Sea Launch launched a Zenit 3SL booster from the Odyssey platform in the Pacific Ocean on 19 June, carrying the 24 C-band, 25 Ku-band, 4,640kg (10,200lb) Space Systems/Loral 1300 spacecraft-based Galaxy 16 communications satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit.
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.
