RUSSIAN SOYUZ ROCKET LIFTS OFF FOR SPACE STATION AFTER TWO-MONTH DELAY - A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a three-man crew bound for the International Space Station blasted off on Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, a Nasa TV broadcast showed. The 16-story rocket lifted off at 5.02pm ET (2102 GMT) to deliver veteran Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and rookie astronauts Kjell Lindgren with Nasa and Japan’s Kimiya Yui into orbit. They are due to reach the station, a $100bn research laboratory that flies about 260 miles (418 km) above Earth, at 10.46pm EDT (0246 GMT).   More
(Source: The Guardian - Jul 23)

WEATHER SCRUBS DELTA IV ROCKET LAUNCH FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - A Delta IV rocket launch has been scrubbed due to potentially poor weather conditions, officials said. The rocket was scheduled to lift off Wednesday night from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, taking a new military communications satellite into orbit. "The launch of a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket carrying the WGS-7 mission has been postponed to Thursday, July 23 due to predicted weather conditions and the potential for high winds during the launch countdown," United Launch Alliance said in a statement.   More
(Source: ClickOrlando.com - Jul 22)

NEW CREW READIES FOR LAUNCH TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Three more astronauts are preparing to launch to the International Space Station on Wednesday. NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko are scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday at 5:02 p.m. EDT. The three will join the one-year crew, American Scott Kelly and Russian Mikhail Kornienko as well as Russian commander Gennady Padalka as part of Expedition 44.   More
(Source: Globalnews.ca - Jul 22)

SSL DELIVERS ITS 50TH SATELLITE FOR INTELSAT TO LAUNCH BASE IN KOUROU - Space Systems/Loral, LLC (SSL) today announced that the Intelsat 34 satellite, designed and built for Intelsat S.A, has arrived at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, where it will be launched aboard an Ariane 5 launch vehicle by Arianespace. Intelsat 34 is the 50th satellite that SSL has provided to Intelsat. "Intelsat and SSL have a close working relationship based on many years of experience and a mutual commitment to quality, reliability and customer service," said John Celli, president of SSL. "Our 50th satellite together is a significant milestone and we are happy that it is has safely arrived at launch base. Now our teams are working together with Arianespace to prepare the satellite for next month's launch."    More
(Source: PR Newswire - Jul 21)

NOAA SATELLITE SENDS BACK VIEW OF PLANET EARTH - Fulfilling an idea dreamed up by former Vice President Al Gore more than 17 years ago, NASA has released the first in a daily series of Earth snapshots from a newly-launched spacecraft stationed a million miles away. The view is the first of thousands of pictures expected to come down from the $340 million Deep Space Climate Observatory over the next few years. Daily images are expected to begin piping down from the satellite, known as DSCOVR, some time in September.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 21)

ENHANCED ROCKET ENGINE TO POWER DELTA 4 FIRST STAGE WEDNESDAY - Using a new, uprated main engine for the first time on a rocket of its kind, a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Medium+ vehicle will soar into space Wednesday night carrying a $566 million Air Force communications satellite. The enhanced RS-68A main engine will power the medium-lift rocket off the pad at Cape Canaveral’s Complex 37 with the Wideband Global SATCOM satellite No. 7 bound for a super-synchronous transfer orbit. The evening’s launch opportunity extends from 8:07 to 8:46 p.m. EDT. Weather forecasters are projecting a 60 percent chance of favorable conditions for launch, with clouds and lightning the primary concerns.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 20)

AN ASTEROID MINING TEST VEHICLE JUST LAUNCHED FROM THE SPACE STATION - Planetary Resources, a company that wants to mine asteroids for precious materials, has just launched a demonstration vehicle to test out its asteroid mining technologies. The breadbox-sized Arkyd 3 Reflight (A3R) is so-named because the original Arkyd 3 died a fiery death in the Orbital Sciences explosion in October. This one survived its launch to the International Space Station in April, and today, astronauts booted it out of an airlock to see how it fares in low Earth orbit. The vehicle’s mission is to test out components that the company later plans to send into deep space to visit resource-rich asteroids, with the goal of extracting water, which can be broken down in to hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel, and valuable metals, including platinum.   More
(Source: Popular Science - Jul 17)

DEBRIS FROM OLD RUSSIAN SATELLITE FORCED ISS CREW INTO CONTINGENCY OPS - Life aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has returned to normal after a late conjunction threat forced the Station’s crew into contingency operations. The implementation of Flight Rule B4-101 – resulting in the crew taking up the “safe haven” of a docked Russian Soyuz vehicle – was required during a close pass of debris from an old Russian weather satellite. The threat of space debris is a continuous consideration for all spacefaring vehicles. The ISS has the safety blanket of Space Command/NORAD, which tracks relatively large pieces of debris – usually originating from expended satellite and rocket hardware.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jul 17)

ARIANESPACE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES STAR ONE C4 AND MSG-4 SATELLITES - On Wednesday, July 15, Arianespace successfully launched a Brazilian communications satellite Star One C4 and a European weather satellite MSG-4 into a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). The satellites were lifted off at 6:42 p.m. local time (5:42 p.m. EDT; 21:42 GMT) from the Kourou Spaceport located in Kourou, French Guiana, using the company’s powerful Ariane 5 launcher. The mission had previously been set for July 8, but it was delayed by Arianespace due to last-minute precautionary checks on the rocket and spacecraft   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Insider - Jul 16)

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