The European Space Agency has placed orders with Arianespace for the launch of nine Automated Transfer Vehicles for the International Space Station (ISS) on Ariane 5s. They are being designed by an Aerospatiale-Matra-led consortium and will be launched from 2003.
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.
