Space shuttle Endeavour was moved from Launch Pad 39B to Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center this week in preparation for the STS-126 mission to the International Space Station, which is to lift off on 14 November. Endeavour was moved between pads so workers there could continue modifications to the complex for the Ares I-X test flight in 2009. The Shuttle's payload was also delivered to Pad A last week.
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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.
The Boeing X-37 Orbital Test Vehicle, operated by the US Space Force, will return to orbit atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy booster for its seventh long-endurance flight mission.
The US space agency is asking aerospace suppliers to design a new orbital craft that could be used to perform a controlled de-orbit of the multinational space station, which is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2030.
The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter successfully completed its 54th flight over the red planet, after NASA was able to re-establish control of the rotorcraft after it executed an emergency landing in July.
