BRANSON OFFERS A SERVICE TO LAUNCH SMALL SATELLITES - Virgin Galactic, the space venture founded by Richard Branson, the British billionaire, said Wednesday that it planned to develop a rocket that would carry small satellites into orbit at a fraction of the current cost. The news came on the third day of the Farnborough International Airshow, where Airbus and Boeing, the world’s two largest commercial jet makers, announced nearly $7 billion in aircraft orders.    More
(Source: New York Times - Jul 13)

TELSTAR 1: THE LITTLE SATELLITE THAT CREATED THE MODERN WORLD 50 YEARS AGO - When the Telstar 1 satellite successfully launched 50 years ago, the world got a little smaller. Telstar, a collaboration between U.S., French, and British broadcasting agencies, was the world’s first active communication satellite, enabling TV programs to be broadcast across the Atlantic. The 3-foot-long satellite was also the first to send the television signals, telephone calls, and fax images through space.    More
(Source: Wired.com - Jul 12)

SES-5 TO PROVIDE FRESH SATELLITE CAPACITY IN MULTIPLE FREQUENCY BANDS TO EUROPE, AFRICA AND THE MIDD - SES S.A. announced that the SES-5 satellite roared into space on board an ILS Proton Breeze M booster today at 00:38:30 am Baikonur time (20:38)(20:2012). After a 9-hour, 12-minute mission, the Breeze M upper stage of the Proton rocket successfully released the SES-5 satellite directly into geostationary transfer orbit.    More
(Source: MarketWatch - Jul 11)

AVANTI COMMUNICATIONS... A HIGH SPOT FOR HYLAS-2 (SATELLITE) - Avanti Communications Group plc has announced that HYLAS 2, its second satellite, will launch at approximately 9.50 p.m. U.K.-time on August 2, 2012, via an Ariane 5 launch vehicle. HYLAS 2, which has almost three times the bandwidth capacity of HYLAS 1, will substantially increase the Company’s international coverage.    More
(Source: SatNews Publishers - Jul 9)

EUROPEAN ROCKET LAUNCHES NEW US SATELLITE, WEATHER-TRACKING SPACECRAFT - A European-built rocket roared into space from South America Thursday (July 5) carrying two new satellites on very different missions. The unmanned Ariane 5 rocket blasted off from a pad at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, to send an American communication satellite and European weather-monitoring spacecraft into orbit. Liftoff occurred at 5:36 p.m. EDT (2136 GMT).    More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 7)

CHENG: CHINA’S SPACE CHALLENGE TO AMERICA - At the dawn of the Space Age, China lagged far behind the United States and the Soviet Union. Beijing didn’t even launch its first satellite until 1970. But China has made remarkable progress. On June 24, three Chinese astronauts successfully docked their Shenzhou spacecraft with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab. The mission underscored again China’s interest in manned spaceflight. And the manual docking itself marked a major step toward a greater Chinese presence in space, as docking and extended missions are essential to any space station or lunar mission.    More
(Source: Washington Times - Jul 5)

NASA'S NEW ORION SPACESHIP ARRIVES IN FLORIDA; TO FLY IN 2014 - An Orion space capsule being developed to fly astronauts to asteroids, the moon and eventually to Mars arrived at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a 2014 test flight, NASA said on Monday. The spacecraft, built by Lockheed-Martin, is targeted for launch aboard an unmanned Delta 4 Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, adjacent to the NASA spaceport. Though designed to carry a crew of four, Orion will make its first two flights unmanned.    More
(Source: MSNBC - Jul 3)

SOYUZ SPACE CAPSULE WITH MULTINATIONAL CREW TOUCHES DOWN IN KAZAKHSTAN AFTER 193-DAY MISSION - A Soyuz space capsule carrying a three-man multinational crew touched down safely Sunday on the southern steppes of Kazakhstan, bringing an end to their 193-day mission to the International Space Station. Around a dozen recovery helicopters zeroed into the vast uncultivated land mass, where NASA astronaut Donald Pettit, Russia’s Oleg Kononenko and Dutchman Andre Kuipers landed in the Russian-made capsule.    More
(Source: Washington Post - Jul 2)

SPACE STATION CREW TO RETURN TO EARTH SUNDAY - astronauts living on the International Space Station will return home to Earth Sunday (July 1) after spending more than six months in orbit. NASA astronaut Don Pettit, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and European Space Agency astronaut Andre Kuipers are scheduled to undock from the space station in their Russian-built Soyuz capsule at 12:48 a.m. EDT (0448 GMT) Sunday.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 1)

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