Pasadena, Calif. – A prototype vertical takeoff and landing suborbital launch vehicle under development by Masten Space crashed Sept. 11 during a flight test at Mojave, Calif.

Chris Hadfield is training to become the first Canadian Space Agency astronaut to assume command of the International Space Station.

CLASSIFIED PAYLOAD: A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 launched NROL-36, a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., Thursday at 2:39 p.m. PDT. As is typical of classified missions, there was only limited comment about the success of the ascent or the health of the payload. The only confirmation was success through the payload fairing separation. The launcher included a 4-meter fairing, no solid rocket boosters and a single Centaur upper stage.

Houston – Japan’s third H-II Transfer Vehicle departed the International Space Station on Sept. 12 following a seven-week stay. NASA and Japanese astronauts Joe Acaba and Akihiko Hoshide unberthed the 32-ft.-long spacecraft from the station’s U.S. segment Harmony module using the Canadian robot arm shortly before 7 a.m. EDT. The capsule was released at 11:50 a.m. EDT .

Prime contractors are finding it unusually difficult to obtain space-qualified electronics and other components

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is a day away from finishing its thoroughgoing checkout period, and soon will begin driving in search of a good rock to touch with its robotic arm and analyze. Performance of the rover’s Canadian-built alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) has checked out on a sample target of polished basalt from Earth that is mounted on the rover’s deck. Plans call for Curiosity to set off Friday in search of a piece of Mars basalt to reach out and touch with the APXS sensor on the end of the rover’s robotic arm.

Planners are studying whether it would be possible to evaluate the capsule’s performance beyond low Earth orbit

Will begin studying therapeutic monoclonal antibodies to learn if microgravity environment can aid in drug development