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PRAGUE — Russia will use the leased facilities at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to test the proposed Rus M launch vehicle that is expected to replace the venerable Soyuz rocket, and although the Rus M will eventually be launched from a new facility on Russian soil, Russia has no plans to abandon Baikonur before the lease expires in 2050.

The $58.4 billion authorisation bill to okay NASA funding for the next three years was approved in a late-night vote 29 September as the US House of Representatives sprinted out of town for the last of campaign season.

The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] has acquired initial on-orbit signals from the first Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) satellite following its launch at 9:41 p.m. Pacific time on Sept. 25 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The signals indicate that the satellite is functioning normally and is ready to begin orbital maneuvers and operational testing.

Technicians at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are ready to install a unique instrument on NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory that will allow the big rover to analyze the chemical composition of rocks and soil as far as 7 meters (23 ft.) away.

NASA could start working on a heavy lift launch vehicle and preserve funding for a new crew capsule under compromise language drawn up by a US House of Representatives committee for a three-year $58.4 billion reauthorisation measure - if lawmakers can get the bill passed.

With a newly signed marketing agreement with California-based Space Exploration Technologies and the operation from next year of its new medium-lift Vega launcher, EADS's Astrium subsidiary is set to offer what it claims is a unique range of launch services.

Newly declassified details of the analysis behind the U.S. Air Force’s decision to opt for a next-generation Reusable Booster System (RBS) reveal a long-term preference for a rocket-based, combined-cycle upper-stage orbiter over the nearer-term expendable solution.

Although uncertainty continues to cloud the long-term future for US space programmes and policy, two recent announcements have made it clear that Boeing is well-positioned whatever comes next.

HOUSTON — NASA space operations chief Bill Gerstenmaier says that by January NASA will have made a final decision on whether shuttle Atlantis will fly an extra mission in June 2011.

The National Research Council is urging NASA to develop and launch a $1.6-billion wide-field infrared survey telescope in 2020 that would spend at least five years searching for planets beyond the Solar System and exploring the effect of dark energy on the evolution of the universe.

Everything is up and running again on the International Space Station following a marathon series of spacewalks to replace a critical cooling pump. The pump's failure had forced the US-Russian crew to shut down non-critical systems and put many experiments on hold for nearly three weeks.

NASA is taking its first steps toward meeting the Obama administration’s goal of sending astronauts to visit an asteroid by 2025, surveying possible targets and brainstorming how to make the trip possible.

HOUSTON — Expedition 24 flight engineers Doug Wheelock and Tracy Caldwell Dyson finished repairs to the crippled cooling system aboard the International Space Station on Aug. 16, completing their third spacewalk devoted to the task in 10 days.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) this week is set to begin prelaunch checks of the first fully operational Dragon spacecraft destined to be launched under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.

Launch vehicle engineers here believe a shuttle-derived vehicle built around the space shuttle main engine (SSME) is probably the fastest route to a heavy-lift launch vehicle. Some kind of heavy lifter is emerging as a centerpiece of the compromise space policy being worked out between Congress and the White House.

Air pollution is a major problem plaguing this planet. But now the agency most concerned with outer space is taking up the cause for clean air. Scientific American reports that NASA is commissioning eco-friendly airplanes, investing millions into the effort.