The crew of International Space Station Expedition 12 – lasting from September to April 2006 – will not prepare for arrival of the European Space Agency’s automated transfer vehicle (ATV), confirming another delay to the ATV, which officially could fly from February. Nine of the vehicles are planned to be launched by Ariane 5 ECA from Kourou, French Guiana, to supply the station.
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.
