Congress moves to fund space shuttle contractors' pensions

WASHINGTON Congress is getting nearer to closing a roughly $500 million gap in a pension fund for thousands of former space shuttle contractors. The Senate last week approved a $17.9 billion budget for NASA in fiscal 2012 that includes the pension ...

Close encounter: Asteroid flies close to Earth; experts say there’s no chance of impact

LOS ANGELES — An asteroid as big as an aircraft carrier zipped by Earth on Tuesday in the closest encounter by such a massive space rock in more than three decades.
Scientists ruled out any chance of a collision but turned their telescopes skyward to learn more about the object known as 2005 YU55.
Its closest approach to Earth was pegged at a distance of 202,000 miles at 6:28 p.m. EST. That’s just inside the moon’s orbit; the average distance between Earth and the moon is 239,000 miles.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/close-encounter-asteroid-to-fly-by-earth-tuesday-experts-say-theres-no-chance-of-impact/2011/11/08/gIQAow6vyM_story.html

Phobos-Grunt Mars probe loses its way just after launch

Russian space agency officials say the craft is currently stuck in an Earth orbit and that engineers have two weeks to correct the fault before the probe's batteries run out.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15631472