KENNEDY SPACE CENTER Teams of materials, structural and cryogenic propulsion engineers mobilized across the U.S. are zeroing in on the cause and repair of hydrogen propellant line cracks that have grounded the space shuttle program.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. The manufacturers of the Eclipse 500 are determined to prove their new entry-level business jet is “the little airplane that could” revolutionize air travel. Skeptics, however, believe the Eclipse 500 is weighted with ambition and will never fly.

NEW YORK NASA has selected General Electric to develop and test a Mach 4-class gas turbine demonstrator engine that could lay the groundwork for an engine capable of powering the first stage of a two-stage-to-orbit vehicle. The work will be performed under the Revolutionary Turbine Accelerator (RTA) technology demonstration program, which is part of NASA’s Advanced Space Transportation Program, a project aimed at developing third-generation space launchers.

LOS ANGELES Boeing’s two X-45A unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrators were displayed together for the first time on July 11, and are to fly together next year to test communications between the craft, coordinated flight paths, mission replanning and cooperative targeting.

CAPE CANAVERAL The 200-ft.-tall Boeing Delta IV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle is shown stacked for the first time on Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral following a nearly $ 1.5-billion development split between Boeing and the U.S. Air Force.