A super-sharp Earth-imaging satellite has been launched into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the Central California coast.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has found two new, partial rings around Saturn that each accompany a small moon, shedding light on what determines whether a partial or complete ring forms with the moon.

The Rosetta deep-space probe successfully passed close to an asteroid 250 million miles from Earth, the European Space Agency said.

The target dates for the next two space shuttle liftoffs have been moved two days later, due to the impact of recent tropical storms on launch preparations, NASA said Friday.