United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Delta 4 rocket carrying a military communications satellite is ready to lift off from Cape Canaveral, on May 23. The launch will mark the return to operations for Delta 4, which has remained idle since last October after it suffered a low-thrust condition on its upper stage. The rocket received the clearance for flight although the [...]
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UK Astronaut Tim Peake Confirmed for ISS Duty
Timothy Peake, the former British Army Air Corps helicopter test pilot, was officially announced to be the UK’s first astronaut to visit the International Space Station (ISS), in a press conference held in London on 20th May. It was revealed that Peake will fly to the ISS in 2015, and spend 6 months onboard the station as part of Expedition [...]
As ATV Launch Approaches, Damage to Docking Sensor Still to be Assessed
While the fourth European ATV has been sitting on top of an Ariane 5 launcher set for launch to the International Space Station (ISS) on June 5, engineers are still analyzing a potential problem with a Laser Radar Reflector (LRR) which allows ATV’s autonomous approach to the station. On April 26, Progress M-19M cargo docked at the ISS with one [...]
Kepler Telescope in Safe Mode After Reaction Wheel Failure
NASA’s Kepler space telescope has once again entered safe mode, most likely due to an attitude error. The spacecraft, during a scheduled semi-weekly contact, was found oriented with the solar panels facing the sun, slowly spinning in the Sun’s direction. The spin made it difficult to communicate with the space telescope. “This is something that we’ve been expecting for a [...]
Roscosmos Neglects to Mention Loss of Military Satellite
The Breeze-KM Upper Stage that lifted off with a Rockot launch vehicle from Plesetsk on January 15, has apparently encountered a previously unreported problem affecting the deployment of the three military communications satellite carried onboard. The three Strela 3M Rodnik satellites are derived from the Strela satellite family created in the Soviet Union during the 1960s. Rodnik satellites have a useful [...]
China Reportedly Performs ASAT Test Disguised as Sounding Rocket (Updated)
A story from the Free Beacon states that China conducted a test of new anti-satellite (ASAT) weapon on Monday according to officials. The missile, which was identified as the new Dong Ning-2 ASAT missile, was launched from the Xichang Space Launch center. While Chinese authorities have not officially acknowledged the test, they have confirmed that a test of a sounding [...]
Branson Claims SpaceShipTwo is Environmentally Benign
Virgin Galactic’s founder Richard Branson has intervened about the environmental impact of SpaceShipTwo from Singapore, where he was attending the international summit organized by Carbon War Room, on May 13. Carbon War Room is an environmental charity organization, founded by Branson himself with other entrepreneurs in 2009, fostering market-based incentives to reduce carbon emissions. “We have reduced the (carbon emission) [...]
Expedition 35 Crew Comes Back to Earth after 5 Months
Expedition 35, composed of Canadian Chris Hadfield, American Tom Marshburn, and Russian Roman Romanenko, has safely touched ground in Kazakhstan as of 2:31 GMT, on May 14 after 146 days in orbit aboard the International Space Station (ISS). “For me this was just a personification of what the International Space Station is, and what the people mean to it,” said [...]
Successful EVA Fixes Ammonia Leak
Expedition 35 Flight Engineers Chris Cassidy and Tom Marshburn ventured outside the International Space Station (ISS) to inspect and replace a pump controller box, which was the suspected source of an ammonia coolant leak, on May 11. The two astronauts investigated the cooling loop of power channel 2B on the ISS’s far port truss (P-6). The system appeared to be clean [...]
ISS Ammonia Loop Springs a Leak
On May 9th, the current crew of the International Space Station reported seeing white flakes being vented from an area near the station’s P6 truss structure. Further investigations using handheld cameras and remotely operated external cameras have revealed that the source of the leak was an ammonia loop, which is used for cooling the power channels onboard the station. As the [...]
