Another article in this issue, Space Shuttles and their contribution, provides an overview of the Space Shuttle Program (officially called Space Transportation System - STS), which the U.S. established in the late 1960s. The program commenced on April 12, 1981, with the launching of Columbia STS-1 - the first shuttle orbital flight - and concluded with its last mission, STS-135 flown by Atlantis in July 2011, which retired the final shuttle in the fleet. The Space Shuttle program formally ended on August 31, 2011. and František Fárník.
The Czech Academy of the Sciences arranged on February 20 a Round Table that took place at the Academy´s Conference Center Liblice on the topic Framework association for state assistance in research, development and innovations. The European committee set the rules that define the schedule of public support, program notification and announcing public events in research and development, in evaluaation of research intension and in setting cooperation with research organizations and companies. and Jindřich Babický.
The seminar Recent Trends 2008 is the eleventh in a series of meetings held by Institute of Scientific Instruments ASCR. The first meeting was held in 1989, the second one, in 1990, was held there as well. The following seminars were organized biannually in Skalský dvůr near Brno. This conference is intended for discussion of questions connected with the intrumentation and methodology in charged particle optics and surface physics. Selected themes were introduced by top specialists with emphasis on questions already recognized but not as yet fully answered. and Filip Mika.