The Perseid meteor shower is dazzling the August skies once again this weekend.

UPDATE (12:35 p.m.): Well, now the satellite’s orientation has shifted, so the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite might land in the U.S., after all. Keep calm and carry on, people.

We love space, astronauts and science around these parts. But we wouldn’t really be very honest if we weren’t slightly unnerved at the fact that when a defunct six-ton satellite is going to come crashing to Earth, NASA isn’t exactly sure where it is going to land.

What better way to get in the mood for a space shuttle launch than to talk to an astronaut about one? DCist sat down with Alvin Drew, a D.C. born and bred astronaut who recently flew aboard the final Discovery mission.

Preparing for the last space shuttle launch, an upcoming lecture by DCist’s very own space correspondent, a win for a local planetarium and rockets in the D.C. sky are all in this week’s Look Up.

One of the most coveted tickets of the year for space fans to get their hands on is to the annual John H. Glenn Lecture at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum. This year, the series took a step back to the very beginning with the lecture’s namesake, Senator John Glenn and his fellow Mercury astronaut Commander Scott Carpenter, who spoke to the packed IMAX theater about the nascent steps of the American space program.

We’ve already experienced ten days over 90 degrees in Washington, D.C. this year, so it’s hard to believe summer hasn’t even started yet. Next Tuesday marks the summer solstice for the northern hemisphere, as Earth reaches the point in its orbit where its tilt edges us closest to the sun.

Our resident astronomy expert is out for the week, so you’ll have to depend on the government for the technical explanation of what this huge explosion on the sun actually means. (It involves a Solar Radiation Storm and CME-driven shock, both of which sound, uh, kind of terrifying.)

In 1962, then NASA Administrator James E. Webb began to invite artists to have special access to the astronauts, engineers and spacecraft during the tail-end of the Mercury program, just as Gemini was getting off the ground. NASA | ART includes over 70 artworks from the nearly 50 year span that has so far gathered 3000 pieces in both NASA and the Air and Space Museum’s collections. As co-curator Burt Ulrich notes, the exhibit is meant to “see how far we’ve come as a nation, and as human beings.”

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of American human spaceflight with stargazing events, rocket challenges, planet “dances,” and space shuttle launches.