Space Adventures has signed a $20 million firm contract with the Russian space agency for an unidentified space tourist to fly aboard a Soyuz TMA orbital flight in 2004-5 on a regular mission to the International Space Station. The US company has also tentatively booked a TMA mission for two space tourists on a flight with a Russian commander.
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.
