NORTH KOREA SHOWS OFF ITS LAUNCH PAD AND SATELLITE - North Korean space officials have moved all three stages of a long-range rocket into position for a controversial launch, vowing Sunday to push ahead with their plan in defiance of international warnings against violating a ban on missile activity. International news agencies, including The Associated Press and NBC News, were allowed a firsthand look at preparations under way at the coastal Sohae Satellite Station in northwestern North Korea. More (Source: MSNBC - Apr 9)
NEAR-MISSES BETWEEN SPACE STATION AND DEBRIS ON THE RISE - Statistics show the International Space Station came under growing danger from space junk after 2007, with half of the orbiting lab's close calls since then due to near-collisions with debris from a Chinese anti-satellite missile test, the mysterious explosion of a Russian military spacecraft, and the cataclysmic high-speed crash of two satellites. The space station, assembled in orbit beginning in 1998, has fired its thrusters 14 times to avoid space debris, with half of the maneuvers coming since August 2008. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 7)
ROCKET WITH SECRET PAYLOAD LAUNCHES FROM CALIF. - A rocket carrying a top-secret payload blasted off Tuesday from the California coast. The Delta IV rocket lifted off at 4:12 p.m. from the Vandenberg Air Force Base, about 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles. "We've just seen the successful liftoff" of the rocket, launch commentator Don Spencer said in a webcast. More (Source: USA Today - Apr 5)
SPACEX TAPS SPACE EXPERTS TO REVIEW PRIVATE SPACESHIP SAFETY - The private spaceflght company Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is aiming to launch the first crewed commercial spaceship to the International Space Station and has assembled a team of experts and former astronauts to help make it happen. To that end, the Hawthorne, Calif., based SpaceX has established an independent safety advisory panel has been established to provide an objective review of the company's Dragon space capsule and its carrier, the Falcon 9 rocket, the company announced Thursday More (Source: Space.com - Apr 3)
ATV PRODUCTION TERMINATED AS DECISION ON FOLLOW-ON NEARS - Confronted by parts obsolescence and waning political support, the European Space Agency has shut down subsystem production lines for the Automated Transfer Vehicle as member states debate how they will contribute to future international space exploration efforts, according to top spaceflight officials. The huge cargo freighters, weighing more than 20 tons fully loaded, will stop flying in 2014 when the fifth resupply craft delivers equipment to the International Space Station. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 3)
EUROPE’S ATV-3 SPACE FREIGHTER ADJUSTS SPACE STATION ORBIT - Europe’s ATV-3 unmanned resupply spacecraft, which docked with the ISS earlier this week, readjusted the space station’s orbit on Sunday, the Mission Control said. Two main engines of ATV-3 were switched on at 1:54 Moscow time on Sunday [21:54 GMT on Saturday] to raise the International Space Station (ISS) orbit by 1.7 km, to 389.8 km. "Engines of Europe’s ATV-3 spacecraft remained switched on for 411 seconds (almost seven minutes), giving the ISS an additional acceleration of one meter per second,” the source said. More (Source: RIA Novosti - Apr 1)
SOVIET WEATHER SATELLITE FALLS IN ANTARCTICA - Meteor 1-1, the Soviet Union's first fully operational weather satellite, fell in Antarctica on Tuesday after more than four decades in orbit, the Russian Defense Ministry said. "According to data provided by the Main Center for Space Reconnaissance, which is part of Russia's Space Forces, fragments of the Meteor 1-1 satellite entered the Earth's atmosphere at 02:17 a.m. Moscow time on Tuesday [22:17 GMT Monday]," Space Forces spokesman Col. Alexey Zolotukhin said. More (Source: Space Daily - Mar 29)
EUROPE’S THIRD CARGO VEHICLE DOCKS WITH THE SPACE STATION - Edoardo Amaldi has completed the first stage of its docking with the Russian Zvezda module of the International Space Station. The docking occurred smoothly when ATV’s docking probe was captured by Zvezda’s docking cone at 00:31 CEST ( 22:31 GMT). The docking probe is now retracting, to be followed by the hooks between the two craft closing. The data and electrical connections will then be established. More (Source: ESA - Mar 29)
COMMUNICATION SATELLITE LAUNCHED FOR INTELSAT - Intelsat's global broadband maritime & aeronautical network enhanced by successful rocket launch Intelsat S.A., a provider of satellite services, with International Launch Services (ILS) announced that an ILS Proton vehicle successfully launched the Intelsat 22 satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After a 15 hour and 30 minute mission, the Breeze M successfully released the Intelsat 22 satellite, weighing 6199 kg, into supersynchronous transfer orbit (SSTO) at a 65,000 km apogee. More (Source: MarineLink - Mar 28)
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