LUCID RETIRES: Five-time space traveler Shannon Lucid has retired from NASA after 34 years and more than 223 days in space. A member of the first class of NASA astronauts to include women, Lucid is the only U.S. woman to live and work on Russia’s Mir space station, a 188-day mission that was extended twice to last more than six weeks longer than anticipated at launch on the space shuttle Atlantis.

Russian news media have reported potential delays of a month or more in the scheduled March 29 liftoff of the Soyuz TMA-04M capsule.

Luxembourg-based SES S.A. is moving its new SES-3 telecommunication satellite from an orbital slot servicing North America to one over Asia to meet growing demand there. Launched in July 2011, SES-3 will be positioned at 108.2 deg. E. Long. to serve the Middle East and Southeast Asia, where the company says it is receiving “growing” demand from commercial and government customers.

GENOA — Avio’s continued growth is reflected in its 2011 results, which improved from the previous year despite the difficult economic scenario in Europe. The Italian aerospace propulsion company, which is led by Francesco Caio, reached the €2 billion ($2.6 billion) revenue mark, improving by 14.5%, compared with €1.75 billion the year before. The company’s operating results also improved, to €380 million, versus €360 million in 2010.

The U.S. Navy’s only major satellite program, which is designed to provide unprecedented Ultra-High Frequency satellite communications to military personnel around the globe, has so far slipped through the round of fiscal 2013 budget cuts unscathed despite some development shortcomings. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Jan 26 that he was terminating the Air Force’s Defense Weather Satellite System because it was “premature to need.”

FCC Seeks Comments On Push By LightSquared To Blame GPSFCC Seeks Comments On Push By LightSquared To Blame GPS

SPECIAL DELIVERY: The first of the retired space shuttle orbiters to go on display will arrive at its final destination April 17. Discovery is due to land at Washington Dulles International Airport atop a shuttle carrier aircraft, and be delivered to the National Air & Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center at the airport two days later. NASA’s workhorse shuttle will replace the atmospheric test article Enterprise in the museum display.

HOUSTON — Applications for a place in NASA’s astronaut corps surged past the 5,100 mark on Jan. 27, as a midnight deadline approached for one of the nine to 15 estimated openings in the class of 2013. The space agency selected nine men and women from 3,600 applicants in 2009, the most recent astronaut class.