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Mission Deployments & Manifests

Nextgen GlobalStar Sats Started By Thales Alenia + Arianespace

August 28, 2008 / Mission Deployments & Manifests

Globalstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:GSAT) announced that satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Space has begun production assembly, integration, and testing of the first Globalstar 2G flight model satellites. Globalstar, Thales Alenia Space, and Arianespace company officials presented the latest updates to members of the media and investment community at the Thales Alenia Space satellite manufacturing facility located in Cannes, France.

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NASA Rolls Atlantis As Fay Leaves

August 26, 2008 / Launch Sites & Infrastructure

NASA rolled the orbiter Atlantis from its processing hangar into the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building after getting a break from Tropical Storm Fay to move the spaceship from one building to another. The quarter-mile move set the stage for the huge event in just about seven days. The excitement mounts as NASA preps for the Hubble service mission.

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Busy Man in Space

August 22, 2008 / Mission Deployments & Manifests

It may be tiny but that doesn't stop the Isle of Man, which has had a busy week in space. August 15 saw the AMC-21 satellite, procured by SES’ leasing company, SES Satellite Leasing Limited in the Isle of Man, successfully roar into space onboard an Arianespace Ariane 5 ECA launch vehicle from the French Guiana Spaceport in Kourou.

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Inmarsat-4 F3 Takes Off On a Breeze

August 21, 2008 / Mission Deployments & Manifests

Celebrations are underway after hard work and cooperation between international companies has paid off in a big way. The Proton Breeze M launch vehicle lifted the Inmarsat-4 F3 satellite into orbit from Pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan marking the third mission of the year for International Launch Services (ILS). After a 9-hour-3-minute mission, the launcher successfully released the satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit.

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Orbital Sciences MEASAT Back To the Drawing Board

August 13, 2008 / Launch

We reported yesterday about the delay in launching the MEASAT 3a satellite, but at that time didn't have all of the details. Since then we've learned that Orbital Sciences Corporation [NYSE: ORB] is supporting its customer, MEASAT Satellite Systems [MSE: MEASAT] in replanning the MEASAT 3a satellite mission following an accident that occurred over the weekend resulting in a damaged spacecraft.

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Constellation Considerations Capture NASA’s Agenda

August 12, 2008 / Defense Budgets & Procurement

In a news conference yesterday, NASA managers discussed how the agency will be adjusting the budget, schedule, and technical performance milestones for its Constellation Program to ensure the first crewed flight of the Ares I rocket and Orion crew capsule in March 2015. The Constellation Program is developing the spacecraft and systems, including the Ares I and Ares V rockets, the Orion crew exploration vehicle, and the Altair lunar lander, that will take astronauts to the International Space Station after the retirement of the space shuttle, and eventually return humans to the moon.

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BADR-6 Sat Becomes ARABSAT’s Own

August 11, 2008 / Mission Deployments & Manifests

The BADR-6 satellite, built by EADS Astrium, has been handed over to ARABSAT as part of the in-orbit delivery contract. The satellite has now entered commercial service. BADR-6 is the third spacecraft built by Astrium for ARABSAT, the communications satellite operator based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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Astrium + GISTDA Move Ever Closer To THEOS Launch

August 5, 2008 / Mission Deployments & Manifests

THEOS, the THailand Earth Observation Satellite developed by Astrium for the Thai Space Agency GISTDA (Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency) is expected to be launched on August 6th aboard a Dnepr rocket from the Yasny launch site in Russia. THEOS will observe the Earth from the same orbit as the French Spot-5 satellite at 820 km altitude.

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NASA’s Nanos Sail On

August 1, 2008 / Launch Providers

NASA is planning to fly two nanosatellites as secondary payloads aboard the SpaceX Falcon 1 rocket in either August or September of this year. Spaceflight engineers and project managers at NASA's Ames Research Center, and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, teamed together to arrange a fast-paced, low-cost mission.

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