LIFT OFF: DELTA IV ROCKET LAUNCHES FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - A Delta IV rocket lit up the skies over Brevard County Thursday night. The Air Force sent a new GPS satellite into orbit. The launch was put on hold briefly during the launch window over a concern about solar radiation -- flares that could hinder communications. But those concerns were put to rest, and the rocket launched just before the window closed. The Delta IV rocket has been under review since a problem was detected on an October 2012 rocket launch, when an engine leak caused a lower than expected thrust.   More
(Source: Bay News 9 - Feb 21)

COMMERCIAL CARGO CARRIER LEAVES SPACE STATION - A commercial Cygnus cargo-carrying spacecraft departed the International Space Station on Tuesday, heading for a fiery finale over the Pacific Ocean to help clear the outpost of trash at the conclusion of the first operational resupply run by Orbital Sciences Corp. The automated solar-powered spaceship disengaged from the space station's robotic arm at 1141 GMT (6:41 a.m. EST) as the duo sailed 260 miles over the South Atlantic Ocean east of Argentina.    More
(Source: SapceFlight Now - Feb 19)

CYGNUS LAUNCHED FROM WALLOPS ISLAND TO RETURN FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TUESDAY - After spending five weeks at the International Space Station, the Cygnus commercial space freighter that launched from Wallops Island last month is set to disembark Tuesday. The unmanned Cygnus delivered abut 2,800 pounds of crew provisions, science experiments, hardware and spare parts after it launched Jan. 9 aboard an Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on the Eastern Shore. It docked with the station four days later.   More
(Source: Daily Press - Feb 17)

LATEST SPACEX RESUPPLY MISSION TO ISS SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 16 - SpaceX’s next big resupply flight to the International Space Station is scheduled for March 16. ISS managers approved the launch date this week, which will liftoff from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad. The time? Precisely 4:41 a.m. EDT, exactly when the Earth’s rotation brings the ISS flight path over the Space Coast. SpaceX, a passion project of Tesla’s Elon Musk, previously shuttled supplies to the ISS last year. The mission is part of a $1.6 billion contract with NASA, which calls for 12 missions through 2016.    More
(Source: TechnoBuffalo - Feb 17)

TURKEY LAUNCHES NEW SATELLITE - Turkey launched its TURKSAT 4A communications satellite from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan on Friday night. The TURKSAT 4A Communication Satellite was Turkey´s fifth to be put into orbit. The Turksat 4A telecommunication satellite was jointly produced with Turkish and Japanese engineers. The satellite was equipped with two 3-panel solar arrays for power generation, a chemical propulsion system for apogee maneuvers as well as orbital adjustments and navigation and stabilization equipment.   More
(Source: www.worldbulletin.net - Feb 17)

RUSSIAN SPY SATELLITE BURNS UP IN EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE - The Kosmos-1220 – a military signal intelligence satellite – whose fragments were expected to crash somewhere on Earth, has burned up on reentry to the Earth’s atmosphere, Russian Space Command said. The fragments burned up at 17:58 Moscow time (13:58 GMT), Colonel Dmitry Zenin, spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry troops, told Itar-Tass. The Space Command was monitoring the satellite’s descent by electronic and laser-optic observation, Colonel Aleksey Zolotukhin, spokesman for the Russian Space Forces, told RIA Novosti.    More
(Source: RT.com - Feb 16)

DEFUNCT SOVIET RECONNAISSANCE SATELLITE MAY HIT EARTH - A decommissioned Soviet military satellite will burn up in the atmosphere Sunday in an uncontrolled descent and surviving fragments may hit Earth, according to an aerospace defense official. The military is actively monitoring the satellite using its space tracking network, which has indicated that it will impact the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, Colonel Alexei Zolotukhin said Friday. “As of February 7, 2014 the fragments are expected to fall on February 16. The exact impact time and location of the fragments from the Kosmos-1220 satellite may change due to external factors,” Zolotukhin said.   More
(Source: Ria Novosti - Feb 15)

GLONASS-M SATELLITE SHIPPED TO LAUNCH SITE - On the night of February 12-13, the GLONASS-M #54 spacecraft left ISS-Reshetnev’s facilities in Zheleznogorsk, Russia, and was transported by air to the Plesetsk cosmodrome. A Soyuz 2.1b / Fregat rocket with the navigation satellite GLONASS-M #54 on board is scheduled for launch in mid-March. The exact launch date is due to be set at a meeting of the state commission. As soon as the satellite arrived to the spaceport, the joint team of ISS-Reshetnev specialists and the cosmodrome’s staff members started the launch preparation campaign.   More
(Source: GPS World magazine - Feb 15)

RUSSIAN PROGRESS-M SPACECRAFT BURNS UP OVER PACIFIC - A Russian Progress-M spacecraft burned up over the Pacific Ocean Tuesday evening in a planned descent following a successful mission to the International Space Station. Remnants of the craft that were not destroyed during the controlled re-entry crashed into an isolated area of the Pacific, a spokesman for Russia’s Mission Control said. The Progress M-20M delivered over two metric tons of cargo to the station in July. It undocked early last week to free up a port for another Progress space freighter, which arrived last Wednesday.   More
(Source: RIA Novosti - Feb 12)

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