If things go without a hitch NASA announced that its new Space Launch System could take its first manned test flight in 2017.

The new design looks a lot like the Apollo era rockets that took American astronauts to the moon, but NASA said the new spacecraft is much more powerful than any other rocket they've made before and could set up astronauts for deep space exploration. The SLS will be NASA's first exploration-calss vehicle since the Saturn V took astronauts to the moon.

At the unveiling of the plans Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) called it a "monster rocket."

When U.S. forces launched the war in Afghanistan on Oct. 7, 2001, they were riding a wave of anger and a call for justice by a broad swath of the American public.

Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center, says the initial support for the Afghan invasion was around 90 percent, and the war was closely followed by a large number of people. But since then, the public has been slowly disengaging, he says.

While there are still many open questions, some things are more certain in the sorry tale of Solyndra, the now bankrupt solar-cell manufacturer President Obama once praised as a model for the nation's renewable energy future.

One, U.S. taxpayers will take a loss on their $535 million federal loan guarantee that was part of the stimulus program.

Two, 1,100 workers have been laid off.

Three, the Federal Bureau of Investigation last week raided Solyndra's offices.

A story that's been getting some attention the past day or so — that AIDS researchers at the Mayo Clinic have inserted genes into cats that make the animals glow green in the dark — sounded familiar.

Haven't researchers been doing this sort of thing for years? We wondered.

In Here Comes Trouble: Stories From My Life, the filmmaker behind Roger & Me and Fahrenheit 9/11 shares vignettes from throughout his life — from his flirtation with becoming a Catholic priest and his days as a young Richard Nixon supporter, to his transformation into a star provocateur.

Former Vice President Al Gore's 2006 Documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, helped raise awareness around the issue of climate change. Gore returns in the lead up to the 2012 election with 24 Hours of Reality, a new project designed to "broadcast the reality of the climate crisis."

Republican strategist Alex Vogel explains how he thinks Monday's Tea Party-sponsored Republican debate may influence the 2012 race for the presidential nomination. Former Vice President Al Gore, who was invoked in the debate, also weighs in on the unfolding 2012 race.

NPR's Neal Conan reads listener comments on previous segments. Many responded to an interview with poet Philip Schultz about living, undiagnosed, with dyslexia. Others wrote in about our conversation on reviving home economics in high schools.