Russia's Khrunichev company has revealed that it has built a back-up Control Module for the International Space Station (ISS) in case the prime module is lost in a launch failure when the ISS programme kicks off with a Proton flight on 20 November. The backup module could be used later in the ISS programme as a laboratory or a cargo spacecraft.
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.
