ILS AND SS/L'S EASY BREEZY...LAUNCH ASIASAT 7 ON A BREEZE - AsiaSat 7, a new communications satellite of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company Limited (AsiaSat), was launched at Hong Kong Time 3:10 a.m. on the 26th of November on an International Launch Services (ILS) Proton Breeze M launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. This was the fifth commercial mission of the year for ILS and the eighth Proton launch so far this year. A follow up report indicates that 9 hours and 13 minutes after liftoff, AsiaSat 7 successfully separated from the launch vehicle weighing over 3.8 metric tons, into the planned geostationary transfer orbit.    More
(Source: SatNews Publishers - Nov 28)

SPACE JUNK ALERT CALLED OFF FOR SPACE STATION CREW - NASA said a piece of Chinese space junk would fly harmlessly past the International Space Station and called off an alert for the three crew members in orbit. On Tuesday afternoon, Mission Control at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston told the station crew — commander Dan Burbank of NASA and Russian flight engineers Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin — that a piece of shrapnel from a Chinese weather satellite that was destroyed in 2007 might be coming a little too close for comfort.    More
(Source: MSNBC - Nov 24)

SOYUZ TMA-02M SPACECRAFT RETURNS TO EARTH WITH THREE CREWMEMBERS - The Russian Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft, also going by its US designation of 27S, has undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) and returned to Earth on Tuesday morning, carrying three members of the outgoing Expedition 29 crew. As the second of the new “digital” Soyuz TMA-M variants, a special attitude control test was performed post-undocking.    More
(Source: NASASpaceflight.com - Nov 22)

CHINA LAUNCHES TWO SATELLITES - After successfully docking two space modules in outer space for the first time as part of its efforts to build its own space station by 2020, China on Sunday launched two satellites, one of which is aimed at conducting "experiments with space technologies." The satellites, named Chuangxin 1-03 and Shiyan Satellite 4, were launched into orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province by the Long March 2D carrier rocket.    More
(Source: Times of India - Nov 21)

SATELLITE PAIR LAUNCHED BY LONG MARCH ROCKET - An experimental technology demonstration satellite and a spacecraft to collect and relay data for disaster relief ascended into orbit on a Long March 2D rocket this weekend. The payloads lifted off at 0015 GMT Sunday (7:15 p.m. EST Saturday) from the Jiuquan launching base in northwestern China. A 134-foot-tall Long March 2D booster soared into the dawn sky from Jiuquan, where it was 8:15 a.m. Sunday local time. The two-stage, hydrazine-fueled launcher was expected to place the Shiyan 4 and Chuangxin 1-03 satellites into a sun-synchronous orbit. Chinese state media reported the launch was successful.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Nov 21)

CHINESE CRAFT RETURNS FROM SPACE DOCKING MISSION - An unmanned Chinese spacecraft returned to Earth on Thursday night after it docked twice with an orbiting module in preparation for the country launching its own space station. The Shenzhou 8 craft landed by parachute in China's western desert after more than two weeks in space. It docked twice with the Tiangong 1 module, which remains in orbit, during a mission proving China capable of successfully docking by remote control. Early U.S. astronauts did so manually.    More
(Source: The Associated Press - Nov 18)

SPACE STATION’S ORBIT TO BE RAISED BY 6 KM - The orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) will be raised on Friday by 6 km (3.72 miles) to 392 km (243.5 miles), a spokesman for Russia’s Mission Control said. The orbit’s correction will be carried out with the use of thrusters of Russia’s Zvezda module. "The thrusters will be switched on for 217 seconds starting at 08.07 a.m. Moscow time (04:07 GMT)," the official said. "As a result, the average orbit will be increased by six kilometers to 392.3 km."    More
(Source: RIA Novosti - Nov 18)

ARIANESPACE TO LAUNCH SATELLITE FOR DIRECTV LATIN AMERICA - Arianespace and DIRECTV have announced a new launch contract for a satellite providing services for DIRECTV Latin America. The launch will take place in 2014 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on an Ariane 5. DIRECTV has exercised an option in their multi-launch contract with Arianespace for the launch of an additional satellite that will provide services for DIRECTV Latin America. Arianespace has already been contracted to launch DIRECTV-14 and 15 within the same time frame.    More
(Source: Space Daily - Nov 18)

NEW CREW DOCKS SAFELY AT SPACE STATION - The first post-shuttle-era crew to launch toward the International Space Station arrived at the outpost Wednesday after a two-day flight from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. With cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov in the commander's seat, a Soyuz spacecraft docked to the Poisk module on the Russian side of the station. Poisk, named for the Russian word for "Search," was added to the station in 2009. It is a dual-purpose docking compartment and airlock. Flying in the Soyuz on either side of Shkaplerov were cosmonaut Anatoly Ivanishin and U.S. astronaut Dan Burbank. The link-up came at 12:24 a.m. — about nine minutes earlier than scheduled — as the Soyuz and the station flew high over the South Pacific.    More
(Source: USA Today - Nov 17)

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