NASA is making steady progress toward liftoff of the inaugural space-bound Orion crew capsule. The agency aims for a Florida blastoff of the uncrewed Exploration Flight Test-1 mission (EFT-1) – about 18 months from now – in September 2014 atop a Delta 4 Heavy Booster, NASA officials informed me. Orion will ultimately fly astronauts to …

As 2012 drew to a close, NASA’s Curiosity Mars Science Lab (MSL) rover celebrated her first Christmas on the Martian surface and a resoundingly successful initial five months of exploration since the pulse pounding and unprecedented sky crane rocket powered touchdown on Aug. 6, 2012 inside Gale Crater beside a towering, layered mountain named Mount …