Japan's National Space and Development Agency has been given approval from the Kiribatis Government to build a spaceport on Kiritimati (formerly Christmas Island) to support landing operations for the unmanned Hope X spaceplane, which will be used to provide logistics services to the International Space Station. Kiritimati will be leased free of charge for seven years, then at $950,000 a year for 13 years.
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.
