International Space Station occupancy temporarily surged to nine people on Nov. 7, with the launch and docking of the Soyuz TMA-11M spacecraft. Onboard was a crew of three, including veteran aerospace engineer Koichi Wakata, who is slated to become the first Japanese commander of the orbiting science lab in March.

A Senate panel on aviation led by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) convenes this week to discuss how to keep aviation manufacturing in the U.S. competitive. But competition in the increasingly global airline and aerospace industries is in the eye of the beholder. U.S. unionized pilots and flight attendants are scrutinizing how Norwegian Air Shuttle proceeds with its latest round of contract negotiations. The contract talks represent a test case for the U.S.-EU Open Skies agreement in 2010, which allows more European flights into the U.S.

President Barack Obama entered office pledging to improve the nation's relations with key allies. But with ongoing UAV strikes, revelations of National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance of allies' leaders and continued detentions of terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison, even Obama's supporters concede his image campaign hasn't worked out. “The level of support for the U.S. is back to where it was in the [George W.] Bush administration,” says Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.).

Biologists tell us complex eyeballs first appeared in the Cambrian era, more than 500 million years ago, as the evolutionary value of making sense of the light waves bouncing around in the atmosphere began to manifest in the relatively primitive creatures alive then. Over time, experts say, the eye has evolved as many as 100 different times, demonstrating the persistent importance of sight as a tool for survival.

Goldberg leads Bain & Co.'s global aerospace and defense practice

As the hard-won progress in hypersonic propulsion technology can attest, the road to sustained air-breathing engines that can operate above Mach 5 is littered with five decades worth of failed tests, some more dramatic than others.