The US Air Force has formally handed over its launch pad 46 at Cape Canaveral to Spaceport Florida Authority (SFA) for use by commercial-launcher companies, including Orbital Sciences and Lockheed. The USAF awarded SFA a payment of $2.74 million, while additional funding will come from the space industry and the state of Florida.
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.
