Satellite News

Rocket: Proton M; Payload: Kosmos 2434 [Raduga 1-8?]; Date: 9 December, 0019 UTC; Site: Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The military satellite was put into its designated orbit approx. nine hours after lift-off.

NASA said it would launch space shuttle Atlantis no earlier than Sunday. And another attempt is planned for early Sunday (UTC) to launch the Italian COSMO SkyMed-2 satellite aboard a Delta II.

The launch of NASA’s space shuttle Atlantis will take place no earlier than 8 December at 2043 UTC. Officials were to decide today whether to fly with sensors that provide erroneous readings or to postpone the launch until January 2008. A decision hadn’t been announced at the time of writing.

Russia successfully conducted preliminary tests of an engine for the first stage of the new-generation Angara carrier rocket, the Khrunichev State Research and Production Center said.

NASA has delayed today’s planned launch of space shuttle Atlantis on its STS-122 mission to the International Space Station. The next lift-off opportunity is 7 December at 2109 UTC.

The launch of the Delta II COSMO SkyMed-2 mission has been delayed to no earlier than 7 December.

A prototype of the P80 rocket motor, which will power the first stage of ESA’s new small launcher Vega, was successfully tested on 4 December at the Guiana Space Centre, Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) announced a date for the launch of the H-IIA F14.