SHUTTLE ATLANTIS TOUCHES DOWN AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER - Space shuttle Atlantis, switching from spacecraft to aircraft, landed successfully in Florida this morning at 8:48 am, wrapping up what could be its final voyage into space as NASA's shuttle era draws closer to its end. The U.S. space shuttle wrapped a 12-day resupply mission to the International Space Station. It was the third-to-last mission for the U.S. shuttle program and is scheduled to be the last for Atlantis. NASA's other two shuttles, Discovery and Endeavour, will make their final flights in September and November.    More
(Source: Fox News - May 26)

DELTA IV LAUNCH OF NEW GPS SATELLITE DELAYED — AGAIN - The launch of a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket carrying a new generation GPS satellite was scrubbed on Monday night just seconds before it was supposed to blastoff. It was the third time that the launch was cancelled in since Friday. Before the problem was with the telemetry signal from the satellite. This time the problem was with the rocket. “During the final seconds of the launch countdown, an anomalous data signature with the thrust vector control system on one of the two solid rocket motors mounted to the Delta IV booster was detected.,” the Air Force and ULA said in a joint statement.   More
(Source: Orlando Sentinel - May 26)

CHINA TO SET UP INDEPENDENT SATELLITE NAVIGATION SYSTEM - China is developing an independent satellie navigation system called Beidou. It's the third country after the US and Russia to have such a system developed on its own. At the first China Satellite Navigation Annual Academic Conference in Beijing, the chief designer says the system will cover the whole world by 2020 and he hopes Beidou will become the most competitive navigation system on earth. According to Sun Jiadong, the system is being completed in 3 stages.    More
(Source: Space Daily - May 25)

ATLANTIS UNDOCKS FROM STATION - At 11:22 a.m. EDT, space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station. Atlantis spent 7 days, 0 hrs, and 54 minutes docked to the orbiting laboratory. At undocking, the spacecraft were 220 miles above the Indian Ocean, southwest of Australia.    More
(Source: NASA - May 23)

SECRET X-37B SPACE PLANE SPOTTED BY AMATEUR SKYWATCHERS - While the U.S. Air Force is mum about the orbital whereabouts of its X-37B mini-space plane, a dedicated band of amateur skywatchers has got its cross-hairs on the spacecraft. The unpiloted X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle 1 was lofted on April 22 atop an Atlas launcher. It is being flown under the auspices of the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. In U.S. military tracking parlance, when the space plane reached orbit it became identified as Catalog Number 36514, 2010-015A, OTV-1 (USA 212).    More
(Source: Space.com - May 23)

ASTRA 3B SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED - Satellite operator SES Astra has announced the successful launch of the Astra 3B satellite. Astra 3B was launched by Arianespace from French Guiana on Saturday night. It will gradually be moved to its permanent in-orbit position during the next few weeks with commercial services expected to begin in June. “The launch of Astra 3B is another important milestone in our long-term strategy to develop and deploy our fleet and secure additional growth potential,” said Ferdinand Kayser, president and CEO, SES Astra.    More
(Source: DigitalProductionME.com - May 23)

DELTA 4 POISED TO LAUNCH WITH NEXT GENERATION GPS SATELLITE - The launch of a Delta 4 rocket carrying the first in a new series of next generation GPS satellites has been rescheduled for Sunday night (May 23) at 11:17 PM EDT from Cape Canaveral, Florida after the countdown was halted barely 4 minutes prior to liftoff, shortly before midnight on Friday (May 21). The last minute countdown scrub was called after loss of "the telemetry signal between the GPS and the satellite ground support equipment," according to a statement issued by the Air Force and United Launch Alliance (ULA).    More
(Source: Space Ref - May 23)

LAUNCH OF NEW GPS SATELLITE DELAYED BY 1 DAY - The Air Force has delayed the launch of the latest Global Positioning System satellite by one day due to faulty launch tower equipment. While prepping the Delta IV rocket that will carry the GPS IIF-01 satellite aloft, “mission managers determined a piece of ground support equipment used to control one of the swing arms on the [launch] tower was not operating correctly and needed replacing,” according to an announcement released Wednesday by Air Force Space Command.    More
(Source: AirForceTimes.com - May 20)

SHUTTLE ATLANTIS, SPACE STATION VISIBLE THIS WEEK - Look! Up in the sky! It's not a bird. It's not a plane. It's the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station. From now until Sunday, as the two spacecraft circle the Earth every 90 minutes, they should be visible to sky gazers across the globe. And that's especially true given that the shuttle is docked with the space station during its current mission.    More
(Source: CNET - May 20)

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