The search for evidence of life on alien planets is likely to move closer to Earth, involve greater coordination among more capable space and ground-based observatories and require technologies that can detect the presence of oxygen in distant atmospheres, according to exoplanet experts.

Frederick Sturckow, Michael Masucci will report to Chief Pilot

Europe’s Vega light launcher lifted off late May 6 with the European Space Agency’s Proba-V Earth-observation satellite and smaller spacecraft for Vietnam and Estonia, overcoming a weather delay at the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana to go two-for-two in successful launches. Liftoff into a 1-sec. window came at 11:06 p.m. local time (10:06 p.m. EDT) Monday, following a weather scrub at the same time on May 3.

Crewmembers on the International Space Station have been experimenting with the use of ultrasound scans to image their spines, a new application for the technology that could prove useful on the ground as well. Briefing members of the Senate Commerce space subcommittee Tuesday, Expedition 35 Flight Engineer Tom Marshburn said the ultrasound instrument can help flight surgeons learn about the sometimes painful spinal recompression experienced by spacefarers when they return to gravity.

First flight of the Cygnus cargo carrier will slip at least a month

SPACEX LEASE: SpaceX signed a three-year lease for land and facilities at New Mexico’s Spaceport America for flight testing its reusable Grasshopper vertical-takeoff-and-landing rocket. Gov. Susana Martinez announced the agreement Tuesday, noting that the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company wants to expand its test envelope now that it has completed low altitude tests at its facility in McGregor, Texas.

The launch of the European Space Agency (ESA) Proba-V Earth observation satellite atop a Vega light launcher was scrubbed May 3 due to unfavorable weather over the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s equatorial spaceport in French Guiana on the northeast coast of South America. The mission, which was constrained to a 1-sec. launch window at 11:06:31 p.m. local time, is also carrying Vietnam’s VNREDSat-1 Earth observation spacecraft and the ESTCube-1 solar-sail demonstrator for Estonia.

U.S. China-watchers believe the U.S. can expand cooperation with China in space without harming national security, and in fact ease the tense relationship in a manner comparable to the approach President Richard Nixon used in the run-up to the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.