ASIASAT 8 READY TO RIDE SPACEX LAUNCHER INTO ORBIT - A Falcon 9 rocket is set for liftoff from Cape Canaveral early Tuesday, continuing a jam-packed sequences of launches by SpaceX for commercial and government customers after a slow start to the year. The 22-story rocket will loft the AsiaSat 8 communications satellite into geostationary transfer orbit, a drop-off point for most large telecom payloads heading for operating posts 22,300 miles over the equator. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad is set for 1:25 a.m. EDT (0525 GMT). The launch window extends until 4:11 a.m. EDT (0811 GMT). More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 5)
ASIASAT 8 TO LAUNCH ON 5 AUGUST FOR APAC REGION - A new satellite is all set to be launched on 5 August that will cater to the Asia Pacific countries of India, China, Middle East and south east Asia. Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company (ASTC) will launch AsiaSat 8 from Cape Canaveral in the US. The satellite will be propelled into the sky at Hong Kong time 1:35 pm or 1:25 am Cape Canaveral time, by SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launch vehicle from its station in Florida. AsiaSat 8 is a space systems/loral 1300 series satellite with a life span of 15 years. More (Source: Indiantelevision.com - Aug 4)
RUSSIAN PROGRESS M-23M HEADS FOR SPLASHDOWN IN PACIFIC OCEAN - Russia’s Progress M-23M resupply spacecraft that was undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) on July heads to the “spacecraft cemetery” in the Pacific Ocean, a representative of the Federal Space Agency Roscosmos told RIA Novosti Friday. “The spacecraft’s engines are ignited for the braking. The splashdown of cargo spaceship’s unburned debris is scheduled for 02:43 a.m. MSK in a non-navigable area of the Pacific Ocean,” the source said. More (Source: RIA Novosti - Aug 2)
OLD SOVIET COSMOS SATELLITE TO GO OFF ORBIT ON AUGUST 2 - Cosmos-903, an old Soviet satellite, is to go off orbit and be burnt in the upper atmosphere on August 2, a spokesman for Russia’s aerospace defence forces told Itar-Tass on Friday. “Specialists of the aerospace defence forces are constantly monitoring changes in parameters of orbiting fragments of the spacecraft Cosmos-903. As of August 1, it was on orbit with the following parameters: orbit time - 155 minutes, inclination - 62 degrees, apogee altitude - 6,322 kilometres, perigee altitude - 92 kilometres,” said Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin. More (Source: ITAR-TASS - Aug 2)
ATLAS 5 ROCKET DEPLOYS NEW GPS NAVIGATION SATELLITE - A rocket launch to serve the world blasted off Friday night from Florida carrying a new Global Positioning System satellite to transmit omnipresent navigation and timing information to users across the planet. "Everyone in the room I am going to guess has been touched by GPS today in one way or another," said Air Force Space Command leader William Shelton. "Your smartphone, financial transaction, high-speed network you may have used that uses GPS timing. It literally serves the world." More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 2)
ATLAS 5 ROCKET TO FLY FRIDAY NIGHT WITH GPS SATELLITE - Continuing a surge of GPS replacement launches, the third such mission since February is due for blastoff FridAn Atlas 5 rocket will carry the GPS 2F-7 bird directly into the navigation network following launch. The evening window runs from 11:23 to 11:41 p.m. EDT. "Everyone in the room I am going to guess has been touched by GPS today in one way or another," said Air Force Space Command leader William Shelton. "Your smartphone, financial transaction, high-speed network you may have used that uses GPS timing. It literally serves the world." ay night from Florida's eastern coast. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 31)
SATELLITE IMAGERY SUGGESTS FUTURE LARGE N. KOREAN ROCKET LAUNCH - The U.S.-Korea Institute has released satellite photographs indicating North Korea may be nearing completion of construction and testing leading to long-range missile and satellite launches. The images were made public Tuesday as the top U.S. Navy Pacific commander cautioned the global community against indifference to the pace of the North's advances in nuclear and missile technology. The U.S.-Korea Institute’s 38 North website released satellite imagery Tuesday suggesting that activity at its Sohae Satellite Launching Station means it is preparing for long-range ballistic missile and satellite launches. More (Source: Voice of America - Jul 31)
ARIANE 5 LAUNCHES ATV-5 EN ROUTE TO THE ISS - Europe's ATV-5 cargo ship has set sail on a 14 day journey to the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday. The final ATV mission began when the vehicle's Ariane 5 ES carrier rocket launched the "Georges Lemaître" from the Guiana Space Centre, in Kourou, French Guiana at 23:47 UTC. Arianespace's latest ATV mission in support of International Space Station operations was designated as Flight VA219 in the company’s numbering system, and utilized an Ariane 5 ES version of the heavy-lift workhorse. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jul 30)
RUSSIA REGAINS CONTROL OF LIZARD SEX SATELLITE - The Russian space agency has managed to re-establish communication with the Photon-M4 satellite, having lost contact for three days. The spacecraft was carrying a number of research experiments looking at the effects of microgravity on plants, insects and gecko mating activities. Mission control lost the ability to control the satellite after it had made the first few orbits around Earth, although the team was still receiving telemetry data back from the satellite. More (Source: Wired.co.uk - Jul 29)
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