EUROPE'S SPACE FREIGHTER, JOHANNES KEPLER, HAS LIFTED OFF FROM FRENCH GUIANA ON AN ARIANE 5 ROCKET. - The robotic truck is heading to the space station with new supplies of food, air, fuel, and experiments, as well as other equipment. Kepler weighed just over 20 tonnes at launch, making it the biggest payload ever lifted into the sky by an Ariane. It was a historic moment for the rocket, too - the 200th Ariane since the vehicles were initiated in 1979. The launch from the Kourou spaceport occurred at 18hr 50min and 55sec local time (21:50.55 GMT) - the instant needed to put the truck on the right path to catch the International Space Station (ISS) in eight days' time.    More
(Source: BBC News - Feb 16)

NEW LAUNCH ATTEMPT OF ATV-2 SET FOR THIS EVENING - Following a measurement anomaly in the liquid oxygen propellant tank of the cryogenic main stage for Flight 200's Ariane 5 launcher, yesterday's countdown was stopped. The new launch time has been set for this evening at 22:50:55 CET. Yesterday's final countdown was stopped 4 minutes and 1 second prior to the planned lift-off time. The launch vehicle and its payload, ATV Johannes Kepler, remain in a safe mode awaiting restart of the final countdown operations.    More
(Source: Space Ref - Feb 16)

ARIANE 5 BLASTOFF SCRUBBED MINUTES BEFORE LAUNCH - Launch of the European Space Agency's automated cargo freighter for the International Space Station was scrubbed four minutes before liftoff by a technical issue with the Ariane 5 rocket's fueling system. European officials hope to try again Wednesday at 2150 GMT (4:50 p.m. EST) if the problem can be resolved   More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Feb 15)

ARIANE 5 ROCKET TO LAUNCH EUROPEAN CARGO CRAFT - The European Space Agency is gearing up to launch an automated cargo freighter Tuesday for the International Space Station, continuing a wave of resupply missions to the orbiting lab from three continents. The Automated Transfer Vehicle, Europe's second such spacecraft, is due for liftoff at 2213:27 GMT (5:13:27 p.m. EST) aboard an Ariane 5 rocket launched from the Guiana Space Center, a French-run spaceport on the northeast coast of South America.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Feb 15)

NO WEDNESDAY DEPLOYMENT OF ARISSAT-1 - AMSAT learned on Friday morning, 11 FEB 11 that the deployment of the ARISSat-1 satellite had been removed from the RSA EVA 28 timeline by RSC-Energia management. NASA was informed that the ARISSat-1 deployment would be deferred to a later RS EVA, due to changes in the tasks associated with the configuration of RS pay-loads to be performed during RS EVA 28. Subsequently, RSC-Energia informed NASA that deployment of ARISSat-1 will be added to RSC EVA 29 currently scheduled for July 2011.    More
(Source: AMSAT - Feb 15)

NASA CONSIDERS UNIQUE PHOTO OP DURING DISCOVERY MISSION - NASA managers, engineers and contractors met Friday for a program-level review of the shuttle Discovery's ground processing and readiness to launch Feb. 24 on a long-delayed space station assembly mission. An executive-level fight readiness review is planned for Feb. 18. Along with reviewing ground processing and external tank repairs, shuttle managers also are considering the possibility of staging what might be considered the ultimate photo op during Discovery's mission to deliver critical supplies and a final U.S. module to the space station.    More
(Source: Space Flight Now - Feb 13)

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)

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