NEW US-RUSSIAN CREW ARRIVES AT INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko docked with the International Space Station at 5:52 a.m. EDT (0952 GMT) this morning (Oct. 21) after a smooth two-day trip aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The trio launched into orbit early Wednesday, nearly a month later than their initial Sept. 23 liftoff target due to a technical issue with their spacecraft. The Soyuz linked up with the space station as as both spacecraft sailed 251 miles (403 kilomters) over southern Russia. Ryzhikov, who piloted the spacecraft, is experiencing spaceflight for the first time; both Kimbrough and Borisenko have been to space once before.   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 22)

NORTH KOREA PROMISES MORE SATELLITE LAUNCHES AFTER FAILED MISSILE TEST - North Korea vowed to launch more earth-observation satellites after its second ballistic missile test launch of the week ended in failure. A spokesman for Pyongyang's National Aerospace Development Administration said Thursday that South Korea had unjustly criticized its past satellite launches and that the country is unfazed by the condemnations. "Even on the international stage, [South Korean President] Park Geun-hye's faction has been shamefully disparaging our peaceful use of space and satellite launches, and in turn becoming a target of criticism and disgrace for indecent behavior," the North Korean spokesman said. The remark was referring to South Korea's statement at the 71st United Nations General Assembly, according to South Korean news service Newsis.   More
(Source: UPI - Oct 21)

DARPA JUST GAVE THE AIR FORCE A TELESCOPE TO WATCH FOR SATELLITE SABOTAGE - When we look up at the stars at night, we are staring into an infinitely deep ocean, a void filled with endless layers of deeper, farther lights. Most telescopes seek the outer limits of our universe, or document celestial phenomena on the edges of human comprehension. DARPA's Space Surveillance Telescope, which the agency handed over to Air Force Space Command yesterday, is all about mapping the objects close to Earth. Its job is to plot the closest layer of space by discerning which bright objects are moving in geosynchronous orbit, and filtering out everything else. The Space Surveillance Telescope, or SST as everyone referred to it yesterday, is one of DARPA's longest-running projects.   More
(Source: Popular Science - Oct 20)

SOYUZ CREW BLASTS OFF FROM KAZAKHSTAN - A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying two cosmonauts and a NASA shuttle veteran blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Wednesday and set off after the International Space Station. Running nearly a month late because or difficult work to repair a damaged cable in the Soyuz MS-02/48S command module, the workhorse Soyuz FG booster roared to life and shot away from its firing stand at 4:05 a.m. EDT (GMT-4; 2:05 p.m. local time), climbing straight into the plane of the space station’s orbit. At the controls, strapped into the central command module’s middle seat, was vehicle commander Sergey Rizhikov, flanked on his left by flight engineer Andrey Borisenko and on the right by NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 20)

DELTA 4 ROCKET ON THE PAD FOR MILITARY SATELLITE LAUNCH IN DECEMBER - The Delta 4 rocket that will launch the U.S. military’s highest capacity communications satellite ever built was rolled to the pad this week. The two-stage booster moved from the Horizontal Integration Facility to the Complex 37B pad and erected on the launch table to begin preparations for flight. Liftoff is scheduled on or about Dec. 7 during a window of 6:53 to 7:42 p.m. EST (2353-0042 GMT), a duration of 49 minutes. Over the next two months, using the classic launch pad design with a mobile service gantry, the rocket will undergo installation of four strap-on solid-fuel boosters, a rigorous checkout and testing campaign and mating of the satellite cargo.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 19)

GOES-R, OUR NEXT-GEN WEATHER SATELLITE, IS DELAYED BY A HURRICANE. OF COURSE. - The weather satellite we’ve been anticipating for years has been delayed by a hurricane. This is why we can’t have nice things. GOES-R is NOAA’s next satellite. It really needs to get into space. The satellites that currently look down at our hurricanes and severe weather are at the end of their life spans. Plus, GOES-R has a lot of fancy new features that meteorologists are pretty excited about. The launch of GOES-R, which had been scheduled for Nov. 4, has been delayed. No new date was announced in NOAA’s statement, except to say it won’t happen before Nov. 16. United Launch Alliance says that the new date is Nov. 16, pending Air Force approval.   More
(Source: Washington Post - Oct 19)

SHENZHOU 11 GLIDES TO ORBITAL LINK-UP WITH CHINESE SPACE LAB - Two days after blasting off on a Long March rocket, a Shenzhou spaceship carrying two Chinese astronauts linked up with China’s Tiangong 2 space lab nearly 250 miles above Earth Tuesday to begin a one-month stay inside the mini-station. Astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong were strapped into their seats for the automated docking Tuesday, and the crew open hatches leading into the Tiangong 2 module within a few hours of arriving. Following cues from a suite of rendezvous sensors mounted on the forward end of the craft, Shenzhou 11’s guidance computer steered the capsule toward the docking port on Tiangong 2 and made contact around 1924 GMT (3:24 p.m. EDT) during a nighttime orbital pass.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 19)

EUROPE’S METOP A SATELLITE OUTLIVES LIFE EXPECTANCY BY FIVE YEARS - Europe´s first polar orbiting weather satellite, MetOp A, has survived double its specified lifetime of five years, manufacturer Airbus Defence and Space announced today. Launched Oct. 19, 2006, the satellite will soon accomplish 10 years in space for the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Organization for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT). MetOp A has orbited Earth almost 52,000 times and delivered more than 100 terabytes of weather and climate data. Orbiting at approximately 830 kilometers the spacecraft was Europe’s first Low Earth Orbit (LEO) meteorological satellite.   More
(Source: Satellite Today - Oct 18)

CHINA LAUNCHES ITS LONGEST CREWED SPACE MISSION YET - wo Chinese astronauts began the country's longest crewed space mission yet on Monday, blasting off on a spacecraft for a 30-day stay on an experimental space station as China steadfastly navigates its way to becoming a space superpower. Ahead of the launch, one astronaut shouted: "We are ready! Please give instructions!" in front of dozens of people dressed in colorful dress representing China's ethnic minorities, in footage shown prominently on Chinese TV. The commander-in-chief of the manned space program, Gen. Zhang Youxia, replied: "Proceed!" followed by blaring marching music as the astronauts boarded a bus to take them to the launch pad.   More
(Source: Fox News - Oct 18)

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