CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida -- Space shuttle Atlantis is slated to return to Earth next week and close out NASA’s 30-year-old human spaceflight program. When it does, no U.S. spacecraft will be ready to replace its ability to rocket people into orbit.

As a stopgap measure, NASA recently agreed to a $763 million contract for 12 Russian rocket rides from 2014 through 2016. By that time, the space agency hopes at least one of four private companies it's seeding with cash will demonstrate a crew-ready spaceship.

SpaceX (Space Exploration Technologies), a firm started by PayPal founder Elon Musk,...

We don’t live in a vacuum. Neither do our gadgets. From steamy bathrooms to grubby, sweaty hands, little bits of moisture tend to creep into our electronics.

Enter the Bheestie, an airtight plastic pouch that sucks — in a good way. It holds two smaller, porous bags that contain several peppercorn-sized pellets. In theory, these bags act like molecular sieves, absorbing moisture that’s managed to get inside your device. After 24 hours, goes the company claim, the beads will extract almost twice as much water as a cup of uncooked rice — a common DIY method for saving soggy gadgets.

The idea is...