On August 24, 2016 at 22:18 UTC the “Ariane-5ECA” rocket-carrier was launched from Kourou Cosmodrome in French Guiana. The rocket orbited the “Intelsat IS-33e” and the “Intelsat IS-36” telecommunications satellites. Intelsat is one of the world’s largest commercial satellite operators. Both spacecraft will fire on-board thrusters in the coming weeks to reach their final operating positions in geostationary orbit. At an altitude of nearly 35 800 kilometers, the satellites will fly around Earth’s equator at the same speed the planet rotates, allowing the platforms to see the same part of the world at all times.

On August 19, 2016 American astronauts Jeffrey Williams and Kathleen Rubins performed the spacewalk to attach docking adapter to space station for commercial vehicles. Attached to the station’s no-longer-needed shuttle port at the front of the station, the Boeing-built International Docking Adapter will allow spacecraft from Boeing and SpaceX companies to bring crews to the ISS, ending NASA’s sole reliance on Russian Soyuz ferry spaceships. The new docking mechanism was carried up to the station aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship in June. The EVA lasted 5 hours and 58 minutes. It was the fourth spacewalk for Jeffrey Williams and the first one for Kathleen Rubins.

On August 19, 2016 at 04:52 UTC the “Delta-4” rocket-carrier was launched from Cape Canaveral launch site of US Air Force. The launch was performed by United Launch Alliance supported by the 45th Space Wing of US Air Force. The rocket orbited two surveillance satellites - GSSAP (Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program). Although many of the technical specifications of the GSSAP satellites remain classified, the Air Force says the spacecraft have optical payloads to image the location, orbit, size and status of space objects.

On August 15, 2016, at 17:40 UTC (on August 16 at 01:40 Beijing time) the “Long March –2D” (“Changzheng-2D”) rocket-carrier was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan, Gansu Province, the northwest of China. The rocket orbited the Quantum Science Satellite. Officials nicknamed the satellite Micius — also known as Mozi — after an ancient Chinese philosopher and scientist. the Micius satellite will test out quantum communications over greater distances than ever tried on the ground. It will help establish an encrypted connection between ground stations in China and Austria with the help of scientists in both countries.

On August 14, 2016 at 05:26 UTC the “Falcon-9 FT” rocket-carrier was launched from Cape Canaveral launch site of US Air Force. The launch was performed by United Launch Alliance supported by the 45th Space Wing of US Air Force. The rocket orbited the Japanese “JCSat-16” video and data relay satellite. Built by Space Systems/Loral, a satellite manufacturer based in Palo Alto, California, the “JCSat-16” began a 15-year mission to connect people and businesses across Japan and the Asia-Pacific with video and data services.

On August 9, 2016 at 22:55 UTC (on August 10 at 06:55 Beijing time) the “Long March – 4C” (“Changzheng-4C”) rocket-carrier was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province. The rocket orbited the “Gaofen-3” radar remote sensing satellite to survey the oceans, crops and resources, and natural disasters. Made by the China Academy of Space Technology, Gaofen 3 is the sixth satellite to launch in the Gaofen series. It is also the first civilian Earth observation satellite with radar imaging.

On 6 August 2016 is the 55^th Anniversary of the space flight performed by Soviet cosmonaut German Titov. It was the 2nd manned space flight in the mankind history as well as the first long-duration manned space flight. Titov's flight finally proved that humans could live and work in space. He was the first cosmonaut to orbit the Earth multiple times, to spend more than a day in space, to sleep in orbit. German Titov spent in space 25 hours. He remains the youngest person to fly in space (25 years old). He was the first to pilot a spacecraft personally and he made the first manual photographs from orbit. He also was the first person to film the Earth. On 21 July 2016 the Russian Federal Communications Agency issued the postal stationery (a post card) devoted to German Titov’s space flight.

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On August 5, 2016 at 16:22 UTC the Chang Zheng-3B/G2 (Long March-3B/G2) rocket-carrier was launched from Xichang Cosmodrome, Sichuan province, southwestern China. The rocket orbited the “Tiantong-1” mobile communications satellite.

On July 28, 2016 an informal meeting of the Chairman and the Secretary of the FIP Section of Astrophilately took place in Vienna, Austria.

Jaromir Matejka, Secretary and Igor Rodin, Chairman discussed different questions concerning the preparation for the Delegates Conference of the FIP Section for Astrophilately. The Conference is planned to be held in the frames of PHILATAIPEI 2016 World Stamp Exhibition. The Conference will take place at the World Trade Center in Taipei, Exhibition Hall 1, Jury Room, on Tuesday, the 25th of October 2016, at 08:30 a.m. Igor Rodin and Jaromir Matejka summed up the results of mailing the invitations to the Conference. The information about the convocation of the Astro Delegates Conference were sent by e-mail to: FIP Section ... Read more »

The Russian "Soyuz TMA-19M” delivered to Earth several letters.

This letter was written by Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and addressed to Sergey Rodin. Aboard the International Space Station the letter was marked with the following seals: the “Russian Post. Board of ISS. Russian Segment” round board post mark and the “Russian Segment of International Space Station” board souvenir seal both dated June 18, 2016, the day when the Russian Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft undocked from the ISS, as well as with the “ISS” octagonal board souvenir seal. On June 22 the letter was sent by registered mail from Russian cosmonaut training center to the addressee.

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