The eighth crew of the International Space Station (ISS) returned to Earth on 30 April after six months. Station commander Michael Foale (NASA) and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Kaleri landed in Kazakhstan in a Soyuz TMA-3 command module, along with European Space Agency astronaut André Kuipers, who had spent 11 days on the ISS.
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.
