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Commercial human ventures planned for the moon: NASA study

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Corporate researchers may be living on the moon by the time NASA astronauts head off to visit an asteroid in the 2020s, a study of future human missions unveiled on Thursday shows. The study by Bigelow Aerospace, commissioned by NASA, shows "a lot of excitement and interest from various companies" for such ventures, said Robert Bigelow, founder and president of the Las Vegas-based firm. ...

Rocket lifts off with U.S. military communications satellite

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - An unmanned Delta 4 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Friday to put a multi-use, broadband communications satellite into orbit for the U.S. military. The 217-foot (66-meter) tall rocket lifted off at 8:27 p.m. EDT (0027 Saturday GMT), soaring southeast over the Atlantic Ocean as it headed into orbit. Perched on top of the rocket was the fifth member of the Wideband Global SATCOM, or WGS, satellite network, which provides the U.S. military, national leaders and allies with high-capacity broadband communications. ...

Planetary alignment peaks with celestial show this weekend

By Irene Klotz CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Venus and Jupiter, the two brightest planets in the sky this month, will be joined by tiny Mercury for a rare celestial show this weekend. Typically, Venus, the second-closest planet to the sun, and Jupiter, which orbits beyond Mars, are tens of millions of miles apart. But they have been cycling together while moving ever closer to each other this month, joined by the innermost planet Mercury. The celestial show peaks on Sunday when the trio will appear as a bright triangle of light in the western sky beginning about 30 minutes after sunset. ...

NASA puts shuttle launch pad in Florida up for lease

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Nearly two years after space shuttle Atlantis blasted off for the last time, NASA on Thursday put out a "For Lease" notice for one of its shuttle launch pads in Florida. In a notice posted on its procurement website, the U.S. space agency said it was looking for one or more companies to take over operations and maintenance of Launch Complex 39A. The facility is one of two launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center built in the 1960s to support the Apollo moon program. Both were later modified for the space shuttles, which began flying in 1981. ...

Solar plane completes second leg of cross-country flight in Texas

DALLAS (Reuters) - A solar airplane that developers hope to eventually pilot around the globe landed safely on Thursday in Texas, completing the second and longest leg of an attempt to fly across the United States powered only by the sun. The spindly experimental aircraft, dubbed Solar Impulse, touched down at Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport shortly after 1 a.m. local time, logging 18 hours and 21 minutes in the air to cover 823 nautical miles from Arizona. The flight set a new absolute world distance record in solar aviation, organizers said. ...