31 July 2009 - Boeing plans to bid as prime contractor for the Exploration Ground Launch Services (EGLS) program to provide ground systems integration and launch operations for Constellation, NASA's next-generation space-exploration initiative. EGLS will cover ground processing, assembly, testing, integration, launch and recovery services for Constellation's Ares launch vehicles and Orion spacecraft. “We will bring innovative approaches, decades of experience and best-of-industry elements to supporting NASA as the United States transitions from the space shuttle program to Constellation,” said John Elbon, Boeing vice president and EGLS team leader. “Cost-effective practices, proven in our space, defense and commercial airplane programs, will enable efficient and safe operations.” Current Boeing support for NASA includes serving as prime contractor on the Checkout, Assembly and Payload Processing Services and International Space Station programs and as major subcontractor on the Space Shuttle Program. The company has received contracts from NASA to provide the upper stage of the Ares I crew launch vehicle and the vehicle's instrument unit avionics. Final proposals for EGLS are due Oct. 26 and NASA is expected to award the contract in April 2010.

31 July 2009 – Members of a subcommittee of the Human Space Flight Review panel have said turning over transport services to the International Space Station to private firms would allow the NASA to focus on new challenges such as space travel beyond low-Earth orbit. NASA currently spends about half of its budget on human space programs. Its future plans include completing construction of the space station with seven final shuttle missions, retiring the shuttle fleet in 2010 and developing new spacecraft that can travel to the space station, the moon and other destinations. NASA has provided seed funds for privately-funded Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), and Orbital Sciences Corp, to develop commercial spaceships to deliver cargo to the space station. The human space flight review panel is scheduled to issue its report by August 31.

30 July 2009 – Yesterday ProtoStar Ltd, the Bermuda-based satellite services operator, filed for bankruptcy protection along with its five affiliates. The company is planning to sell its two satellites, ProtoStar-1 and ProtoStar-2, through a court-supervised auction. The company was formed in 2005 and has been operating high-power geostationary satellites with leased capacity to direct-to-home satellite television and broadband service providers in the Asia Pacific region. The company employs over 20 people and has listed its assets and liabilities in its Chapter 11 filing as being in the $100 million to $500 million range with the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT), at $27.5 million, its largest unsecured creditor. ProtoStar-1, built by Space Systems/Loral, was launched in July 2008 by an Ariane 5ECA and ProtoStar-2, built by Boeing on its 601 HP platform, was launched in May this year by ILS on a Proton rocket. The satellite was handed over to ProtoStar on June 16 after Boeing successfully completed all the in-orbit tests.

30 July 2009 - Operations with Russian weather satellite Meteor-1M continue at Baikonur. Yesterday specialists of the Russian space companies began transportation of the spacecraft to site 31 for further prelaunch processing. In parallel, Russian specialists are preparing equipment at site 31 for the Fregat upper stage propellant loading operation. The Soyuz-2.1b is scheduled to launch in September. In addition to Meteor-M, the Soyuz will loft the small spacecraft Sterkh, University-2, UgatuSat, ZA-002, Blitz and the experimental system Iris.

29 July 2009 – The Dubaisat-1 satellite along with five microsatellites successfully lifted off from the Baiknour Cosmodrome at 22.47 Moscow time today. The launch was rescheduled from July 25 by ISC Kosmotras, the launch service provider. The launch was the first this year for a RS-20 Dnepr rocket. The 200kg Dubaisat will be used for urban and infrastructure planning and is the first Earth remote sensing satellite which is in full possession of the UAE.

29 July 2009 - Following the departure of Endeavour the Progress M-67 has docked with the ISS. The cargo vessel has delivered 2.5 tons of nominal cargo, like food, propellant, air., etc. Progress M-67 lifted off from Baikonur on July 24, but docked only today due to delays in the Endeavor`s mission STS-127. Progress M-67 is the 35th Progress flown in the ISS program.

29 July 2009 - The space shuttle Endeavour with the STS-127 crew members including JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata have undocked from the International Space Station to begin their trip home. Endeavour concluded 10 days and 23 hours 39 minutes of docked mission at the ISS with Japanese astronaut Wakata having stayed on board for 133 days. After undocking, the pilot flew Endeavour around the ISS. During the fly-around, the crew members took images of the areas they worked on during the mission, including the Japanese Experiment Module "Kibo".

