SPACE SHUTTLE - Atlantis is to return to Earth after an extended 13-day International Space Station (ISS) solar array assembly mission.
The mission included a spacewalk to repair the torn flap of the left orbital manoeuvring system pod's thermal protection blanket on the Space Shuttle Atlantis, as well as Russian ISS segment computer failures.
Atlantis is scheduled to land at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 13:54 local time on 21 June.
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.
