NEXT SPACE STATION CREW SOARS INTO ORBIT ATOP SOYUZ - A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying two rookie cosmonauts and a NASA shuttle veteran blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Monday evening (U.S. time), streaking into orbit and setting off after the International Space Station. Mounted on the same launch pad used by Yuri Gagarin to become the first human in space 50 years ago April 12, the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft roared to life at 6:18:20 p.m. EDT (GMT-4), the moment Earth's rotation carried the pad into the plane of the space station's orbit (4:18:20 a.m. April 5 local time). Belching brilliant jets of flame from its liquid-fueled strap-on boosters, the Soyuz rocket climbed away through a clear pre-dawn sky, putting on a spectacular show for Russian and U.S. space managers, family members, engineers and a throng of well wishers    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Apr 6)

GOCE GRAVITY SATELLITE HAS PLENTY OF FUEL TO KEEP FLYING - Europe's GOCE satellite is collecting exquisite data on Earth's uneven gravity field and has enough xenon fuel to maintain its low-altitude orbit for continued operations through 2013, according to the mission's project manager. The European Space Agency released last week a sneak peek of Earth's gravity field in a lumpy spherical representation called a geoid, a three-dimensional map of the planet's surface and oceans if tides and currents did not exist.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Apr 5)

STATION FIRES ENGINES TO AVOID ORBITAL DEBRIS - At 10:36 p.m. EDT, ground controllers moved the International Space Station away from a piece of orbital debris. The object is a relic from a collision between the COSMOS 2251 and Iridium 33 satellites in February 2009 and had been close to the station's orbit prior to the debris avoidance maneuver (DAM). The DAM, performed during the Expedition 27 crew sleep period, used thrusters from three spacecraft, the European Space Agency's Johannes Kepler Automated Transfer Vehicle 2 (ATV2), the Zvezda service module and Progress 41P.    More
(Source: Space-travel.com - Apr 4)

NASA DELAYS LAUNCH OF SHUTTLE ENDEAVOUR BY 10 DAYS TO AVOID SPACE TRAFFIC JAM - NASA has delayed the last launch of the shuttle Endeavour toward the International Space Station by at least 10 days, to April 29, in order to avoid a space traffic jam with an unmanned Russian cargo ship, also headed for the orbiting laboratory later this month. Endeavour is now targeted to blast off on its STS-134 flight on Friday, April 29 at 3:47 p.m. EDT (1947 GMT), NASA officials said. The decision to postpone the launch removes a scheduling conflict with a Russian Progress cargo ship, which is currently scheduled to launch April 27. The robotic Progress vehicle will arrive at the station on April 29.    More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 4)

IRAN PLANS TO JOIN APSCO SATELLITE-BUILDING PROJECT - Iran intends to design and build a remote sensing satellite jointly with Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) member states. "Iranian scientists have always taken part in APSCO meetings," the Head of Iranian Space Agency (ISA) Hamid Fazeli told ISNA adding that, "designing and building a remote-sensing satellite is one of the fields for cooperation." "We plan to gain a larger share in building the satellite," he continued, "the country's share is to be set based on Gross Domestic Product (GDP), but Iran is struggling to gain a larger share." The launch aimed at testing the function of programming systems and subsystems.    More
(Source: ISNA - Apr 4)

NASA SAYS ENDEAVOUR SUSTAINED MINOR STORM DAMAGE - A powerful storm including a lightning strike in the launch pad area caused minor damage to the space shuttle Endeavour, a NASA official said Thursday. Continuing bad weather has prevented further inspection of the shuttle scheduled to launch on its final mission on April 19, said Allard Beutel, a spokesman at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The storm Wednesday included a wind gust of 90 miles per hour at launch pad 39A, as well as a lightning strike "inside the pad perimeter," Beutel said.   More
(Source: CNN - Apr 1)

ARIANE ABORT PRODUCES FIRE AND SMOKE, BUT NO BLASTOFF - With its hydrogen-fueled Vulcain main engine already spewing flame, an Ariane 5 rocket was dramatically grounded Wednesday by a last-second abort moments before two mighty solid rocket boosters were to have ignited to send the 1.7-million-pound launcher toward space. The 16-story rocket was due to lift off at 2145 GMT (5:45 p.m. EDT), but a final computer check of the Ariane 5's health uncovered a problem that triggered the cutoff of the countdown, according to Jean-Yves Le Gall, Arianespace's chairman and CEO.    More
(Source: Space Flght Now - Mar 31)

AMATEUR SKYWATCHERS SPOT SECRET SPACE PLANE - After an intense search, a crew of amateur satellite sleuths has spotted the U.S. Air Force's second X-37B space plane – a robotic spacecraft that launched into orbit March 5. The mission of the unmanned X-37B space plane, which is known officially as the Orbital Test Vehicle 2 (OTV-2), is shrouded in secrecy. The Boeing-built spacecraft is believed to be involved in reconnaissance — perhaps testing powerful sensors for a new generation of spy satellites. It looks much like a small version of NASA's space shuttles and blasted off from the Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. While its mission is secret, the OTV-2 itself has attracted the eyes of dedicated skywatchers hoping to spot it in orbit just as they saw its predecessor – the first X-37B spacecraft, OTV-1 – during the OTV-1's months-long flight last year.    More
(Source: Fox News - Mar 30)

PAKISTAN TELECOM SET TO LAUNCH NEW SATELLITE - A hallmark of Pak-China joint venture, Pakistan telecommunication satellite Paksat 1R will be launched on August 14, the Independence Day of Pakistan, which also happens to be the date for the 50th anniversary of SUPARCO, an official said on Monday. Paksat-1R is being developed in China to replace the currently in-orbit leased satellite Paksat-1. The timely development and launch of this satellite is important as Paksat-1 is reaching the end of its service life next year.    More
(Source: The News International - Mar 23)

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