SOYUZ ROCKET BLASTS OFF FROM FRENCH GUIANA - It is the fourth time that Soyuz, which first flew in 1966 and traces its roots back even further to the earliest Cold War intercontinental ballistic missiles, has been launched from outside its former Soviet bases. The rocket lifted off at 11:02 p.m. (0202 GMT on Sunday) from a launch pad at Europe's space base near Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeast coast of South America. A first launch attempt on Friday was scrubbed due to a technical problem.    More
(Source: Reuters - Dec 2)

S. KOREA POSTPONES SATELLITE LAUNCH - South Korea called off an attempt to put a satellite in orbit on Thursday, the latest setback to a program that has suffered failures in the past. The launch of the Naro-1 rocket was suspended minutes before takeoff at a launch site on the country's southern coast Thursday afternoon local time. An inspection found problems with the electronic signal in part of the rocket's mechanism, said Cho Yul-rae, a vice minister for education, science and technology. Additional time is needed to find out the reason behind the problem, he said.    More
(Source: WFMZ Allentown - Dec 1)

SPACE STATION TO REPOSITION FOR SCIENCE - The International Space Station will reposition itself for a better view of the sun, the first-ever attitude change for scientific reasons alone, officials say. The ISS will turn itself to position the European Space Agency's SOLAR instrument for a better view of the sun. The instrument has been monitoring the sun's output since it was installed on one of the station's laboratory modules in February 2008, a release from ESA's Paris headquarters said Wednesday.    More
(Source: UPI.com - Nov 29)

SEA LAUNCH POSTPONES SATELLITE LAUNCH UNTIL DEC. 3 - The Sea Launch consortium has moved the date for the launch of its Zenit-3SL rocket carrying the EUTELSAT-70B satellite 24 hours due to the delayed arrival of the Odyssey platform to the launch site, the company said on Tuesday. The rocket, previously scheduled for a December 2 launch, will lift off at 12:44 Pacific Standard Time (20:44 GMT) on Monday.    More
(Source: Space Daily - Nov 29)

LONG MARCH 4C LAUNCHES YAOGAN WEIXING-16 SPY SATELLITE FOR CHINA - Following the postponement of the Zhongxing-12 (ChinaSat) communications satellite launch, the Chinese kept up their impressive launch pace with the lofting of the Yaogan Weixing-16 satellite by a Long March (Chang Zheng) 4C rocket on Sunday. The launch took place at 4:06am UTC from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Chinese media refer to the new satellite as a new remote sensing bird that will be used for scientific experiments, land survey, crop yield assessment, and disaster monitoring.   More
(Source: NASASpaceflight.com - Nov 26)

LANKA'S SATELLITE LAUNCH DELAYED - The first ever Sri Lankan satellite launch, which was scheduled for today from a Chinese space centre, has been delayed due to unfavourable weather conditions. A new time for launch will be announced tomorrow, local media quoted President Mahinda Rajapaksa's younger son Rohitha Rajapaksa, who is a key engineer in the Sri Lankan Space Systems, as saying. With the launch of the satellite Sri Lanka will become the third South Asian nation, after India and Pakistan to own a communications satellite.    More
(Source: Business Standard - Nov 23)

WHAT SPACE STATION ASTRONAUTS WILL EAT FOR THANKSGIVING - Thanksgiving and other similar Fall Festivals are celebrated worldwide. It’s a day of feasting and fellowship that’s not only celebrated on Earth, but also at the International Space Station. Tomorrow, NASA Astronaut and Expedition 34 Commander Kevin Ford will sit down with Russian Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin to enjoy their own Thanksgiving feast. Of course, the astronauts aren’t capable of roasting a turkey in space, but they do have a variety of foods that can either be heated, rehydrated, or eaten as is.   More
(Source: Forbes - Nov 22)

CHINA’S LONG MARCH-2C SENDS SAT SOARING JOINS UP WITH FAMILY - China on Monday sent the third satellite in its "Environment I" family into the sky, sharpening its abilities in environmental monitoring and disaster forecasting. The launch marks the completion of a plan initiated by China in 2003 to create a small environmental monitoring satellite constellation, according to north China's Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The radar satellite will join the other two operating optical satellites "Environment I" satellites, which were launched in Sept. 2008, to form a network covering most of China's territory.    More
(Source: SatNews Publishers - Nov 20)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TRIO COMES BACK TO EARTH - Three veteran space station fliers strapped into their Soyuz ferry craft, undocked and plunged back to Earth Sunday, making a fiery descent to a frigid pre-dawn landing in Kazakhstan to close out a 127-day stay in space. With Soyuz commander Yuri Malenchenko strapped into the descent module's center seat, flanked on the left by outgoing Expedition 33 commander Sunita Williams and on the right by Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, the crew undocked from the station's Russian Rassvet module at 5:26 p.m. EST (GMT-5) as the two spacecraft sailed 250 miles above northwestern China.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 19)

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