EUROPE CLOSER TO INDEPENDENT SATELLITE NAVIGATION - The European Space Agency has signed a fourth contract, out of a total of six, for the setting up of Galileo, Europe's global navigation satellite program, the European Commission announced on Tuesday. The new contract is for the procurement of full operations capability for Galileo. The contract, valued at some 194 million euros (about 267 million U.S. dollars), was signed by the European Space Agency on behalf of the European Commission and awarded to a German and Italian joint venture, SpaceOpal GmbH. The company will be in charge of operations of the space and ground infrastructure.    More
(Source: Xinhua - Oct 28)

SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY TO LAUNCH MONDAY - NASA as expected set Nov. 1 as the official launch date for shuttle Discovery's final mission at the conclusion of a flight readiness review here. Six astronauts will climb aboard Discovery at pad 39A next Monday, aiming to set sail for the International Space Station at 4:40 p.m. ET NASA must launch the mission by Nov. 7 or delay the flight until late November or early December. The sun angle on the station from Nov. 8 through Nov. 23 will be such that the outpost will not be able to generate enough electricity or dispel enough heat to support a docked shuttle.    More
(Source: USA Today - Oct 27)

SHUTTLE DISCOVERY CLEARED FOR BLASTOFF NEXT MONDAY - After reviewing normal processing and weekend work to fix a small fuel leak, NASA managers Monday cleared the shuttle Discovery for an election-eve launch Nov. 1 to begin a space station resupply mission, the orbiter's 39th and final flight. Testing indicates new seals in a suspect flange are properly seated and holding pressure with no signs of additional seepage. Assuming no other problems develop, engineers believe they will be ready to start Discovery's countdown at 3 p.m. (1900 GMT) Friday, setting up a launch attempt at 4:40:26 p.m. EDT (2040:26 GMT) Monday.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Oct 26)

NASA READIES SHUTTLE DISCOVERY FOR FINAL MISSION - The countdown is on: NASA has only two shuttle launches left. The U.S. space agency is retiring its shuttle fleet next year and encouraging the development of commercial human spaceflight vehicles. Space shuttle Discovery is set to launch November 1 Last week, engineers found that Discovery had developed a fuel leak. John Shannon, the space shuttle program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston, Texas, says engineers have the situation under control.    More
(Source: Voice of America - Oct 25)

NASA'S EXTRA SHUTTLE FLIGHT HANGS IN THE BALANCE - Less than two weeks before the space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch on its last flight, uncertainty still remains as to exactly when NASA's very final orbiter mission will fly, bringing the storied shuttle era to a close next year. NASA has two scheduled shuttle missions, on Discovery and Endeavour, left to fly before retiring its orbiter fleet in 2011. A third, extra shuttle mission has been approved by Congress and President Obama, but still faces review by congressional appropriators later this year.    More
(Source: MSNBC - Oct 25)

NASA MAKES PLANS TO FIX SHUTTLE FUEL LEAK - The space shuttle Discovery is leaking on the launch pad. If it isn't fixed soon, the small fuel leak could delay Discovery's planned launch on Nov. 1. The flight to the International Space Station is be Discovery's last. Shuttle engineers met Monday afternoon to put together a repair plan. Later this week, technicians will tighten the bolts on the leaking fuel line. If that resolves the problem, Discovery could still launch on time.    More
(Source: MSNBC - Oct 20)

DISCOVERY'S CARGO ARRIVES AT LAUNCH PAD FOR FINAL FLIGHT - The cargo for Discovery's last mission to space arrived at the shuttle launch pad just after 2 AM this morning, Thursday, 7 October 2010. Prelaunch preparations for the final flight of Space Shuttle Discovery - STS-133 - are rapidly ramping up to their final phase in anticipation of the launch slated for 1 November 2010 at 4:40 PM EDT from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) , Florida. Discovery's primary cargo is a new module for the International Space Station which will provide much needed storage space for the resident crew of the orbiting outpost. The module -or PMM - will be the last permanent addition to be contributed by the United States to the ISS. The secondary cargo element is the Express Logistics Carrier-4 which will house exterior space parts.    More
(Source: Space Ref - Oct 18)

RUNAWAY ZOMBIE SATELLITE GALAXY 15 CONTINUES TO POSE INTERFERENCE THREAT - The Intelsat satellite that has remained in switched-on mode while in an uncontrolled drift along an orbital highway, posing broadcast interference threats to other satellites, is now expected to continue to emit signals at least through late November and perhaps until late December, Intelsat officials said. The Galaxy 15 C-band telecommunications satellite, which went out of control in April and has since been drifting eastward along the geostationary arc 36,000 kilometers over the equator, is proving more durable than predicted.    More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 17)

SIRIUS XM RADIO SATELLITE BEGINS LENGTHY TRIP TO ORBIT - Sirius XM Radio's next broadcasting satellite rocketed away from Earth and into space Thursday, beginning a nine-hour journey to place the craft on track for a 15-year mission serving nearly 20 million subscribers in North America with music, news and variety programming. The company's ninth satellite lifted off at 1853 GMT (2:53 p.m. EDT) from pad 24 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the first commercial Proton rocket launch from that complex in more than five years.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Oct 15)

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