ANOTHER CHINESE NAVIGATION SATELLITE LAUNCHED INTO ORBIT - Launching in a torrential rain and lightning storm, a Long March rocket lifted off Tuesday from southwest China and successfully released a navigation satellite in orbit, state-run media reported. The Long March 3A rocket launched at 2144 GMT (5:44 p.m. EDT) from the Xichang space center in southwest China's Sichuan province, according to the Xinhua news agency. The blastoff was at 5:44 a.m. local time and occurred amid heavy rain and lightning, Xinhua reported.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Jul 27)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TO BE 'SUNK' AFTER 2020 - Russia and its partners plan to plunge the International Space Station (ISS) into the ocean at the end of its life cycle after 2020 so as not to leave space junk, the space agency said on Wednesday. "After it completes its existence, we will be forced to sink the ISS. It cannot be left in orbit, it's too complex, too heavy an object, it can leave behind lots of rubbish," said deputy head of Roskosmos space agency Vitaly Davydov. "Right now we've agreed with our partners that the station will be used until approximately 2020," he said in comments released on Wednesday.    More
(Source: Yahoo News - Jul 27)

VIASAT-1 SATELLITE LAUNCH PUSHED BACK - ViaSat of Carlsbad said Thursday that the launch of its $400 million ViaSat-1 broadband Internet satellite has been delayed about six weeks because of additional testing on solar arrays. The satellite, which had been scheduled to launch in early August, now is expected to blast off from Kazakhstan in late September. International Launch Services (ILS) is handling the launch using a proton rocket.    More
(Source: SignOnSanDiego.com - Jul 23)

MISSION COMPLETE: ATLANTIS RETURNS, ENDS SHUTTLE ERA - By the light of a waning moon, the shuttle Atlantis fell back to Earth this morning, dropping out of predawn darkness to close out NASA's 135th and final shuttle voyage, a long-awaited--and long-dreaded--milestone marking the end of an era for American manned space flight. Coming home to a future clouded by tight budgets and uncertain political support, commander Christopher Ferguson guided Atlantis through a sweeping left overhead turn and lined up on runway 15, quickly descending into the glare of powerful xenon spotlights.    More
(Source: CNET - Jul 21)

RUSSIA SENDS OBSERVATION SATELLITE INTO SPACE - A Russian Zenith-3M rocket with an observation satellite blasted off early Monday, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said. The rocket with Fregat-SB upper stage and Russian astrophysical observatory Spectrum-R lifted off at 6:31 a.m. Moscow time (0231 GMT) from Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan, said the agency.    More
(Source: Space Daily - Jul 21)

SPACE SHUTTLE RELEASES FINAL SATELLITE INTO ORBIT - The space shuttle deployed its last satellite Wednesday morning (July 20), just one day before the shuttle Atlantis is set to land for the final time, with astronauts reciting a poem for the occasion. The release of a tiny satellite called PicoSat for the U.S. Department of Defense was the last in a long, long list of accomplishments for NASA's 30-year-old space shuttles. After Atlantis lands on Thursday (July 21), those ships will be retired for good. The small spacecraft is the 180th and final payload ever deployed from a space shuttle.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 21)

NEW NAVIGATION SATELLITE LAUNCHES ON NIGHTTIME ROCKET FLIGHT - Continuing a prolific partnership that has benefited billions of users around the world, the Delta rocket family today successfully launched its 50th satellite for the Global Positioning System. The powerful Delta 4 booster blasted away from Cape Canaveral's Complex 37 at 2:41 a.m. EDT (0641 GMT) for a middle-of-the-night ascent precisely timed to deliver a critical replacement satellite directly into the GPS constellation. It was the type of rocket flight that could appear routine. But replenishing the navigation network is vital to the military forces, civilian consumers and the blossoming commercial marketplace that have come to depend on GPS every day.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 19)

GSAT - 12 LAUNCHED SUCCESSFULLY - India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C17) successfully launched the Indian Space Research Organisation's (Isro) GSAT – 12 communication satellite yesterday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch of PSLV - C17 was the eighteenth successive successful flight of PSLV. After a smooth countdown of 53 hours, the vehicle lifted-off from the Second Launch Pad at the opening of the launch window at 16:48 hours (IST).    More
(Source: Indiantelevision.com - Jul 17)

NEW SES COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE IN ORBIT - A new SES communications satellite, known as SES-3, built by Orbital Sciences Corp. for SES World Skies, was launched from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton rocket on Friday. SES-3 is the first of two satellites built by Orbital for SES scheduled for delivery and launch in 2011. It is also the first commercial ILS dual launch to be conducted. SES-3 was launched with the KAZSAT-2 communications satellite. Orbital produced the SES-3 satellite under a contract for up to five spacecraft awarded to the company by SES World Skies. Orbital is headquartered in Dulles, Va.    More
(Source: Examiner.com - Jul 17)

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