Space Shuttle: December 2007 Archives

And here's that horizontal "launch"

And here is Buran with its carrier aircraft

And read this fantastic Flight report all about Buran here

While NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis' launch for its STS-122 mission has been pushed back to January, the much delayed Boeing Delta II launch finally got off the ground, as did a Russian military satellite

The Russians are also making progress with their new Angara rocket

And finally, this report talks about China's use for its new Compass navigation system for the 2008 Beijing Olympic games

Clark Lindsey's Hobbyspace.com and Space Politics are both carrying reports about moves to get an extension to the Shuttle programme beyond its planned 2010 retirement date

With 13 missions planned for International Space Station assembly and spare parts deliveries the current, sort of, end mission date is 29 July 2010, so I hear, but why not fit one more in, say in September?

Stephen Oswald, former Shuttle pilot-astronaut and mission commander and now Boeing Shuttle programme manager and vice president, told me yonks ago he expected the orbiters to keep flying into 2011 but that was back during the Return To Flight days and so that could have been a harsh judgement on the flight rate that could be expected. He still might be right though

Meanwhile we all await Saturday following the fuel sensor glitch, but yesterday also saw a Boeing Delta two launch delayed

While we all wait you can watch Atlantis spin slowly during its STS-115 mission