ROCKET LAUNCH FROM VIRGINIA SCRUBS A THIRD TIME - This time the countdown got to within 2 minutes and 15 seconds of liftoff, but a low-voltage reading from somewhere inside the Minotaur 1 rocket or its payload last night aborted the count at about 10:43 p.m. It was the third time this week attempts to send five small satellites into orbit from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia fell short. The first two attempts were halted by bad weather.   More
(Source: Maryland Weather - May 9)

ROCKET LAUNCH POSTPONED FOR WEATHER AGAIN - A Minotaur I rocket carrying several satellites that was scheduled to be launched Thursday night has been postponed because of bad weather, according to officials at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. The launch had been delayed since about 8:30 p.m. for weather because a surveillance aircraft could not take off in the storm to check for any ships downrange of the rocket's flight path, according to the NASA Web site. The launch countdown was stopped at one hour and remained there until the launch was postponed at about 10 p.m.    More
(Source: The Virginian-Pilot - May 8)

STS-400: 'JUST IN CASE' - When the space shuttle Atlantis blasts off on NASA's final mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope, the shuttle Endeavour and a four-man crew will be standing by for launch on a mission space agency managers hope will never be needed: an emergency rescue flight to bring the Atlantis astronauts back to Earth if heat shield damage or some other problem prevents a safe re-entry. Unlike flights to the International Space Station, the Atlantis astronauts, working in a very different orbit, cannot seek "safe haven" aboard the lab complex if Columbia-class damage is incurred during the climb to space or later, due to impact with space debris. In either case, Endeavour could mean the difference between life and death for Atlantis' crew.    More
(Source: SpaceFlightNow.com - May 7)

CARGO FREIGHTER LAUNCHES TOWARD THE SPACE STATION - Another Russian-made resupply ship for the International Space Station was successfully launched into orbit today, beginning a longer-than-usual trek to catch up with the outpost. Flying atop a Russian Soyuz U booster, the Progress M-02M spacecraft rocketed away from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 1837 GMT (2:37 p.m. EDT).    More
(Source: SpaceFlightNow.com - May 7)

ROCKET LAUNCH MAY BE VISIBLE HERE - Sometime after 8 o'clock Thursday night, the Air Force hopes to put five small satellites into orbit with a rare launch from Virginia's Eastern Shore. If skies clear, the rocket's climb to orbit could be visible throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. The U.S. Air Force TacSat-3 satellite is set for liftoff sometime between 8 and 11 p.m. from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility. It will ride atop a four-stage Minotaur 1 rocket.    More
(Source: Baltimore Sun - May 7)

VIRGINIA ROCKET LAUNCH POSTPONED UNTIL THURSDAY… - The scheduled launch of a Minotaur 1 rocket from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on the Virginia coast was postponed last night due to weather. The launch has been rescheduled for Thursday evening, again, weather permitting. Given clear skies, the launch is expected to be widely seen all along the east coast. The Minotaur 1 is a four stage 69-foot tall rocket and is schduled to loft the Air Force Research Laboratory’s TacSat-3 satellite and two additional payloads into earth orbit.    More
(Source: Fayobserver.com - May 6)

DELTA II LOFTS MISSILE DEFENSE SATELLITE - A NASA-supervised mission carrying a satellite with a prototype sensor technology for the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) was put into a low-Earth polar orbit Tuesday one hour after liftoff by a United Launch Alliance Delta II from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The $400 million Space Tracking and Surveillance System Advanced Technology Risk Reduction (SSTS-ATRR) mission, originally called the Block 2010 space Risk Reduction, was launched at 1:24 p.m. PDT and achieved orbit at 2:22 p.m. from a two-stage Delta II 7920-10L.    More
(Source: Aviation Week - May 6)

OMID SATELLITE ENTERED THE ATMOSPHERE - The satellite Omid, or “hope” in Farsi, has probably entered the atmosphere around South America, Reza Taqipour, the head of the Iranian Aerospace Organization, said on Friday. The satellite has accomplished its mission and it has entered the earth’s atmosphere as it lost its altitude, Taqipour told Mehr News Agency.    More
(Source: Tehran TImes - May 3)

ROCKET TO LAUNCH 'SPY IN THE SKY' SATELLITE IN VA. - A satellite scheduled for launch from Virginia's Eastern Shore is designed to detect hidden enemy weapons and deliver their locations to U.S. combat troops, scientists testing the technology say. The information would be especially suited to battle conditions in the rugged, mountainous terrain of Afghanistan, where the Obama administration is sending more troops.    More
(Source: Daily Press - May 2)

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