IRAN DELAYS LAUNCH OF OBSERVATION SATELLITE - Iran announced Tuesday it has delayed the launch of an experimental observation satellite that was supposed to have happened a week ago, saying it would now take place sometime within the next 10 months. The country's space agency chief, Hamid Fazeli, announced the new window for launch to the official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). More (Source: Phys.Org - May 30)
KAZAKHSTAN BLOCKS RUSSIAN SATELLITE LAUNCHES - Kazakhstan, which hosts Russia's Baikonur cosmodrome, is blocking three upcoming Russian satellite launches because of a dispute over the drop zone for rocket debris, reports said on Monday. The first stages of the Soyuz rockets that were scheduled to launch a total of seven satellites were due to fall down over a region of north Kazakhstan that is only occasionally used as a drop zone for debris. More (Source: The Sun Daily - May 29)
CHINA LAUNCHES TELECOMMUNICATION SATELLITE - China successfully launched a telecommunication satellite into orbit Saturday night. The ChinaSat 2A was launched at 11.56 p.m. using a Long March-3B carrier rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan province, Xinhua reported. According to China Satellite Communications Co. Ltd., the satellite developed by China Academy of Space Technology is meant to meet the demands of China's radio and TV broadcasting and broadband multimedia transmissions. More (Source: New York Daily News - May 28)
ASTRONAUTS ENTER WORLD'S 1ST PRIVATE SUPPLY SHIP - The hatch is open on the first commercial spacecraft to visit the International Space Station. "The smell inside smells like a brand new car," NASA astronaut Don Pettit said Saturday after floating inside SpaceX's Dragon capsule. Pettit swung open the hatch for the first time in space at 5:53 a.m. ET as the station flew 253 miles above Auckland, New Zealand. He and space station commander Oleg Kononenko entered the Dragon wearing safety goggles and a mask as a precaution in case dust or debris were loose in microgravity. More (Source: USA Today - May 26)
SPACEX CAPSULE CAPTURED BY SPACE STATION CREW IN HISTORIC MISSION - For the first time, a cargo-carrying spacecraft made by a private company arrived at the International Space Station. SpaceX's unmanned Dragon spacecraft was captured by the space station's 58-foot robotic arm by astronaut Don Pettit aboard the space station. The linkup took place about 250 miles above northwest Australia at 6:56 a.m. PDT. "Looks like we got us a Dragon by the tail," Pettit confirmed. More (Source: Los Angeles Times - May 25)
SPACEX DRAGON CAPSULE BREEZES THROUGH STATION FLYBY TESTS - After a picture-perfect launch Tuesday, a commercial cargo ship built by SpaceX made a close flyby of the International Space Station early Thursday, approaching from behind and below for a successful series of tests to make sure the capsule's navigation, flight control and communications systems will work as required when the spacecraft moves in for berthing Friday. More (Source: CNET - May 25)
SPACEX'S DRAGON SPACECRAFT CATCHING UP TO SPACE STATION - SpaceX's unmanned Dragon space capsule is getting ready to rendezvous with the International Space Station for the first time early Thursday. After its launch on Tuesday, Dragon spent Wednesday catching up with the 240-mile-high (386-kilometer-high) orbital laboratory, and plans to fly within 1.5 miles (2.5 kilometers) of the station on Thursday. The meeting will be the first approach by a privately built vehicle to the station, a $100 billion collaboration between five international space agencies. More (Source: MSNBC - May 24)
SPACEX LAUNCHES WITH 15 DREAMS ONBOARD - SpaceX successfully launched the first commercial rocket today. The Falcon 9 rocket along with the Dragon capsule is loaded with the hopes and dreams of hundreds of students around the USA. The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP), launched June 2010 by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in partnership with NanoRacks, LLC, is an important U.S. national Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education initiative that gives students across a community the ability to design and propose real experiments to fly in low Earth orbit, first aboard the final flights of the Space Shuttle, and then on the International Space Station (ISS)—America’s newest National Laboratory. More (Source: Forbes.com - May 22)
SPACEX 'GO' FOR 2ND LAUNCH TRY OF PRIVATE ROCKET TUESDAY MORNING - The private rocket company SpaceX is officially "go" to make a second try at launching its unmanned Dragon capsule early Tuesday, May 22, from Florida's Space Coast. The spacecraft was due to make its maiden trip to the International Space Station Saturday, May 19, but a rocket engine glitch forced a launch abort at the last second. Over the weekend, SpaceX engineers investigated the problem and discovered a faulty check valve was to blame for the abnormally high chamber pressure in the engine that caused the abort. More (Source: Fox News - May 22)
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