NORTH KOREA DEFIES WARNINGS IN ROCKET LAUNCH SUCCESS - North Korea has successfully launched a long-range rocket, defying international warnings. The rocket, launched at 09:49 local time (00:49 GMT), appears to have followed its planned trajectory, with stages falling in expected areas. North Korea says a satellite has been placed in orbit; the US confirmed an object had been put into space. South Korea, the US and Japan have condemned the launch as a disguised test of long-range missile technology.    More
(Source: BBC News - Dec 12)

NORTH KOREA "DISMANTLING ROCKET TO FIX TECHNICAL GLITCH" - North Korea has started to dismantle a controversial long-range rocket on its launch pad in an apparent move to fix a technical problem but still looks likely to go ahead with the launch, South Korean news reports and experts said on Tuesday. North Korea says the launch is to put a weather satellite in orbit but critics say it is aimed at nurturing the kind of technology needed to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile.    More
(Source: Chicago Tribune - Dec 12)

ROBOTIC SPACE PLANE X-37B LAUNCHED FOR CLASSIFIED AIR FORCE MISSION - An experimental robotic space plane was launched into orbit atop an Atlas V rocket Tuesday for a classified Air Force mission that could last more than nine months. The 19-story Atlas V and the space plane, dubbed the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle, blasted off from Cape Canaveral in Florida just after 1 p.m. Eastern time. The unmanned X-37B, which resembles a miniature space shuttle, is 29 feet long with a wingspan of 15 feet. The spacecraft draws solar power for energy using unfolding panels.    More
(Source: Los Angeles Times - Dec 11)

AIR FORCE'S X-37B 'MINI-SHUTTLE' SHROUDED IN SECRECY - The military’s mysterious mini-shuttle is set to launch this week on a classified mission that has captured the imaginations of everyone from amateur satellite trackers to anti-nuclear protestors and potential military adversaries Russia and China. Built by Boeing’s secretive Phantom Works in Huntington Beach, Calif., the Air Force X-37B spacecraft is rumored to be everything from a space bomber to a satellite-killer or a test-bed for advanced spy satellite sensors. The Air Force is revealing little.    More
(Source: Florida Today - Dec 9)

RUSSIAN SATELLITE LAUNCH FAILS TO REACH PROPER ORBIT - The Russian space industry suffered another malfunction Saturday when the upper stage of the heavy-lift Proton rocket failed to perform the full duration of its final boost-burn, leaving a domestic telecommunications satellite in a lower-than-planned orbit at the end of a 9-hour flight from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Launch of the Yamal 402 spacecraft occurred at the precise moment of 1313:43 GMT (8:13:43 a.m. EST) atop the Proton M/Breeze M vehicle combination en route to geosynchronous transfer orbit.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 9)

N. KOREA SAYS IT MAY DELAY ROCKET LAUNCH - North Korea said Saturday that it might delay the launch time of a long-range rocket that had been scheduled to blast off as early as Monday. No reason was given, but recent commercial satellite images — published jointly by the North Korea blog, operated by technology journalist Martyn Williams, and the 38 North, a project of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies — indicated that preparations for the launch had been delayed by snowfall.   More
(Source: Washington Post - Dec 9)

KHRUNICHEV COMPLETES NAUKA SPACE STATION MODULE - Russia’s Khrunichev space company has completed assembly of the Nauka (”Science”) multirole laboratory module for the International Space Station, Khrunichev said on Friday. The module will now be tested by the RKK Energia corporation. “Work has been completed on assembly of the multirole laboratory module for the International Space Station (ISS). The module was sent to RKK Energia on December 7 for further electronic testing of the flight systems,” Khrunichev said.    More
(Source: Space Fellowship - Dec 8)

PENTAGON ENDING UNITED LAUNCH ALLIANCE MONOPOLY ON SATELLITE LAUNCHES - The Pentagon is opening up competition for the boosters that launch its military satellites, effectively ending the monopoly held by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin partnership known as United Launch Alliance (ULA). ULA, which assembles its launch vehicles in a massive plant on the bank of Tennessee River in Decatur, will still provide most of the boosters the Pentagon buys over the contract period.   More
(Source: al.com - Dec 7)

EUTELSAT COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE PUT INTO ORBIT BY SEA LAUNCH ROCKET - Sea Launch AG says it has placed a communication satellite into orbit for global provider Eutelsat. A Zenit-3SL rocket carrying the Eutelsat-70B satellite lifted off from Sea Launch’s oceangoing platform in the equatorial Pacific at 12:43 p.m. PST (20:43 GMT) Monday. Sea Launch says the satellite successfully separated and a ground station acquired its first signals from orbit.   More
(Source: Washington Post - Dec 5)

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