The European Space Agency's geostationary orbiting Artemis communications technology satellite has been unveiled at Alenia Aerospazio in Rome amid fears that its scheduled launch on a Japanese H2 Alpha Plus in 1999 is likely to be delayed at least until February 2000 because of development problems with the new booster.
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.
