NASA's space shuttle Endeavour landed atop its Boeing 747 carrier aircraft at Edwards AFB, Calif., just before 1 p.m. local time, marking the penultimate stop of its final journey into retirement. The shuttle, which was the last to be built, completed 25 missions and spent 299 days in orbit.

The French Polynesian island of Bora-Bora gleams in 1.5-meter (5-ft.) resolution in this image collected by the new SPOT 6 Earth-observation satellite three days after its Sept. 9 launch from the Satish Dhawan space center on Sriharikota Island on an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C21). Built by Astrium Services, the 800-kg (1,765-lb.) spacecraft images a 60-km (37-mi.) swath and can be complemented by 50-cm (20-in.) data from the very-high-resolution Pleiades 1A satellite, Astrium says.

Researchers from industry, academia and government agencies now have access to the Space Communications and Navigation (SCAN) testbed on the International Space Station (ISS). NASA's Glenn Research Center hopes to begin demonstrations as early as late next year of new waveforms and software designed to enhance data delivery from scientific spacecraft. Announcements of opportunity to use SCAN are on the street, with industry and government researchers invited to enter Space Act agreements, and academic researchers to propose cooperative agreements.

A business aviation-related article in the Sept. 17 issue (page 62) incorrectly identified which Bombardier Global model will offer a 7,300-nm range at Mach 0.85 cruise when it becomes available in 2016. It is the Global 7000.

As CEO of EADS, Louis Gallois was repeatedly rebuffed by his board when he sought to acquire U.S. defense companies. Less than four months after Gallois' retirement, a single deal could finally make EADS a top supplier to the Pentagon—and in the process create the largest aerospace and defense (A&D) company ever.

Mars Curiosity rover's three left wheels frame the lower slopes of Mount Sharp in this two-frame mosaic collected Sept. 9 by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (Mahli) during tests of the robotic arm.

An article on Neil Armstrong in the Sept. 3/10 issue (page 32) misstated the date of the Jan. 27, 1967, Apollo 1 fire and referred to alarms on the Apollo 11 lunar module, Eagle, with the command module's name, Columbia. Also, details of Gemini 8's early return to Earth were omitted. After the pilots disengaged the primary maneuvering system and used the reentry system to regain control of the spacecraft, flight rules dictated that they deorbit.

France wants to cooperate on next-gen milsatcom with Italy and U.K.