CHINESE LONG MARCH 3B LOFTS NEXT BEIDOU-3 SATELLITE - The fifth Chinese launch in September took place at 23:13 UTC on Tuesday (Wednesday morning local time) with a Long March-3B/G2 rocket orbiting another Beidou-3 navigation satellite. The launch of BDS I2-S (or Beidou-20) took place from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center via the modified pad 3. Tuesday’s launch is another steady step in the completion of the Phase III of the Beidou program several years ahead of schedule – by as soon as 2017, rather than 2020. However, the launch initially received a blackout in the Chinese media, with lift-off only confirmed by local observers. It took over an hour – once the spacecraft was successfully deployed – for the Chinese media to acknowledge the launch.   More
(Source: NASASpaceflight.com - Sep 30)

HTV SUPPLY SHIP SETS COURSE FOR RE-ENTRY - Heading for a destructive re-entry over the South Pacific with several tons of trash, Japan’s fifth HTV cargo craft departed the International Space Station on Monday after overcoming a last-minute snag in the lab’s robotics system. The space station’s 58-foot-long robotic arm disengaged the HTV supply ship from a docking port on the outpost’s Harmony module early Monday, then maneuvered the spacecraft to a departure point about 30 feet beneath the complex. Astronauts Kimiya Yui and Kjell Lindgren were gearing up to release the H-2 Transfer Vehicle at 1520 GMT (11:20 a.m. EDT), but mission control instructed the crew to stand down after receiving an error message on the station’s robotic arm.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 30)

NASA TV TO AIR SPACE STATION CARGO SHIP LAUNCH, DOCKING - NASA Television will provide live coverage of the next launch and docking of an unpiloted Russian cargo spacecraft, Progress 61, to resupply the International Space Station Thursday, Oct. 1. NASA TV coverage will begin at 12:30 p.m. EDT. ISS Progress 61 is scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 12:49 p.m. EDT (10:49 p.m. Baikonur time) on a fast-track, four-orbit journey to the orbital outpost.    More
(Source: PR Newswire - Sep 30)

AS NORTH KOREA'S SATELLITE DECAYS IN SPACE, FEARS RISE OVER NEXT LAUNCH - The satellite that North Korea launched into space three years ago circles the earth every 95 minutes at an altitude of about 540km, its orbit decaying. No signal has ever been detected from the crude-looking 100kg hunk of black metal that the North said was mounted with cameras to take images and transmit them back to Pyongyang. The North is planning another satellite launch next month, reigniting fears that it is really testing a system to deliver nuclear weapons. The secretive state is already under international sanctions for its nuclear and missile tests. South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said this month the North's plan to launch a new satellite, which could be timed around the 70th anniversary of its ruling party on October 10, would be a disguised missile test.   More
(Source: South China Morning Post - Sep 29)

FIFTH JAPANESE KOUNOTORI CARGO SHIP DEPARTS FROM ISS - SPACEFLIGHT INSIDER - After five weeks attached to the International Space Station, Japan’s Kounotori (White Stork) 5 cargo ship was unberthed by the station crew on Sept. 28, 2015, and sent on a path that will lead to its destructive atmospheric re-entry over the Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, Sept. 29. Expedition 45 Flight Engineer Kimiya Yui, of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and NASA Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren commanded the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm to release the spacecraft at 11:53 a.m. CDT (16:53 p.m. GMT). Ten minutes later, the cargo ship executed a thruster firing that pushed it away from the space station and into an orbit that would be ideal for its re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.   More
(Source: Space Flight Insider - Sep 29)

PSLV ROCKET LOFTS INDIA’S EYE IN THE SKY - India’s first dedicated astronomy satellite, AstroSat, was launched into a low Earth orbit on Monday atop the country’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. Along with six foreign satellites, AstroSat lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, at 10:00 local time (04:30 UTC). PSLV Launch: India’s AstroSat spacecraft is the country’s first spacecraft dedicated to astronomical research – although India has previously conducted astronomical studies through payloads hosted on its other satellites and multi-purpose spacecraft such as its first satellite, Aryabhata, which carried an astronomical payload in addition to technology demonstration and ionospheric research objectives when it launched forty years ago.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Sep 28)

CHINESE SATELLITE WITH 3D PRINTED PARTS LAUNCHED INTO SPACE - China has successfully launched a satellite featuring 3D printing technology into space, reports Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news outlet. On Sept. 25, the new solid-fuel Long March-11 rocket completed its maiden mission by carrying four micro-satellites into orbit. The rocket took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu at 9:41 am local time.   More
(Source: WantChinaTimes - Sep 28)

COUNTDOWN BEGINS FOR ASTROSTAT, INDIA'S FIRST SATELLITE FOR ASTRONOMICAL STUDY - The Indian Space Research Organisation is all set to launch the Indian rocket carrying seven satellites including India's ASTROSAT on 28 September, 2015. The 50-hour countdown for the launch of nation's first satellite ASTROSAT began today at 8 am. The polar satellite launch vehicle PSLV-C30 will put the satellite into a low-earth, equatorial orbit. PSLV-C30 will launch ASTROSAT weighing 1,513 kg, apart from four from the US and one each from Indonesia and Canada on Monday. ASTROSAT will be launched at 10 am on Monday from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota.   More
(Source: Zee News - Sep 27)

SATELLITE, MISSILE TEST OR SPACE JUNK? NORTH KOREA READIES LAUNCH - The satellite that North Korea launched into space three years ago circles the earth every 95 minutes at an altitude of about 540 km (335 miles), its orbit decaying. No signal has ever been detected from the crude-looking 100-kg (220-pound) hunk of black metal that the North said was mounted with cameras to take images and transmit them back to Pyongyang. The North is planning another satellite launch next month, re-igniting fears that it is really testing a system to deliver nuclear weapons. The secretive state is already under international sanctions for its nuclear and missile tests.   More
(Source: Reuters - Sep 27)

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