NAPLES, Italy — Russia’s Rockot small-satellite launcher will remain in service for government and commercial missions through the end of this decade, when the new Angara 1 light launcher in development at Russia’s Krunichev Space Center is expected to come online.

NASA wants to beef up its heavy-lift Space Launch System from 70 metric tons to 130.

'In the second orbit-raising exercise, the satellite has been placed to its designated geostationary orbit'

The National Space Biomedical Research Institute’s (NSBRI) Industry Forum is seeking competitive proposals for up to $250,000 in financial assistance under its Space Medicine and Related Technologies Commercialization Assistance Program to make traditional medical services suitable for human spaceflight applications or adapt advances in space medicine for use in traditional medical care. The deadline for submissions in the first of a two-stage competition process is Nov. 5. The Industry Forum will select successful first stage applicants by Dec. 10.

NAPLES, Italy — The space programs of the world are likely to become more competitive in the decades ahead, as industry takes a larger role in human access to space, but space agency leaders say spacefaring nations still must take the lead in pushing the boundaries of human exploration.

United Space Alliance (USA), NASA’s Houston-based space shuttle prime contractor, laid off 157 workers on Sept. 28 as program retirement and transition activities wind down. The losses — 121 personnel in the Cape Canaveral area; 35 in Houston; and one in Huntsville, Ala. — leave the space operations company with a workforce of 2,263. More layoffs are planned for December and January, though the numbers are not clear since disposal of other shuttle program assets and records is continuing, USA spokeswoman Tracy Yates said Oct. 1.

LONDON — Initial feasibility studies of a high-speed passenger aircraft designed to fly from Paris to Tokyo in less than 3 hr. have so far unearthed no major environmental obstacles to development, researchers say.

Challenges include culture of optimism, technical obstacles and unstable budgets