Russia's Energia and US-led MirCorp are planning to market Soyuz tourist flights. Russia will provide seven-day flights on Soyuz spacecraft with the standard attached orbital module providing the sightseeing facilities for two tourists. The Soyuz would be piloted by a commander, without a flight engineer. Earlier versions of the Soyuz flew independent missions and in 1970, the two crew flew the longest such mission lasting 17 days and 17hr.
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.
