Ever since NASA mothballed the Space Shuttle, it hasn’t flown a spaceship. That will change on Thursday morning, when it test-launches the Orion space capsule, which is designed for possible Mars travel . Meanwhile, South Korea intends to rankle North Korea with another large Christmas tree in the DMZ. And a new ranking of government corruption gives the US middling marks.
North Korean officials have sentenced American Kenneth Bae, a tour operator, to 15 years of hard labor. They’re hoping the sentencing will trigger a high-profile US mission as former Obama advisor Jeffrey Bader explains to anchor Marco Werman.
North Korea reportedly moved a missile of “considerable range” to its eastern coast. The move could be in preparation for a military attack on U-S or South Korean targets in the region, though observers still think that’s unlikely.