US SPACE SHUTTLE UNHARMED AFTER TOOL ACCIDENT - Inspectors found no damage to the Space Shuttle Discovery or to its external reserve tanks after a thin multi-piece measuring tool fell during repair work, NASA said Thursday. The accident has not compromised Discovery's February 24 mission to the International Space Station (ISS), said Allard Beutel, spokesman at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A feeler gauge -- a 13-part metal tool about as thick as a piece of paper held together by a retainer screw -- came apart late Wednesday and fell from the launch pad, Beutel told AFP. The accident took place as technicians changed a seal at the ground umbilical carrier plate, or GUCP, on the shuttle's external fuel tank.    More
(Source: AFP - Feb 12)

HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENTS TO PARTICIPATE ON “EXTRA” SHUTTLE MISSION - A new opportunity for students to be part of history and fly an experiment on what could be the last space shuttle mission has been announced by the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) for the STS-135, the shuttle mission that might fly in June of 2011. “We hope to get 50 communities and 100,000 students participating in the initiative which allows grade 5-14 student design of real experiments to fly aboard Atlantis, and engages entire communities,” Dr. Jeff Goldstein, the Director for the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education told Universe Today. “This is very unique opportunity for students and teachers to be part of a high visibility, keystone U.S. national STEM education program of the highest caliber.”    More
(Source: Universe Today - Feb 10)

CLASSIFIED SATELLITE CLIMBS TO SPACE ON MINOTAUR ROCKET - A trailblazing payload for the National Reconnaissance Office successfully rocketed into orbit on a Minotaur 1 booster Sunday, beginning a secret mission testing new ways to collect intelligence from space. The mission was codenamed NROL-66 in the agency's rocket acquisition naming system. The payload is also called RPP, which is short for Rapid Pathfinder Program. "I commend everyone who made this launch successful," said Robert Brodowski, director of the NRO's advanced science and technology directorate. "This mission is just one example of our ability to rapidly build and launch small spacecraft with on-orbit capabilities that increase the value of NRO systems to our nation's future."    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Feb 8)

IRAN TO UNVEIL OBSERVATION SATELLITE - Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi says two domestically-manufactured satellites will be unveiled during the Ten Days of Dawn celebrations. “The two satellites, Fajr (Dawn) and Rasad (Observation) will be unveiled during the Ten Days of Dawn celebrations,” Vahidi said on Saturday, but did not provide an exact date. “The launch date of these satellites will be announced soon,” Mehr News Agency quoted Vahidi as saying. Fajr is the first satellite with the ability to change from the elliptical orbit of 300-450 kilometers to a circular orbit of 450 kilometers which increases the life expectancy of the satellite by one year and a half.    More
(Source: Press TV - Feb 6)

NPP WEATHER SATELLITE NEARLY READY FOR CRUCIAL MISSION - The oft-delayed NPOESS Preparatory Project, once a symbol of bureaucratic mismanagement, is back on track for liftoff in October on an essential mission to supply weather and climate data to meteorologists. The U.S. weather satellite is more than halfway though a series of environmental tests to verify the craft's ability to withstand the harsh conditions of rocket flight and low Earth orbit. Originally planned to launch in 2006, the NPP satellite was conceived as a research and technology demonstration mission. But cascading delays of the country's next-generation polar weather satellites thrust NPP into a make-or-break role as an operational asset for forecasters.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Feb 5)

SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY'S PREPARATIONS CONTINUE FOR UPCOMING LAUNCH - Space Shuttle Discovery was rolled out onto Launch Pad 39A early on Tuesday morning, and the preparations to get it ready for its upcoming launch continue. NASA technicians performed a liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen system functional and check for the shuttle after its arrival to the launch pad. Leak tests are scheduled for Friday. Technicians also worked on connecting the ground umbilical carrier plate (GUCP) on Tuesday and powered up the shuttle as part of the initial systems check.    More
(Source: Examiner.com - Feb 3)

NRO PATHFINDER SATELLITE SCHEDULED TO LAUNCH SATURDAY - The U.S. military plans to launch a Minotaur rocket Saturday with a secret technology research mission for the National Reconnaissance Office, the government agency that oversees the country's spy satellites. The solid-fueled Orbital Sciences Corp. Minotaur 1 launcher is scheduled to lift off some time Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The launch window is a secret for now, but the Air Force plans to announce a time for the blastoff Thursday evening.   More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Feb 3)

RUSSIAN CARGO SHIP DOCKS WITH SPACE STATION - An unmanned Russian cargo ship docked with the International Space Station to deliver three tons of supplies to the outpost's crew, including a tiny satellite and birthday gifts for the orbiting lab's commander. The automated Progress 41 space freighter, which blasted off from Russia's Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday, hooked up with the International Space Station at 9:39 p.m. ET Saturday (5:39 a.m. Sunday Moscow time). There's a wealth of goodies packed aboard the Progress 41 spacecraft for the space station's six-person crew. The station is currently home to three Russians, two Americans and one Italian astronaut.    More
(Source: MSnBC - Jan 30)

ARISSAT-1 BLASTS OFF - At 0132 UTC January 28, a Soyuz-U rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan carrying the Russian Progress M-09M cargo vehicle to orbit for a rendezvous with the International Space Station (ISS). In addition to delivering fuel, oxygen, food and other supplies, the Progress contains the new AMSAT ARISSat-1 Amateur Radio satellite. Progress is scheduled to dock with the space station on January 30 at 0240 UTC. ARISSat-1 will be manually jettisoned from the ISS during a spacewalk on February 16. The satellites features a new software defined transponder that will provide simultaneous 2-meter FM, CW, BPSK transmissions, as well as a Mode U/V (70 cm uplink, 2 meter downlink) transponder.    More
(Source: ARRL - Jan 28)

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