Lockheed Martin launched its record 12th Atlas vehicle of 1995 on 15 December, carrying the Hughes Galaxy 3R into geostationary transfer orbit from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Atlas 2A was the 11th deep space launch of the year - matching Arianespace's 1995 launch rate. The 12th operation was a polar-orbital launch of a NOAA satellite on a refurbished Atlas missile from Vandenberg AFB, California.
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.
