WEATHER SATELLITE LAUNCH DELAYED TO REPAIR ROCKET LEAK - A countdown simulation for the upcoming Delta 4 rocket launch carrying a next-generation weather satellite has uncovered a liquid oxygen leak on the booster's first stage, a problem that will delay liftoff at least a couple of weeks. Officials announced Friday that the launch would slip from April 28 to mid-May as a result. Standing atop pad 37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Delta 4 underwent a full launch day rehearsal Wednesday. The mobile service tower was rolled back and the two-stage rocket was filled with supercold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen while the launch team practiced the countdown procedures.    More
(Source: SpaceFlightNow.com - Apr 11)

S. KOREA PLANS SATELLITE LAUNCH - As North Korea keeps the world's militaries worried with what it claims was a satellite-launch attempt, South Korea is quietly preparing its first satellite mission for a July launch date. Lee Joo-jin, president of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, told a Washington audience late last week that the first Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV-1) is scheduled to launch a 100-kilogram (220-pound) scientific satellite into low Earth orbit in July.    More
(Source: Aviation Week - Apr 9)

NORAD AND USNORTHCOM MONITOR NORTH KOREAN LAUNCH - North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command officials acknowledged today that North Korea launched a Taepo Dong 2 missile at 10:30 p.m. EDT Saturday which passed over the Sea of Japan/East Sea and the nation of Japan. Stage one of the missile fell into the Sea of Japan/East Sea. The remaining stages along with the payload itself landed in the Pacific Ocean. No object entered orbit and no debris fell on Japan.    More
(Source: U.S. Northern Command - Apr 5)

S. KOREA: N. KOREA LAUNCHES ROCKET - North Korea has launched a long-range rocket, U.S. and South Korean officials confirmed to CNN on Sunday. The payload of the rocket remains unclear. North Korea has said the rocket was to carry a satellite into space, but the United States, South Korea and other nations fear it could be a missile with a warhead attached. A senior Obama administration official in Washington confirmed that the rocket did clear Japan.    More
(Source: CNN - Apr 5)

NORTH KOREA: 'SATELLITE WILL BE LAUNCHED SOON' - North Korea has completed preparations for launching what it says is "an experimental communications satellite," the reclusive nation's state news agency reported early Saturday. "The satellite will be launched soon," KCNA reported. How "soon" was anyone's guess. On Friday, President Obama reiterated that the United States strongly opposes any such launch.   More
(Source: CNN - Apr 4)

EUROPEAN TELECOMS SATELLITE PUT IN ORBIT - A European telecommunications satellite was successfully placed in orbit Saturday after being lifted into space aboard a Russian Proton-M rocket, the Ria-Novosti cited a Russian space agency official as saying. "The satellite detached from the launcher as planned" and is now under the control of Eutelsat, the Roskosmos official was quoted as saying. The Proton-M blasted off from Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Friday with the Eutelsat W2A satellite is designed to transmit multimedia services, including television, to mobile phones and receivers fitted in vehicles.   More
(Source: AFP - Apr 4)

ATLAS 5 ROCKET SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES MILITARY SATELLITE - It was a perfect Friday night flight for the Atlas 5 rocket, completing a military mission that put an advanced communications spacecraft into the sky to serve U.S. forces deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. "We only have one chance to get it right! In this profession you have to be meticulous to detail and patient to ensure mission success," said Capt. Jeffrey Fisher, the mission lead.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Apr 4)

INDIA PLANS TO TEST SPACE SHUTTLE IN NEXT 12 MONTHS - India has developed a space shuttle and plans to launch a prototype into the Earth's orbit in the next 12 months, officials said on Thursday. The disclosure marks yet another giant leap for India's space programme following last year's successful lunar mission, Chandrayaan 1, and a significant step towards India becoming a major player in space transportation. It hopes the shuttle will enable India to offer cut-price satellite launches and become a dominant player in the industry. Last night officials said if successful the shuttle may, in time, be used for other transport uses, but its main purpose now is to "reduce the cost of access to space."    More
(Source: Telegraph.co.uk - Apr 3)

NEW WEATHER SATELLITE TO HELP TRACK HURRICANES - A new satellite set to launch later this month from Cape Canaveral will help weather forecasters better predict hurricanes and will assist in pinpointing distress signals to trigger search-and-rescue operations. The $499 million GOES-O (geostationary operational environmental satellite) will orbit about 22,000 miles above the Earth, sending back high-resolution images for the next 10 years. ''This is really exciting. Hopefully, we'll see marked improvements in our ability to forecast,'' said Joe Schaefer, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center. ``It's going to guarantee the availability of state-of-the-art satellite data for the next decade.''    More
(Source: MiamiHerald.com - Apr 3)

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