Blizzard Entertainment's leadership is in upheaval following a California lawsuit over sexual discrimination and harassment. Studio president J. Allen Brack, who was named in the lawsuit, is "stepping down" from his role. Executive development VP Jen Oneal and GM Mike Ybarra (also a former Xbox executive) will take his place as co-leaders.
The company didn't formally explain the exit, but indicated a desire to change company culture. It said that Oneal and Ybarra would strive to make Blizzard the "most welcoming workplace possible" and help with "rebuilding your trust."
Brack previously said in a company email (shared by Bloomberg's Jason Schreier) that he was against harassment and "bro culture." As Massively Overpowerednoted, though, California accused Brack of taking "no effective remedial measures" to curb sexual harassment at the company. The executive allegedly held multiple conversations with employee Alex Afrasiabi about his drinking and harassment of women, but didn't offer much more than counselling in an attempt to correct the behavior.
There was certainly pressure on Blizzard to change leadership. Workers balked at the developer's dismissive initial response to the lawsuit, prompting a walkout protest. Activision Blizzard chief Bobby Kotick even labeled the early reaction as "tone deaf" and promised quick action to improve company culture. In that light, Brack's departure isn't surprising at all — it's one of the fastest and easiest actions the company could take.
Update 5:05PM ET: Activision Blizzard's top HR executive, Jesse Meschuk, also left the company this week, as first reported by Bloomberg.
Didn’t get an invite from Microsoft to the Halo Infinite technical preview? That’s okay. The company has a consolation prize for you. Microsoft and 343 Industries have partnered with Waze to bring the Master Chief and Escharum, his Banished foil in Infinite’s upcoming story campaign, to the navigation app. For a limited time, you can give Waze a Halo makeover.
As part of the experience, you can have the voice of either Master Chief or Escharum provide you with directions. It’s also possible to change your car’s live map icon to either a Warthog or Ghost and update your profile “mood” to feature the visage of the Spartan or alien war chief. Waze didn’t say how long the experience will run, but you can enable it by navigating to the “My Waze” section of the app and selecting the Halo banner.
Following an online pilot in the fall of 2020 with Maricopa County Community College District, Intel is expanding its AI for Workforce Program to include 18 additional schools in 11 states, including California, New Mexico and Michigan. With the expansion, more than 800,000 students can take part in a curriculum designed by the company, at the end of which they can earn a certificate or associate degree in artificial intelligence.
The program includes courses on data collection, computer vision, model training, coding and AI ethics. In addition to designing the curriculum, Intel has provided training and technical advice to the college faculty involved in the program. Dell is also helping with technical and infrastructure expertise.
According to Carlos Contreras, senior director of AI and digital readiness at Intel, the program consists of four parts. In the initial “Awareness” section, a teacher introduces students to some of the “possibilities” and “issues” around AI, with an emphasis on class discussion. The following two parts involve a lot of hands-on learning while students are gradually introduced to the technical skills they need to become proficient in the field. The final part of the program, “Capstone,” sees students asked to create and present projects that use AI to impact society.
For Intel, the company says working with community colleges offers a chance to “democratize AI technology.” Citing data from the American Association of Community Colleges, the company notes they attract people from various backgrounds and walks of life. But as with most programs of this type, it’s also an opportunity for the company to find candidates in a demanding field. It’s no accident then Intel plans to expand the program to include 50 more schools by 2022.
In 2020, I found out just how solid a pair of $29 true wireless earbuds could be. JLab's Go Air covers all the basics even though they lack the polish of more expensive sets. For its latest buds, the Go Air Pop, the company is taking things a step further with better battery life and a fully enclosed charging case. JLab cut the price even more too: these earbuds will only cost you $20.
Like the Go Air, you'll get all of the core functionality of true wireless earbuds with the Go Air Pop. That includes on-board touch controls, the ability to use either earbud independently, EQ presets and IPX4 moisture resistance. The overall design of the buds is also similar, although JLab says the Go Air Pop is 15 percent smaller and 40 percent lighter than the Go Air.
JLab
The biggest differences are the case and the battery life. The Go Air comes in an open case with an attached USB cable that tucks in the bottom. The integrated plug is back on the Go Air Pop, but the case has a lid like almost every other set of true wireless buds. JLab extended battery life to eight hours on the buds themselves, up from five on the Go Air. The case will give you three additional charges before you'll need to plug the whole set in.
