Earth from afar, scientists hope to discern what signs of habitability to look for on other planets.

OHB will bid against a much larger consortium to build Galileo satellites.

Bangalore, India (PTI) Oct 13, 2008 - As India prepares for its first unmanned mission to the Moon next week, ISRO chief Madhavan Nair has said that New Delhi is not engaged in a space race with Beijing, stating that the priorities of the two countries are different and there is no competition.

Dulles VA (SPX) Oct 13, 2008 - Orbital Sciences has completed final testing on the SES New Skies NSS-9 commercial communications satellite. Orbital's engineering team completed all pre-shipment procedures late last week for the NSS-9 satellite, which will be stored at the company's Dulles, VA facilities until the company is notified of the launch date.

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Oct 13, 2008 - Astronomers are announcing that the precise gravity field of the lunar far side and the global lunar topography map were obtained by KAGUYA spacecraft.

American computer game designer Richard Garriott has fulfilled a long-deferred childhood dream as his astronaut father watched with pride.

An American space tourist and two professional astronauts are closing in on the International space station.

Reuters - U.S. video game magnate Richard Garriott blasted off into space aboard a Russian rocket on Sunday watched by his father, a NASA astronaut who went into space at the height of the Cold War.