Asimov's Science Fiction, February 2007

This is a great issue of Asimov's, with lots of nice science fiction stories about space and aliens. Recovering Apollo 8 was my favorite story.

• Novella: Recovering Apollo 8, by Kristine Kathryn Rusch - An alternate universe where a navigation error sent Apollo 8 into interplanetary space. A brilliant, driven billionaire dedicates his life to locating and recovering the Apollo capsule.
• Novelette: Outgoing, by Alex Wilson - A do-it-yourself rocket launches a man to the International Space Station, where he docks, steals some fuel, and intends to leave orbit and fly around the Sun.
• Cold Fire, by Tanith Lee - Shady government agents hire a ship to tow an ice-encased dragon to the North Pole. The ship's crew fall ill and die.
• The Chimera Transit, by Jack Skillingstead - An augmented man adjusts his body chemistry to give himself a natural high, to avoid dealing with losing his girlfriend--who shipped out-planet on a colony vessel.
• A Portrait of the Artist, by Charles Midwinter - A starving artist paints a picture of the animal stealing his peanut butter: a creepy squirrel-creature with opposable claw thumbs.
• Close, by William Preston - A clinically shy man finally gets up the nerve to attend a support group, where he meets a pretty girl--and then discovers he's accidently attended the meeting for people abducted by space aliens.