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Launch of the Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares liquid-fueled rocket on April 21 gives NASA a second U.S.-owned vehicle to use in resupplying the International Space Station, vindicating a commercial approach that has been in play through two presidential administrations.

A relatively simple technology originally developed to smooth potentially dangerous vibrations in the defunct Ares I crew launch vehicle is finding its way into the wider world as a way to steady buildings, aircraft, ships and other structures reacting to winds, waves and even earthquakes.

The renowned planetary scientist who chairs the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) says he is happy with two-thirds of the agency’s proposal to capture a small asteroid and nudge it into a high lunar orbit for examination by spacewalking astronauts early in the coming decade.

Replaced faulty docking aid outside the Russian segment of ISS

NEW DELHI — A comet moving toward Mars will not derail India’s first orbiter mission to the red planet, the country’s top scientist says. Preparations are in full swing for the country’s first orbiter mission to Mars, “Maangalyaan,” which is scheduled to be launched Nov. 27. NASA earlier this year announced that a comet is due to pass by Mars in September 2014, roughly the same time India’s Mars orbiter reaches the planet about 400 km (249 mi.) away, raising fears the comet might disturb its mission plans.

SATELLITE CONTROL: Congressional auditors see the U.S. military’s almost $14 billion worth of satellite control networks as ripe for consolidation. In an April 18 report, the Government Accountability Office recommended the Office of the Secretary of Defense direct future defense satellite acquisition programs to create a business case for proceeding with either a dedicated or shared network for that program’s satellite control operations, as well as develop a department-wide, long-term plan for modernizing the Air Force Satellite Control Network.

Planet-finding telescope has discovered three 'super Earths'