JLab isn't the only company cranking out sub-$30 true wireless earbuds. Skullcandy debuted the $25 Dime back in March, a set of buds with a more AirPod-like design. The Dime can only muster three and a half hours on a charge, but it does offer on-board controls and IPX4 water resistance for your workouts.
The Go Air Pop will ship in late August. When it does, you can choose between black, lilac, rose, slate and teal color options.
Ever since Apple's MagSafe made its grand return by way of the iPhone 12 series, it was only a matter of time before other phone makers came up with similar — and maybe better — solutions. Realme, the sister brand of Oppo and OnePlus, has announced its very own "MagDart" magnetic wireless charging system as part of its latest concept phone, the Flash.
Realme
Not only is MagDart the first of its kind in the Android world, it's also more powerful than Apple's MagSafe, with its maximum output rated at 50W instead of just 15W. This 50W magnetic charger leverages Realme's speedy 65W SuperDart charging tech — a rebranded version of Oppo's SuperVOOC and OnePlus' Warp Charge 65 — and has its own air-cooling system for maximum performance. Realme claims that the charging speed here is almost on par with its 50W SuperDart wired charger. Specifically, for the 4,500mAh battery inside the Realme Flash, it'll go from zero to 100 percent in under an hour.
The downside of this 50W MagDart charger is its bulkiness, but Realme will also offer a slim 15W MagDart charging pad — one that's a tad thinner than Apple's MagSafe charger. This design is mainly thanks to having the circuit board tucked away in the plug, which also keeps the charging coil cooler for higher efficiency. For the same phone, this will take about 90 minutes to go from zero to 100 percent.
Naturally, the MagDart ecosystem offers a few other snap-on accessories as well. There's a MagDart power bank which one-ups the MagSafe Battery Pack by doubling as a wireless charging stand, so you can charge or grab both the phone and the power bank simultaneously.
Realme
There's also a MagDart Beauty Light, which is a flip-up ring light — consisting of 60 mini LEDs, with adjustable brightness and color temperature — to keep your selfie game strong. Interestingly, this kit is powered by the phone's reverse wireless charging feature.
Another handy accessory here is the self-explanatory MagDart Wallet, which holds up to three credit cards in its vegan leather pockets. Though unlike the MagSafe version, this one adds an aluminum kickstand to your phone as well.
Last but not least, existing Realme GT users can get a special case to make their phone MagDart-compatible, though this will add a slight bulge near the bottom on the back side.
There's no word on when we will see the first MagDart-compatible devices on the market just yet, but when that happens, chances are future products from Oppo and OnePlus will get to share the love with Realme (unless Apple gets in the way, of course). But if you use a pacemaker, then you'll probably want to avoid those also.
You can now grab the first-gen Echo Show 5 for $45 on Amazon, if you didn't get the chance to do so on Prime Day in June and on Black Friday last year. The Alexa-powered smart display is also currently available for $45 on Best Buy, but you now have another option if you'd rather purchase it from Amazon for Prime shipping or any other reason. While you can get a refurbished version for less elsewhere, this is the lowest price we've seen for a brand new device that originally retails for $80.
At $45, that also makes this smart display $45 cheaper than the second-gen Echo Show 5. And, as we mentioned in our review of the newer device, its changes are pretty minor. Instead of a one-megapixel camera, you now get 2 megapixels, which isn't that much of an upgrade. The newer smart display also comes in a light blue option, while its predecessor is only available in black and white. That's pretty much it, though — the display's resolution remains the same, and it still doesn't come with features its bigger counterpart, the Echo Show 8, has.
As we said in our review for the first-gen Echo Show 5, it's meant for those who want a smaller Amazon smart display that's also a decent alarm clock. It has a sunrise alarm feature, which slowly brightens the screen 15 minutes before the time you set, and it has ambient light sensor that automatically adjusts the screen's brightness based on your surroundings. You can also use it to display photos and watch videos, though, if you don't mind the smaller screen. The device supports Amazon Prime, NBC and Hulu, and you can always access YouTube using its built-in browsers.
