Cash-starved Russian space agency Rosaviakosmos is studying the option of evacuating the International Space Station as it will not be able to provide the recovery Soyuz TM Expedition Crew return craft nor Progress cargo ferries. Pressure on NASA to support Rosaviakosmos to keep the ISS operational is not an option, says the US agency.
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.
