ENGINE TROUBLE DELAYS SPACEX LAUNCH ON THANKSGIVING - Topped with a television broadcasting satellite, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket fired its engines and was moments away from liftoff from Cape Canaveral on Thursday, but the commercial booster aborted the launch after computers detected the engines were too slow building up thrust. Engineers raced to understand and resolve the problem, but they could not get comfortable enough to attempt the launch again before Thursday's time-constrained flight opportunity closed. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 29)
SPACE STATION LAUNCH SET FOR DEC. 15 - The launch of Orbital Sciences Corporation’s first commercial cargo mission to the International Space Station is set for Dec. 15 at 10:52 p.m. The launch of the 130-foot Antares rocket should be visible from a large area of the East Coast. It will be Orbital’s fifth rocket launched this year from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA Wallops Flight Facility. More (Source: Delmarva Now - Nov 28)
RUSSIAN CARGO SHIP LIFTS OFF WITH HOLIDAY GOODIES FOR SPACE STATION - An unmanned cargo-carrying spacecraft launched on its way toward the International Space Station on Monday for a post-Thanksgiving Day docking with the orbiting lab. The unmanned Russian Progress 53 ship launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:53 p.m. ET, loaded up with tons of food, fuel and other supplies — including some holiday goodies for the space station's Expedition 38 crew. The International Space Station passed directly over the launch pad four minutes before the Progress launched to space. The vessel is scheduled to dock with the orbiting outpost on Friday. More (Source: NBC News - Nov 27)
PRECIPITATION SATELLITE DELIVERED TO JAPAN FOR 2014 LAUNCH - An international satellite that will set a new standard for global precipitation measurements from space has completed a 7,300-mile journey from the United States to Japan, where it now will undergo launch preparations. A U.S. Air Force C-5 transport aircraft carrying the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory landed at Kitakyushu Airport, about 600 miles southwest of Tokyo, at approximately 10:30 p.m. EST Saturday, Nov. 23. More (Source: Red Orbit - Nov 27)
FALCON 9 ROCKET LAUNCH SCRUBBED UNTIL THANKSGIVING - SpaceX called off launch of a Falcon 9 rocket with a commercial telecommunications satellite Monday after several technical problems held up the countdown, delaying the flight until Thanksgiving Day. After an initial delay to give engineers time to study a concern with a valve on the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage, the countdown was aborted twice in its final minutes by apparently unrelated technical glitches. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 26)
RUSSIA LAUNCHES ROBOTIC CARGO SHIP TO SPACE STATION - An unmanned cargo-carrying spacecraft launched on its way toward the International Space Station today (Nov. 25) for a post-Thanksgiving Day docking with the orbiting lab. The unmanned Russian Progress 53 ship launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:53 p.m. EST (2053 GMT) loaded up with tons of food, fuel and other supplies — including some holiday goodies for the space station's Expedition 38 crew. The International Space Station passed directly over the cosmodrome four minutes before the Progress launched to space. The vessel is scheduled to dock with the orbiting outpost on Friday (Nov. 29). More (Source: Space.com - Nov 25)
ISRO TO LAUNCH GERMAN, FRENCH, BRITISH, CANADIAN SATELLITES - Chennai: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), that got global recognition for its successful launch of a mission to Mars, will now launch German, French, British and Canadaian satellites, a top official said. "We will be launching EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Programme) satellite belonging to Germany. The satellite will weigh around 800 kg," ISRO chairman K. Radhakrishnan told a news agency in an interview. The EnMAP is a hyperspectral satellite that would provide images of the Earth at regular intervals. This apart, ISRO will be launching French satellite SPOT-7 during the first quarter of 2014, Radhakrishnan said. More (Source: Zee News - Nov 25)
MAIDEN NEXT GEN SPACEX FALCON 9 LAUNCH FROM CAPE CANAVERAL SET FOR NOV. 25 - The maiden flight of the Next Generation commercial SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the firms Cape Canaveral launch facility is set to soar to space on Monday afternoon, Nov. 25 on a ground breaking mission that will be most difficult ever. The upgraded Falcon 9 booster is slated to haul the commercial SES-8 telecommunications satellite for the satellite provider SES for SpaceX’s first ever payload delivery to a Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). Liftoff is scheduled for 5:37 p.m. EST from SpaceX’s Space Launch Complex 40 pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. More (Source: Universe Today - Nov 25)
SWARM SATELLITES BLAST OFF TO EXPLORE EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD - A swarm of three European magnetic field research satellites rocketed into orbit Friday from a wintry launch pad in northern Russia, kicking off a four-year mission to catalog the sources behind Earth's shield against radiation and solar storms. Behind a veil of thick fog as temperatures hovered near the freezing mark, the European Space Agency's $280 million Swarm mission lifted off at 1202:29 GMT (7:02:29 a.m. EST) Friday at the top of a 95-foot-tall Rockot launch vehicle from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, a military launch facility about 500 miles north of Moscow. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 25)
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