Julie Robinson, who oversees U.S.-side science on the International Space Station (ISS), names a one-time dark horse as her No. 1 research result to date from the orbiting laboratory. Medical researchers started running experiments in space more than a decade ago to see if working in microgravity would make it possible to encapsulate cancer drugs in tiny bubbles that could be targeted on specific tumors in the body. It turns out that it was, as the crew of ISS Expedition 5 discovered in 2002.

The Center for New American Security (CNAS) recently released a report entitled “Game Changers: Disruptive Technology and U.S. Defense Strategy.” That study considered additive manufacturing (3-D printers), autonomous vehicles, directed energy, cyber capabilities, human performance modification and other emerging technologies that the center believes need to be factored into U.S. security policy and planning.

Upcoming fights in Congress will look a lot like old ones.

The second American to orbit the Earth, Mercury astronaut M. Scott Carpenter, died Oct. 10 in Denver of complications following a stroke. He was 88. A naval aviator during the Korean War who went on to become a test pilot at NAS Patuxent River, Md., Carpenter conducted some of the first scientific experiments in space and ate some of the first solid food consumed there.

It wasn't exactly a happy birthday. After 55 years of pushing humankind to places we have never been before—including literally out of the Solar System—NASA's staff got to celebrate the Oct. 1 anniversary of their agency's founding on furlough, sent home without pay while the nation's leaders postured for prime time. Even more upsetting was just how many of them there were, compared to their colleagues at other agencies.

Scaled Composites readies spaceship for supersonic feathering re-entry

Expectations are high for new Falcon 9 to prove launch capabilities

While the uncertainty of two years of budget cuts and stop-gap spending bills may still not seem tangible to the public, “sequestration” is creating “chaos” for defense contractors.