ORBIT OF SPACE STATION IS ADJUSTED - Europe's ATV-3 unmanned resupply spacecraft has raised the International Space Station's orbit to 263 miles, a mission control spokesman said. The spacecraft's engines were fired at 10:15 p.m. EDT Thursday for a burn lasting almost nine minutes, raising the ISS orbit by about 1.2 miles, RIA Novosti reported.    More
(Source: UPI - Sep 15)

RUSSIAN ROCKET TO LOFT EUROPEAN SATELLITE - A Russian rocket with a European weather satellite is on its launch pad at the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan and being readied for launch, officials said. The rocket is a Soyuz-2.1a, a three-stage rocket for lifting payloads into low Earth orbit, RIA Novosti reported. "The rocket with Fregat booster and MetOp-B satellite has been set on the launch pad 31," Russia's space agency Roscosmos said on its website.    More
(Source: UPI - Sep 15)

TOP-SECRET SATELLITE IS LAUNCHED FROM VANDENBERG - Barely visible in the dense fog at Vandenberg Air Force Base, a 19-story rocket roared to life and boosted a top-secret satellite into orbit. Little is known about the spacecraft except that it belongs to the National Reconnaissance Office. The secretive federal agency is in charge of designing, building, launching and maintaining the nation's spy satellites.    More
(Source: Los Angeles Times - Sep 15)

SES SIGNS THREE SATELLITE LAUNCHES WITH SPACEX - Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES said on Wednesday it had signed up to launch three more satellites with the privately-owned SpaceX company. The amount of the contract with the company that aims to cut the price of satellite launches was not disclosed.    More
(Source: Space Daily - Sep 15)

NASA LAUNCHES PROGRAM TO CERTIFY SPACE TAXIS - With an eye toward breaking Russia’s monopoly on flying crew to the international space station (ISS)?by 2017, NASA has launched a two-stage certification process aimed at ensuring commercial passenger spaceships currently under development will meet the agency’s safety standards, schedule and mission requirements.    More
(Source: Space News - Sep 15)

CHANDRAYAAN II MAY BE DELAYED, SAYS ISRO CHIEF - India's quest for the moon, by the name of "Chandrayaan II," planned for 2013-14, may be delayed. Indicating this at a news conference organised after the successful launch of "PSLV-C21", the 100th mission of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan said that while ISRO was keen on making the second "moon mission" a reality as scheduled, its Russian partner had other ideas.    More
(Source: Space Daily - Sep 13)

NEXT PAIR OF GALILEO SATELLITES GETTING PREPPED FOR OCTOBER LAUNCH - The second pair of Galileo navigation satellites is being prepared for launch from Europe’s Spaceport in October. The third Galileo satellite’s propellant tank will be getting filled with hydrazine fuel this week, and the fourth will be getting its propellant tank filled next week. The twin satellites will be hitching a ride aboard the Soyuz ST-B on October 10, then will meet up with the first two Galileo satellites currently in orbit.    More
(Source: RedOrbit - Sep 12)

5 MONTHS AFTER NKOREAN ROCKET LAUNCH, SKOREA SAYS IT’S MAKING 3RD TRY FROM ITS OWN TERRITORY - South Korea said Tuesday it will launch a rocket next month carrying an observation satellite, its third attempt to put a satellite fired from its own territory into orbit. The announcement by South Korea’s Science Ministry came five months after North Korea drew international condemnation for its own rocket launch.    More
(Source: Washington Post - Sep 12)

PRC TO LAUNCH EIGHT NEW SATELLITES - China intends to launch eight maritime surveillance satellites over the next eight years, a senior official from the National Satellite Ocean Application Service has announced, amid efforts by China to improve its surveillance capabilities in the contested waters of the East and South China Sea.   More
(Source: Taipei Times - Sep 11)

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