Standard orbit, Mr. Sulu." Captain Kirk barks out the order with such confidence. He knows the USS Enterprise can slip in and out of planetary orbits with ease. But it's only easy in the realm of science fiction. In the real world, such manoeuvres have been impossible - until now.
Since its discovery in 1930, Pluto has been a speck of light in the largest ground-based telescopes. But NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has now mapped the dwarf planet in never-beforeseen detail.
In September 2010, Robonaut 2 (R2) will be taken to the ISS by the space shuttle 'Discovery'. Here, it will become the first humanoid robot to work in space.
Imagine holding the entire sun in the palm of your hand. Now you can. A new iPhone app developed by NASA-supported programmers delivers a live global view of the sun directly to your cell phone. Users can fly around the star, zoom in on active regions, and monitor solar activity.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is introducing a new Web site that will provide a centralised resource for information on near-Earth objects - those asteroids and comets that can approach Earth.
Mitchell, who was part of the 1971 Apollo 14 moon mission, emphasized recently that extraterrestrial life exists, and that the truth is being concealed by the U.S. and other governments.