29 July 2009 - Final operations are continuing at the RS-20 underground launch facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome ready for tonight’s Dnepr launch. The launch is to occur at 22.46 Moscow time (14.46 EDT) and will loft the following satellites: remote sensing DubaiSat-1 (UAE), high-resolution imaging Deimos 1 (UK and Spain), emergency monitoring UK-DMC 2 (UK), telecommunications Nanosat 1B (Spain) and the ow-orbit communications AprizeSat 3, AprizeSat 4 (Argentina). ISC Kosmotras is the lead company in the Dnepr program which is based around SS-18 ICBM launch. The program includes many leading rocket-and-space companies in Russia and the Ukraine. Major members are The Central Scientific and Research Institute of Machine Building (TSNIIMASH), The Design Office of Special Machine Building (KBSM), The Design Office of Transport Machine Building (KBTM), JSC ASKOND, JSC Corporation Rosobschemash of Russia and Yangel State Design Office Yuzhnoye (SDOY), Makarov Yuzhny Machine Building Plant (Yuzhmash) and The Research and Production Enterprise Khartron-Arkos of Ukraine.

27 July 2009 – The Proton-M/Breeze-M/AsiaSat-5 prelaunch processing continues at Baikonur. Today the propellant loading of AsiaSat-5 began and the Proton-M control system underwent integrated testing ready for its mid-August launch.

25 July 2009 - The Progress M-67 cargo freighter carrying 25 tons of supplies including food, water, fuel, and equipment successfully lifted off from Baikonur’s launch pad 1 (Gagarin) onboard a Soyuz-U launcher at 14.57 Moscow time yesterday. The cargo vehicle is now on its way towards the International Space Station. Progress M-67 is due to dock with the ISS at 15:16 Moscow time on July 29 - one day after the space shuttle Endeavour departs.

24 July 2009 - The Optus D3 telecommunications satellite is undergoing its pre-launch checkout at Europe's Spaceport in preparation for an August liftoff on Arianespace's fourth heavy-lift Ariane 5 mission of 2009. Following its delivery to French Guiana on Tuesday, Optus D3 was transferred to the S5C hall in the Spaceport's S5 payload preparation facility. Optus D3 is the latest geostationary-orbit telecom satellite developed by Orbital Sciences Corporation for Optus Networks in Sydney, Australia. It will provide Ku-band communications for direct television broadcasting, Internet, telephony, and data transmission to Australia and New Zealand - expanding coverage at the same orbital slot as Orbital's earlier Optus C1 satellite, located at 156 deg. East Longitude. Based on Orbital's STAR bus, Optus D3 carries a total of 32 transponders and is among the most powerful geostationary orbit telecom satellites ever built by this U.S. satellite manufacturer. Optus D3 is to generate approximately five kilowatts of payload power, with a mission design lifetime of 15 years.

22 July 2009 - ISS Roscosmos flight directors met in the Mission Control Centre today to analyze the results of the Progress M-66 operational control personnel training. The directors decided that the personnel were ready and that the lift-off will be on July 24 at 14:57 Moscow time (10:57 GMT). Progress is planned to dock to the ISS on July 29. The autonomous mission of the cargo vehicle will take 5 days due to delays with the launch of shuttle STS-127 which is to undock from the station on July 28.

22 July 2009 - Avanti Communications Group plc, has chosen Arianespace to launch the HYLAS telecommunications satellite. This new contract is the 11th signed by Arianespace with the major satellite operators. The launch of the HYLAS satellite is planned for the first semester of 2010, using an Ariane 5 or Soyuz launcher from the Guiana Space Center. HYLAS is the first satellite entrusted to Arianespace by Avanti Communications, the new European satellite operator. Avanti Communications is Arianespace's 31st new customer. HYLAS has been built by the industrial consortium grouping EADS Astrium and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) using an ISRO I-2K platform. Positioned at 33.5 degrees West, this powerful Ka band satellite will be Europe's first superfast broadband satellite, serving customers all over Europe. The satellite will weigh about 2,750 kg at launch, and has a design life exceeding 15 years.

