NORTH KOREAN ROCKET PUTS OBJECT INTO SPACE, ANGERS NEIGHBORS, U.S. - North Korea launched a long-range rocket carrying what it called a satellite, drawing renewed international condemnation just weeks after it carried out a nuclear bomb test. Critics of the rocket program say it is being used to test technology for a long-range missile. South Korea and the United States said they would explore whether to deploy an advanced missile defense system in South Korea "at the earliest possible date." The U.S. Strategic Command said it had detected a missile entering space, and South Korea's military said the rocket had put an object into orbit. More (Source: Yahoo News - Feb 8)
NORTH KOREA LAUNCHES ‘SATELLITE,’ SPARKS FEARS ABOUT LONG-RANGE MISSILE PROGRAM - In defiance of international warnings, North Korea launched a long-range rocket Sunday morning, a move widely seen as another step toward mastering the technology for making a missile capable of striking the mainland United States. Both the South Korean defense minister and the Pentagon said that the rocket appeared to have successfully reached space. The rocket launch was expected - Pyongyang had given warnings to maritime and airspace authorities, and analysts had detected movement at its launch site - but coming just a month after a nuclear test, it nevertheless showed Kim Jong Un’s continued willingness to defy the international community. More (Source: Washington Post - Feb 7)
ATLAS 5 ROCKET BOOSTS GPS SATELLITE INTO SPACE - A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket thundered into space Friday, boosting the 12th and final member in a series of upgraded Global Positioning System satellites into space, the eighth navigation beacon launched in less than two years. After overnight concerns about high winds, the Atlas 5, making the first of up to 15 flights planned by ULA in 2016, thundered to life at 8:38 a.m. EST (GMT-5) and majestically climbed away from pad 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. With its Russian-built RD-180 first-stage engine generating more than 860,000 pounds of thrust, the 700,000-pound rocket quickly accelerated as it consumed its kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants, breaking through the sound barrier just 78 seconds after liftoff and arcing away to the east. More (Source: CBS News - Feb 6)
STAR WARS COULD BE FILMED ON REAL SPACE STATION - Star Wars director Colin Trevorrow has submitted a request to film sequences for the movie onboard the International Space Station. The Jurassic World director has signed up to take charge of the ninth film in the franchise, Episode IX, which is due for release in 2019, and he is plotting an ambitious scheme to shoot real space sequences for the blockbuster. Trevorrow reveals he's submitted the request to officials in charge of the International Space Station, but he is yet to receive a response. More (Source: New Zealand Herald - Feb 5)
LAUNCH SET FOR US-EUROPEAN OCEAN-MONITORING SATELLITE - The latest in a series of U.S.-European satellites designed to detect and measure ocean phenomena like El Nino is scheduled for launch this weekend aboard a SpaceX rocket that will attempt to land its discarded first stage on a floating barge. If the launch is successful, the Jason-3 satellite would continue an unbroken record of more than two decades of sea level measurements from orbit. Liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base, northwest of Los Angeles, was planned for a 30-second window at 10:42 a.m. PST Sunday, with a backup opportunity on Monday. Air Force meteorologists predicted 100 percent favorable weather for the launch, NASA said. More (Source: Fox 13 - Feb 5)
SPACEWALKING RUSSIAN COSMONAUTS BEGIN WORK OUTSIDE SPACE STATION - Two veteran Russian cosmonauts floated outside the International Space Station on Wednesday to replace experimental equipment that is testing how materials and biological samples fare in the harsh environment of space. Station flight engineers Yuri Malenchenko and Sergey Volkov left the station's airlock at 7:55 a.m. EST for what was expected to be a 5-1/2-hour spacewalk, a live broadcast on NASA Television showed. More (Source: Yahoo News - Feb 4)
NORTH KOREA PLANS SATELLITE LAUNCH THIS MONTH - The declaration, which is meant to warn civilians, shipping and aircraft in the area about the rocket and falling debris, follows North Korea’s claim last month to have tested a hydrogen bomb, the country’s fourth nuclear test. It will be seen as a snub by North Korea of its only major ally, China, whose representative for Korean affairs landed in Pyongyang for talks on Tuesday. The International Telecommunication Union said North Korea also informed its Geneva office of its intention to launch a Kwangmyongsong (Bright Star) -type Earth observation satellite with a four-year operational life. But the ITU’s U.N. representative, Gary Fowlie, said not enough technical information had been supplied to register the planned launch in its Master International Frequency Register. More (Source: USA Today - Feb 3)
COSMONAUTS PERFORM SPACEWALK WEDNESDAY MORNING: WATCH IT LIVE - Two cosmonauts will venture outside the International Space Station for a 5.5-hour spacewalk Wednesday morning, and you can watch all the action live. Yuri Malenchenko and Sergey Volkov of the Russian federal space agency, which is called Roscosmos, will exit the orbiting lab at around 8:10 a.m. EST (1310 GMT) Wednesday (Feb. 3). You can watch the extravehicular activity (EVA) live here at Space.com beginning at 7:30 a.m. EST (1230 GMT), courtesy of NASA TV. More (Source: Space.com - Feb 3)
SUCCESSFUL LAUNCH EXPANDS CHINA’S BEIDOU NAVIGATION SYSTEM - A new addition to China’s Beidou navigation network launched Monday on top of a Long March 3C rocket, which injected the satellite into an orbit more than 13,000 miles above Earth several hours later. The Beidou spacecraft will test inter-satellite communications links with other members of the Chinese navigation constellation and support the system’s growth from regional coverage over China to a global positioning provider, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 2)
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