The maiden flight of India's Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) has been delayed to 2001, says the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Integrating the Indian booster with its Russian-built cryogenic upper stage, which will be used on the first flights of the GSLV, has proved more difficult than anticipated. The $240 million GSLV will be able to place 2,500kg (5,500lb) payloads into geostationary transfer orbit.
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.