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Amazon is offering $10 in promotional credit to get people to sign up to its palm print payments system. Our sister site TechCrunchspotted the promotional offer and shared a screenshot of it, which you can peep below. The retailer launched Amazon One last fall as a contactless way of authenticating purchases and allowing entry into stores using a biometric device. In this case, a palm scanner. With surface hygiene a major concern during the pandemic, the move made sense.
Since then, Amazon has expanded the system to 53 of its physical retail spots in places including New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Texas. You can find the tech at Amazon Go convenience stores, Whole Foods Market, Amazon Go Grocery, Amazon Books, Amazon 4-star stores and Amazon Pop Ups.
Shoppers can enroll on Amazon One at those sites by pairing their credit card and mobile number with one or both of their palm signatures. The sign-up process is the only part that requires you to touch the device. After that, you just hover your palm over the scanner to enter a store and complete purchases. The promotion also requires you to link your Amazon account with your One ID.
The limited number of Amazon One locations means that the promo will be restricted to a small circle of users. But, if Amazon gets its way, the system may be hard to avoid in a contactless, check-out free future. It's already begun discussions to offer the tech to third-party retailers.
Amazon / TechCrunch
Of course, the idea of handing over more data (especially biometric information) to Amazon may not sit right with some people. Chances are, a $10 voucher won't sway the naysayers put off by the horror stories around Amazon's facial recognitiontech and Alexa voice recordings.
But, Amazon is aware of the privacy concerns the device raises. To assuage those fears, the company has promised to secure palm data using encryption, data isolation and dedicated secure zones with restricted access controls. For those worried their data could be monetized, it also committed to keeping palm data separate from other Amazon customer data.
The company says that a subset of "anonymous" palm data is used to improve its system and this data is "protected using multiple layers of security controls." Amazon has also pledged to delete the data if you cancel your Amazon One ID and if you haven't interacted with one of its palm scanners for two years.
I’ve been a user of mechanical keyboards for a few years now, and I love them. I like the semi-analogue quality of the devices, and the percussiveness, and the customisability. The one thing I haven’t always liked is the size and heft of conventional layouts like full size or TKL (ten key less, i.e. without a numpad but still with a dedicated set of cursor keys and Home/End/etc).
There are many more sizes of keyboard available, though, but the smallest I was ever comfortable with was laptop-style setups which are usually in the roughly 65% category, like on a MacBook Pro or my iPad’s Magic Keyboard, which means a keyboard with around 65% of the keys found on a full-sized one. I do have a 60% board here too (a Snowfox DK61), but the lack of arrow keys constantly tripped me up. I could configure it to have them, of course, but there’s still the issue of feeling I was reaching around too much to trigger various Fn shortcuts. What I really wanted was something contradictory: an even smaller keyboard that was easier to type on in terms of finger-stretching, but that still had all the functions I needed. Also, the aesthetic had to be impeccable, to earn a place on my minimalist desk with my iPad. White, sleek, clean, ascetic; that’s the vibe I like right now.
Sounds impossible, but it exists. Let me tell you a bit about my new daily driver, which is pictured below.
On Monday mornings, I send out a story via email: ultra-brief tales of 1,000 words or more, usually in genres including science fiction, horror, and the supernatural. Those stories collectively are called Once Upon A Time. I’ve also published four ebooks and one paperback anthology of those stories so far.
I’d love to have you as a subscriber to the weekly free story. You can subscribe via email here, or use the form below. Unsubscribe any time, from the link in every issue.
Abuses of location technology might just result in hot political disputes. According to Wired, SkyWatch and Global Fishing Watch have conducted studies showing that over 100 warship locations have been faked since August 2020, including the British aircraft carrier Queen Elizabeth and the US destroyer Roosevelt. In some cases, the false data showed the vessels entering disputed waters or nearing other countries' naval bases — movements that could spark international incidents.
The research team found the fakes by comparing uses of the automatic identification system (AIS, a GPS-based system to help prevent collisions) with verifiable position data by using an identifying pattern. All of the false info came from shore-based AIS receivers while satellites showed the real positions, for instance. Global Fishing Watch had been investigating fake AIS positions for years, but this was the first time it had seen falsified data for real ships.
It's not certain who's faking locations and why. However, analysts said the data was characteristic of a common perpetrator that might be Russia. Almost all of the affected warships were from European countries or NATO members, and the data included bogus incursions around Kaliningrad, the Black Sea, Crimea and other Russian interests. In theory, Russia could portray Europe and NATO as aggressors by falsely claiming those rivals sent warships into Russian seas.
