Q&A with Jonathan Lunine on Enceladus’ prospects for life

Dutifully beaming back data to the very end, NASA’s long-lived Cassini probe slammed into Saturn’s atmosphere at some 77,000 mph Friday, blazing like a shooting star as it was ripped apart and incinerated in the final chapter of an enormously successful mission.

Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and chief executive, spoke with reporters via conference call May 15 as the company prepared for the launch of the first 60 satellites to build out a network of potentially thousands of broadband relay stations in low Earth orbit providing high-speed Internet to consumers around the world.

With plans to put 11 new-generation communications satellite on SpaceX’s next Falcon 9 rocket launch, Orbcomm has moved first in line on the launch company’s manifest after a failure in June. Orbcomm’s CEO, Marc Eisenberg, spoke with Spaceflight Now’s Stephen Clark after announcing his firm’s launch plans.