In this era of ostensible federal austerity, flat budget lines or those that are congressionally increased are the new “up.” In that sense, most federal aerospace, civil aviation and defense programs were seeing blue skies for now as the fiscal 2014 omnibus appropriations bill moved through the Capitol last week.

Bill Swanson (left), Raytheon's CEO and chairman, is scheduled to hand over the chief executive's office to current Chief Operating Officer Tom Kennedy on March 31. Swanson will remain chairman at least while the Waltham, Mass.-based defense prime contractor transitions to Kennedy's leadership.

The history of space exploration generally has been a march toward greater ambition, risk, complexity and cost. The first launch vehicles were guided missiles carrying the simplest of satellites, and the objective—orbit—was simple and straightforward. Earlier this month, circumstance presented a unique opportunity to observe how the international space-exploration endeavor has evolved over more than 50 years.

Does a different backdrop foretell a revival of defense deals in 2014?

The In Orbit column of Jan. 13 (p. 16) incorrectly described the service module for the first flight test of NASA's Orion multipurpose crew vehicle as “European-built.” It will be manufactured by Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin.

White House adds to space station service life , hoping for more users.

European launch sector braces for new competition from SpaceX, India

Now it will be called Airbus Group, instead of European Aerospace, Defense and Space Co. (EADS), a name it used proudly for the last 13 years. This is a formidable rebranding initiative for a global 144,000-employee group headquartered in the Netherlands (for fiscal reasons only). The new title, which is scheduled to be ratified in May by the shareholders, has been in use since Jan. 1.