NASA hopes to launch Space Shuttle mission STS101 Atlantis on International Space Station mission 2A-2A on 24 April, despite replacing a 155kg (340lb) power drive unit that controls the rudder of the orbiter during landing. The unit has never been replaced at the launch pad with the orbiter vertical.
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.