22 July 2009 - The second of two satellite payloads for Arianespace's mid-August Ariane 5 mission has arrived in French Guiana. Optus D3 was delivered yesterday to Rochambeau International Airport near the capital city of Cayenne by a chartered cargo jetliner, which carried this Orbital Sciences Corporation-built spacecraft from its manufacturing facility in the United States. It is the third D-series satellite produced by Orbital for the Australian-based Optus telecommunications provider. The two previous spacecraft were launched by Ariane 5 missions in October 2006 and October 2007.

21 July 2009 - A Russian Cosmos-3M carrier rocket Russian rocket lifted off this morning from the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia carrying a Sterkh series satellite which will expand Russia's segment of the international COSPAS-SARSAT satellite system. The rocket also carried a Military Satellite.

20 July 2009 - RSC-Energia experts conducted a visual inspection of the Progress M-67 cargo vehicle yesterday at Baikonur. Following the inspection, TSKB-Progress specialists encapsulated the fairing. The upper composite will be transported to Soyuz launcher assembly building today.

20 July 2009 - Measat-3a satellite has now entered full commercial service.The satellite was launched on June 21 by the Land Launch team from the Baikonur Space Center in Kazakhstan on board a Zenit-3SLB launch vehicle. Measat’s fleet now comprises four satellites across three orbital locations.

20 July 2009 - ILS International Launch Services and Telesat, the world’s fourth largest fixed satellite services operator, have signed a contract for the launch on an ILS Proton of Telesat’s recently ordered Telstar 14R satellite. Telstar 14R is under construction by Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, California, for delivery to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. ILS and Khrunichev are implementing a mission integration schedule to support a mid-2011 launch. ILS has launched five Telesat satellites. A sixth, Telesat’s Nimiq 5, is scheduled to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on an ILS Proton later this year. Telstar 14R will utilize the flight proven Space Systems/Loral 1300 platform with a 15 year mission life, and a launch mass of approximately 5000 kg, replacing Telstar 14/Estrela do Sul at the orbital location of 63 degrees West. The satellite will provide long term service for Brazil, the Continental United States (including the Gulf of Mexico and northern Caribbean), the Southern Cone of South America, the Andean region (including Central America and southern Caribbean), and the North and Mid-Atlantic Ocean. The satellite’s Atlantic beam will expand on the Atlantic Ocean Region capacity of both Telstar 14 and Telstar 11N, and secure Telesat’s position as a leader in mobile broadband for maritime and aeronautical customers operating in the Atlantic.

19 July 2009 – Earlier today the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency announced that the assembly of the Japanese Experiment Module "Kibo," Japan's first manned space facility has been completed. The completion of the assembly was confirmed as the Exposed Facility was attached to the Kibo's Pressurized Module and all functions were verified to be satisfactory in the early hours of July 19, 2009. The Japanese Experiment Module "Kibo" is now fully established as a permanent on-orbit laboratory that provides both pressurized and exposed experiment environments.

18 July 2009 - NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, has returned its first images of the Apollo moon landing sites. The pictures show the Apollo missions' lunar module descent stages sitting on the moon's surface, as long shadows from a low sun angle make the modules' locations evident. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, or LROC, was able to image five of the six Apollo sites, with the remaining Apollo 12 site expected to be photographed in the coming weeks. The satellite reached lunar orbit June 23 and captured the Apollo sites between July 11 and 15. Though it had been expected that LRO would be able to resolve the remnants of the Apollo mission, these first images came before the spacecraft reached its final mapping orbit. Future LROC images from these sites will have two to three times’ the resolution.

