ONE-DAY DELAY OF FINAL SHUTTLE LAUNCH MAKES ROOM FOR ATV - After commercial interests pushed its launch into next year, Europe's next orbital cargo freighter will attempt to reach the International Space Station in a narrow docking window in February, pushing back the final planned space shuttle flight by one day, officials said this week. NASA is delaying the final planned space shuttle launch by a day to give the Automated Transfer Vehicle a chance to dock with the space station Feb. 26. The robotic spaceship is due to blast off Feb. 15. More (Source: Space Flight Now - Oct 3)
BRITISH SATELLITE FLEET TO BE LAUNCHED INTO SPACE - The three spacecraft, which are built in Surrey, will be sent into orbit in 2013 to map the surface of the Earth in a project worth £100m. Cameras on board will show the planet in images down to the last metre, meaning individual trees, manhole covers and individual footballs should be visible from space. More (Source: Telegraph.co.uk - Sep 29)
AIR FORCE LAUNCHES SURVEILLANCE SATELLITE FROM CA. - A U.S. space surveillance satellite was launched late Saturday from the central California coast, the Air Force said. A Minotaur 4 rocket carrying the Space Based Space Surveillance satellite blasted off at 9:41 p.m. Pacific time and headed toward orbit, officials from Vandenberg Air Force Base said in a news release. The satellite was designed to detect and monitor debris, satellites and other space objects that could be a threat to national security, communications and weather satellites. Monitoring from space avoids the limitations that ground observing systems experience due to weather, the atmosphere and time of day. More (Source: The Associated Press - Sep 26)
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TRIO SAFELY RETURNS TO EARTH - Running one day late, a Russian Soyuz capsule carried two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut back to Earth early Saturday, the final chapter in an action-packed six-month mission aboard the International Space Station. Dropping through a clear sky under a huge orange-and-white parachute, the charred Soyuz descent module landed upright and on target near the town of Arkalyk at 1:23 a.m. EDT (11:23 a.m. local time). "And the search and recovery forces now report the Soyuz TMA-18 has landed," said Rob Navias, mission control commentator at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. More (Source: Space Flight Now - Sep 26)
RUSSIAN SPACECRAFT TO TRY AGAIN TONIGHT TO UNDOCK FROM SPACE STATION - Russian officials plan to try again tonight to undock the Soyuz spacecraft from the International Space Station after running into a problem late Thursday with the hooks and latches that bind the spacecraft to the outpost. The Russian Space Agency waved off Thursday's attempt to bring the Soyuz and its crew of U.S. astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Russian cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and Mikhail Kornienko home. More (Source: USA Today - Sep 24)
CHINA LAUNCHES NEW SATELLITE - China successfully launched a remote-sensing satellite "Yaogan XI" Wednesday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern Gansu Province. The satellite was sent into space aboard a Long March 2-D carrier rocket at 10:42 a.m. (Beijing Time), according to the center. The satellite will be used to conduct scientific experiment, carry out surveys on land resources, estimate crops yield and help with natural disaster-reduction and prevention endeavor. More (Source: Space Daily - Sep 24)
LAUNCH SET FOR US SATELLITE TO MONITOR SPACE JUNK - A satellite that will monitor the clutter in Earth orbit is scheduled to launch Saturday, nearly three months later than originally planned. The Space-Based Space Surveillance satellite was scheduled to launch on July 8, but it was grounded by concerns about software in the Minotaur IV rocket and a problem in the rocket's electronics. Officials said there were no problems in the satellite itself. More (Source: Associated Press - Sep 24)
DISCOVERY IS ON THE LAUNCH PAD FOR ITS FINAL MISSION - NASA has moved the space shuttle Discovery to launch pad 39 A at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., in preparation for the orbiter's targeted Nov. 1 final scheduled launch, which is the second-to-last mission for any shuttle. The mission is set to carry the Permanent Multipurpose Module to the International Space Station, along with supplies, critical spare parts and Robonaut 2. Here's a photo gallery, starting with Discovery on the launch pad and working back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, where the shuttle was joined to its solid rocket boosters and external fuel tank, and Orbiter Processing Facility-3. More (Source: Seattle Post Intelligencer - Sep 23)
PARKED CAR CAUSES STIR DURING U.S. SPY SATELLITE LAUNCH - A new spy satellite launched into space late Monday on the latest classified mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, but not before a private car caused delays because it was parked in the wrong spot. The classified satellite NROL-41 blasted off at 9:03:30 PDT (0403:30 GMT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. An unmanned Atlas 5 rocket managed by the United Launch Alliance carried the satellite into space. [NROL-41 satellite launch photo.] The satellite's launch was delayed about a half hour due to the pesky car, which was parked at Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 8 – an area that was supposed to be clear of vehicles. More (Source: Space.com - Sep 22)
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