Russia has historically denied hacking claims. It has a years-long history of using fake accounts and misinformation to stoke political tensions that further its own ends, though. And if Russia is connected, the faked warship locations might be a significant escalation of that strategy. Even though such an approach might not lead to shooting matches, it could get disconcertingly close.
NASA just celebrated another major moment in the history of Moon exploration. The New York Timesnoted that July 31st, 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the Lunar Roving Vehicle's first outing — and the first time people drove on the Moon. Apollo 15 astronauts Dave Scott and Jim Irwin took the car on a stint to collect samples and explore the lunar surface more effectively than they could on foot.
Scott and Irwin would eventually drive the rover two more times (for a total of three hours) before returning to Earth. The Apollo 16 and 17 missions each had an LRV of their own. There was also a fourth rover, but it was used for spare parts after the cancellation of Apollo 18 and further missions. All three serving models remained on the Moon.
Early development was problematic, in no small part due to the lack of real-world testing conditions. They couldn't exactly conduct a real-world test drive, after all. The team eventually settled on a collapsible design with steel mesh wheels that could safely handle the Moon's low gravity, lack of atmosphere, extreme temperatures and soft soil.
The LRV was modest, with a 57-mile range, four 0.19kW motors and an official top speed of 8MPH. It was also expensive, with cost overruns bringing the price of four rovers to $38 million (about $249 million in 2021 dollars). It was key to improved scientific exploration during the later stages of the Apollo program, though, and it was also an early example of a practical electric vehicle — humans were using a battery-powered ride on the Moon decades before the technology became mainstream on Earth.
We wouldn't count on humans driving on the Moon any time soon, although that reflects the progress made in the 50 years since. NASA and other space agencies are now focused on robotic rovers that can explore the Moon without worries about crew safety. Those humans that do go on rides will likely use autonomous vehicles. Think of this anniversary as celebrating a first step toward the technology you see today.
Rivian might not be focused solely on expanding its US production. Sky Newssources claim the EV designer is in talks with the British government to build a manufacturing plant near Bristol. The discussions aren't yet in late stages, but the focus is reportedly on production for the vehicles themselves rather than batteries, although there was room for an all-encompassing Tesla-style gigafactory.
Rival proposals have come from Germany and the Netherlands, Sky claimed. If the UK plant did go ahead, though, the government could supposedly invest "well over" £1 billion (about $1.39 billion). Rivian declined to comment.
There's certainly pressure to commit to international expansion. Rivian has just one factory, a former Mitsubishi plant in Illinois, and it only just unveiled plans for a second American facility that might also produce batteries. That output could limit potential sales, especially outside of North America, and might hamper Amazon's electric delivery van rollout.
This could help Rivian scale to counter rivals like Tesla and Volkswagen, both of which are rapidly growing their EV manufacturing bases. The UK intends to ban sales of combustion engine cars in 2035, and that means switching local production to EVs. A Rivian factory could help the country transition to EV manufacturing, not to mention encourage sales that would make public acceptance that much stronger.
Mobile app shops are cracking down on one of the higher-profile communities spreading anti-vax misnformation. Bloombergreports that Apple has removed Unjected, a hybrid social and dating app for the unvaccinated, for "inappropriately" referencing the COVID-19 pandemic's concept and themes. While Unjected bills itself as a place to find others who support "medical autonomy and free speech," social posts on the site have included false claims that vaccines modify genes, connect to 5G and serve as "bioweapons."
The app founders are also embroiled in a fight over their Android app. Google told Unjected on July 16th that it had two weeks to remove the misleading posts from its app to avoid a Play Store ban. The developers responded by pulling the social feed. However, co-creator Shelby Thompson said Unjected planned to defy the request by restoring both the feed and the offending posts.
We've asked Apple and Google for comment. Unjected still has a presence on Instagram despite that social network's anti-misinformation stance, although that account mostly promotes its views on "freedom" and only occasionally mentions falsehoods, such as incorrect claims that mRNA vaccines alter DNA. We've asked Facebook for a response as well.
Unjected is small compared to mainstream social networks, with roughly 18,000 app downloads (according to Apptopia). However, the crackdown clearly serves as a warning — Apple and Google won't tolerate apps that knowingly accept and encourage the creation anti-vax content, even if they aren't directly producing that material.