17 July 2009 - Chandrayaan -1, India's first lunar probe, is facing a serious technical issue that might jeopardize the entire mission and bring it to a premature end, according to reports. According to The Times of India, S. Satish, a spokesperson from ISRO, has confirmed that the Star Sensors aboard the craft have failed. These are the same sensors, which help the crafts orientation towards the moon. With these having failed, the Chandrayaan is using its antenna pointing mechanism along with the onboard gyroscopes to over come the challenge. The officials, however, are unsure as to how long the spacecraft can hold on to this mode and continue functioning. The Chandrayaan was actually designed to operate normally for two years. With this issue, the life span of the craft might just be reduced. The ISRO spokesperson has, however, added that the craft itself continues to perform normally and that almost all the data that was required from the mission has already been collected. Additionally, the current snag does not affect the information-grabbing capacity of the probe. So, the mission is pretty much on, even now. The Chandrayaan made headlines last year on Oct. 22 when it became first lunar probe to be launched by India. The successor to the Chandrayaan 1, the Chandrayaan 2 is already in the works and will be launched in 2013.

17 July 2009 - Intelsat has selected Boeing to build four telecommunication satellites that will refresh and add new capacity to Intelsat's global satellite fleet. This contract is the first order for Boeing's 702B satellite series. The 702B, an evolution of the Boeing 702 satellite, offers satellite operators a spacecraft that operates in the medium-level power ranges, with six to 12 kilowatts of onboard power and a more flexible, modular design that maintains the spacecraft's advanced technologies. Under the contract, the four Boeing-built geostationary satellites, Intelsat 21, Intelsat 22, and two spacecraft yet to be named, will offer C- and Ku-band capacity optimized to distribute video, network and voice services from Asia and Africa to the Americas and Europe. In April, Intelsat announced its IS-22 satellite will include an Ultra-High Frequency government-hosted payload that will serve the Australian Defence Force.

16 July 2009 - Charles Frank Bolden, Jr., has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the twelfth administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Lori Beth Garver was confirmed as NASA's deputy administrator. As administrator, Bolden will lead the NASA team and manage its resources to advance the agency's missions and goals. "It is an honor to have been nominated by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate to lead this great NASA team," Bolden said. "Today, we have to choose. Either we can invest in building on our hard-earned world technological leadership or we can abandon this commitment, ceding it to other nations who are working diligently to push the frontiers of space." "If we choose to lead, we must build on our investment in the International Space Station, accelerate development of our next generation launch systems to enable expansion of human exploration, enhance NASA's capability to study Earth's environment, lead space science to new achievements, continue cutting-edge aeronautics research, support the innovation of American entrepreneurs, and inspire a rising generation of boys and girls to seek careers in science, technology, engineering and math." Bolden's confirmation marks the beginning of his second stint with NASA. His 34-year career with the Marine Corps included 14 years as a member of NASA's Astronaut Office. After joining the office in 1980, he travelled to orbit four times aboard the space shuttle between 1986 and 1994, commanding two of the missions. His flights included deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope and the first joint U.S.-Russian shuttle mission, which featured a cosmonaut as a member of his crew.

15 July 2009 - The weather improved at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida and enabled the space shuttle Endeavour and its crew of seven astronauts to liftoff at 6:03 p.m. EDT as scheduled. It was a case of sixth time lucky as all the previous delays were put behind them as, with good weather and no technical issues, the shuttle blasted off for its 16-day mission that will feature five spacewalks and finally see the construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory completed. Astronauts will attach a platform to the outside of the Japanese module that will allow experiments to be exposed to space. The STS-127 crew members are Commander Mark Polansky, Pilot Doug Hurley and Mission Specialists Dave Wolf, Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Tim Kopra and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette. Kopra will join the space station crew and replace Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will return to Earth on Endeavour to conclude a three-month stay at the station. Time was running out for Endeavour if it couldn’t take off by Thursday as Russia is due to launch the Progress M-67 cargo supply vehicle from Baikonur on July 24. That would have meant that Shuttle would have had to wait until July 26.

