Satellite News

Rocket: Delta II 7420-10; Payload: COSMO-SkyMed 3 [COSMO 3]; Date: 25 October 2008, 0228 UTC; Site: Vandenberg Air Force Base, USA. The spacecraft was deployed to low-Earth orbit approximately 58 minutes after lift-off.

Rocket: Chang Zheng 4B; Payload: Shijian 6-3A, Shijian 6-3B [this is a guess as individual satellite names were not published]; Date: 25 October 2008, 0015 UTC; Site: Taiyuan Launch Center, China. Both satellites separated from the rocket and entered orbit 12 minutes after lift-off.

Chandrayaan-1 has entered deep space after crossing the 150,000 km distance mark from the Earth. This happened after the successful completion of the spacecraft’s third orbit raising manoeuvre on 26 October.