NASA's Mars Odyssey 2001 spacecraft, launched by a Delta II on 7 April, has taken an image of the crescent Earth and the moon using its Thermal Emission Imaging System. From a distance of 3 million km, it measured surface temperatures on the Earth's south pole of –50°C.
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.
