RAINING DEBRIS SPOTTED IN TEXAS, POSSIBLY RELATED TO SATELLITES COLLISION - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) received calls from law enforcement across Texas Sunday morning reporting spotting of a "fireball" in the sky that could be related to the recent collision of U.S. and Russian satellites, local media reported Sunday. Roland Herwig, a spokesman for the FAA's southwestern region, said local law enforcement reported the fireball and an "explosion," which is suspected to be a sonic boom, a sound wave generated when an object moves faster than the speed of sound, according to the newspaper Houston Chronicle. More (Source: Xinhua - Feb 16)
NASA AGAIN POSTPONES DISCOVERY LAUNCH - The US space agency NASA has again postponed the launch of the space shuttle Discovery, saying it will not occur before February 27. The launch, initially scheduled for February 12, had already been delayed until February 19. NASA said Friday it will hold a news conference on February 20, following a review of space shuttle Discovery's readiness for flight and an assessment of shuttle flow control valve testing. The shuttle Endeavour had its flow control valve damaged during its mission in November. More (Source: AFP - Feb 14)
SPACE DEBRIS PUTS ALBERTA OFFICIALS ON HIGH ALERT - Rural Alberta dodged impact with Russian space debris, according to the province's emergency officials. The North American Aerospace Defence Command was tracking the debris, estimated to be about the size of a school bus, after 10 a.m. local time on Friday. At first the debris was set to fall in Calgary, but officials later determined it would strike near Kneehill or Wheatland County, about 100 kilometers east of Calgary. More (Source: CBC News - Feb 14)
EUROPEAN ARIANE ROCKET SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES 4 SATELLITES - A European Ariane 5 ECA rocket successfully launched two telecommunications satellites and a pair of military payloads Thursday evening. The rocket, carrying the Hot Bird 10 and NSS-9 telecommunication satellites, and the Spirale A and Spirale B spacecraft, lifted off from Europe's Spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana at 22:09 GMT Thursday, sending them into orbit. This is the 187th launch of an Ariane launcher, and the first launch in 2009, following six flights performed by Arianespace in 2008. More (Source: Xinhua - Feb 13)
TWO SATELLITES COLLIDE IN ORBIT - In an unprecedented space collision, a commercial Iridium communications satellite and a presumably defunct Russian Cosmos satellite ran into each other Tuesday above northern Siberia, creating a cloud of wreckage, officials said today. The international space station does not appear to be threatened by the debris, they said, but it's not yet clear whether it poses a risk to any other military or civilian satellites. More (Source: Space Flight Now - Feb 11)
PROGRESS M-66 SPACECRAFT LAUNCHED FROM BAIKONUR COSMODROME - At 08 hours 49 minutes 46 seconds Moscow Time transport cargo vehicle Progress M-66 was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome as per Mission Program and the commitments undertaken by the Russian side under the International Space Station (ISS) Project. The launch objective is to deliver onboard the ISS various cargoes, required to keep the station operating in a manned mode and support crew life-sustaining environment and operating conditions. Reserves of oxygen, air, food products, fuel, consumables, apparatus, equipment, on-board documentation and e.t.c. were launched into orbit from the Earth. More (Source: SpaceRef - Feb 10)
ORBITAL PREPARING FOR LAUNCH OF NSS-9 COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE FOR SES NEW SKIES - Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world’s leading space technology companies, announced that it is in final preparations for the launch of the NSS-9 commercial communications satellite for its customer SES NEW SKIES of The Hague, The Netherlands. The spacecraft is currently at the spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, undergoing final preparations for its launch into geosynchronous orbit (GEO) aboard an Ariane 5 ECA rocket. The launch is currently scheduled for February 12, 2009. More (Source: Orbital - Feb 9)
NEW DATE SET FOR EUROPEAN SCIENCE SATELLITE - The European Space Agency (ESA) on Friday set March 16 as the new date for the much-delayed launch of a satellite to monitor Earth's gravitational field. The Gravity field and state-steady Ocean Circulation Explorer, or GOCE, has suffered several delays from its original launch date of September 10 from the Plesetsk cosmodrome, 800 kilometres (500 miles) north of Moscow. More (Source: Space Daily - Feb 7)
UNITED LAUNCH ALLIANCE PLACES WEATHER SATELLITE INTO ORBIT - The United Launch Alliance fired a weather satellite built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. into orbit Friday morning. The launch of a ULA Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. was the second mission of 2009 for the Centennial-based company, the government’s main contractor for satellite launches. Lockheed Martin Space Systems is headquartered in Littleton. The satellite launched Friday is the last of 16 satellites in a fleet of weather-tracking orbiters procured by NASA for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The U.S. launched the first satellite in the fleet in 1978. More (Source: Bizjournals.com - Feb 7)
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