SOYUZ ROCKET LIFTS OFF WITH RUSSIAN SPY SATELLITE - A Soyuz rocket launched Monday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia with a top secret Russian photo reconnaissance satellite to spy on strategic sites around the world. The launcher blasted off at 1600 GMT (12 p.m. EDT) from the Plesetsk space base. Liftoff occurred at 8 p.m. Moscow time, according to Russian news reports. The Russian Defense Ministry announced the three-stage Soyuz booster placed the secretive spacecraft in the correct orbit about eight minutes after launch. The payload will be named Kosmos 2472 in the Russian military's nomenclature for defense spacecraft. More (Source: Space Flight Now - Jun 28)
SUNSET ROCKET LAUNCH TUESDAY MAY SURPRISE EAST COAST RESIDENTS - This Minotaur rocket launch from Wallops Island in December 2006 was photographed by Geoff Chester in Alexandria, Virginia. CREDIT: Geoff Chester. Used with permission. View full size image NASA plans to launch a new military satellite from a Virginia spaceport late Tuesday (June 28), a flight that could potentially create a spectacular sight for skywatchers along the U.S. East Coast. The U.S. Air Force's Minotaur 1 rocket is slated to blast off from a NASA launch range at the Wallops Flight Facility and Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at 8:28 p.m. EDT (0028 GMT). The mission: To launch ORS-1, a Department of Defense satellite built for the Operationally Responsive Space Office. More (Source: Space.com - Jun 28)
ASTEROID TO GLIDE PAST EARTH 30 TIMES CLOSER THAN DISTANCE TO MOON - Asteroid 2011MD, measuring about 10 to 50 yards, will be passing Earth on Monday at a distance close enough to have drawn the interest of scientists. This distance is approximately 30 times closer to Earth than the existing distance between the planet and the moon, which is approximately 240,000 miles. At 7,500 miles or 12,000 kilometers, the asteroid poses no real threat to the planet but since it will be flying at the same level several satellites’ orbits are located, NASA announced chances of it hitting one of them. More (Source: Christian Post - Jun 26)
ROCKET LAUNCH SET FOR TUESDAY AT WALLOPS WILL BE VISIBLE FOR MOST OF MID-ATLANTIC - If skies are clear and all goes well Tuesday evening, observers throughout Maryland and much of the Mid-Atlantic region should be able to watch a big rocket launch from Virginia's Wallops Island. The Air Force will attempt to launch a battlefield imaging satellite into orbit from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. The ORS-1 satellite will ride atop a four-stage, solid-fuel Minotaur 1 rocket, the largest ever launched from the Delmarva peninsula. More (Source: Baltimore Sun - Jun 25)
SPACE STATION WELCOMES RUSSIAN CARGO SHIP ARRIVAL - The International Space Station received a cargo freighter today when the Russian-made vessel loaded with two-and-a-half tons of supplies safely approached and docked on autopilot. The Progress M-11M spacecraft linked up to the station's Zvezda service module at 12:37 p.m. EDT (1637 GMT) while orbiting 245 miles above eastern Kazakhstan. "The approach is good, the crosshairs are aligned and contact. Contact and capture confirmed," cosmonaut Alexander Samokutyaev radioed from aboard the station. More (Source: Space Flight Now - Jun 23)
EUROPE'S ATV SPACE FREIGHTER BURNS UP - The ATV-Johannes Kepler ship took 1.3 tonnes of rubbish from the space station into a controlled dive into the atmosphere just before 2100 GMT on Tuesday. Most of the vehicle and its waste cargo would have been vaporised in the descent. Only a few robust pieces of hardware could have survived to the ocean surface, say officials. The burn-up brings to an end Kepler's four-month mission to the station. More (Source: BBC News - Jun 23)
NASA LAUNCHING DOD ROCKET AND SATELLITE FROM VIRGINIA - A U.S. Air Force Minotaur 1 rocket carrying the Department of Defense's Operationally Responsive Space office's ORS-1 satellite is scheduled for launch June 28 from NASA's Launch Range at the Wallops Flight Facility and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia. ORS-1 is the Operationally Responsive Space Office's first operational satellite. Rapidly developing and fielding ORS-1 is an important step to demonstrate the capability to meet emerging and persistent war-fighter needs on operationally relevant timelines. More (Source: Space Daily - Jun 23)
CHINESE COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE DELIVERED TO ORBIT - China launched a television broadcasting and broadband communications satellite Monday aboard a Long March rocket to replace an aging 12-year-old craft serving Asia. The Chinasat 10 satellite blasted off at 1613 GMT (12:13 p.m. EDT) Monday from the Xichang launching base in southwestern China's Sichuan province. The liftoff occurred at 12:13 a.m. local time Tuesday, according to the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. More (Source: Space Flight Now - Jun 21)
CHINA TO LAUNCH NEW COMMUNICATION SATELLITE - China will launch a new communication satellite, Zhongxing-10, in the next few days at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. Sources with the center said Sunday that a Long March-3B rocket carrier will carry the satellite into space. Both the satellite and rocket carrier are launch-ready and preparations are going smoothly, the sources said. More (Source: Xinhua - Jun 20)
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