AEHF LAUNCH: The second Lockheed Martin Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite is set to be launched by an Atlas V rocket on May 3 with a backup window of May 5, only days after the scheduled April 30 launch of Space Exploration Technologies’ Falcon 9, both from Cape Canaveral. Operational testing of the spacecraft is set for next year. One of the first two AEHF satellites will eventually be placed in geosynchronous orbit over Europe for Washington to fulfill its agreement to share some of the capacity with the U.K., Canada and the Netherlands.

Evaluators of Commercial Crew Integrated Capability have a choice of techniques for returning astronauts to Earth.

A repairable fault with a piece of electronics onboard the Space-Based Space Surveillance satellite is prompting Air Force Space Command to hold off on declaring initial operational capability.

In Washington, when the administration proposes, Congress disposes. That was certainly the case this week with NASA’s $830 million budget request for development of a commercial crew vehicle (CCDev) to provide rides to the International Space Station. Instead, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle cut the request by about $300 million and provided more funding for the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle and the heavy-lift Space Launch Vehicle (SLS).

Desire to allow domestic companies to be more competitive in the global marketplace, but allowing for stricter restrictions against countries including China, Iran, North Korea and Syria.

COLORADO SPRINGS — Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) plans to load “late cargo” into its Dragon capsule around April 20 after passing NASA’s final flight readiness review in advance of the first private space mission expected to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).

Republicans are floating the idea of making a kill vehicle that could work on two missile defense systems.

PARIS — Aerospace supplier Honeywell says it has signed an exclusive agreement with Inmarsat to provide global in-flight connectivity services to business, commercial and government aviation customers. The services will be provided through London-based Inmarsat’s Global Xpress network, the first Ka-band constellation designed to provide global inflight broadband to the aeronautical, maritime and land-mobile markets.