Space

Those who've come to know Brad Spence through the soft, visually hazy airbrush paintings he's made in recent years - scenes viewed as if through a foggy window pane or the chemical haze of an aging negative - are in for a surprise with his newest exhibition at Shoshana Wayne Gallery. The 23 5- by 4-foot canvases that line the perimeter of the spacious gallery all but rattle with the fervor of experimentation and the prodding - sometimes playful, sometimes agitated - of personal boundaries.

In one of the most significant rollbacks of airline rules since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, federal officials said they will allow passengers to carry small knives, golf clubs, hockey sticks and pool cues into the cabins of commercial jets. The policy change, which will take effect April 25, was immediately criticized by flight attendants and passenger rights groups, who say the move will create an unnecessary risk and further crowd already limited space in overhead bins.

Los Angeles, more than most cities, has defined itself by continual bursts of expansion and an unflagging optimism about its place in the world. But as the city has grown to a population nearing 4 million, we've neglected some major holes in the civic fabric. Los Angeles has become as well known for its high-profile architectural and urban-planning failures - for the buildings, institutions and public spaces we can't seem to get right - as for its innovations or breakthroughs. This is particularly true for our civic architecture, which has never matched the ambition and allure of the region's private houses and high-end commercial enclaves.

After a successful launch of its Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceX has ran into a thruster issue with its Dragon cargo-carrying capsule as it orbits the Earth in a mission to resupply the International Space Station for NASA. The Dragon spacecraft has four thruster pods, which work to control the spacecraft as it makes its way to the space station. Following the 7:10 a.m. PST blastoff, only one of the thrusters was working. In an afternoon conference call, SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said that a second pod was functioning and that he expected the two others to come online later.

On an overcast morning, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canavera l Air Force Station and sped through the clouds Friday on its way to the International Space Station. However, about 12 minutes into the NASA resupply mission, after the rocket had lifted its Dragon capsule packed with more than 1,200 pounds of cargo into orbit, there was an anomaly in the spacecraft. "It appears that although it reached Earth orbit, Dragon is experiencing some type of problem right now," John Insprucker, Falcon 9 product director, told viewers on SpaceX's live webcast.

A capsule carrying cargo to the International Space Station ran into trouble shortly after its Friday morning launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., but officials expressed confidence later in the day that the mission would go forward. On its third commercial mission to the space station under contract with NASA, Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or SpaceX, ran into a thruster issue with its Dragon capsule as it orbited around the Earth. The capsule is packed with more than 1,200 pounds of food, scientific experiments and other cargo for delivery to the six astronauts aboard the space station.

A pair of NASA probes has discovered a previously unknown ring of radiation blanketing the Earth, upending a long-standing scientific theory about how charged particles coalesce around the planet, scientists reported Thursday. Just four days after the twin Radiation Belt Storm Probes were launched in August, NASA scientists looked on in amazement as instruments revealed a third belt of high-energy particles between the planet's inner and outer radiation belts, known as the Van Allen belts.

The staircase is narrow and creaky, with a bookshelf made from a 100-year-old harp case teetering on the precipice of collapse at the top of the landing. Overflowing with open books, pages wildly askew and dangling from uneven shelves, the bookcase looks as if it's escaped from a vintage cartoon. Rolls of yellowed, turn-of-the-century sheet music waft through the air, unfurling from a manual typewriter suspended from the ceiling. A black-clad young woman, with a prominent pierced dimple and a philosophy book under her arm, slips by on her way up. She has found the way into the Labyrinth at the Last Bookstore.

Hawthorne-based SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is on the launch pad ready to blast off at 7:10 a.m. Pacific time from Cape Canaveral, Fla., to begin a resupply mission to the International Space Station for NASA. If you want to watch the launch, check it out on NASA TV or SpaceX's webcast . Coverage begins at 5:30 a.m. NASA said the weather forecast is 80% favorable for a launch. PHOTOS: A 'new era': Private-sector space mission "We're about to launch and we're happy to be here," Mike Suffredini, NASA program manager for space station at Johnson Space Center, said at a pre-launch press conference.

If the goals were to clear cap space and continue to stockpile draft picks, Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi accomplished both with one move Tuesday. Lombardi traded left wing Simon Gagne to Gagne's former team, the Philadelphia Flyers, in exchange for a conditional draft choice in 2013. The Kings receive a third-round pick from Philadelphia if the Flyers make the playoffs or a fourth-round pick if the Flyers do not. Gagne, a healthy scratch the last four games, had five assists in 11 games and had not played since Feb. 17 at Chicago, seemingly an ill fit in Kings Coach Darryl Sutter's system.