CHINA TO LAUNCH REMOTE-SENSING SATELLITE - The remote-sensing satellite "Yaogan VIII" will be sent into space in the coming days, xinhuanet.com reported. It will be launched aboard the "Long March IV C" from Taiyuan Satellite Launch center in Shanxi province. Also on board will be the "Hope I" satellite which will help the country’s teenagers experience the science and technology of space. More (Source: China Daily - Dec 14)
NASA DELAYS SKY MAPPER LAUNCH TO SATURDAY - NASA has delayed the launch of its new infrared sky mapper by at least a day, with liftoff now scheduled for no earlier than Saturday. The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) is now slated to launch on Dec. 12 between 9:09:33 and 9:23:51 a.m. EST (1409 and 1423 GMT) from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. The flight was already threatened by cloudy weather predictions for Friday, and now NASA has decided to push back the launch to allow engineers to troubleshoot a glitch in a booster steering engine on the Delta II rocket slated to carry the observatory to orbit. More (Source: Space.com - Dec 11)
ENDEAVOUR TARGETING FRIDAY MOVE TO VAB - An approaching storm front has Kennedy Space Center managers looking to move Endeavour to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Friday instead of Saturday. The planned 1 p.m. move would also preserve weekend family time for spaceport workers before the holidays, a concern for managers ahead of a busy and historic 2010. More (Source: Florida Today - Dec 10)
FRENCH MILITARY SATELLITE LAUNCH RESCHEDULED - The French Guiana-based Arianespace center has finally decided to reschedule the launch time of a military satellite to early next week, Jean-Yves Le Gall, chairman and chief executive officer of the space agency announced late Wednesday. The lift-off of the Arianne 5 carrier rocket with French military observation satellite Helios 2B atop was originally scheduled at around 17:26 Paris time (1626 GMT). However, several hours before the launch window, Arianespace, announced that a "pressure problem about the helium container" was found. More (Source: Xinhua - Dec 10)
ARIANE ROCKET TO LAUNCH FRENCH SPY SATELLITE - France plans to launch a military spy satellite on Wednesday, the defence ministry said, as Paris boosts spending on its independent surveillance from space despite closer military co-operation with the United States. This will be the first such launch under President Nicolas Sarkozy who brought France back into NATO's military command earlier this year, following a 40-year partial rift with the military alliance. The satellite, Helios 2B is slated to blast off on a European Ariane rocket at 1:26 p.m. (1626 GMT) on Wednesday from the European Space Agency launch site in French Guiana. More (Source: Reuters India - Dec 8)
SPACE STATION CREW CREW LANDS IN FRIGID KAZAKHSTAN - Outgoing space station commander Frank De Winne, cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk strapped into a Russian Soyuz capsule, undocked from the lab complex and fell back to Earth Tuesday, braving icy weather in Kazakhstan to close out a 188-day stay in space. Descending under a large orange-and-white parachute, Soyuz TMA-15 spacecraft made a rocket-assisted touchdown about 50 miles northeast of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan, at 2:15:34 a.m. EST, about three hours and 20 minutes after undocking from the International Space Station. More (Source: Space Flight Now - Dec 6)
ROCKET LAUNCHES AIR FORCE SATELLITE FROM FLA. - A rocket carrying an Air Force satellite that will be used by the military has launched from Cape Canaveral. The rocket blasted off Saturday evening after thick clouds, heavy rains and a system problem postponed two earlier attempts. The rocket is carrying the Air Force's Wideband Global SATCOM3 satellite. This is the last launch of a group of three satellites used by the military for strategic purposes. More (Source: The Associated Press - Dec 6)
DIRECTV'S HD SATELLITE SHIPPED TO LAUNCH SITE - Boeing announced yesterday that DIRECTV 12, a new satellite that promises to raise the satcaster's HD channel capacity to 200 channels, was shipped November 25 to the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch facility in Kazakhstan. The satellite is expected to be launched by International Launch Services on December 29; if all goes well, it could be operational in 3-6 months after that. More (Source: TVPredictions.com - Dec 5)
SATELLITE DEBRIS MISSES SPACE STATION - A tiny piece of a defunct Russian satellite zipped by the International Space Station Tuesday, but was far enough away that outpost's two-man crew did not have to strap into their lifeboat to wait out the close shave, NASA officials said. The debris — a small piece of a Cosmos satellite less than four inches (10 cm) wide — zoomed by the station at 1:19 p.m. EST (1819 GMT) and came less than a mile (1 km) of the outpost at its closest point. More (Source: MSNBC - Dec 2)
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