NASA POSTPONES SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH DUE TO WEATHER - NASA postponed the launch of the space shuttle Discovery early today for 24 hours due to stormy weather, delaying the 13-day mission to the International Space Station. The liftoff at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, was put back to 1:10 a.m. local time tomorrow, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said in a broadcast on NASA Television. More (Source: Bloomberg - Aug 25)
NEW GLONASS-M SATELLITES HEAD TO PAD FOR SEPTEMBER 25 LAUNCH - The Russian Reshetnev Company has sent the first of three GLONASS-Ms satellites scheduled for a blast next month to the Baikonur spacedrome and launch pad in Uzbekhistan. Two more satellites will follow in late August and early September, and all will rise on September 25, according to plan. More (Source: GPS World magazine - Aug 25)
SOUTH KOREA TO MAKE SECOND ATTEMPT AT SPACE LAUNCH - South Korea will attempt to complete its first space launch today, a week after aborting the mission minutes before liftoff because a pressure gauge malfunctioned. The 140-ton Naro rocket and its satellite payload will blast off from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province. The launch risks provoking communist neighbor North Korea, which drew United Nations sanctions after firing a rocket and conducting a nuclear test this year. More (Source: Bloomberg - Aug 25)
POOR WEATHER SCRUBS TUESDAY LAUNCH TRY - The launch attempt for space shuttle Discovery was called off Tuesday morning because of poor weather in the area. The launch team will make another attempt Wednesday morning at 1:10 a.m. EDT. More (Source: NASA - Aug 25)
SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH VISIBLE FROM EAST COAST - People in the eastern United States will get a great opportunity, weather permitting, to see the space shuttle Discovery launched into orbit early Tuesday morning. And it might also be the final opportunity ever to see a nighttime shuttle launch. This flight (STS-128) will be the 30th to rendezvous and dock with the International Space Station (ISS), and the glow of the shuttle's engines will be visible along much of the Eastern Seaboard. A SPACE.com map shows the area of visibility. To reach the space station, Discovery must be launched when Earth's rotation carries the launch pad into the plane of the station's orbit. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 24)
WEATHER IMPROVING FOR TUESDAY SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH - The weather is looking even more promising for Tuesday's launch of space shuttle Discovery. Forecasters said Sunday there is an 80 percent chance the weather will cooperate for Discovery's early morning flight to the international space station. That's better than previous forecasts. There is a 40 percent chance that thunderstorms could interfere with Monday afternoon's fueling. A delay of more than a couple of hours could stall the launch. More (Source: The Associated Press - Aug 24)
STEPHEN COLBERT TREADMILL HEADS TO ISS - The Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill—the COLBERT—will be delivered to the International Space Station next week. It started as a joke and will end up at the International Space Station. After comedian Stephen Colbert discovered NASA was soliciting names for Node 3 of the ISS in an online poll, the host of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" urged his viewers to ignore NASA's suggestion of "Serenity" and suggested his own. More (Source: eWeek - Aug 24)
SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY ON TRACK FOR TUESDAY LAUNCH - NASA's space shuttle Discovery is on track for a planned Tuesday launch toward the International Space Station, mission managers said Saturday. The shuttle and its seven-astronaut crew are nearly ready for their predawn launch Tuesday at 1:36 a.m. EDT (0536 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, said NASA test director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. "All of our vehicle systems are in good shape. Our countdown work is progressing well," Blackwell-Thompson said today in a morning status briefing. "Discovery and her launch team are ready to go." More (Source: Space.com - Aug 23)
ARIANE 5 LAUNCHES JCSAT-12 AND OPTUS D3 - Arianespace reinforced its position as the world's commercial launch services provider of choice with the fourth Ariane 5 flight of 2009, which orbited two Asia-Pacific telecommunications satellites tonight (August 21) on the 32nd consecutive mission success of this workhorse vehicle. Lifting off from the Spaceport's ELA-3 launch zone in French Guiana, the Ariane 5 injected its JCSAT-12 and Optus D3 payloads into geostationary transfer orbit during a flight that lasted just over 34 minutes. More (Source: Space-travel.com - Aug 22)
Previous Next
