China's planned lunar orbiter, to be launched in 2007, will be based on the Dongfanghong communications satellite bus and will be launched by a Long March 3A booster, says the China National Space Administration. The flight will be followed in 2010 and 2020 by a lunar lander and lunar sample return mission, respectively.
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.
