NI Gallery Update + NEAR

There's a new image in the NI gallery:
http://members.xoom.com/gzg_l/ni/NIhome.htm  scroll down to the Gallery
link.

It shows the ATI Dreyfus (Converted FSE Roma) and other ships maneuvering near
an asteroid. The asteroid is in fact Gaspra, though I've abused the scale
pretty badly. While it may not be the best in the gallery it's near
and dear to my heart as it combines two of my favorite time-sinks - FT
and planetary science. At least one of them pays OK. It also gives me the
opportunity to pitch the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) which is going
to be arriving and going into orbit around asteroid 433 Eros on Valentine's
Day 2000.

Catch it at  http://near.jhuapl.edu/  Things will begin happening in
earnest
in mid-late January as we come up on it nice and leisurely. I'm pretty
confident that it will be a badly needed good turn for NASA.If you want to
know my part in this all, from the homepage, click on Operations and go to the
MSI NIS Science team work area.