ULA, SPACEX RESCHEDULE LAUNCHES AFTER RADAR OUTAGE - After a two-week delay to wait for the U.S. Air Force to restore a critical radar tracker, United Launch Alliance and SpaceX have rescheduled their next rocket missions from Cape Canaveral for April 10 and April 14. fficials put the launches on hold after a component on a rocket tracking radar short-circuited March 24, causing it to overheat and knock the radar offline. Without the radar, the Air Force's Eastern Range was unable to support launch attempts for the ULA Atlas 5 and SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets then set for March 25 and March 30. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 5)
INT'L SPACE STATION CONDUCTS DEBRIS AVOIDANCE MANEUVER - U.S. space agency NASA said Thursday that the International Space Station (ISS) orbit was raised half a mile (about 0.8 kilometers) to avoid a possible collision with a fragment from an old European Ariane 5 rocket. The maneuver was performed with a three-minute, 40-second firing of the ISS thrusters at 4:42 p.m. EDT (2042 GMT) that provided a reboost for the orbital laboratory. More (Source: Xinhua - Apr 5)
NASA CUTS TIES WITH RUSSIA OVER UKRAINE CRISIS, EXCEPT FOR SPACE STATION - After insisting that space relations would not be altered by earthly politics, Nasa on Wednesday said it was severing ties with Russia over the Ukraine crisis, except for the International Space Station. Nasa employees cannot travel to Russia or host visitors until further notice. They are also barred from emailing or holding teleconferences with their Russian counterparts because of Russia's actions in Ukraine, according to a memo sent to workers. Activities related to the space station are exempt. Nasa and Russia's space agency will "continue to work together to maintain safe and continuous operation" of the space station, Nasa said in a statement released late on Wednesday. More (Source: The Guardian - Apr 4)
EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE READY FOR LAUNCH - The first satellite in Europe’s Earth monitoring program is now in Guiana and ready for launch, Thales Alenia Space announced. The European Space Agency's Sentinel-1A satellite, part of the Copernicus program, was built by Thales Alenia Space and will map urban areas, observe environmental impact, monitor risks due to movements in the Earth’s surface, conduct surveillance of the marine environment, provide maritime security, monitor sea ice and Earth’s forests and monitor climate change. More (Source: UPI.com - Apr 2)
LONG MARCH ROCKET BOOSTS CHINESE SATELLITE TO ORBIT - China launched an experimental satellite Monday aboard a Long March 2C rocket from the Jiuquan space base in northwest China, according to official media reports. Liftoff occurred at 0246 GMT Monday (10:46 p.m. EDT Sunday), according to a report broadcast on Chinese state television. Launch was at 10:46 a.m. Beijing time. The state-run Xinhua news agency reported the two-stage Long March 2C rocket's payload was the Shijian 11-06 satellite, the sixth in a series of secretive spacecraft launched since 2009. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 1)
MILITARY WEATHER SATELLITE FINALLY SET TO LAUNCH - A $518 million military weather satellite that has been waiting 15 years to shine will be launched into orbit Thursday atop an Atlas 5 rocket from the western spaceport in California. Liftoff of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Flight 19 spacecraft is planned for 7:46 a.m. local time (10:46 a.m. EDT; 1446 GMT) at the opening of a 10-minute launch window at Vandenberg Air Force Base. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 1)
SPACEX DELAYS LAUNCH OF THIRD ISS RESUPPLY MISSION - SpaceX has once again delayed the launch of its third contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station, SpaceX-3. NASA reports that this delay was caused by a “range asset issue,” and officials are now working to determine the cause of an instrumentation outage. According to an Air Force statement issued on Thursday: “A mandatory range asset supporting the NROL-67 launch went offline, March 24, 2014. An investigation revealed a tracking radar experienced an electrical short, overheating the unit and rendering it inoperable. More (Source: RedOrbit - Apr 1)
RUSSIAN RESUPPLY VEHICLE TO BLAST OFF FOR SPACE STATION VOYAGE - A Russian unmanned Progress resupply spacecraft is readying for an April 9 launch from the Baikonur space center to deliver essential cargo to the International Space Station, the Russian space agency Roscosmos has said. "The spaceship will carry more than 2.5 tons of diverse cargo, including fuel for the ISS, additional hardware, food, water and oxygen for the crew, as well as scientific equipment for conducting experiments," the agency said in a statement. More (Source: RIA Novosti - Apr 1)
SOYUZ DOCKS WITH INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying two cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut glided to a smooth linkup with the International Space Station Thursday, two days after a technical snag blocked a fast-track rendezvous and docking shortly after launch Tuesday. With commander Alexander Skvortsov monitoring the automated approach from the Soyuz's center seat, the docking mechanism in the nose of the Soyuz TMA-12M ferry craft engaged its counterpart at the end of the upper Poisk module at 7:53 p.m. EDT (GMT-4) as the two spacecraft sailed 252 miles above southern Brazil. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 28)
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