With respect to the ISS (International Space Station), a new Shuttle launch (STS-120) is scheduled for today at 17.38 (ECT) with an Italian ESA Astronaut and Node-2, the necessary node to connect the European and Japanese labs, Columbus and Kibo, to the ISS. You can check that launch on-line at NASA TV!
Ariane 5 also performed a required experiment for the launch of the ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) at the end of the year. It consisted of the reignition of the upper stage engine and it was succesful. The ATV will provided the ISS with supplies for the crew and maintainance of the installations and will reach the ISS without any crew!!
Finally, ESA made public the candidate missions for the "Cosmic Vision 2015-2020". Two of these nice missions will be selected and flown to unveil some misteries of the space. You can check the detailed information here. They introduce some concepts as formation flying and the use of the Lagrangian point which are quite novel. Some deal with planetary exploration and some with basic science... but all present a high complexity and are challenging.
And at the same time, Selene is already around the moon and will start taking really valuable scientific data from December!
Good luck for all these missions!!
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