HOUSTON — International Space Station astronauts Don Pettit of NASA and Andre Kuipers of the European Space Agency have replaced a UHF communications unit aboard the station that will be required for the upcoming berthing of the unpiloted SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule. The Dragon is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., atop a Falcon 9 rocket on May 19 at 4:55 a.m. EDT, initiating the first U.S. commercial resupply mission to the orbiting science lab.

Researchers claim first discovery of a non-transiting exoplanet.

NEW FALCON: NASA has modified its NASA Launch Services (NLS) II contract with SpaceX to add an additional configuration of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket to its fleet. The SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 “will be available to the agency’s Launch Services Program to use for future missions in accordancea with the on-ramp provision of NLS II,” NASA says in an announcement.

SINGAPORE — Belgium will be able to take advantage of some of Luxembourg’s allocation in the U.S. military’s Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) constellation.

NEW DELHI — India’s efforts to develop heavier rockets received a boost with a recent test of its indigenously built, super-cooled cryogenic engine, which will be used to place a communications satellite into geosynchronous orbit later this year. The cryogenic engine is slated to fly on the country’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) as early as September, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) chief K. Radhakrishnan says. India started developing cryogenic rocket engine technology in 1993.

Singapore – The Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) constellation will have 10 satellites and the U.S. foresees having more nations join the program, a senior U.S. Air Force official says. “Ten satellites is the official program level,” David Steare, lead at the U.S. Air Force’s milsatcom international engagement, space and cyberspace division, told delegates at the MilSatCom Asia conference in Singapore. He says this is the first time the total number of satellites planned for the program has been publicly disclosed.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Project Agency is seeking bids to provide four small satellites to demonstrate its fractionated spacecraft architecture in orbit.

Los Angeles – Alliant Techsystems (ATK) will develop a composite crew compartment with support from Lockheed Martin as part of a complete launch system being proposed with partner Astrium for NASA’s commercial crew program. Unveiling new details about the Liberty project, ATK says the system is on track for initial tests in 2014, with the first crewed test mission anticipated as early as 2015. Kent Rominger, ATK vice president and Liberty program manager, says the test plan supports crewed missions for NASA by 2016 and is built on flight-proven elements.