I was all hopped last week when an episode our family remembers as “the Beatniks from Outer Space” finally showed up on Twilight Zone re-runs. It’s as wacky and far out as I remembered.

Now comes word from the Museum of Flight that the Association of Space Explorers is having its 21st annual Planetary Congress in Seattle from September 15 – 19, 2008.

Coincidence? I think not.

All week, space travelers (astronauts, cosmonauts and, no doubt, a few “beatniks”) will be on hand to talk about the status of space programs around the world and the challenges to the human body made by those long spaceflights.

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