Soaring through the atmosphere

Today, the New York Historical Society will unveil plans for its new Center for the Study of Women’s History, which aims to celebrate women’s contributions to New York City. The center’s home will be the redesigned fourth floor of the Historical Society, and will feature an interactive wall, a 15-minute immersive film, a transparent staircase, and 100 illuminated Tiffany lamps. It’s scheduled to open in early 2017. (New York Times)

Speaking of women’s contributions: yesterday, top House Democrats accused Jason Chaffetz, the GOP Chair of the House Oversight Committee, of refusing to share unedited footage of recent undercover videos targeting Planned Parenthood. The edited videos allegedly show Planned Parenthood officials secretly meeting with an anti-abortion group, but Democrats believe that the full, unedited footage will disprove the current allegations against the organization. (The Hill)

Meanwhile, in Providence: The Brown Daily Herald, Brown University’s student newspaper, removed one and added a significant editor’s note to a second racist column. One of the columns was based on eugenics while the other made a racist interpretation as to how Native Americans should view Columbus Day. Both were written by the same person, and both sparked debate within the Brown community. (Talking Points Memo)

And finally, a note of hope for other worlds: last night, NASA launched a rocket from the Wallops Flight Facility in Chincoteague, Virginia. This launch was the first successful launch from the site since October, 2014, and was visible for many people on the mid-Atlantic coast. The mission aims to test new technology that will hopefully make future space missions less expensive and less risky. (USA Today)

One fancy-looking rocket via Shutterstock