The Space Shuttle STS78/ Columbia was launched on the Life and Microgravity Spacelab mission from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 20 June. The science mission, which will be similar to a shift aboard the International Space Station, may last for 17 days, the longest to date in the Shuttle programme.
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.
