JAPAN TO BUILD FLEET OF NAVIGATION SATELLITES - The Japanese government has ordered three navigation satellites from Mitsubishi Electric Corp., expanding the country's program to augment GPS navigation signals for users in the Asia-Pacific region. Japan's Cabinet Office announced the expansion of the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System on March 29, approving a $526 million contract with Mitsubishi Electric for the construction of three satellites for launch before the end of 2017. More (Source: Spaceflight Now - Apr 7)
CHINA TO LAUNCH HIGH-RES EARTH-OBSERVATION SATELLITE - China will launch the first satellite for its high-resolution system for Earth observation in April, a government agency revealed Thursday. Examinations of the satellite and its carrier rocket, the Long March 2D, have been completed and the satellite is now in the launch stage, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SATIND). More (Source: Space Daily - Apr 2)
EUROPEAN CARGO MISSION TO SPACE STATION ENTERS FINAL PREPARATIONS FOR LAUNCH - Europe's fourth Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to service the International Space Station is entering its final preparation phase for a planned launch this spring from French Guiana on Arianespace's Flight VA213, the company announced on Friday. Arianespace is a commercial launch service company based in France. Named after Albert Einstein, the ATV is being processed in the Kourou spaceport's S5 payload preparation building, where it was transferred Thursday from the facility's S5C large preparation hall into its S5B high-bay area. More (Source: Examiner.com - Apr 1)
ORBITAL'S PRIVATE LAUNCH MAY SHOW WHETHER NASA MADE RIGHT CALL - On the face of it, the planned mid-April launch of a new commercial rocket from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia won't be one for the record books. A number of barriers for commercial space companies already have been broken - for instance, SpaceX has flown to the International Space Station - and the maiden flight of Antares, a two-stage rocket built by Orbital Sciences of Virginia, is expected to do little more than prove it can put a dummy payload into orbit. More (Source: Houston Chronicle - Apr 1)
CHINA TO LAUNCH EARTH-OBSERVATION SATELLITE - China will launch its first satellite for a high-resolution system for Earth observation in April, a government agency said Thursday. Examinations of the satellite and its carrier rocket -- the Long March 2D -- have been completed and the satellite is now in the launch stage, Xinhua quoted the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SATIND) in a statement. More (Source: Zee News - Mar 30)
RUSSIAN SPACESHIP DOCKS WITH ORBITING INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - A Soyuz capsule carrying three astronauts successfully docked Friday with the International Space Station, bringing the size of the crew at the orbiting lab to six. Chris Cassidy of the United States and Russians Pavel Vinogradov and Alexander Misurkin traveled six hours in the capsule before linking up with the space station's Russian Rassvet research module over the Pacific Ocean, just off Peru, at 02:28 GMT. "It's such a beautiful sight, hard to believe my eyes," the 59-year-old Vinogradov, who had been in space in 1997 and 2006, was heard saying on NASA TV. More (Source: Fox News - Mar 29)
SOYUZ LAUNCHED ON FOUR-ORBIT FLIGHT TO SPACE STATION - A veteran Russian spacecraft commander, a rookie cosmonaut and a Navy SEAL-turned-astronaut rocketed into space Thursday aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, kicking off on an abbreviated four-orbit flight to the International Space Station. By the light of a nearly full moon, Soyuz TMA-08M commander Pavel Vinogradov, flight engineer Alexander Misurkin and shuttle veteran Christopher Cassidy blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:43:20 p.m. EDT Thursday (GMT-4; 2:43 a.m. Friday local time). More (Source: CBS - Mar 28)
RUSSIA LAUNCHES MEXICAN SATELLITE FROM KAZAKHSTAN - Russia launched a rocket carrying a Mexican telecommunications satellite from Kazakhstan's Baikonur space center on Tuesday, according to Russia's RIA Novosti, which cited the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos. China Radio International said the take-off took place around 11 p.m., Moscow time and the Satmex-8 communications satellite is due to separate from Russia's Proton-M rocket and enter orbit early Wednesday. More (Source: GlobalPost - Mar 28)
SPACE STATION CAPSULE SPLASHES DOWN IN PACIFIC OCEAN - A private capsule carrying equipment, experiments and scientific samples splashed down Tuesday in the Pacific Ocean, completing a successful, 23-day round trip to the International Space Station. The SpaceX Dragon capsule's parachute-assisted return to Earth concluded at about 12:34 p.m. ET. "That's great news," U.S. astronaut Thomas Marshburn said when Mission Control told the space station crew that the Dragon spacecraft had completed a 10-minute engine firing that dropped it out of orbit. More (Source: USA Today - Mar 27)
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