EL SEGUNDO, CALIF. Boeing has developed a recovery plan it believes can save the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-I mission and ultimately meet NASA’s contractual requirements for the spacecraft, according to company officials. The plan involves using an alternate pathway within the satellite’s propulsion system to pressurize with helium gas a 35-in.-dia. spherical tank in which half of the spacecraft’s original load of hydrazine fuel is now trapped (AW&ST Apr. 1, p. 26).

WASHINGTON NASA’S Hubble Space Telescope is ready for several more years of ground-breaking science after checkout of upgrades installed in March. All of the new hardware meets expectations, and spectacular first images collected with the telescope’s new camera surpass them with their breathtaking clarity.

MOSCOW LONDON Sukhoi has emerged as the victor in Russia’s long-running design-bureau battle to lead development of its air force’s so-called fifth-generation fighter effort. Ilya Klebanov, Russia’s industry, science and technology minister, said that on Apr. 26 the government’s military-industrial commission made the decision to award Sukhoi the role of lead developer for a fifth-generation fighter to succeed the Su-27 Flanker and MiG-29 Fulcrum.

LONDON Britain is in talks with the U.S. and exploring the possibility of becoming a partner in the latter’s X-45 uninhabited Combat Air Vehicle program, its involvement potentially modeled along the lines of its participation in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.

Washington The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has selected Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to refine their work on a quiet supersonic airplane, after reprioritizing the project’s objectives to focus more on long-range military aircraft than reconnaissance.