The US Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center's Launch Test Programme Office has awarded Orbital Sciences (OSC) a $206 million contract to develop and launch derivatives of the Minuteman inter-continental ballistic missile for suborbital and orbital missions. OSC will combine residual M55 Minuteman 2 first stages with Minuteman 1 and 2 upper-stage motors, and advanced bipropellant liquid motors now being developed.
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.
