Aiming for the stars

Early in September, the X-Calibur mission, preparing for launch at the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, N.M., put its pointing system through its paces to make sure all of its parts were working in programmed harmony.

WUSTL’s McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences names new director

Ramanath Cowsik, Ph.D., one of the world’s pre-eminent astrophysicists, has been named director of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. Cowsik, professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, will take over as director July 1. He succeeds Roger J. Phillips, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, who is stepping down after seven years as director.