Immediately after Congress passed a spending bill last week to fund the government for the rest of fiscal 2013, lawmakers' attention has turned to the fiscal 2014 budget. While Congress continues to wrestle with how to reduce the federal deficit and overturn sequestration before its potential consequences become a chilling reality, that does not mean it will be any easier to agree on spending Pentagon dollars. Last year, Congress thwarted Air Force plans to put Global Hawk Block 30 aircraft in storage.

Inspired by two Roman palaces, the National Building Museum was constructed in the 1880s with the dual purpose of housing the U.S. Pension Bureau and providing “a suitably grand space for Washington's social and political functions.” On March 7, nearly 300 aviation and aerospace luminaries from around the globe gathered in the cavernous building for Aviation Week's 56th annual Laureate Awards.

In a budget environment where it is hard to find money for experimental aircraft, the 2013 Laureate for Aeronautics and Propulsion goes to a program that used a modest but sustained investment in ground demonstrations to mature technology, culminating in wind-tunnel tests of a model larger and more complex than many X-planes.

If the U.S. Congress manages to pass a new NASA authorization this year—certainly not a sure thing given the riptides of ideological debate roiling Capitol Hill— there's a chance that it will order some new organizational changes at the space agency. A growing refrain in the relevant congressional committees and across the U.S. space community finds post-shuttle NASA dangerously adrift, with its sails in need of patching and weak hands on the tiller.

Another delay besets heavy launcher on which China's betting

First images from the Landsat 8 spacecraft include this true-color scene of Boulder, Colo., where Ball Aerospace (marked) built the Operational Land Imager that collected data for the imager, along with the cryocooler for its Thermal Infrared Sensor. The latter instrument was built at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

The annual presentation of Laureates by Aviation Week recognizes intellect, discovery and heroism, and the organizations and programs that cultivate them in the aerospace and defense sector are honored with the Workforce Laureate. In the running for the Workforce Laureate this year were programs that are designed to attract a workforce to aerospace, as well as the individuals who continue to push this effort despite budget cuts and economic issues.

Satellite industry advised to 'stay engaged' as new rules form