Pasadena, Calif. – Space Exploration Technologies ( SpaceX ) is negotiating with the FAA to allow the Grasshopper reusable launch test vehicle to fly at higher altitudes as part of a planned series of launch and landing evaluations.

Contractors hoping to cash in on NASA ’s plans to buy seats for its astronauts on commercial crew vehicles bound to the International Space Station will have to convince the space agency that their spacecraft are safe as they work to finish developing them.

Stephen Squyres, Chairman of the NASA Advisory Council, stressed the importance of equally funding the Orion/Space Launch System (SLS) project as well as the current Curiosity mission on Mars and potential future red planet missions during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation committee hearing on Sept. 12. “I would sincerely hope it is not an either/or proposition,” said Squyres.

Pasadena, Calif. – A prototype vertical takeoff and landing suborbital launch vehicle under development by Masten Space crashed Sept. 11 during a flight test at Mojave, Calif.

Chris Hadfield is training to become the first Canadian Space Agency astronaut to assume command of the International Space Station.

CLASSIFIED PAYLOAD: A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 launched NROL-36, a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., Thursday at 2:39 p.m. PDT. As is typical of classified missions, there was only limited comment about the success of the ascent or the health of the payload. The only confirmation was success through the payload fairing separation. The launcher included a 4-meter fairing, no solid rocket boosters and a single Centaur upper stage.

Houston – Japan’s third H-II Transfer Vehicle departed the International Space Station on Sept. 12 following a seven-week stay. NASA and Japanese astronauts Joe Acaba and Akihiko Hoshide unberthed the 32-ft.-long spacecraft from the station’s U.S. segment Harmony module using the Canadian robot arm shortly before 7 a.m. EDT. The capsule was released at 11:50 a.m. EDT .

Prime contractors are finding it unusually difficult to obtain space-qualified electronics and other components