The crew of the space shuttle Atlantis' STS-129 mission will deliver a specially minted silver medallion to National Football League officials at 10 a.m. EST on Wednesday, Jan. 27, at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The medallion will be used for the official coin toss prior to the kickoff of Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday, Feb. 7.

Shuttle commander Charlie Hobaugh, a graduate of North Ridgeville High School near Cleveland, Pilot Barry Wilmore, Mission Specialists Leland Melvin, Randy Bresnik, Bobby Satcher and Mike Foreman, from Wadsworth, Ohio, returned from their 11-day space mission to the International Space Station on Nov. 27.

Astronauts are not the only ones earning wings on the International Space Station. Butterflies emerged aboard the station recently, to the delight of science students across the country. That experiment and studies of bacteria that advance research about food poisoning and infections are the subjects of live NASA TV satellite interview opportunities from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. CST on Friday, Dec. 18.

International Space Station Program Scientist Julie Robinson will be available for interviews along with Dr. Nancy Moreno, a principal investigator of the Painted Lady butterfly education activities. Moreno is a professor at the Baylor College of Medicine who is conducting the butterfly research with the National Space Biomedical Research Institute in Houston and the University of Colorado at Boulder.

DQ11APOLLO is a special-event station of the Deutsche Amateuer-Radio-Club (DARC) celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon by NASA.

July 20, 2009 marked the 40th annnivesary of the first manned landing on the moon by the Apollo-11 mission. To celebrate this brilliant technical achievement of NASA, a group of space-flight enthusiast radio amateurs of the Deutsche Amateur-Radio-Club applied for the special-event callsign DQ11APOLLO. It was issued on July 15, 2009 and is valid 365 days. The station will be activated on the mission-dates of the past Apollo flights on all HF, VHF & UHF-bands using SSB, CW, FM and PSK.

The residents of the International Space Station will receive a new shipment of food, fuel and supplies at 8:41 p.m. CDT on Saturday, Oct. 17. NASA Television's coverage of the ship's arrival at the station will begin at 8:15 p.m.

The Russian ISS Progress 35 cargo ship, filled with more than two tons of supplies for the station, is set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 8:14 p.m. There will be no television coverage of the launch.

Expedition 21 Commander Frank De Winne and Flight Engineers Jeff Williams, Nicole Stott, Roman Romanenko, Max Suraev and Bob Thirsk will observe the event from aboard the station as the unpiloted craft automatically docks to the station's Pirs Docking Compartment.

For the first time, NASA Twitter followers are invited to view a space shuttle launch in person at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA is hosting this unique Tweetup on Nov. 11 and 12. Space shuttle Atlantis is targeted to launch at 4:04 p.m. EST, Nov. 12 on its STS-129 mission to the International Space Station.

"This will be NASA's fifth Tweetup for our Twitter community," said Michael Cabbage, director of the News Services division at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Each event has provided our followers with inside access to NASA personnel, including astronauts. The goal of this particular Tweetup is to share the excitement of a shuttle launch with a new audience."

International Space Station Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt landed their Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft on the steppes of Kazakhstan Sunday, wrapping up a six-month stay. Joining them was spaceflight participant Guy Laliberte, who spent 11 days in space.

Padalka, the Soyuz commander, guided the spacecraft to a parachute-assisted landing at 12:32 a.m. EDT at a site northeast of the town of Arkalyk.

Russian recovery teams were on hand within minutes of landing to help the crew exit from the Soyuz vehicle and reacclimate to gravity. The crew members will return to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of Moscow, for reunions with their families.

Keeping the resupply line going to the International Space Station, the Russians have successfully launched their 35th routine but highly vital cargo-carrying spacecraft for the outpost in a magnificently beautiful ascent.

The unmanned Progress freighter was blasted into orbit atop a Soyuz booster at 9:14:37 p.m. EDT Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch came at local daybreak, allowing the core-stage engines to produce an indescribable dawn spectacle and its third stage to be visible all the way to the horizon.

A preliminary orbit was achieved after the nine-minute climb to space provided by the liquid-fueled rocket. Onboard commands then extended the Progress craft's two power-generating solar arrays that span 35 feet and unfurled communications and navigation antennas.

International Space Station Expedition 20 Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt landed their Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft on the steppes of Kazakhstan Sunday, wrapping up a six-month stay. Joining them was spaceflight participant Guy Laliberte, who spent 11 days in space.

Padalka, the Soyuz commander, guided the spacecraft to a parachute-assisted landing at 12:32 a.m. EDT at a site northeast of the town of Arkalyk.

Russian recovery teams were on hand within minutes of landing to help the crew exit from the Soyuz vehicle and reacclimate to gravity. The crew members will return to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, outside of Moscow, for reunions with their families.

NASA Astronaut Fernando "Frank" Caldeiro, KE4RFI, passed away on October 3 after a more than two year battle with a brain tumor. He was 51. Caldeiro was a member of the Astronaut Class of 1996 and most recently was assigned to the WB-57 High Altitude Research Program within the Aircraft Operations Division at Ellington Field in Houston. In that role, he directed the integration and conducted the operation of high-altitude atmospheric research experiments carried on board the NASA WB-57 aircraft. "Frank was a valued member of the astronaut corps and the Flight Crew Operations team," said NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations Brent Jett. "He provided a wealth of experience and made significant contributions to the success of both the WB-57 project and the space shuttle program.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA is targeting Tuesday, Oct. 27, for the flight test of the Ares I-X rocket, pending successful testing and data verification. Senior managers made the decision after a meeting Monday at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

The Oct. 27 target date has been confirmed with the Air Force's Eastern Range. The launch window will extend from 8 a.m. to noon EDT. There is another launch opportunity on Oct. 28. The date will be finalized at a Flight Test Readiness Review scheduled for Oct. 23 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Technicians at Kennedy have completed the stacking, or assembly, of the rocket on a mobile launch platform. This week, Ares I-X team members are conducting a launch countdown simulation and conducting final checks of the rocket's systems. The checks will begin with the launch abort system simulator atop the rocket and continue down to its aft skirt. The rocket is targeted to roll out to Kennedy's Launch Pad 39B on Oct. 19.