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The first mission to distant planet Pluto is under way after the successful launch today of NASA's New Horizons spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

NASA's Mercury-bound MESSENGER spacecraft successfully fired its large bipropellant thruster for the first time since launch, completing the first of several critical deep space maneuvers that will help the spacecraft reach Mercury orbit.

A team from The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Md., developed a multi-purpose sensor payload that was integrated with the target missile to collect video and infrared imagery of the target's boost and post-boost phases of flight.

Today's successful Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) intercept test was due, in part, to the critical engineering and technical direction provided by The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Md.

The first spacecraft designed to capture 3-D "stereo" views of the sun and solar wind were shipped today from The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Md.

In its role as the integrator/broker for the Joint Unmanned Combat Air Systems Common Operating Systems, The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory has selected Raytheon Solipsys and Charles River Analytics to develop and evaluate software that will determine how people control and operate the J-UCAS COS.

Scientists and engineers at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory will be applying their expertise from more than 40-years of space research to help determine whether X-ray signals from celestial sources, such as stars and pulsars, can be used for satellite navigation in deep space.

Jerry A. Krill has been appointed Assistant Director for Programs at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md., and in that capacity will oversee APL's more than 400 programs.

Ralph Semmel, a widely-respected expert on database systems and artificial intelligence, will head the Applied Information Sciences Department, a new division at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory created to respond to the rapid evolution of information technology.

John Sommerer is the first Director of Science and Technology to be appointed at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.