SOYUZ IS SET FOR BLASTOFF TO SPACE STATION CARRYING AMERICAN ASTRONAUT WHO WILL BEAT SCOTT KELLY’S R - A Soyuz spacecraft that will carry a trio of astronauts the International Space Station this Friday was rolled out to the launch pad today. Stunning images show the Soyuz TMA-20M unloaded in the early hours of this morning at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The spacecraft is expected to launch astronaut Jeff Williams, another Nasa endurance champion, who is planning to break Scott Kelly’s record for the longest amount of time spent in space. Williams will be joined on the flight by Expedition 47 Soyuz Commander Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos and Oleg Skripochka.    More
(Source: Daily Mail - Mar 17)

COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE ARRIVES AT CAPE CANAVERAL FOR LAUNCH IN APRIL ATOP A FALCON 9 ROCKET - Space Systems Loral (SSL) announced Monday that the JCSAT-14 satellite, which it designed and built for SKY Perfect JSAT, arrived at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Brevard County, where it will launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle. The satellite, which is being prepared for launch next month, will be used for broadcast, data networks and mobility services in Asia, Russia, Oceania, and the Pacific Islands. The launch is set for mid April from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida with a launch window TBD.   More
(Source: SpaceCoastDaily.com - Mar 16)

SCIENTISTS TO START FIRE IN DISCARDED SPACECRAFT TO STUDY FLAMES IN WEIGHTLESS - Working via remote control this spring, scientists will spark a fire aboard the unmanned Cygnus cargo ship that launches next Tuesday to study how the deliberate flames spread in weightlessness. Aptly named the Spacecraft Fire Experiment, or SAFFIRE, the blaze will be contained within an instrumented research box — measuring 35 by 52 inches (3 by 4.4 feet) — that is strapped into the commercial freighter for the first-of-its-kind test. The Cygnus, made by Orbital ATK, will be launched from Cape Canaveral on Tuesday night at 11:05 p.m. EDT (0305 GMT) atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket for a two-month spaceflight.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 16)

SOLAR PANEL OF RUSSIAN SATELLITE UNFOLDS PARTIALLY IN ORBIT — SPACE CORPORATION - A solar panel on the Russian satellite Resurs-P has unfolded only partially after the spacecraft reached its orbit but its systems are receiving sufficient power supply, State Space Corporation Roscosmos said on Monday. "The third Resurs-P satellite was successfully delivered into orbit on March 13. After its delivery into orbit, an incomplete unfolding of one of the spacecraft’s solar panels was registered. The spacecraft’s systems are receiving power supply in a sufficient volume for normal operation," Roscosmos said. Specialists of Russia’s Progress Rocket and Space Center who made the Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket and the satellite are now modelling a situation and preparing measures to remedy the situation, Roscosmos said.    More
(Source: TASS - Mar 15)

VIDEO: EXOMARS MISSION BLASTS OFF ON PROTON ROCKET - A massive spacecraft bound for Mars lifted off on a Russian Proton rocket Monday, riding more than 2 million pounds of thrust from the launcher’s six main engines through low clouds hanging over the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and Schiaparelli lander, bolted together inside the nose cone of the 191-foot-tall Proton rocket, are heading off on a seven-month journey to the red planet. Led by the European Space Agency, the ExoMars mission is a two-part program with launches in 2016 and 2018 carrying an orbiter and landing demonstrator and a mobile rover, respectively.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 15)

ONE TRACK, TWO STATIONS: A PROPOSAL FOR COOPERATION ON THE ISS AND THE CHINESE SPACE STATION - During the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) last October in Jerusalem, there has been a little-noticed comment attributed to ESA Director General Johann-Dietrich Wörner as saying he wants China to give up its own space station in favor of joining the ISS. “I told China, we don’t need two space stations. How about ISS with China participation? Not sure how they’ll react.” Prof. Wörner’s idea is indeed in the interests of humankind and is based in good intention. Undoubtedly a single station built by all spacefaring countries perfectly represents peace, harmony, and unification of the world and reflects on a long-held dream of humanity.    More
(Source: The Space Review - Mar 15)

RUSSIAN EARTH OBSERVING SATELLITE DELIVERED TO ORBIT - A day after a rare last-minute abort by its Soyuz launcher, a sharp-eyed civilian-operated Russian Earth observation satellite blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Sunday on a five-year mission, giving Russia a fleet of three advanced digital imaging spacecraft in orbit. The Resurs P3 satellite launched at 1856 GMT (2:56 p.m. EDT) from the historic launch base in Kazakhstan. The satellite’s Soyuz booster steered north from Baikonur, and dropped its four first stage engines about two minutes after liftoff. A core engine — called the second stage — and a third stage propulsion system delivered the Resurs P3 satellite to a preliminary orbit about 9 minutes, 21 seconds into the flight, according to a statement by Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 14)

SEVENTH INRSS SATELLITE TO BE LAUNCHED BY APRIL-END - The seven satellite constellation is unique in that they continuously beam down data that can even be read by smart phones, says ISRO Chairman The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to launch the last one in the series of the seven navigation satellites by last week of April. ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar, who oversaw the successful launch of the sixth of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System a couple of days ago, said the seven satellite constellation is unique in that they continuously beam down data that could be read even by smart phones.   More
(Source: The Hindu - Mar 13)

RUSSIA SCRUBS LAUNCH OF RESURS-P3 EARTH-OBSERVING SATELLITE - The Roscosmos State Corporation has scrubbed the launch of the Resurs-P No.3 Earth observation satellite, scheduled for Saturday, March 12, at 1:56 p.m. EST (18:56 GMT). The spacecraft was scheduled to lift off atop a Soyuz-2.1b rocket from the Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, but the booster suffered a rare on-pad abort just about ten seconds prior to launch. The launch window was only ten seconds long, so any hold or abort results in an immediate scrub for the day. The cause of the abort is currently being investigated. “The automatic engine cutoff occurred during the lift-off of the Soyuz 2-1B carrier rocket with the Resurs-P No.3 remote-sensing satellite. The launch has been cancelled, the causes are being investigated,” a source at Roscosmos told RIA Novosti.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Insider - Mar 13)

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