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 Curiosity lands on Mars.
On August 6, 2012 at 05:14 UTC NASA's "Curiosity” Mars rover, loaded with the most-sophisticated instruments ever used to explore another world, touched down on the Red Planet after an eight-month voyage across 352 million miles of interplanetary space.
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which manages the mission, received a radioed confirmation of touchdown sent by the Mars Science Laboratory from Mars, 154 million miles away and 13.8 minutes after the fact.
The target landing zone was Gale Crater near the base of a three-mile-high mound of layered rock that represents hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of years of martian history, a frozen record of the planet's changing environment and evolution.
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Date: 09.08.2012
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Arian rocket orbited 2 telecommunications satellites.
On August 02, 2012 at 20:54 UTC the Ariane-5ECA (VA-208 / L564) rocket-carrier was launched from Guiana Space Center at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The rocket orbited 2 telecommunications satellites - Intelsat 20 and HYLAS 2.
The HYLAS 2 spacecraft will be used by European operator Avanti Communications to extend the British firm's reach into Africa and the Middle East for broadband and high-speed, two-way data communications services. The satellite was made by the American "Orbital Sciences” Corporation.
The Intelsat 20 satellite was made by the American "Space Systems Loral” company and will to provide a broad range of communications services for Europe, the Middle East, Russia and Asia. In addition, it will beam direct-to-home television broadcasting for 20 million subscribers across Asia.
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Date: 03.08.2012
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Russian Spacecraft docked with ISS six hours after liftoff.
On August 2, 2012 at 01:18 UTC the Russian "Progress M-16M” unmanned supply spacecraft automatically docked with the International Space Station just only six hours after blasting off from Earth.
It was for the first time, when Russia docked the space freighter with the ISS in the first six hours after the launch rather than in two days, which was a routine procedure.
Progress-M-16M delivered over 2639 kilograms of supplies, including food, water and scientific equipment, to a six-man crew onboard the orbital station.
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Russia launched “Progress M-16M” spacecraft to Space Station.
On August 01, 2012 at 19:35 UTC the "Progress M-16M” unmanned supply spacecraft was launched from Baykonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station. The spacecraft was orbited by the "Soyuz-U” rocket-carrier.
For the first time Russia will attempt to dock the space freighter with the ISS in the first six hours after the launch rather than in two days, which is a routine procedure.
Progress-M-16M is to deliver more than 2500 kilograms of supplies, including food, water and scientific equipment, to a six-man crew onboard the orbital station.
The docking is scheduled for 05:24 a.m. Moscow time (01:24 UTC) on the fourth revolution of the cargo spacecraft around Earth.
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Russian Space Freighter Departs From Orbital Station.
On July 30, 2012 at 21:16 UTC (July 31 at 01:16 Moscow time) the Russian Progress M-15M unmanned supply spacecraft undocked form the International Space Station.
The spacecraft will conduct a series of scientific experiments under the Radar-Progress project during a three-week scientific mission before being de-orbited into the Pacific.
The project focuses on the study of space engines impact on the ionosphere.
The Progress M-15M arrived at the ISS in April. The freighter undocked from the ISS on July 23 to test an upgraded Russian automated rendezvous system.
The first attempt to re-dock with the ISS using the Kurs-NA system resulted in failure. The spacecraft, however, successfully docked with the orbital station on a second attempt on July 29 after Russian engineers had reprogrammed on-board controls.
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Russian Progress M-15M space freighter re-docked to Space Station.
On July 29, 2012 at 01:00 UTC the Russian Progress M-15M unmanned supply spacecraft re-docked with the International Space Station.
A second attempt to re-dock the Russian Progress M-15M resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) with the help of a new rendezvous system was performed successfully.
The spacecraft docked to the Russian "Pirs” module.
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Russian rocket orbited 4 satellites.
On July 28, 2012 at 01:35 UTC the Russian "Rokot” rocket-carrier equipped with the "Briz-KM” booster was launched from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia.
The rocket orbited a Russian military satellite of "Kosmos” series, two Gonets-M telecoms satellites and the "MiR” (Yubileiny-2) scientific microsatellite.
The 107-ton light Rokot launcher is a derivative of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It contains two original lower stages of the ICBM and an upper stage for commercial payloads.
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Date: 28.07.2012
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Japanese Unmanned Spacecraft Arrives at International Space Station.
On July 27, 2012 the Japanese HTV 3 (Kounotori 3) unmanned supply spacecraft completed a successful rendezvous with the orbiting complex.
First the HTV 3 spacecraft flew to about 12 meters away from the ISS, where it was grabbed at 12:23 UTC by the space station's 18-metert long robotic arm, which was controlled from inside by American astronaut Joseph Acaba and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.
Using the Canadarm2 robotic arm, Acaba and Hoshide maneuvered Kounotori 3 to the Earth-facing docking port on the space station's Harmony node at 14:34 UTC.
The spaceship is loaded with 3,600 kg of cargo, including care packages with food, clothing and other items for the space station's crew.
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China launched 3rd satellite in its global data relay network.
On July 25, 2012 at 15:43 UTC the "Chang Zheng-3C” (Long March-3C) rocket-carrier was launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province in southwest of China.
The rocket orbited the "Tianlian I-03” satellite completing the country's first data relay satellite network system.
The satellite will join its two predecessors to realize global network operation.
The third satellite is expected to improve the network's coverage in providing measurement and control services for China's manned spacecraft as well as the planned construction of future space labs and space stations, according to the center. The network will also offer data relay services for the country's medium- and low-Earth orbits as well as measurement and control support for spacecraft launches.
The satellite was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
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Date: 26.07.2012
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Progress spacecraft failed to re-dock to ISS.
On July 24, 2012 Russian Progress M-15M unmanned supply spacecraft failed to re-dock with the International Space Station (ISS) due to certain problems in the freighter's new Kurs-NA rendezvous system.
The unmanned Progress M-15M, which arrived at the ISS in April, undocked from the station on July 22 to conduct a series tests of the upgraded Kurs-NA rendezvous system.
The Kurs-NA system warned of a possible emergency situation and called off the re-docking when the Progress M-15M was approaching to the ISS.
The Kurs-NA rendezvous system went smoothly at the beginning, but the system issued a command to stop further operations at 4:22 a.m. Moscow time (00:22 UTC) when the freighter was at a distance of 161 kilometers to the ISS.
The Russian space agency promised the incident would not lead to a delay of the Japanese spacecraft HTV-3's docking with the ISS on July 27.
Another attempt to dock the Progress M-15M to the ISS
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