Update 7/31 6:18PM ET: Apple told Engadget that Unjected violated rules demanding reliable COVID-19 information from trustworthy sources, like health agencies and medical institutions. The tech firm further accused Unjected of less-than-honest tactics. The app producer reversed changes made to comply with App Store rules, and encouraged users to help it dodge those rules by avoiding the use of telltale words. Trying to cheat the system is itself grounds for a ban, according to Apple. Don't expect Unjected to come back.
The perpetrators of the SolarWinds hacks apparently targeted key parts of the American legal system. According to the AP, the Justice Department says hackers targeted federal prosecutors between May 2020 and December 2020. There were 27 US Attorney offices where the intruders compromised at least one email account, officials said.
The victims included some of the more prominent federal offices, including those in the Eastern and Souther Districts of New York as well as Miami, Los Angeles and Washington.
The DOJ said it had alerted all victims and was taking steps to blunt the risks resulting from the hack. The Department previously said there was no evidence the SolarWinds hackers broke into classified systems, but federal attorneys frequently exchange sensitive case details.
The Biden administration has officially blamed Russia's state-backed Cozy Bear group for the hacks, and retaliated by expelling diplomats and sanctioning 32 "entities and individuals." Russia has denied involvement.
It's not certain if the US will escalate its response. The damage has already been done, after all. This further illustrates the severity of the attacks, however, and hints at the focus — they were clearly interested in legal data in addition to source code and other valuable information.
You've all seen the iconic picture of the US astronaut riding gracefully upon his NASA-built MODOK chair. That astronaut was Bruce McCandless II, Houston’s capsule communicator during the moon landing mission, Challenger crew member, and the driving force behind America's ability to conduct operations outside of the stuffy confines of space shuttles and international stations. Without McCandless, there's no guarantee the US would have EVA capabilities today. Wonders All Around, exhaustively researched and written by McCandless's son, Bruce III, explores McCandless the elder's trials and tribulations during NASA's formative years and his laser-focus on enabling astronauts to zip through space unencumbered by the mass of their ships.
Greenleaf Book Group
Copyright @ 20201 Bruce McCandless III. Published by Greenleaf Book Group Press. Distributed by Greenleaf Book Group. Design and composition by Greenleaf Book Group and Kimberly Lance. Cover design by Greenleaf Book Group, Shaun Venish, and Kimberly Lance. Cover image courtesy of NASA, photographed by Robert L. "Hoot" Gibson
In his long leaden days of waiting for a spaceflight, my dad found the route to redemption on the back of an aging cartoon character. From the afternoon in December 1966 that he first tried out the Manned Maneuvering Unit in a Martin Marietta simulator, he was hooked on a vision of a gas-propelled jetpack that would allow astronauts to operate outside their spacecraft. This vision had an obvious pop-culture antecedent. In the 1920s a comic-strip character named Buck Rogers — a rock-jawed, All-American World War I veteran — succumbed to the effects of a mysterious gas he encountered while working as a mine inspector. He fell into a deep sleep and woke after five centuries of slumber to a strange new world of spaceships, ray guns, and Asian over-lords. Though he initially traveled this new world via an antigravity belt, a device that allowed him and his best gal, Wilma, to leap great distances at a time, Buck eventually acquired a svelte and evidently omnidirectional jetpack. He eventually ventured into space in an adventure called Tiger Men from Mars, and his exploits in the cosmos changed America’s vision of the future forever. Millions followed Buck’s adventures in the funnies, on radio, and in movie serials. Among Buck’s imitators and spiritual heirs are Flash Gordon, Brick Bradford, John Carter of Mars, and Han Solo.
A host of talented men and women spent significant amounts of time and money to wrestle that jetpack out of the funny papers and into the space shuttle. None worked harder, though, than Bruce McCandless and his chief collaborator, an Auburn-educated engineer and Air Force officer named Charles Edward (“Ed”) Whitsett, Jr. Whitsett was a pale, bespectacled individual, mild-mannered but tenacious. He had a head start on my father. He’d been thinking and writing about jetpack technology as early as 1962. In a sense, he was trying to solve a problem that didn’t exist yet: Namely, how could an astronaut venture outside his or her spaceship and perform constructive tasks in an environment with no oxygen, with extreme temperature fluctuations, and in an orbital “free fall” that would leave the spacefarer lolling in the practical equivalent of zero gravity? Alexei Leonov of the Soviet Union and American Ed White had proven that extravehicular activity was possible, that men could survive outside of their space capsule, but basically all they’d done was float. How could a man move from one part of a spaceship to another, or from one spacecraft to another craft, or from a spacecraft to a satellite, in order to make inspections or repairs? None of these needs really existed in the early sixties, when the programs of both nations were still just trying to fire tin cans into low Earth orbit and predict, more or less, where they would come back down. But clearly the needs would eventually arise, and various methods were proposed to address them.
