GenCorp Aerojet has been awarded a $16.4 million contract to provide a de-orbit propulsion stage for the International Space Station X-38 Crew Return Vehicle (CRV). The technology demonstrator will make an unpiloted re-entry and landing test flight from the orbiting Space Shuttle in 2000-1. The contract includes an option for a second unit and another for five stages for operational X-38 CRV missions, should the project receive full NASA funding.
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.
