astro Ron! Fun fact: You might remember Ron as the guy who had to fix the clogged space toilet on the ISS last month. I'm going to guess that Ron is enjoying himself a bit more as his six-month stay at the space station comes to an end.

NASA's 30-year shuttle program officially ended this morning when Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center after a 13-day mission to the International Space Station. From NASA: "Space shuttle Atlantis and the STS-135 crew have landed on runway 15 at the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida."

Space Shuttle Atlantis has undocked from the International Space Station and begun its final voyage home, making it the last time in history the two longtime, spacefaring lovers will engage in intergalactic intercourse. Sadness all around. [AP, image via NASATV]

Someone apparently dropped a big deuce in the International Space Station's zero-gravty toilet and didn't light a match, because the stench coming from it is so strong that one poor astronaut, Ron Garan, has been tapped to fix the $90 million plumbing system.

Neptune day! Lyme disease! Solar dearth! Towel robots! Leg transplants! Runaway elephants! Owl vision! Ocean heat! And the utter failure of the US space program continues! It's your Tuesday Science Watch, where we watch science—extra-terrifically!

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords made her first public appearance on Monday since being shot in the head in January, standing and waving to the crowd at a NASA awards ceremony held at Space Center Houston. She didn't speak publicly, but "appeared to chat with people sitting around her, and laughed" at the introduction of her husband's crew. As encouraging as the appearance might have been, Giffords' staff has been attempting to manage over-optimistic expectations; her doctors have said that it'll be at least a year before they have a sense of the extent of her recovery. [ABC News]

Space shuttle Endeavor touched down with its crew of six astronauts safely aboard, marking the last flight for that spacecraft, and leaving only one more — Atlantis, launching in July — before the space shuttle program is retired. [NYT]

NASA's postponed Endeavour's final blast-off to the cosmos once again, citing the same broken auxiliary power unit that delayed the launch the first time. Shucks!

Today's bittersweet final launch of the space shuttle Endeavor has been delayed at least 48 hours over a "heater failure." Those 700,000 tailgaters are going to be unbelievably wasted by Sunday.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is making her first public outing since being shot in the head in Tucson this January. She boarded a NASA jet in Houston today that's flying to Florida's Kennedy Space Center, the spot from where astronaut husband Mark Kelly will launch into space on Friday as part of the shuttle Endeavor's last mission. You can check out some raw, hazy AP footage of Giffords boarding the plane up top. She walked from her car and up the ramp without assistance.

Dirty gas! Judge timing! Lying doctors! Space dust! Courage secret! Alcohol brain! Old viruses! Young puberty! And big wrists that kill! It's your Tuesday Science Watch, where we watch science—with petite bone structure, thank you!

On Saturday, for the first time since 1993, the Moon is going to be full at almost the exact same time it's closest to earth. So if you've got livestock you need to sacrifice, now's the time to do it!

A small packet of cocaine has been found at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, almost exactly 14 months after cocaine was last found at the Kennedy Space Center, as keen observers of space and/or cocaine will no doubt note. But does this indicate that NASA is the most fun government agency—or that it's a front organization for a vast, interplanetary drug ring? Seems to us it's time to put the space-detectives on the case! (This can be the basis for the sixth season of The Wire.) When asked if the recent discovery had any link to the death of a NASA contractor on Monday, spokeswoman Renee Juhans said, "maybe." No, ha, she actually said "no comment." And then she had the reporter whacked. [AFP]

NASA's most-flown shuttle, Discovery, landed for the final time today at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Over the course of 39 missions spanning the course of 26 years, Discovery traveled 148,221,665 miles. Career highlights: Launched the Hubble telescope, delivered new modules to the International Space Station. NASA's other two remaining space shuttles—Endeavour and Atlantis—are scheduled for the glue factory later this year. [ABCNews, Image of Discovery above the northwest coast of Morocco via AP]

NASA's hot new Glory satellite was supposed to reach orbit today, where it would begin a three-year mission to study airborne particles and their effect on the Earth's climate. Oh, but the Glory's ride into space inside a Taurus XL rocket failed about 15 minutes after launch. So much for that half-billion dollars!

Remember last spring, when the nation was seized by the fear that every late-model Toyota was on the verge of surging forward on an uncontrollable terror-drive? Well, NASA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration looked into it, and it turns out people were probably just accidentally pressing the gas instead of the brake. Sorry!