Constellations, Launch, New Space and more…
Next South Korean Launch Set for June

South Korean rocket will launch again in June
Spaceflight Now

South Korea plans another flight of its small satellite launcher in June, nearly a year after the rocket’s first mission was doomed when its payload shroud did not separate, according to the rocket’s Russian contractor.

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  • April 1, 2010
Buzz Aldrin: Astronaut, Dancer…iPhone App

APP COMPANY PRESS RELEASE

The APP Company announced today the release of the Buzz Aldrin Portal To Science and Space Exploration. Available immediately for $1.99 on the Apple iTunes and App Stores, this iPhone App launched by the pioneering Apollo astronaut and moonwalker Buzz Aldrin takes the user on a journey through the world of everything that is Space Exploration.

This legendary space hero revealed that he was moved to design this app by the rush of interest in global space activity, particularly among young people, which he found resulted from the current celebration of the 40th anniversary year of his, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins’s Apollo 11 mission and First moon landing.

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  • April 1, 2010
Administration Reverses Self on Moon Decision – Sort Of
Altair

NASA's Altair lander - now with 100 percent fewer astronauts.

Don Draper
The Unassociated Press

WASHINGTON, April 1, 2010 — Bowing to heavy Congressional pressure, the Obama Administration announced that we was restoring the space agency’s plans to return to the moon by 2020 – albeit with a slight twist.

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  • April 1, 2010
New Book Examines Responsible Use of Space

SECURE WORLD FOUNDATION PRESS RELEASE

A new publication provides a fresh comprehensive evaluation on how to achieve the sustainable use of space by means of respecting fairness and responsibility.

The Fair and Responsible Use of Space – An International Perspective has been released as the fourth volume in the series “Studies in Space Policy” edited by the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) and published by SpringerWienNewYork.

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  • March 31, 2010
India Seeks to Hike Launch Rate, Encourage Domestic Industry and Deepen International Partnerships

A few updates on the growing Indian space program, which is looking at a higher launch rate, deeper domestic risk taking, and additional international partnerships. The Deccan Herald reports:

“We are planning to launch 10 satellites per year, beginning fiscal 2010-11. We have a series of satellites and launch vehicles at various stages of preparation,” Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K. Radhakrishnan told reporters. Though this fiscal (2009-10), it could launch only three — Oceansat-2, Risat-2 (radar imaging satellite) in association with Israeli Aerospace Industries, and Anusat, a micro-satellite. Oceansat-2 also carried six nano-satellites of foreign countries as additional payloads.

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  • March 31, 2010
Buzz Aldrin 1, Shannen Doherty 0: America’s Favorite Grandpa Keeps on Truckin’

Results are in for week 2 of Dancing With the Stars, and it looks like octogenarian moon walker Buzz Aldrin will live to tango another day.

Despite rather harsh reviews from the judges, one of whom thought Buzz was dancing in his moon boots, the 80-year-old Aldrin and his dancing partner Ashly Costa are safe for another week. Results are determined in part through viewer voting, so the Apollo 11 astronaut may be a sentimental favorite. He’s so ubiquitous these days with the dancing, the rapping and everything else, he’s sort of become America’s favorite grandfather. And who wants to send Grandpa Moon Guy packing?

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  • March 30, 2010
Video: CubeSail Nano-sats Designed to Eliminate Orbital Debris

The Surrey Space Centre plans to launch a CubeSail nano-satellite next year. The 3 kilogram spacecraft will use a 25-square meter solar sail to de-orbit satellites and rocket upper stages at the end of their useful lives. CubeSail nano-satellites could be used in swarms to deorbit existing orbital debris.

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  • March 30, 2010
SpaceShipTwo to Fly Over Spaceport America in October

WhiteKnightTwo and VSS Enterprise will perform a flyover of Spaceport America on October 22 as part of a ceremony to inaugurate the facility’s runway, New Mexico officials announced on Monday.

The event will cap off Space Week in New Mexico. It will follow the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight, which will be held on Oct. 20-21. The schedule for Space Week after the break.

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  • March 30, 2010
SwRI Officials Take to the Sky to Prep for Suborbital Flights

Dr. Dan Durda of the Southwest Research Institute aboard the Starfighters F-104 jet.

SWRI PRESS RELEASE

As part of the next phase in advancing suborbital research opportunities and their own flight preparations, Southwest Research Institute researchers and suborbital payload specialists Dr. Alan Stern and Dr. Dan Durda have begun a new element of spaceflight training with a series of jet fighter flights in F-104 aircraft operated by Starfighters Inc. at the Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The first SwRI Starfighters flights and the associated ground training, took place March 15-16.

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  • March 30, 2010
Some Local Residents Unhappy With Spaceport America Job Creation
Spaceport America's runway under construction

Spaceport America's runway under construction.

The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that some local residents are not pleased with the number of jobs that Spaceport America is generating:

Arturo Uribe, community activist in Mesquite, said there’s frustration among some area truckers, who aren’t seeing the benefits of spaceport contracts. The companies carrying out the work, he noted, aren’t obligated to make use of local employees or subcontractors.

“You have a lot of folks looking at the job situation,” he said. “Why are we as Doña Ana County residents, who are paying the most of the two counties paying a tax, not getting a lot of jobs that are coming out?”

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  • March 30, 2010