15 July 2009 - International Launch Services and SES have announced the execution of an agreement for the launch of QuetzSat-1 on an ILS Proton in 2011. QuetzSat-1 is under construction by Space Systems/Loral on behalf of SES Satellite Leasing Limited in the Isle of Man. QuetzSat-1, built by Space Systems/Loral on the flight-proven SS/L 1300 platform, is a high power Ku-band satellite that will be located at the orbital position of 77 degrees West. QuetzSat-1 will provide coverage over Mexico, North America and Central America. The satellite is fully contracted to a subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation and will be used in part by Dish Mexico, an EchoStar joint venture, for DTH services in Mexico. It is further expected that EchoStar and its Satellite Services division will provide capacity on QuetzSat-1 to a subsidiary of DISH Network Corporation for use in connection with its U.S. DTH business. Frank McKenna, President of ILS said, “ILS is dedicated to the success of SES and its customer, EchoStar, with the selection of ILS Proton to launch QuetzSat-1. This is the fourth SES satellite entrusted to ILS this year, and we look forward to providing outstanding quality, service and schedule assurance to support the continued growth of the SES satellite fleet.”

15 July 2009 - Following the successful launch of the Falcon 1 rocket that delivered Malaysia’s RazakSAT into the correct orbit, SpaceX’s Elon Musk, CEO and CTO, told SatTV Launch Update “This marks another successful launch by the SpaceX team.” Falcon 1, a two-stage, liquid oxygen/rocket-grade kerosene vehicle designed and manufactured by SpaceX, lifted off Monday, July 13, at 8:35 pm (PDT). Lift off occurred from the Reagan Test Site (RTS) on Omelek Island at the U.S. Army Kwajalein Atoll (USAKA) in the Pacific Ocean, approximately 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. RazakSAT was designed and built by Astronautic Technology (M) Sdn Bhd (ATSB), a pioneer and leader in the design and manufacture of satellites in Malaysia. “Our ground systems were able to pick up communication from RazakSAT on its first pass,” said Norhizam Hamzah, Senior Vice President / Chief Technical Officer, Space Systems Division, ATSB. “The satellite is communicating as expected and our team will continue to monitor the data closely.” Preliminary data indicates that the RazakSAT, equipped with a high resolution Medium-Sized Aperture Camera (MAC), achieved the intended Near-Equatorial Low Earth Orbit (NEqO) at 685 km altitude and a 9 degree inclination. The payload is expected to provide high resolution images of Malaysia that can be applied to land management, resource development and conservation, forestry and fish migration.

15 July 2009 - TerreStar Corporation has announced that TerreStar-1, the world's largest, most advanced commercial communications satellite, has been successfully placed into its assigned orbital slot in the geosynchronous arc and has successfully deployed its 18 meter 2GHz S Band reflector, the largest commercial satellite antenna ever deployed. TerreStar-1 is now poised to deliver the voice, data and video services over TerreStar's all IP next-generation mobile broadband network that combines the power of TerreStar-1, an all-IP core network, and the latest in smartphone technology.

15 July 2009 – The six volunteers who took part in the 105-day experiment to simulate a flight to Mars at the Institute of Medical and Biological Studies in Moscow have all said they feel finel . The four Russians - astronauts Oleg Artemyev and Sergei Ryazansky, oncologist Alexei Baranov, and sports physiologist Alexei Shpakov - along with two members of the European Space Agency, French civilian pilot Cyrille Fournier and German mechanical engineer Oliver Knickel, spent over three months in a lab that simulated life on board a spaceship. Each participant underwent a variety of physical, psychological and professional tests during the mission and the scientists also tested various life-support, communications and scientific equipment. The 105-day trial was a continuation of a 14-day experiment on November 2007, and precedes the main event, a 520-day simulation flight due to start in late 2009-early 2010. The 520-day experiment will simulate all aspects of a journey to the Red Planet, with a 250-day outward trip, a 30-day stay on its surface, and a 240-day return flight.

15 July 2009 - Tanking operations are under way at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The loading of the space shuttle's external tank with a half-million gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen began at 8:38 a.m. EDT. The three-hour process will provide the fuel and oxidizer Endeavour's three main engines need for the 8 1/2 minute trip to orbit. The weather at Kennedy remains at a 60-percent chance for favorable weather for an early-evening liftoff at 6:03 p.m. The primary weather concerns for launch are the potential for showers and thunderstorms near the Shuttle Landing Facility.

