The world has changed in the slightly more than three years since the Kepler planet-finding spacecraft was launched into an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit on a Delta II rocket. For starters, the Earth has 61 new cousins scattered around the universe, and another 2,321 new candidate-planets awaiting confirmation by astronomers as the real things.

In 1989, when Paul Graziani and two friends dreamed up what has become Analytical Graphics Inc., they sat in his living room envisioning a work environment where people could do their best work, creating new and bold things at a speed that would keep them happy and challenged. They would create commercial off-the-shelf analysis software for the security and space sectors, driving down cost while bringing the power of current and dynamic software to a non-consumer market.

Some astronauts who have spent extended periods in microgravity on the International Space Station (ISS) have developed abnormalities in their eyes and pituitary gland/brain connectors that are similar to a type of intracranial hypertension that occurs on the ground. The finding may help Earth-bound physicians understand what causes the potentially serious condition, but it already has NASA flight surgeons pondering how they can mitigate it when astronauts travel into deep space.

The space shuttle Discovery passes its sister ship Atlantis (see photo) March 9 as Kennedy Space Center prepares the retired orbiter fleet for transport to their new museum homes. Discovery is scheduled to arrive at the National Air and Space Museum's Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington Dulles International Airport on April 19. It will replace the Enterprise atmospheric test article now on display inside the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar.

Field scientists studying global climate change, marine biology, astronomy and other subjects in Antarctica may gain a robust satellite link to colleagues at home if a Russian working group permits salvage of a state-of-the-art communications satellite stranded in a useless orbit last summer. A working group of Russian agencies and companies is expected to decide later this month what to do with Express-AM4, which has been declared a total loss by its insurance underwriter after a Proton launch mishap last Aug. 18.

In 1967, a 19-year-old university student made a daring escape from Fidel Castro's Cuba, reaching the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay. The chief of naval operations (CNO) happened to be visiting the base, and he took Pedro L. Rustan back to Florida on his plane. Forty-four years to the day after that escape, Pete Rustan retired as director of the National Reconnaissance Office's (NRO) Mission Support Directorate. His government service ended with an enviable list of accomplishments that led to significant advances in aviation and space and helped greatly improve U.S.

A half-century-plus after Sputnik, the swirling mass of operational spacecraft and space junk that has grown up around the planet is overwhelming mankind's ability to keep track of it, much less clean it up. Some of the world's biggest commercial satellite operators have teamed up to help each other with their space situational awareness (SSA), spurred by the 2009 collision between an active Iridium low-Earth-orbit (LEO) spacecraft and a defunct Russian military bird.

Boeing's Wideband Global Satcom began merely as a gapfiller project to provide communications for the U.S. military, but 11 years later the WGS satellites have become the backbone for shuttling the Pentagon's wideband data. And at a time when the Pentagon is planning to cut $487 billion over 10 years, WGS is being hailed as an example of an efficient satellite procurement.