Boeing has offered to reimburse NASA for the loss of two spare oxygen and nitrogen tanks, valued at $750,000, built for use aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The 1.5 x 1.5m tanks (5 x 5ft) were left outside an ISS component assembly building in wooden crates and were accidentally taken to a dump at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama.
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.
