NASA GIVES GO-AHEAD FOR ADDITIONAL SHUTTLE FLIGHT - NASA doesn't know yet where it will get the money, but on Thursday the space agency officially added another space shuttle launch to its schedule — the final one for the fleet. The space agency set a target launch date of June 28 for the shuttle Atlantis and started preparations for the 135th and last shuttle flight. The four-member crew will take up supplies to the International Space Station, make one spacewalk, and return a faulty pump that has bedeviled engineers. Now three missions remain before NASA retires its shuttle fleet this year. The shuttle Discovery's last mission is slated for Feb. 24, and Endeavour's is set for April. More (Source: MSNBC - Jan 21)
VANDENBERG ROCKET: LARGEST AMERICAN ROCKET BLASTED OFF TODAY ON WEST COAST - The unmanned Delta 4-Heavy rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1:10 p.m. PST (4:10 p.m. EST) carrying a secret satellite for the US National Reconnaissance Office. Making the Vandenberg rocket the largest rocket launch ever from the country's West Coast. The largest American rocket currently in use blasted off from the California coast today (Jan. 20) carrying a new U.S. spy satellite on a classified mission, making it the biggest rocket launch ever from the country's West Coast. More (Source: Christian Science Monitor - Jan 21)
ZENIT ROCKET CLIMBS TO ORBIT WITH WEATHER SATELLITE - A Zenit rocket lifted off Thursday from Kazakhstan with a Russian weather satellite to snap real-time images of clouds and storm systems. The Ukrainian Zenit 3F booster blasted off at 1229 GMT (7:29 a.m. EST) from pad 45 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It was the first space launch anywhere in the world in 2011. The 20-story rocket disappeared into low clouds hanging over the snow-covered space center a few seconds after launch. The launcher released the Electro-L 1 weather satellite into orbit at 2128 GMT (4:28 p.m. EST). More (Source: Space Flight Now - Jan 21)
NASA SEEKS AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS' AID TO LISTEN FOR NANOSAIL-D - On Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 11:30 a.m. EST, engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., confirmed that the NanoSail-D nanosatellite ejected from Fast Affordable Scientific and Technology Satellite, FASTSAT. The ejection event occurred spontaneously and was identified this morning when engineers at the center analyzed onboard FASTSAT telemetry. The ejection of NanoSail-D also has been confirmed by ground-based satellite tracking assets. More (Source: Space Daily - Jan 20)
NASA'S CHANCE FOR EXTRA SHUTTLE FLIGHT IN DOUBT - The most recent delay of the space shuttle Discovery's mission over issues with its fuel tank has raised some questions over whether NASA will be able to fly an extra shuttle mission later this year as planned. NASA has two more shuttle trips planned before the aging three-orbiter fleet is retired. A third, final mission was approved last year by Congress in a NASA authorization bill signed by President Obama. Yet, funding for that bill has not been appropriated. Instead, the country is working under a continuing resolution – a stopgap measure put in place until lawmakers can agree on a formal budget – that freezes NASA and the rest of the government at 2010 funding levels. More (Source: MSNBC - Jan 16)
VIASAT DELAYS LAUNCH OF SATELLITE - ViaSat said Thursday that it will delay the launch of its high-capacity broadband satellite until this summer after it was damaged while being moved at Space Systems Loral, where the $400 million satellite is being built. The Carlsbad company had originally planned to launch the satellite early this year, possibly in March or April. The company did not give an exact time frame for the new launch. A ViaSat spokesman declined further comment. More (Source: San Diego Union Tribune - Jan 16)
IRAN TO LAUNCH NEW SATELLITE SOON - Communications and Information Technology Minister Reza Taqipour has announced that Iran will put into orbit a new domestically manufactured satellite named Fajr (Dawn) in the current Iranian calendar year, which will end on March 20 this year. “We have planned to send the domestically made satellite Fajr into space by the end of the year,” Taqipour told reporters after the cabinet meeting on Wednesday. Reportedly, there are many differences between the new satellite and the previous ones. More (Source: Tehran Times - Jan 14)
NASA DETERMINES CAUSE OF CRACKS - NASA said Tuesday that it had figured out what caused the cracking in the fuel tank of the space shuttle Discovery, which has been grounded repeatedly because of technical problems. John Shannon, the shuttle program manager, said Tuesday that inferior material and assembly problems were to blame for the trouble, which included cracks in five aluminum alloy struts in the center of the tank. Those have been patched, NASA said, and technicians will reinforce the dozens of remaining struts as a precaution. More (Source: New York Times - Jan 13)
NASA DELAYS LAUNCH OF SHUTTLE DISCOVERY AGAIN FOR MORE REPAIRS - NASA has delayed the launch of space shuttle Discovery's final flight yet again in order to allow more time repair the spacecraft's beleaguered fuel tank, the space agency announced late Thursday (Jan. 6). The decision came after a meeting of top space shuttle program managers earlier in the day to evaluate the progress of Discovery's fuel tank repairs. From their analysis, the officials opted to push the next launch attempt further back from the previously scheduled Feb. 3 liftoff. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 9)
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