How NASA Is Making 'Star Wars' Real

This weekend, fans flocked to the opening of the new "Star Wars" film, "The Force Awakens," to see intelligent droids, agile spaceships and stunning views of a galaxy far, far away. But as NASA and other space entities push humanity deeper and deeper into space — and increase the range of capabilities in space — the fiction of a world like "Star Wars" starts to resemble reality. "Star Trek" has inspired young people to become astronauts, author Arthur C. Clarke introduced ideas for n