NASA GIVES GO-AHEAD FOR DISCOVERY SHUTTLE LAUNCH ON MAY 31 - NASA on Monday gave the green light to launch the space shuttle Discovery on May 31 for a mission to the International Space Station, officials said. The Discovery's 14-day mission will include three spacewalks and is to be the second of three missions on which astronauts will install components of the Japanese Kibo laboratory. The launch is scheduled for 5:02 pm (2102 GMT) at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. More (Source: AFP - May 20)
INDIA LAUNCHES DIGITAL TRANSMISSION SATELLITE - India sent into orbit a rocket carrying the replacement for a communications satellite destroyed last year, raising its hopes of competing for global satellite launch business. The 49-metre (1,481-feet) rocket carrying the Insat-4CR satellite blasted off from the Sriharikota space station in southern India at 6:21 pm (1251 GMT) on Sunday after a two-hour delay due to a technical glitch. More (Source: Half Life Source - May 20)
CARGO SHIP BEGINS FLIGHT TO THE SPACE STATION - A Russian freighter packed with fresh supplies for the international space station successfully rocketed away from Earth today and immediately began plotting a two-day trek to the orbiting outpost. The Progress M-64 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:22 p.m. EDT (2022 GMT) atop a three-stage Soyuz booster. More (Source: SpaceFlightNow.com - May 15)
CANADIAN SATELLITE TO DETECT EARTH HITS - Canadian researchers are working on a tiny satellite that will alert the world to the potential of asteroid strikes. "This is the first space-based asteroid-searching telescope," said Alan Hildebrand of the University of Calgary (Alberta), one of two principal scientists for the satellite. He told the Canwest News Service the Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite, set to be launched within two years is "the first space-based asteroid-searching telescope." More (Source: United Press International - May 3)
SECOND GALILEO TEST SATELLITE LAUNCHED SUCCESSFULLY - Giove-B, the second test satellite for the European satellite navigation system Galileo, was launched at 4am on Monday aboard a Russian rocket departing from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The the European Space Agency (ESA) confirmed that the two solar panels powering the satellite had deployed without incident and were fully operational by 04:28 BST. More (Source: Heise Online - Apr 29)
SES ASTRA 5A SATELLITE MOVES TO NEW POSITION, TARGETING EAST EUROPE, MIDEAST - SES SA said the Astra 5A satellite, formerly named Sirius 2, has been moved to a new position at 31.5 degrees east from where it can operate services at up to 40 new broadcasting frequencies and support the development of the Eastern European and Middle East markets. More (Source: Forbes.com - Apr 29)
INDIAN PSLV BOOSTER HAULS A LOAD OF SATELLITES INTO ORBIT - An Indian rocket took a 14-minute trip into orbit early Monday, releasing nine satellites from six countries on missions to observe Earth, demonstrate low-cost space technologies and educate students around the world. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle blasted off at 0353:51 GMT Monday (11:53:51 p.m. EDT Sunday) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota Island on India's east coast. The 146-foot-tall rocket turned south from the launch base, traversing the Indian Ocean before arriving in orbit about 14 minutes after liftoff. More (Source: Space Flight Now - Apr 28)
SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY MOVES CLOSER TO LAUNCH - The space shuttle Discovery moved a step closer to launch early Saturday as NASA engineers hauled the spacecraft into a massive hangar to join its fuel tank and twin rocket boosters. Discovery made the short morning move from its processing building to the cavernous, 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., to prepare for its planned May 31 launch. More (Source: Space.com - Apr 27)
IAI POSTPONES AMOS 3 SATELLITE LAUNCH - The takeoff of Israel's Amos 3 communications satellite, which had been slated for around 8 a.m. on Thursday in Kazakhstan, was postponed until next week due to a failure in its launching system, Israel Aerospace Industries announced. More (Source: Jerusalem Post - Apr 24)
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