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SpaceX cleared to launch U.S. national security satellites
The U.S. Air Force announced Tuesday that SpaceX is now eligible to compete for launches of U.S. national security satellites, closing a tumultuous chapter in the U.S. rocket industry and ending the Pentagon's sole reliance on United Launch Alliance to haul military payloads into orbit.

Ariane 5 ready to pull double duty for DirecTV
Two satellites equipped to broadcast television programming to millions of homes across the United States and Latin America are braced for launch from French Guiana on Wednesday aboard an Ariane 5 rocket.

Photos: Ariane 5 rolled out to jungle launch pad
Technicians transferred an Ariane 5 rocket loaded with two DirecTV broadcasting satellites to a launch pad in French Guiana on Tuesday, one day before the European launcher is set for liftoff.

Citizen-funded CubeSat ready to go solar sailing
A shoebox-sized satellite conceived and funded by members of the Planetary Society, an advocacy organization co-founded by Carl Sagan, is fastened to an Atlas 5 rocket for launch Wednesday to test one of the late celebrity-astronomer's futuristic concepts for exploring the cosmos.

Mexico plots way forward after loss of satellite
The Mexican government says it will collect a $390 million insurance payout after losing an advanced communications satellite Saturday aboard a failed launch of a Russian Proton rocket.

SpaceX has ‘aggressive’ schedule leading up to crew flights
Staying true to a corporate philosophy that favors high-visibility flight tests, SpaceX plans to continue wringing out major parts of the company's human-rated Dragon spaceship in a sequence of dramatic flights leading up to the capsule's first crewed mission scheduled for 2017.

Proton crash deals another blow to Russian space sector
Failure struck Russia's troubled space program for the second time in three weeks Saturday, when a Proton rocket carrying a high-tech satellite for Mexico's new $1.6 billion space-based communications network crashed shortly after liftoff.

Live coverage: Proton launch runs into trouble
Russia's Proton rocket launched from Kazakhstan at 0547 GMT (1:47 a.m. EDT) Saturday with Mexico's Centenario communications satellite, but the Russian space agency reported an anomaly occurred some time after liftoff.

SpaceX gets certified to launch NASA science missions
NASA has formally certified SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket to launch all but the space agency's most costly robotic science missions, beginning with a a U.S.-French oceanography satellite set for liftoff from California in July.
VideoProton rocket ready to loft Mexican telecom satellite
A Boeing-built communications satellite for the Mexican government is set for liftoff Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Russian Proton rocket.