Lapse in Ex-Im bank assistance could hurt Boeing in the long term, and the general aviation community sooner; Former NASA chief provides another perspective on SpaceX’s commercial viability.

What will happen when New Horizons hurtles past the icy dwarf planet and its five moons on July 14?

New Horizons expects successful transmission of data collected at Pluto back to Earth, but space debris could create problems.

The spacecraft is in the midst of taking “hundreds” of images and science measurements, “about half” of them programmed for the day that surrounds closest approach to Pluto at 7:49:57 a.m. EDT, according to Leslie Young, the deputy project scientist and Pluto-encounter planning lead.

The concept for low-energy planetary entry is described as similar to “throwing an air mattress into the atmosphere.”

When massive Stratolaunch program begins to wind down, Scaled Composites promises a return to the Rutan days of smaller, fast-paced projects that result in flight testing of aviation breakthroughs.

With Proton and Falcon 9 sidelined and Ariane 5 booked into 2017, commercial fleet operators question how much longer the status quo can continue.

New Horizons probe flyby of Pluto, almost 15 years in the making, had to overcome both technical and bureaucratic challenges.