Half an hour until the start of the last Transit of Venus this century… about 7 hours of a 1/32 size black dot (Venus) occulting the Sun… If you can't see it yourself directly* (curses clouds) - NASA has webcasts.
Http://venustransit.nasa.gov
Http://transitofvenus.org
And as for the news NASA got gifted a pair of mint KH-11 spy scopes to back up or replace Hubble... Can you say "kick-ass space binoculars"?
* OBLIGATORY WARNING: Don't stare at Sun. Project image onto card if needed.