The Space System/Loral-built DirecTV 8 broadcast satellite was launched by an International Launch Service Proton/Briz M booster from Baikonur on 23 May. Boeing launched a Delta II from Vandenberg AFB, California, on 20 May carrying the NOAA 18-N polar orbiting meteorological satellite.
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.
