WALLOPS ISLAND, VA - Two NASA hypersonic research experiments were lost early this morning when their Alliant Tech Systems launch vehicle was destroyed less than 30 seconds after liftoff when the suborbital rocket failed to align its trajectory on the correct flight path and was blown up by the range safety officer. The two-stage vehicle was making its first, and possibly last, flight and was carrying NASA's HyBoLT and SOAREX payloads on a mission to investigate the aerodynamic characteristics of hypersonic flight. Today's failure was the first at NASA's Wallops Island launch facility since a Conestoga rocket was destroyed in 1995.

VIDEO: WATCH THE LAUNCH AND DESTRUCTION OF THE ATK ALV X-1 ROCKET
ALL-ACCESS SUBSCRIBERS: LISTEN TO THE POST-ACCIDENT MEDIA TELECONFERENCE
FORUMS: DISCUSS TODAY'S LAUNCH FAILURE IN OUR FORUMS

MARSHALL SPACEFLIGHT CENTER, AL - NASA engineers believe they have found the solution to concerns regarding excessive vibration in the first stage of the Ares I launch vehicle under development. The problem, termed "thrust oscillation", could cause vibrations high enough to impair a crew's ability to perform tasks or respond to emergencies late in the first stage ascent. The solution combines a passive dampening ring at the top of the first stage and an active system analogous to shock absorbers in the aft skirt of the rocket.

ALL-ACCESS SUBSCRIBERS: LISTEN TO THE ARES I UPDATE MEDIA TELECONFERENCE

ROCKLEDGE, FL - Republican presidential candidate John McCain met with leaders of Florida's aerospace industry today at Brevard Community College for a roundtable discussion about the future of the U.s. space program and the retirement of the space shuttle. Most of the talk focused on the five-year gap between the shuttle's retirement and the first operational flights of Orion, NASA's new manned spacecraft currently in development.

Sen. John McCain's Space Policy Position
Sen. Barack Obama's Space Policy Position

Arianespace scord its fifth successful Ariane 5 flight of the year today when an Ariane 5 ECA lifted off at 4:44 p.m. EDT from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket carried the Superbird-7 communications satellite for Japanese operator Space Communications Corporation (SCC) and AMC-21 for American operator SES AMERICOM, a company of the SES group. Thirty minutes after launch, the ARiane upper stage released the two spacecraft into geostationary transfer orbit to complete the 27th successful Ariane launch in a row.

VIDEO: ARIANE 5 LIFTS OFF WITH TWO COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES
ALL-ACCESS SUBSCRIBERS: WATCH THE MISSION FROM LAUNCH THROUGH SPACECRAFT SEPARATION (30 min.)
READ: ARIANE 5 MISSION LAUNCH KIT

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL - There's little doubt that NASA's Kennedy Space Center will be hardest hit when the space shuttle is retired from service a little more than two years from now. Today, space industry and elected official held a town hall meeting to discuss the future of Florida's "Space Coast" with members of the local community, and the potentially massive job losses that the area faces in the coming years. Today's forum was held in Titusville, home to many of the thousands of people who work for NASA and its contractors at the space center jsut a few miles away.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - In a development widely expected by industry observers, NAS today announced that the internal planning date for the first crewed flight of the new Orion spaceship will slip to September 2014, fully a year later than the previous target of September 2013 that Project Constellation had been struggling to keep. During the last several months, it has become increasingly clear the budgetary and technical hurdles would force a rescheduling of plans and internal planning documents have already started to reflect the change.

AUDIO: LISTEN TO TODAYS CONSTELLATION UPDATE WITH THE NEWS MEDIA

COCOA BEACH, FL - The National Space Club Florida Committee paid tribute to a trio of aerospace veterans today during a ceremony in Cocoa Beach Florida. The lifetime achievement awards are presented every year to one or more people who have made significant contributions to America's space program in Florida at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station or Kennedy Space Center.

HAWTHORNE, CA - Engineers at Space Exploration Technologies, Inc. (SpaceX) have quickly zeroed in on the cause of this week's failure to deliver three spacecraft to low- Earth orbit with the Falcon 1 launch vehicle. Video from the rocket clearly shows that the first and second stages recontacted after initial separation, leading to the veihcle's destruction. This was SpaceX's third disappointment in as many tries to launch a satellite into orbit with the Falcon, which has yet to successfully complete a mission.

VIDEO: WATCH FALCON'S LAUNCH INCLUDING 1ST STAGE AND FAIRING SEPARATION

A landmark announcement by the U.S. Air Force and the state of Florida today will fundamentally expand the state's position and prominence in aerospace and the space industry in all three key sectors: civil, military and commercial, broadening participation in space-related activities. Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, subject to completion of the environmental impact analysis process, will be re-built as a multi-use vertical launch complex capable of supporting several launch vehicle configurations ranging from light to medium-lift into low-Earth orbit and beyond.

Phoenix Mars mission scientists spoke today on research in progress concerning an ongoing investigation of perchlorate salts detected in soil analyzed by the wet chemistry laboratory aboard NASA's Phoenix Lander.

AUDIO: PHOENIX LANDER TELECONFERENCE ABOUT FINDING PERCHLORATES ON MARS