Satellite News

At Baikonur, the DirecTV 12 telecommunications spacecraft was fuelled today in preparation for a scheduled 29 December launch aboard a Proton Briz M launch vehicle.

Rocket: Delta IV; Payload: WGS-3; Date: 6 December 2009, 0147 UTC; Launch site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, USA. The military communication satellite separated from the launcher approx. 41 minutes after lift-off as planned.

Roskosmos has confirmed that the first launch of the new Angara rocket, which had been scheduled for 2011, have been put back by one year owing to lack of financing.

The launch of the U.S. Air Force’s Delta IV Wideband Global SATCOM-3 (WGS-3) mission is now targeted for 6 December with a launch window of 0023 – 0147 UTC.
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The first flight of an Indian GSLV with indigenous cryogenic upper stage was slightly delayed and is now expected to take place in January.
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Arianespace’s wrap-up Ariane 5 flight of 2009 has entered final preparations for its lift-off next week with France’s Helios 2B military observation satellite.

The launch of NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, aboard a Delta II rocket is scheduled to occur between 1409 and 1423 UTC on Wednesday, 9 December from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

The launch of the Air Force Delta IV Wideband Global SATCOM-3 (WGS-3) mission scheduled for 3 December (UTC), has been delayed 24 hours owing to approaching inclement weather.