Baikonur, Kazakhstan (AFP) Oct 10, 2007 - A Russian rocket carrying Malaysia's first astronaut and the first female commander of the International Space Station blasted off on a Soyuz rocket on Wednesday from Baikonur.
Moscow (RIA Novosti) Oct 10, 2007 - A Proton rocket will launch three global navigation Glonass satellites October 25 from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, the system's manufacturer said Thursday. Nikolai Testoyedov, general director of the Reshetnev Applied Mechanics Production Association, said the launch will go ahead despite a recent Proton-M rocket crash. On September 6, a Proton-M rocket, with a Japanese satellite onboard, was launched from the Baikonur space center.
Kuala Lumpur (AFP) Oct 9, 2007 - Space fever has gripped Malaysia as the nation prepares to watch its first astronaut blast off into space from a launch site in Kazakhstan on Wednesday.
St. Louis MO (SPX) Oct 09, 2007 - Boeing has shipped the third Thuraya communications satellite from its satellite manufacturing facility in El Segundo, Calif., to the Sea Launch Home Port in Long Beach, Calif., where it will be prepared for a November launch. Based on the flight-proven 702 satellite model, Thuraya 3 is the third Boeing GEO-Mobile spacecraft manufactured for Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Company.
Guildford UK (SPX) Oct 09, 2007 - Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) is to launch two new enhanced Disaster Monitoring Constellation (DMC) satellites in the fourth quarter of 2008. Deimos-1, which was built for Deimos SL (Spain) and SSTL's UK-DMC2 will be launched onboard a Dnepr rocket from the new Kosmotras launch site in southern Ural.
Paris, France (SPX) Oct 09, 2007 - Around 180 kg of dry cargo which is to be carried into space on board Jules Verne, the first Automated Transfer Vehicle, is currently undergoing final preparation in Turin, Italy, ahead of shipment to the launch site in Kourou, French Guiana. The cargo items which will be on board the inaugural flight of the European-built Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) when it docks with the International Space Station (ISS) early next year include spare parts for the European Columbus laboratory and the ATV itself.
Baikonur, Kazakhstan (AFP) Oct 8, 2007 - The Russian rocket due to take Malaysia's first astronaut into orbit was raised into position on Monday ready for a launch seen by Malaysian officials as a national milestone.
Kourou, French Guiana (SPX) Oct 08, 2007 - Arianespace successfully orbited two communications satellites today (October 5) from the Spaceport in French Guiana: Intelsat 11 for the international operator Intelsat, and Optus D2 for the Australian operator Optus. Both satellites were built by Orbital Sciences Corporation, and were carried on an Arianespace Ariane 5 GS vehicle. This was 34th flight of an Ariane 5, and the 20th success in a row for the workhorse launcher.
Baikonur, Kazakhstan (AFP) Oct 7, 2007 - Russian engineers put the final touches on Sunday to a Soyuz spacecraft in which Malaysia's soon-to-be first astronaut Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor will fly to the International Space Station.
Turin, Italy (AFP) Oct 7, 2007 - He lit the imagination of countless youngsters with tales of derring-do -- of submarines that explored the depths of the oceans, of adventurers who crept to the centre of the Earth, of doughty pioneers who travelled to the Moon.
Kourou, French Guiana (AFP) Oct 5, 2007 - An Ariane 5 rocket blasted off here on Friday and put into orbit an Australian and US television satellites, Arianespace said.
Moscow (AFP) Oct 5, 2007 - A Russian member of parliament is to become the next space tourist in 2008, replacing a US computer game developer scheduled to fly at the same time, the Kommersant daily reported on Friday.
Bel Air, CA (SPX) Oct 05, 2007 - I didn't expect that when I joined the 62 Mile Club festivities I would actually hear a recording of Sputnik in its raw beep beep beep. The sound that reminds me of many a movie transitions in sci-fi. The beep beep beep was played back by Rick Citron who recorded this with his brother 50 years ago.
Cape Canaveral FL (SPX) Oct 05, 2007 - As NASA revamps Launch Complex 39B to host the new Orion spacecraft and Ares I rocket of the Constellation Program, engineers are preparing to install a new kind of departure system to evacuate astronauts. The agency calls it the Orion Emergency Egress System, but it is fundamentally a group of multi-passenger cars on a set of rails reminiscent of a roller coaster. Its purpose is to move astronauts and ground crew quickly from the vehicle entry on the launch pad to a protective concrete bunker in case of an emergency.
Moscow (AFP) Oct 4, 2007 - Russia on Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik, the tiny satellite whose crackly beeps launched the Space Race between the Cold War superpowers.
Beijing, China (SPX) Oct 04, 2007 - Tourists are being invited to pay 800 yuan (105 U.S. dollars) to witness the launch of China's first lunar satellite in Xichang, southwest Sichuan province. A travel agency in Xichang, where one of China's major satellite launch sites is located, has designed special travel packages for tourists wishing to view the historic launch. Tourists will have to pay 800 yuan to witness the launch from two observation platforms 2.5 km from the site, Wang Cheng'an, a manager at Xichang Jinying Travel Agency, told Shanghai Morning Post.
