A spectacular tour of the solar system this week on planetary radio. Radio. Hi everyone, welcome to Public Radio's travel show that takes you to the Final

Frontier.

I'm Matt Kaplan.

It's the stuff that dreams are made of. Dreams of exploring our immediate

neighborhood in the universe, a neighborhood that is proving to be far more exciting and

varied than anyone had imagined just a few years ago.

Its beauty is captured in the latest edition of a book co-authored by today's guest.

We'll talk with planetary scientist, author, and artist Bill Hartman about The Grand Tour,

a traveler's guide to the solar system.

Bruce Betts has a bit of amphibian trouble in our What's Up segment, but you'll still get his suggestions on what to look for

in the night sky and some surprising information about our trivia contest.

And here's all the news from here to the oat cloud almost.

Don't hold your breath waiting for the next shuttle launch unless you've got a heck of a set of lungs.

NASA has decided the earliest possible launch opportunity for the STS 121 mission is March 4 2006 and it

will once again be space shuttle discovery rather than sister ship Atlantis. The

Space Agency wants the time in part to fully assess the recently completed

flight.

All's well with the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, now peacefully cruising its way to the Red

Planet, and much farther out, Cassini continues to explore the Saturnian

system.

By the time you hear this, the spacecraft will have taken its first close look at Titan in four months. You can read about this encounter at

planetary.org.

...