Japan's first Mars probe, Nozomi, has used the moon for the first of a series of gravity-assist swing-bys, as part of its flight campaign en route to the Red Planet. A second moon swing-by will be performed in December and another will be made in October 1999, using the earth to reach its target .
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.
