International Space Station (ISS) Expedition Crew 6 astronauts, commander Ken Bowersox and science officer Don Pettit, will make a 6.5h spacewalk on 7 or 8 April to install a back-up power supply on one of four gyroscopes which has experienced several intermittent power interruptions.
The spacewalkers, working from a station on the mobile transporter "railcar", will in addition make preparations for the planned STS 115 Endeavour ISS assembly flight.
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.
