In a new U.S. News & World Report column I take a look at STEM through the lens of today’s big Pluto news.

An American spacecraft flew by Pluto on Tuesday morning to have a look around. That sentence was the stuff of science fiction when most of us were born. And that’s not all. Last November, a European spacecraft landed on a comet. On a comet speeding through space! We’ve also been poking around Mars, and at the end of April a pathbreaking NASA mission to Mercury ended after four years of orbiting that planet.

Meanwhile, here on Earth, there is a lot of head scratching about how to get more American kids interested in science, technology, math and engineering – the vaunted STEM subjects…

Want more than a flyby? Read the entire column here @ U.S. News. It features a cameo by astronaut Ken Mattingly. He flew Apollo and Space Shuttle missions – the latter as a Commander. Gary Sinise played him in the film Apollo 13. Who is your favorite astronaut? Mine might be Pinky Nelson because he was really into education but Alan Shepard was a riot. Hard to choose! In any event, tell me on Twitter or just send funny Pluto jokes @arotherham.