Scaled Composites has performed the first manned glide test of SpaceShipOne, its X-Prize contender. The craft was dropped from its mother ship at 47,000ft (14,300m) at 105kt (195km/h) on 7 August, and reached 150kt before landing at Mojave, California. The company aims to conduct two manned sub-orbital spaceflights within a fortnight.
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.
