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In a processing facility at Space Launch Complex-40 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, Space Exploration Technologies technicians attach the Dragon capsule to the second stage of the company?s Falcon 9 rocket. Known as SpaceX, the launch will be the company’s second demonstration test flight for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, or COTS. During the flight, the capsule will conduct a series of check-out procedures to test and prove its systems, including rendezvous and berthing with the International Space Station. If the capsule performs as planned, the NanoRacks-CubeLabs Module-9 experiments and other cargo aboard Dragon will be transferred to the station. The cargo includes food, water and provisions for the station?s Expedition crews, such as clothing, batteries and computer equipment. Under COTS, NASA has partnered with two private companies to provide resupply missions to the station. The launch is scheduled for 9:38 a.m. EDT on May 7. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/spacex. Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann

Astronomers have gathered the most direct evidence yet of a supermassive black hole shredding a star that wandered too close.

PR 13 2012 – Jupiter’s icy moons are the focus of Europe’s next large science mission, ESA announced today.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, fourth from left, accepts a montage from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, third from left, during a meeting at the Blair House as Associate Administrator for Science and former astronaut John Grunsfled, left, Associate Administrator for Education and former astronaut Leland Melvin, second from left, and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronauts Koichi Wakata and Satoshi Furukawa, right, look on, Monday, April 30, 2012, in Washington. Image Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

An extraordinary outburst produced by a black hole in a nearby galaxy has provided direct evidence for a population of old, volatile stellar black holes.

NASA Television will provide live coverage of the 2012 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame induction ceremony at 3 p.m. EDT on Saturday, May 5.

Senior scientists and heads of the five International Space Station partners will present ground-breaking research and discuss future projects in Berlin on 2–4 May. Follow the first International Space Station symposium live on the web through its dedicated website.

Expedition 30 Commander Dan Burbank smiles as he rests outside the Soyuz TMA-02M Capsule just minutes after he and Expedition 30 Flight Engineers Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin landed in a remote area outside of the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, on Friday, April 27, 2012. NASA Astronaut Burbank, Russian Cosmonauts Shkaplerov and Ivanishin are returning from more than five months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 29 and 30 crews. image Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi

The second SpaceX demonstration launch for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) has been rescheduled for a liftoff on Monday, May 7.

PR 12 2012 – Eumetsat and the European Space Agency (ESA) have been informed by the launch service provider, Starsem, that the launch of the MetOp-B satellite by a Soyuz rocket, scheduled for 23 May from Baikonur, had to be postponed. This is due to additional measures required to ensure the availability of safe drop zones for parts of the launcher after lift-off.