China's state media has reported that the country plans to launch an orbital test of a crewless spacecraft by the end of the year and put a person into orbit in about 2005. A Space Shuttle-type vehicle is also planned, but its development will depend on a new Long March 5 booster capable of carrying 20t into low earth orbit.
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.
