RUSSIAN SPACECRAFT LANDS SAFELY AFTER TRIP TO SPACE STATION - A Russian Soyuz spacecraft landed safely in Kazakhstan late Tuesday to return a cosmonaut and two astronauts back home from the International Space Station after nearly six months in space. The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft touched down on at about 11:25 a.m. EDT on the central steppes of Kazakhstan in Central Asia with Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov and two crewmates – one each from the United States and Japan – onboard. It was 9:25 a.m. Wednesday local time at the landing site. Recovery crews reported that the Soyuz capsule had tilted on its side after landing, which has happened before, but overall it was a smooth landing, NASA officials said.    More
(Source: Fox News - Jun 4)

CHINA LAUNCHES ANOTHER COMPASS GEO NAVIGATION SATELLITE - China lifted another Compass (Beidou-2) satellite into geostationary orbit (GEO) today (June 2) — its second such launch this year. It joins two other GEOs and a middle-earth-orbiting spacecraft in China’s second-generation GNSS system now under development. China hopes to have a regional satellite navigation system in place by 2012 to provide a regional service. Fourteen space vehicles (SVs) would comprise the regional constellation: five GEOs, four MEOs, and five inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO) satellites. The full GNSS constellation will include 27 MEOs, 3 IGSOs, and 5 GEOs.    More
(Source: Inside GNSS - Jun 4)

LAST SPACE SHUTTLE ROCKET BOOSTERS DELIVERED TO NASA - The last set of space shuttle rocket segments arrived in Florida Thursday after one final train ride from their Utah-based factory. The rocket pieces were delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida from Promontory, Utah, where they were refurbished by NASA contractor Alliant Techsystems (ATK). The 149-foot (45-meter) boosters are actually reserve rockets that would only be used to launch a rescue mission if NASA's final scheduled shuttle flight on Endeavour runs into an emergency.    More
(Source: Space.com - May 29)

AIR FORCE LAUNCHES FIRST NEXT-GEN GPS SATELLITE - The first of an advanced new fleet of navigation satellites for the U.S. Air Force soared into space late Thursday in a blazing night launch from a seaside pad in Florida. The new global positioning system (GPS) satellite, called GPS 2F-1, blasted off atop an unmanned Delta 4 rocket at 11 p.m. EDT from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. GPS 2F-1 lifted off after a week of delays due to bad weather and technical issues. It is the first of a planned fleet of 12 new satellites to provide around-the-clock navigation ultra-precise navigation and timing services for military and civilian.    More
(Source: Fox News - May 29)

SHUTTLE ATLANTIS TOUCHES DOWN AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER - Space shuttle Atlantis, switching from spacecraft to aircraft, landed successfully in Florida this morning at 8:48 am, wrapping up what could be its final voyage into space as NASA's shuttle era draws closer to its end. The U.S. space shuttle wrapped a 12-day resupply mission to the International Space Station. It was the third-to-last mission for the U.S. shuttle program and is scheduled to be the last for Atlantis. NASA's other two shuttles, Discovery and Endeavour, will make their final flights in September and November.    More
(Source: Fox News - May 26)

DELTA IV LAUNCH OF NEW GPS SATELLITE DELAYED — AGAIN - The launch of a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket carrying a new generation GPS satellite was scrubbed on Monday night just seconds before it was supposed to blastoff. It was the third time that the launch was cancelled in since Friday. Before the problem was with the telemetry signal from the satellite. This time the problem was with the rocket. “During the final seconds of the launch countdown, an anomalous data signature with the thrust vector control system on one of the two solid rocket motors mounted to the Delta IV booster was detected.,” the Air Force and ULA said in a joint statement.   More
(Source: Orlando Sentinel - May 26)

CHINA TO SET UP INDEPENDENT SATELLITE NAVIGATION SYSTEM - China is developing an independent satellie navigation system called Beidou. It's the third country after the US and Russia to have such a system developed on its own. At the first China Satellite Navigation Annual Academic Conference in Beijing, the chief designer says the system will cover the whole world by 2020 and he hopes Beidou will become the most competitive navigation system on earth. According to Sun Jiadong, the system is being completed in 3 stages.    More
(Source: Space Daily - May 25)

ATLANTIS UNDOCKS FROM STATION - At 11:22 a.m. EDT, space shuttle Atlantis undocked from the International Space Station. Atlantis spent 7 days, 0 hrs, and 54 minutes docked to the orbiting laboratory. At undocking, the spacecraft were 220 miles above the Indian Ocean, southwest of Australia.    More
(Source: NASA - May 23)

SECRET X-37B SPACE PLANE SPOTTED BY AMATEUR SKYWATCHERS - While the U.S. Air Force is mum about the orbital whereabouts of its X-37B mini-space plane, a dedicated band of amateur skywatchers has got its cross-hairs on the spacecraft. The unpiloted X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle 1 was lofted on April 22 atop an Atlas launcher. It is being flown under the auspices of the U.S. Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. In U.S. military tracking parlance, when the space plane reached orbit it became identified as Catalog Number 36514, 2010-015A, OTV-1 (USA 212).    More
(Source: Space.com - May 23)

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