Arianespace successfully launched its 100th Ariane 4 booster, carrying the 4,170kg (9,200lb) Alcatel Spacecom/Loral Space and Communications Europe-Star communications satellite into a 200km (125 miles) by 35,955km geostationary transfer orbit on 29 October.
The company has had a 100% success rate with its nine launches this year and plans two more before 2001, including the 14 November flight of an Ariane 5 with PanAmSat 1R.
Source: Flight International
China’s AVIC has secured a contract from the China Manned Space Agency to develop a winged, reusable spacecraft called Haolong.
The UK Space Command’s first owned earth observation microsatellite has been launched, providing the inaugural element of a planned space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) constellation.
Orbital launch pioneer SpaceX is being contracted by the American space agency NASA to develop a so-called “US Deorbit Vehicle” that can safely return the International Space Station to Earth via controlled re-entry.