In the mid-sixties, the Air Force assigned Whitsett to NASA to supervise development of the Air Force’s Astronaut Maneuvering Unit. Gene Cernan’s failed test flight of the AMU on Gemini 9 in 1966 — the “space-walk from hell,” as Cernan called it — set the jetpack project back, but it never went away. McCandless, Whitsett, and a NASA engineer named Dave Schultz worked quietly but assiduously to keep the dream alive. They enlarged and improved the AMU all through the latter half of the decade and into the seventies. In the “Forgotten Astronauts” wire story that portrayed him as a washout in 1973, my dad mentioned the reason why he wanted to stay in the manned space program despite not having won a crew assignment on either Apollo or Skylab. “McCandless,” said the article, “has helped develop the M509 experimental maneuvering unit. The Skylab astronauts strap it on like a backpack and propel themselves Buck Rogers — like around the Skylab interior. [He] wants to build a larger operational unit to perform space chores outside the shuttle.” And that’s exactly what he did.
Though the Skylab M509 tests in 1973 and 1974 were a resounding success, resulting in the triumph of the jetpack concept over both rocket boots and the handheld maneuvering unit, Whitsett and McCandless didn’t rest on their laurels. Over the next several years, using whatever time and funding they could scrape together, the team made multiple upgrades — eleven, by one count — to what was now being called the “manned maneuvering unit,” or MMU. The bulbous nitrogen-gas fuel tank of the ASMU was replaced with two streamlined aluminum tanks in the rear of the unit, each of which was wrapped in Kevlar. The number of propulsion nozzles was increased from fourteen to twenty-four, positioned around the jetpack to allow for six-degrees-of-freedom precision maneuvering. Smaller gyroscopes replaced those used on the ASMU, and, as space historian Andrew Chaikin has noted, the ASMU’s “pistol-grip hand controllers, which were tiring to operate in pressurized space suit gloves, were replaced by small T-handles that needed just a nudge of the fingertips.” The MMU’s new arm units were made to be adjustable, to accommodate astronauts of all sizes. Painted white for maximum reflectivity, the unit was built to survive the 500-degree fluctuation in temperatures (from a high of 250 degrees F to a low of minus 250 F!) that an astronaut might encounter in space.
By 1980 the machine weighed in at 326 pounds. Like the AMU and the ASMU before it, the MMU was designed to fit with or “over” the astronaut’s pressure suit. Shuttle astronauts wore a newly designed suit called the Extravehicular Maneuvering Unit, or EMU, a two-piece marvel of textile engineering made up of fourteen layers of Nylon ripstop, Gore-Tex, Kevlar, Mylar, and other substances. Power for the jetpack’s electronics was supplied by two 16.8-volt silver-zinc batteries. Two motion-control handles — the translational hand controller and the rotational hand controller — were mounted on the unit’s left and right armrests, respectively, and a button activated an “attitude-hold mode,” which used motion-sensing gyroscopes to direct the firing of the thrusters to maintain an astronaut’s position in space.
The machine had been tested in every way its designers could imagine. A representative of a local gun club visited Martin Marietta and shot the MMU’s nitrogen fuel tank with a .50 caliber bullet to ascertain whether the tank would explode if pierced. (It didn't.) The jetpack was run through hundreds of hours of simulations. At my father’s urging, a gifted and intense Martin Marietta project manager named Bill Bollendonk subjected the device to space-like conditions in the company’s thermal vacuum facility. The MMU was no longer a “far out” experiment, as Mike Collins once called it. It was now a promising space tool. Unfortunately, for the moment, it was still an unused space tool. American astronauts remained on Earth, as NASA struggled to produce its next-generation orbital workhorse, the space shuttle.