REAL TIME SATELLITE TRACKING

CHINA 'LAUNCHES' SATELLITE DESTROYER IN NEW SPACE RACE AS PENTAGON CLAIMS ROCKET WAS HIGHEST FOR FOR - A Chinese high-altitude rocket launch this week was the first test of an interceptor that could destroy orbiting satellites, claims a U.S defense official. The launch, said by the Chinese to be a science mission, reached 6,250 miles (10,000km) above the Earth - the highest suborbital launch since 1976. No objects were placed into orbit, the Pentagon said yesterday. The rocket re-entered Earth's atmosphere above the Indian Ocean.    More
(Source: Daily Mail )

RUSSIA LAUNCHES ROCKET WITH FRENCH TELECOM SATELLITE - A Proton-M rocket carrying a French telecommunications satellite has blasted off from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, said a spokesman for Russian space agency Roscosmos. Tuesday's launch was the 386th of a Proton rocket and the third Proton launch this year. The launch took place at 20.02 Moscow time (4.02 p.m. GMT), the Roscosmos spokesman said.    More
(Source: New York Daily News )

ATLAS 5 NAVIGATES ITS WAY TO SUCCESSFUL GPS LAUNCH - An Atlas 5 rocket successfully powered a replacement Global Positioning System satellite into space Wednesday to bolster the navigation utility for military and civil users around the world. The 737,000-pound, two-stage rocket, loaded with kerosene fuel, liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen, roared to life at 5:38 p.m. EDT (2138 GMT) to launch the GPS 2F-4 spacecraft, continuing a string of on-time launches of all four Atlas rocket flights so this year.    More
(Source: Spaceflight Now)

VIETNAM WILL HAVE SECOND REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE - VietNamNet Bridge - VNREDSat-1B is the next remote sensing satellite that Vietnam intends to launch into space with the cooperation of Belgium, after the successful launch of the first earth observation satellite. Belgium and Vietnam have decided that Belgian firms, under the guidance of Spacebel will manufacture the VNREDSat - 1B satellite, according to an announcement of the Belgian Embassy in Vietnam last week.    More
(Source: VietNamNet Bridge )

SOYUZ CAPSULE BRINGS THREE-MAN CREW TO SAFE LANDING - A Russian cosmonaut, a NASA physician-astronaut and outgoing Canadian space station commander Chris Hadfield, whose deft use of social media turned him into an orbital superstar, undocked and plunged back to Earth Monday to close out a five-month stay in space. Two days after an impromptu spacewalk to fix a coolant leak -- and one day after a YouTube video of Hadfield singing David Bowie's "Space Oddity" went viral with more than 1.5 million views -- Hadfield, Thomas Marshburn and Soyuz TMA-07M commander Roman Romanenko undocked from the station at 7:08 p.m. EDT (GMT-4).    More
(Source: Spaceflight Now)

REPAIRS MADE AT SPACE STATION - Astronauts making a rare, hastily planned space walk replaced a pump outside the International Space Station on Saturday in hopes of plugging a serious ammonia leak. The prospects of success grew as the minutes, then hours, passed and no frozen flecks of ammonia appeared. Mission Control said it appeared the leak may have been plugged, although additional monitoring over the coming weeks will be needed before declaring a victory.    More
(Source: Philly.com)

SPACE STATION LEAKING VITAL COOLANT, NASA SAYS - Astronauts on the International Space Station have discovered a leak of ammonia coolant on their orbiting habitat, and NASA is looking into the problem, though it poses no immediate danger to the crew, officials said today (May 9). The space station uses chilled liquid ammonia to cool down the power systems on its eight giant solar array panels. A minor leak of this ammonia was first noticed in 2007, and NASA has been studying the issue ever since.    More
(Source: Space.com)

PENTAGON PREPS NEW ANTI-SATELLITE WEAPONS PROGRAM - The Pentagon has launched what a top defense official described as a “long overdue” effort to develop anti-satellite weapons and protect US national security satellites, as rivals such as China roll out their own advanced space capabilities. Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced plans to ratchet up US space capabilities in light of the changing realities of the militarization of space.    More
(Source: RT)

SPACE STATION’S ORBIT TO BE RAISED BY 2.6 KM - Russia's Progress M-19M resupply spacecraft will readjust the orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Russian space agency Roscosmos said. “The space freighter’s engines will be started at 10:51 a.m. Moscow Time [6:34 GMT]. They will work for 858.7 seconds [over 14 minutes]. As a result of the maneuver, the ISS’s orbit will be raised by about 2.6 kilometers [1.6 miles],” the spokesman said adding that the station’s orbit will total 413.8 kilometers (257 miles).    More
(Source: RIA Novosti)