The USAF and Boeing will launch the X-37B--the first military orbital space plane if you discount the secret military shuttle--on top of an Atlas V rocket in November. They want to test its flying features in space and during atmospheric reentry. And probably its anti-matter rays and nuclear bays and hyperspace engines too (but of course, they are never going to tell you that). However, there seems to be a conflict with the civilian space program which may push one of the Moon exploration missions to 2009.

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Here it is, fellow space-geeks, the first official image of the new joint Russian-European manned spacecraft, and we'll be damned if it doesn't look like something out of the Ikea Kitchen Collection. It's made to ferry up to four people (cosmonauts or astronauts?) to the moon and back, with a two-stage orbiter-and-lander design much like the original American lunar missions. What's interesting is that the craft uses thrusters to slow its descent to the moon's surface as well as to launch itself off the surface. The Russians state that they expect a launch in 2018, though a launch could happen sooner if stock rockets currently available are modified, which sounds perfectly and totally safe to us. [BBC]

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Putting rest to fears that the Phoenix Lander might be DOA, the lander wagged its robotic arm on Thursday. NASA was worried that a stuck piece of plastic casing could prohibit the 2.3m titanium appendage from extending, making it impossible for the Phoenix to carry out crucial drilling experiments.

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The Buran space shuttle was once the apple of the Soviet space fleet's eye. Unfortunately, it has now been reduced to floating peacefully down the river Rhine, where it will eventually come to rest at the Technik Museum Speyer in Mannheim, Germany. The great shuttle took to the skies only once during an unmanned test flight, but two decades later, the modern relic has gone the way of a crushed Buzz Lightyear—it's realised it can't fly, but at least it can put on one hell of an exhibition. Good on you, Buran. The images of the final float look stunning, and the video of the event, which is set against some seriously melancholic music, makes the whole event look like a sad and dignified funeral procession. Check out the pictures in the gallery below, then jump in to see the clip. Warning: have your hankies ready.

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This timelapse video shows the construction of the first Orion crew module, the spacecraft that will take humanity to the Moon and Mars. As you can see, this version is not the full ship, as it lacks all computer, engine, and support systems, not to talk mention the proton torpedoes and turbolasers. However, the Apollo-style module is the first real tangible part of the Constellation Program, and will play a crucial part in its early development.

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According to Flight Global, DARPA is close to awarding a contract to build an unmanned aircraft that can stay in the air for up to 5 years at a time. DARPA describes the "Vulture" project as a "persistent pseudo-satellite capability in an aircraft package." In other words, the aircraft can hover over a single area, narcing, communicating, or surveying for years at a time.

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Start buying Cold War nuclear shelters and piling up the canned food, because Boeing Advanced Systems has started System F6, "DARPA's Future, Fast, Flexible, Fractionated, Free-Flying Spacecraft United by Information Exchange space technology program." In other words: multiple, networked specialised spacecraft swarms that are intelligent enough to perform a single coordinated task together, like analysing the crops or deciding to destroy humanity, Skynet-style. Actually, it could completely change satellites for the better, according to some experts:

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The Ulysses spacecraft, which was launched way back in 1990, has been visiting the planets of the solar system for some 17-years, but now the Ulysses looks like it is doomed. A critical error has occurred in the mechanism that prevents the fuel from freezing, and that means the Ulysses is soon to be heading to spacecraft heaven.

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FACT: An asteroid will one day kill us all. That's why NASA asked a 3D imaging company named DigitalSpace Commons to simulate a landing on an asteroid with modified spacecraft, pictured here. I'm partial to the production levels of Armageddon, but we're guessing this simulation is a bit more accurate. We still recommend NASA brings along Bruce Willis because, as we all know, someone will need to stay to detonate the bomb. It's just the way these things work out. [DigitalSpace Commons via cnet]