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)

NORTH KOREA PLANS ROCKET LAUNCH WITHIN DAYS - North Korea plans to launch a rocket carrying a satellite between December 10 and 22, a spokesman for the Korean Committee for Space Technology said Saturday, according to state-run media. The Unha-3 rocket will launch from the Sohae Space Center in North Phyongan Province and put a "working satellite" into orbit, the report by the official Korean Central News Agency said. The planned launch is unusual because it comes during the wintertime and only months after a failed attempt in April.    More
(Source: CNN International - Dec 2)

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)

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