ESA would use existing facilities and skills to build service-module structure and systems for the U.S. spacecraft.

NASA's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (Grail) spacecraft straddled the New Year as they eased into orbit around the Moon, where they will provide the most detailed gravity maps available and important clues to the origins of Earth's big satellite. Before the mission is over, the two spacecraft will also give thousands of middle-school students some hands-on experience in space research. After spending 3.5 months on a low-energy trajectory that started with a tandem launch Sept. 10, 2011, the first of the Grail orbiters braked into lunar orbit at 5 p.m.

NASA's Orion could launch in 2014 and one day carry astronauts to an asteroid or Deimos.

Launch of France's first Pleiades Earth-imaging satellite plus a quartet of French military radar-mapping microsatellites atop the second Russian Soyuz flying from the European spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana, suggests that some cross-fertilization may be in order for the troubled Russian space program. The Dec. 16 mission marked the second flight of the Europeanized rocket from the new Soyuz pad at Sinnamary (see photo).

So far more than 1,300 would-be space travelers have applied for the job of flying the new capsule beyond the ISS.

New approaches to life-support technologies, as much as powerful rockets and optimally configured spacecraft, promise to pace NASA's push into deep space with humans. Frequently, advances in the space life-support realm—where the emphasis is on compact, reliable low-energy systems—can lead to improvements at a faster clip in more down-to-earth arenas, including public and personal health, and even environmental protection. Activities at NASA's Kennedy and Johnson space centers, as well as on the International Space Station, are bearing this out.

It's been two years since European launch consortium Arianespace turned a profit. Despite Europe's economic crisis, the market for commercial satellite communications is strong and conditions for launch providers are generally favorable, yet the Evry, France-based launch services company continues to rely on government subsidies.

When it comes to the U.S. missile defense market, nothing and everything have changed. In the closing days of 2011, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced that Boeing would retain its decade-long position as prime contractor for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) missile shield for another seven years. But if the $3.48 billion contract signifies a renewal of the partners' sometimes-rocky marriage, there now seems to be a change in the wedding vows.