SHUTTLE LEAVES SPACE STATION TO BEGIN TRIP HOME - Space shuttle Endeavour has departed the International Space Station, clearing the way for a final cargo run to the outpost before NASA retires its three-ship fleet. As the spacecraft sailed 215 miles above Bolivia, pilot Greg Johnson gently pulsed Endeavour's steering jets at 11:55 p.m. EDT on Sunday (0355 GMT on Monday) to back away from the docking port that has anchored the shuttle since its arrival on May 18. Endeavour delivered the station's premier science experiment -- the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer particle detector -- and a pallet of spare parts intended to tide over the orbital outpost after the shuttle program ends.    More
(Source: Reuters - May 31)

MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC PUTS ST-2 SATELLITE INTO ORBIT - Mitsubishi has announced the successful injection of the ST-2 communications satellite into geostationary orbit. The satellite, built for a joint venture between Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) and Taiwan's Chunghwa Telecom Company Limited (Chunghwa Telecom), was launched from Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana at 17:38 on May 20 (local time) using an Ariane5 launch vehicle.    More
(Source: Space Daily - May 31)

SOYUZ CREW RETURNS TO EARTH AFTER SHUTTLE PHOTO OP - Outgoing space station commander Dmitry Kondratyev, Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli and Catherine "Cady" Coleman undocked and returned to Earth Monday, pausing briefly to snap long-sought pictures of the station with a space shuttle attached before dropping out of orbit and landing in Kazakhstan to close out a 159-day voyage. Sailing 220 miles above eastern China, the Soyuz TMA-20 spacecraft undocked from the Russian Rassvet mini-research module at 5:35 p.m. EDT (GMT-4), backing straight away from the space station.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - May 24)

ENDEAVOUR ASTRONAUTS TALK WITH TUCSON ELEMENTARY STUDENTS - The elementary school classmates of a young girl killed in the January shootings in Tucson spoke with astronauts aboard NASA's space shuttle Endeavour late Sunday to get a glimpse of what life in space is like. About 400 students from Mesa Verde Elementary School in Tucson, Ariz., stayed up late Sunday night (May 22) for the chance to talk to Endeavour shuttle commander Mark Kelly and mission specialist Mike Fincke as the astronauts sailed 216 miles (347 km) above Earth. The cosmic call was organized by NASA for Kelly, the husband of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was wounded in the Jan. 8 attack that killed six people. Among those killed was 9-year-old Christina Taylor-Green, a student at Mesa Verde.    More
(Source: Space.com - May 24)

SOYUZ UNDOCKING COULD BE SHUTTLE PHOTO OPP - For the first time, a Russian space taxi is scheduled to leave the station while a shuttle is docked there. The departure presents what may be the only opportunity to take pictures NASA and many space fans covet of the shuttle, on the eve of its retirement, parked at the $100 billion outpost that is its greatest legacy. "Hopefully those pictures will show up in textbooks for years to come," said Kenny Todd, NASA's station manager for operations and integration.    More
(Source: USA Today - May 24)

ORBIT RAISING OPERATION OF GSAT-8 CONDUCTED SUCCESSFULLY - The first critical orbit-raising manoeuvre of GSAT-8 was successfully conducted on Sunday with the firing of the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) on board the satellite for 95 minutes by commanding the spacecraft from ISRO’s Master Control Facility at Hassan in Karnataka. The satellite was oriented suitably before the start of LAM operations prior to this critical manoeuvre, Bangalore- based Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said.    More
(Source: The Hindu - May 23)

TAIWAN, SINGAPORE LAUNCH SATELLITE - Taiwanese telecom operator Chunghwa Telecom has launched its second communications satellite in a joint venture with Singapore Telecommunications. The launch of the ST-2 satellite took place from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana late Friday local time, Taiwan's state-funded Central News Agency reported. The satellite will have a life span of 15 years and will replace the ageing ST-1 satellite that Chunghwa Telecom and Singapore Telecommunications put into orbit in 1998, according to the agency.    More
(Source: NEWS.com.au - May 23)

SATELLITE LAUNCH WITH CHINA PLANNED - The country would launch a communication satellite together with China on August 14 as a part of Independence Day celebrations, the local newspaper Dawn reported on Saturday. The new communication satellite would replace the SAT-1 which is on the verge of expiry, Dawn quoted an official in Beijing as saying. The satellite would go into orbit on August 14 as a mark of friendship between Pakistan and China, an official said after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s visit to China’s Academy of Space Technology on Friday.    More
(Source: Oman Tribune - May 23)

NEXT-GENERATION WEATHER SATELLITE READY FOR OCT. 25 LAUNCH - Ball Aerospace workers have successfully completed two months of subjecting the next-generation U.S. weather satellite to the rigors of launch and space. The car-size orbiter — called NPP, for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project — is set for an Oct. 25 launch. The NPP — a collaboration of NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the U.S. Department of Defense and private contractors such as Ball — will continue what experts call the critical monitoring of weather, atmosphere, oceans, land and near-space environment.    More
(Source: Denver Post - May 19)

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