Sierra Nevada conducted test flight on Aug. 22

Long-serving NASA astronaut, research pilot and U.S. Air Force test pilot Gordon Fullerton died Aug. 21, aged 76.

NEW DELHI — After scrubbing the launch of its Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D5) Aug. 19 due to a fuel leak in the rocket’s second stage, India may consider destacking the rocket and swapping for a backup engine. “We have the standby for the second-stage engine. It is similar to the one used for the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle [PSLV],” a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) says. But “first we have to see what went wrong with the [GSLV] launch,” he says.

Installed telescope mount, resecured loose antenna covers

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — Boeing officials say that they are not out of the precision timing and navigation business, despite having lost the $1.8 billion, winner-take-all development contract for the next generation of GPS satellites to Lockheed Martin five years ago.

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LOS ANGELES and HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. — Boeing hopes by year’s end to secure its first sale of a new family of small satellites unveiled by the company this year and dubbed Phantom Phoenix. Executives declined to say whether this first customer would be commercial or supporting national security missions for the U.S. government. But Craig Cooning, vice president of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, says talks could culminate in an announcement by the end of the year.

Four men and four women are first hires in four years