sending an urgent SOS to Congress this week on planetary radio. Hi everyone, welcome to Public Radio's travel show that takes you to the final frontier.

I'm Matt Kaplan.

That SOS came from thousands of people who want to

save our science, specifically by avoiding the deep cuts in space science funding proposed by NASA with the money going to the space

shuttle for completion of the International Space Station. We'll hear from the man

heading the SOS campaign. Planetary Society Executive Director Lou Friedman recently returned from Washington

where he and other prominent spokespeople

laid out their case for members of Congress and their staffs.

Helping to make that case were Bill Nye, and filmmaker James Cameron.

Bruce Betts will drop by later with a look at the night sky.

He'll also note this week's historic significance for hot little sister

planet Venus just before he delivers the new trivia contest. Here are some of the stories

making space news this week, beginning with the International

Space Station.

All three of the current tenants took a walk around the neighborhood last week, a long one.

During a six and a half hour space walk, they did a bunch of general upkeep and repair

and retrieved a canister that is part of an experiment that exposed microorganisms to the, shall

we say, harsh space environment?

No word yet on what has been learned from the little critters.

Back on Terra Firma, NASA announced that it has awarded a contract to Lockheed Martin for support of the 2009

Mars Science Laboratory mission.

The aerospace company will provide an Atlas 5 rocket that will boost the big rover to the Red Planet. Once there, the

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