NASA's Galileo Jupiter orbiter plunged into the Jovian atmosphere on 21 September to be destroyed to prevent contamination of the subsurface water oceans the probe may have discovered on the icy moon Europa. Launched by Space Shuttle in October 1989, Galileo reached Jupiter in December 1995, releasing an atmosphere probe and making 35 orbits.
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.
