Satellite News

Rocket: H-IIA; Payload: Hayabusa 2, Shin’en 2 (Abyss 2), ARTSAT2:DESPATCH; Date: 3 December 2014, 042 UTC; Launch site: Tanegashima Space Center.

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) announced the successful completion of a major milestone relating to the Reaction Control System (RCS) propulsion risk reduction for the Dream Chaser Space System, known as Milestone 15a.

European Space Agency (ESA) ministers “took a major decision — to develop a new launcher, the Ariane 6, which will replace the Ariane 5, with a maiden flight scheduled for 2020,” French Research Minister Genevieve Fioraso said in a statement after the European Space Agency (ESA) Ministerial Council meeting in Luxembourg.

Rocket: Soyuz 2-1b; Payload: GLONASS K; Date: 30 November 2014, 2152 UTC; Launch site: Plesetsk, Russia. The navigation satellite was successfully placed in its target orbit.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced another delay of the launch of Hayabusa 2, again because of bad weather.

NASA has approved the completion of Boeing’s first milestone in the company’s path toward launching crews to the International Space Station from the United States under the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract.

The launch of the H-IIA Launch Vehicle No. 26 (H-IIA F26) with the Asteroid Explorer “Hayabusa 2″ onboard has been rescheduled as clouds including a freezing layer that exceeds the restrictions for suitable weather are forecast to be generated at around the scheduled launch time on 30 November, 0424 UTC.

Comprehensive tests of the heavy-lift Angara A5 [also known as Angara 5] have been completed at Plesetsk. The launch vehicle (LV) was installed on the multi-purpose Angara pad.