Scaled Composite's SpaceShipOne reached an altitude of 212,000ft (64,600m) on 13 May, on the third rocket-powered flight of the company's contender for the $10 million Ansari X-Prize. Mojave, California-based Scaled hopes to make the first non-government manned suborbital spaceflight later this year with the air-launched, reusable SpaceShipOne.
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.
