NASA POSTPONES LAUNCH OF GLORY MISSION - The launch of NASA's Glory spacecraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California has been postponed at least 24 hours. During the final 15 minutes before Wednesday's scheduled launch of 5:09 a.m. EST, the vehicle interface control console, a ground interface with Orbital Sciences' Taurus XL rocket, gave an unexpected reading. The cause and potential effect of the reading was not fully understood. With a 48-second available launch window, there was insufficient time to analyze the issue causing the launch to be postponed. Members of the Taurus team are troubleshooting the issue. More (Source: NASA - Feb 25)
SPACE SHUTTLE DISCOVERY LAUNCHES ON FINAL FLIGHT - NASA's most traveled space shuttle, Discovery, launched Thursday for its final voyage after nearly three decades of service. The six astronauts for the space station delivery mission headed to the launch pad in early afternoon, waving and smiling to the massive picture-taking crowd at crew quarters. Once at the pad, they paused at the base of the pad to gaze up at Discovery and embraced in a group hug, before getting on board. The crew never made it that far before; November's launch attempt ended midway through fueling. This time, no hydrogen gas seeped out during fueling. More (Source: CBS News - Feb 24)
EUROPE’S ATV SUPPLY SHIP DOCKS SAFELY WITH SPACE STATION - Eight days after launch, ESA’s latest Automated Transfer Vehicle, Johannes Kepler, completed a flawless rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station at 17:08 CET (16:08 GMT) to deliver essential supplies. The approach and docking were achieved autonomously by its own computers, closely monitored by ESA and French space agency (CNES) teams at the ATV Control Centre in Toulouse, France, as well as the astronauts on the Station. ATV's own second set of sensors and computers More (Source: ESA - Feb 24)
DISCOVERY FUELED FOR THURSDAY LAUNCH - It's taken four months to get this far, but the space shuttle Discovery is finally set for launch this Thursday afternoon. The shuttle's 39th and last flight will take a cargo carrier to the International Space station. NASA says the weather forecast gives an 80 percent chance that the launch will - finally - go ahead as planned. All six astronauts for Discovery's final mission, STS-133, are now at the Kennedy Space Center for prelaunch preparations, and commander Steve Lindsey and pilot Eric Boe have been practicing landing approaches in a Gulfstream II jet modified to simulate a shuttle's cockpit, motion and handling qualities. More (Source: TG Daily - Feb 23)
MSU SMALL SATELLITE SCHEDULED TO LAUNCH - A small research satellite built by Montana State University students is scheduled to launch into space early Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base along with a larger NASA satellite on a mission to study fine airborne particles. Montana State's "Explorer-1 Prime" is meant to replicate the 1958 scientific mission that detected the existence of a band of charged particles held in place by the Earth's magnetic field. The band was named the Van Allen radiation belt after the late James Van Allen. More (Source: KULR-TV - Feb 23)
NASA TO LAUNCH NEWEST EARTH-OBSERVATION SATELLITE - NASA is ready to launch its newest Earth-observing satellite. The satellite dubbed Glory is scheduled to blast off early Wednesday from Vandenberg Air Force Base on the central California coast. Once in orbit, it will join a constellation of satellites already collecting climate data. Glory will study tiny airborne particles and their influence on climate change. The $424 million mission was supposed to fly last year, but a problem with the satellite's solar arrays delayed the launch. More (Source: The Associated Press - Feb 23)
RUSSIAN DEFENSE SATELLITE IN WRONG ORBIT - A Russian defense satellite sent into the wrong orbit can't perform its mission, said First Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir Popovkin. Popovkin made the comments Sunday at the IDEX 2011 arms show in Abu Dhabi, ITAR-Tass reported. The Geo-IK-2 defense satellite was launched from the Plesetsk spaceport earlier this month by a Rokot rocket. More (Source: UPI - Feb 22)
NASA DISCUSSES LAUNCH OPTIONS FOR SHUTTLE DISCOVERY'S FINAL FLIGHT - After an hours-long meeting at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA's top officials unanimously cleared the space shuttle Discovery for its final launch next Thursday (Feb. 24). NASA shuttle managers made the decision today (Feb. 18) during the mission's Flight Readiness Review, where they discussed the current state of Discovery, the International Space Station, and the astronauts who will fly the orbiter on its 39th and final flight. Following the meeting, NASA officially set the shuttle's launch date and time for Feb. 24 at 4:50 p.m. EST (2150 GMT). "I can't say enough about the work the teams have done, they did a tremendous job," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, said in a news briefing today. More (Source: Fox News - Feb 21)
YAHSAT'S FIRST SATELLITE ARRIVES SUCCESSFULLY AT LAUNCH SITE - Satellite Y1A, the first satellite of Al Yah Satellite Communications Company PrJsc (Yahsat), has arrived at The European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. Y1A, which will be the first satellite owned and operated by the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, arrived according to schedule for the satellite's Q1 launch. Y1A was air-freighted using the biggest aircraft in the world (Antonov) from the EADS Astrium construction facility in Toulouse, France on February 15th and is now in the hands of Arianespace, the world's leading launch service and solutions company. More (Source: AME Info - Feb 21)
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