SHUTTLE PROGRAM ASSIGNS NOV. 1 LAUNCH DATE - NASA space shuttle program managers approved a Nov. 1 launch date for the 11-day STS-133 mission aboard the shuttle Discovery, following a Oct. 6 review of mission preparations. John Shannon, the shuttle program manager, received a unanimous “go” from the team members to continue with launch preparations. NASA will host an agency-wide Flight Readiness Review on Oct. 25 at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to set a formal launch date. The FRR will assess the readiness of the International Space Station as well as Discovery for the STS-133 flight.    More
(Source: Aviation Week - Oct 9)

THREE MEN PREPARE FOR BLASTOFF TO THE SPACE STATION - Russian engineers readied an upgraded Soyuz TMA-01M spacecraft for launch Thursday evening from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to ferry a veteran shuttle commander and two cosmonauts to the International Space Station. If all goes well, the trio will join the two-man one-woman Expedition 25 crew aboard the lab complex late Saturday, boosting the station's crew back to six.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Oct 9)

FOR LAST SHUTTLE MISSION, SEND YOUR FACE UP IN SPACE - People from all over the world are signing up to fly on one of the last two scheduled space shuttle missions. No training is necessary to be a virtual member of the STS- 133 or STS-134 crew. "The general public has supported us through all of this, the good times and the bad times and we wanted a way to have them be a part of the last scheduled mission," says NASA's Debbie Byerly. Byerly came up with the idea that is known as Faces in Space. Anyone can go to the website, where you are instructed to upload a picture.    More
(Source: CNN.com - Oct 8)

EUTELSAT W3B SATELLITE SCHEDULED FOR OCT. 28 LAUNCH - Paris based Eutelsat (News - Alert) is one of the world's three leading satellite operators in terms of revenues. The company boasts of a capacity of 26 commercialized satellites that provide coverage over the entire European continent, as well as the Middle East, Africa, India and significant parts of Asia and the Americas. Through a recent press release, Eutelsat announced that its W3B Satellite is ready for the Oct. 28 Ariane launch.   More
(Source: TMC Net - Oct 8)

EUROPEAN SATELLITE 'BLINDED' BY RADIO INTERFERENCE - The European Space Agency (ESA) said on Wednesday that it had launched a behind-the-scenes campaign to shut down illicit radio and TV transmissions interfering with a major climate satellite. The 315-million-euro (434-million-dollar) Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) probe "has been bugged by patches of interference from radar, TV and radio transmissions in what should be a protected band," ESA complained.    More
(Source: Space Daily - Oct 7)

SPACE TRAFFIC JAM DELAYS FINAL SHUTTLE LAUNCH A DAY - A looming traffic jam in space has caused NASA to push back the planned launch date for the final voyage of the space shuttle Endeavour by one day. Endeavour is now slated to lift off toward the International Space Station Feb. 27, 2011 a day later than previously planned to allow another spaceship time to arrive at the orbiting laboratory. The fuel tank for Endeavour's last flight arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida last month.    More
(Source: msnbc.com - Oct 6)

TURKEY PLANS TO LAUNCH SPY SATELLITE BY 2012, PM SAYS - Turkey plans to launch its first intelligence satellite by 2012, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an said on Tuesday. In his speech at a meeting of his ruling Justice & Development Party, or AKP, Erdo?an said that the satellite was named "Goktürk" and it was now under construction by Turkish engineers. Turkey operates two communication satellites, Turksat 2A and Turksat 3A. It plans to procure two new communication satellites. Most recently, in September, another Turkish satellite Turksat 1C had "retired" 14 years after it was launched into space.    More
(Source: Hurriyet Daily News - Oct 6)

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)

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