14 July 2009 - Liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-127 mission has been rescheduled for Wednesday, July 15 at 6:03 p.m. EDT. Monday's attempt was cancelled due to poor weather conditions within the launch area at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Anvil clouds and storm cells containing lightning flared up toward the end of the countdown, violating stringent launch safety rules. "Technically, we've been really clean the last two days with our vehicle," Launch Integration Manager Mike Moses said of Endeavour's launch attempts on Sunday and Monday. "It's just been the weather scenario that got us." The outlook is better on Wednesday, with only a 40 percent chance of weather conditions prohibiting liftoff.

13 July 2009 - The countdown to launch of space shuttle Endeavour is under way at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the shuttle's large orange external tank has been filled with a half-million gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. Both propellants have reached "stable replenish," in which small amounts that boil away during the rest of the countdown are replaced. Stable replenish will continue until the final minutes before launch. The countdown has entered a two-hour, thirty-minute planned hold at T-3 hours. Launch is scheduled for a 6:51 p.m. EDT, with weather being the only concern.

13 July 2009 - AsiaSat 5 has arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in preparation for launch by a Proton launch vehicle currently scheduled for early to mid-August. AsiaSat 5 is a replacement satellite for AsiaSat 2 at the orbital location of 100.5 degrees East. The spacecraft, based on Space Systems/Loral’s 1300 satellite bus, is designed to provide advanced satellite services including television broadcast, telephone networks and VSAT networks for broadband multimedia services across Asia Pacific. The satellite will carry 26 C-band and 14 Ku-band transponders, and has an estimated operational life of 15 years. It will offer an enhanced pan Asian C-band footprint that covers more than 53 countries spanning from Russia to New Zealand and from Japan to the Middle East and parts of Africa. Its Ku-band coverage will consist of two high-power fixed Ku-band beams over East Asia and South Asia, and an in-orbit steerable Ku beam. The three Ku-band beams are designed with switching capability to switch any uplink to any downlink beam to meet specific application requirements.

11 July 2009 - Space shuttle Endeavour's launch to the International Space Station has been postponed until Sunday to give technical teams more time to evaluate lightning strikes at the launch pad that occurred during thunderstorms Friday. Liftoff is scheduled for 7:13 p.m. EDT. Sensors indicted there were 11 lightning strikes within 0.35 miles, which is inside the launch pad's threshold. Teams have seen nothing so far that indicates anything has been affected. The Mission Management Team will meet at 8 a.m. Sunday to evaluate the latest data. Fueling of the external fuel tank is scheduled to begin at 9:48 a.m. Sunday.

11 July 2009 - At NASA Kennedy Space the launch team will meet today at 9:30 a.m. for a weather briefing before fueling space shuttle Endeavour ready for the take off of the STS-127 mission which is scheduled for 7:39 p.m. EDT today.

11 July 2009 - The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have successfully conducted a comprehensive ground test for the H-IIB Launch Vehicle today by using the Ground Test Vehicle at the Tanegashima Space Center. Although the GTV was not equipped with the fairing, the flight engine and four Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB-As) were attached. During the test, the exact same procedures as the real launch procedures were followed until the engine ignition for the final confirmation of the vehicle, ground facilities and operation procedures. The H-IIB Launch Vehicle is a result of the H-II series rockets that were first developed in the 1980s.

9 July 2009 - Stormy weather may cause a delay to NASA’s intended launch of space shuttle Endeavour on Saturday. Endeavour is due to lift-off from Kennedy Space Center at 19:39 EDT on Saturday 11 July, however yesterday forecasters were putting the odds of acceptable weather at just 40 percent.

9 July 2009 - The shareholders in Starsem (EADS Astrium, Russian space agency Roskosmos, TsSKB-Progress/Samara Space Center and Arianespace) held the company’s Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 in Paris. During the meeting they approved the financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2008, which saw the launch of the second precursor satellite for the Galileo constellation, Giove-B. Starsem posted sales of 42.88 million euros and reached break-even for the year. Following the Annual General Meeting, the Starsem Board of Directors met and appointed Jean-Yves Le Gall as Chairman and CEO of the company, concurrently with his position as Chairman and CEO of Arianespace. Victor Nikolaev was named Chief Operating Officer of the company. Starsem plans to carry out four launches in the coming months, on behalf of Arianespace, to orbit 24 satellites for the Globalstar 2 constellation. It will also launch the MetOp 2 satellite for Eumetsat. Starsem is actively working with Arianespace to prepare for the operation of Soyuz launchers from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana.

