In February of 2013, skywatchers around the world turned their attention toward asteroid 2012 DA14, a cosmic rock about 150 feet (50 meters) in diameter that was going to fly closer to Earth than the spacecraft that bring us satellite TV.

Little did they realize as they prepared for the once-in-several-decades event that another bit of celestial debris was hurtling toward Earth, with a more direct heading. On Feb. 15, 2013, the Chelyabinsk meteor, a roughly 62-foot (19 meter)-diameter asteroid exploded over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, as it entered Earth's atmosphere at a shallow angle. The blast shattered windows and damaged buildings, and nearly two thousand people were hurt, though thankfully no one died.

"It turned out that two completely independent asteroids were coming by that day," said Philip Lubin, UC Santa Barbara professor of physics, and one of the many scientists anticipating 2012 DA14's near-Earth rendezvous. "One of them we knew was going to miss the Earth. The other one, we didn't even know it was coming."

For Lubin and scientists like him, incidents like these underline the importance of robust planetary defense—the detection, tracking, characterization and ultimately defense against potentially dangerous asteroids and comets.

Hollywood's Captain Kirk, 90-year-old William Shatner, blasted into space Wednesday in a convergence of science fiction and science reality, reaching the final frontier aboard a ship built by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company.

The "Star Trek" hero and three fellow passengers soared an estimated 66 miles (106 kilometers) over the West Texas desert in the fully automated capsule, then safely parachuted back to Earth in a flight of just over 10 minutes.

Shatner became the oldest person in space, eclipsing the previous record—set by a passenger on a similar jaunt on a Bezos spaceship in July—by eight years.

As veteran actor William Shatner—Captain Kirk of "Star Trek" fame—becomes the latest celebrity to go into space on Wednesday, we look at the recent rush of amateur astronauts.

Beam me up, Bezos

Shatner went where no 90-year-old has gone before aboard Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket.

The Canadian became the oldest person to go into space on the flight, beating pioneering female pilot Wally Funk, 82, who also flew with Bezos in July.

Shatner experienced a few minutes of weightlessness 60 miles (100 kilometres) from Earth, before returning in the reuseable rocket.

Bezos and his brother Mark were also on Blue Origin's maiden mission in July.

Russian first

Last week, Russian actress Yulia Peresild blasted off to the International Space Station with a film director to try to pip the United States in making the first feature film in orbit.

They want to best "Mission Impossible" star Tom Cruise who announced his own movie project with NASA and Elon Musk's SpaceX last year.

They hope to wrap their story about a female surgeon who is dispatched to save a cosmonaut by the time they touch down on Sunday.

The James Webb Space Telescope will be the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space.

Webb's flight into orbit will take place on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

Webb is the next great space science observatory, designed to answer outstanding questions about the Universe and to make breakthrough discoveries in all fields of astronomy. Webb will see farther into our origins—from the formation of stars and planets, to the birth of the first galaxies in the early Universe.

During the first month in space, on its way to the second Langrange point (L2), Webb will undergo a complex unfolding sequence. Key steps in this sequence are unfolding Webb's sunshield—a five-layer, diamond-shaped structure the size of a tennis court—and the iconic 6.5-meter wide mirror, consisting of a honeycomb-like pattern of 18 hexagonal, gold-coated mirror segments.

Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service. As well as launch services, ESA contributes to two of the four science instruments (NIRSpec and MIRI), and provides personnel to support mission operations.