NASA's Office of Inspector General says the agency did not properly acquire $334 million-worth of spare parts for the International Space Station (ISS). It says it used non-competitive contract modifications to acquire them from Boeing. Because it has no pricing histories, NASA may not be able to cost-effectively and competitively procure around $608 million in future ISS spares.
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.