9 July 2009 - The shuttle's STS-127 mission to the International Space Station is scheduled to lift off at 7:39 p.m. EDT on Saturday, July 11. Endeavour embarks on its 23rd mission for a 16-day flight that will deliver Tim Kopra to the International Space Station as a flight engineer and science officer, return Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata to Earth and complete construction of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Kibo laboratory. Astronauts also will attach a platform to the outside of the Japanese module that will provide a type of "porch" for experiments in the exposed environment. They also will attach a robotic arm to the Kibo Pressurized Module to conduct experiments outside the station. The mission will include five spacewalks. NASA postponed Endeavour's first two June launch attempts because of a leak associated with the gaseous hydrogen venting system outside the shuttle's external fuel tank. The system is used to carry excess hydrogen safely away from the launch pad. Mark Polansky will command the shuttle Endeavour for STS-127. Doug Hurley will serve as the pilot. Mission specialists are Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Dave Wolf and Julie Payette, a Canadian Space Agency astronaut. Hurley, Cassidy, Marshburn and Kopra will be making their first trips to space. STS-127 is the 29th shuttle mission to the International Space Station.

8 July 2009 - The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have been given approval by the Space Activities Commission (SAC) to launch the H-IIB Launch Vehicle with the H-II Transfer Vehicle onboard to the International Space Station. The scheduled launch date is Friday September 11 at 2:04 JST. The time will be determined by an updated orbit of the ISS. The launch will take place from the Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Tanegashima Space Center. The H-IIB Launch Vehicle is the largest new-model rocket in Japan and was specifically designed to launch the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV) which has a mass of about 16.5 tons and will carry supplies and experiments to the ISS. The H-IIB launch vehicle is a two-stage rocket using liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as propellant and has four strap-on solid rocket boosters (SRB-A) powered by polibutadiene. It has two liquid rocket engines (LE-7A) in the first-stage, unlike the H-IIA which has one. It has four SRB-As attached to the body, while the standard version of H-IIA had two SRB-As. In addition, the H-IIB's first-stage body has been expanded to 5.2m in diameter. As a result the H-IIB needs 1.7 times more propellant.

7 July 2009 - Astrium, Europe’s leading space company, is conducting a study for a future European Transport System, ARV (Advanced Re-entry Vehicle), on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA). Astrium is exploring the requirements for a system transporting cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) and back to Earth as well as the necessary steps to realise such a program. The ARV programme study by ESA amounts to €21 million. “Astrium, in its role as industrial prime contractor for the Columbus laboratory and the ATV, has built up leading edge competencies which will pave the way for the development of transporting cargo for return to Earth,” said Dr. Michael Menking, Head of Orbital Systems and Space Exploration, Astrium. “It would be possible to have a European unmanned cargo transport system based on the ATV ready for its first demonstration flight by 2016.” The European spaceship needs to be equipped with the capability to return to Earth safely, as the present version of the ATV burns up when it re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere. This evolutionary step is in any case a useful and even necessary undertaking, in view of the fact that there will be only limited means of transporting material back from the space station to Earth when NASA retires its shuttle fleet from service in 2010. After that, the only option will be to use the Russian Soyuz capsule to bring back crew members and material from the ISS.

6 July 2009 - Asia Broadcast Satellite has selected Space Systems/Loral to manufacture the ABS-2 spacecraft which is scheduled for launch in 2012 with Arianespace. It will be launched by an Ariane 5 ECA from the Guiana Space Center, Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.ABS-2 will be the most powerful commercial satellite ever launched in the Asia Pacific region with nearly 14kW of payload power and up to a total of 78 active C-band, Ku-band and Ka-band transponders across 8 different beams. The ABS-2 spacecraft separated mass will be in excess of 6,000kg at launch and is designed for 15 years of operational life. It will be co-located with ABS-1 at 75 degrees East Longitude. The ABS-1 satellite is one of the most successful satellites in Asia Pacific in terms of fill rate with more than 14 years of fuel life remaining. ABS-2 will expand the success of ABS-1 by adding up to 78 transponders to the already existing 44 transponders for a total of 122 active transponders at the 75°E orbital location.

4 July 2009 – With the delayed launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour now rescheduled for July 12 the completion of Kibo, the Japanese Experiment Module on the ISS, moves closer. The STS-127 mission is to ship the Exposed Facility and Experiment Logistic Module Exposed Section of the lab which is the last of the Kibo designated assembly flights. After the STS-127 Mission objectives are completed, Kibo will be seen in its final configuration attached to the front of the ISS and Astronaut Koichi Wakata, whose stay at the ISS has reached over 100 days, will return on the Endeavour.

4 July 2009 - In the first half of 2009 Russia has made 15 successful launches. This is 3 launches more than in the first half of 2008 and 5 more than in 2007. 11 launches occurred from Baikonur, 4 from Plesetsk. Russia plans to make 39 launches this year.

3 July 2009 – On Thursday morning the Indonesia Aeronautics and Space Agency successfully launched an Indonesian-developed rocket into space at 08.00 local time. The unmanned experimental RX-420 rocket took off from a launch pad in Pameungpeuk, several kilometers from the town of Garut, West Java and follows the successful launch of RX-320 rocket last year. The 6.2-meter RX-420 rocket carried a GPS device, an accelerometer and a temperature sensor and fell to earth after just a few minutes when its fuel burn finished at a peak height of around 50 kilometers. Indonesia hopes to be able to develop a rocket to to send a satellite into space by 2014.

2 July 2009 – Yesterday Arianespace successfully launched the largest commercial satellite, TerreStar-1, into geostationary transfer orbit for North American operator TerreStar Networks Inc.This was the 45th Ariane 5 launch and the 31st success in a row. The launch was carried out by an Ariane 5 ECA from the European Space Port in the Guiana Space Center at 02:52 pm, Kourou time, Wednesday 1 July. The TerreStar-1 satellite will be the foundation for a reliable, secure and resilient satellite terrestrial mobile broadband network that will provide voice, data and video services dedicated to helping solve the critical communication and business continuity challenges faced by government, emergency responders, enterprise businesses and rural communities. Capable of managing some 500 spot beams, TerreStar-1 will have a design life exceeding 15 years in orbit.

1 July 2009 - ILS International Launch Services successfully carried the SIRIUS FM-5 satellite into orbit on an ILS Proton. This was the third commercial mission of the year for ILS and the fifth successful Proton launch of 2009. ILS has launched the entire SIRIUS three-satellite constellation beginning with the first launch in 2000. The ILS Proton Breeze M launched from Pad 39 at the cosmodrome at 1:10 a.m. today local time (3:10 p.m. EDT, 19:10 GMT). After a 9 hour 14 minute mission, the Breeze M successfully released the SIRIUS FM-5 satellite, weighing over 5.8 metric tons, into geo-transfer orbit. This was the 346th launch for the Proton. The Proton Breeze M vehicle is developed and built by Khrunichev Research and Production Space Center of Moscow, Russia’s premier space manufacturer. The SIRIUS FM-5 satellite, located at 96 degrees West, was built on the flight proven Space Systems/Loral 1300 platform and is the fourth satellite in SIRIUS’ constellation, all built by Space Systems/Loral. SIRIUS FM-5 is one of the most powerful satellites constructed with an X-band uplink and an S-band downlink payload. The satellite carries a range of technologies which will allow for highly concentrated transmissions to small, advanced devices. “Our partnership with SIRIUS goes back many years; ILS has launched all of the SIRIUS satellites. It is an honor to be entrusted, once again, with the expansion of their satellite constellation, with the advanced technologies that the powerful SIRIUS FM-5 satellite will provide,” said ILS President Frank McKenna. ILS has exclusive rights to market the Proton, Russia’s premier heavy-lift vehicle, to commercial satellite operators worldwide. ILS is a U.S. company located in Reston, Virginia, near Washington, D.C. The majority owner is Khrunichev Space Center, one of the cornerstones of the Russian space industry and manufacturer of the Proton system.

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