Dummy EKV payload. Launch delayed from August, September, and December 18, 2003. Booster Verification Test -5 tested a three-stage booster configuration for use with the Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense System. Built by Lockheed Martin Corp., the booster was one of two slated for use with the GMD system. The system was designed to intercept and destroy long-range ballistic missiles.

Initially planned for launch on Delta 4M+ (4,2). Launch delayed from January 10. Placed in geosynchronous orbit but reports indicated there were problems deploying one of the solar panels. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 63.07W drifting at 0.006W degrees per day.

With the help of Expedition 8 Commander Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri, flight controllers traced the apparent cause of a tiny pressure decay on the International Space Station Sunday to a braided flex hose that is part of the window system in the U.S. Destiny Laboratory. Additional Details: here....

Launch delayed from October 2003. This system-level test of the Orbital Sciences' boost vehicle launched the rocket carrying a simulated EKV from Kwajalein Atoll against a simulated target coming from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. IFT-13B was not an intercept attempt. Included in this test was the latest version of the GMD program's fire control software, which was being built by Northrop Grumman and which performed as expected in this test.

ISS resupply, to dock at the Zvezda module of the station 13:15 GMT on 31 January. Launch delayed from November 20, 2003. Payload delivered amounted to 2345 kg and included a new flex hose for the Destiny module's leaky window, replacement parts for the Russian Elektron oxygen-generating unit, a spare Elektron, new Russian Solid Fuel Oxygen Generator candles, batteries for the Zarya and Zvezda modules, gas analyser equipment, updated fire suppression and detection equipment, a new Russian Orlan spacesuit, film, cameras, data cassettes and the Matreshka experiment package for installation on Zvezda's exterior during a spacewalk.

A few days prior to its departure from the ISS, ground controllers fired the Progress M1-11's engines for 11 minutes, boosting the Station's altitude by 3.7 km and adjusting its inclination by one one-hundredth of a degree. Progress M1-11 undocked from the Station at 11:19 GMT on 24 May 2005, clearing the way for the arrival of Progress M-49. It was thereafter commanded to a destructive re-entry over the Pacific Ocean.

Americom 10 (AMC-10) was a replacement satellite for Satcom C3. It was to be located at 135 deg W. The C-band satellite, to be accompanied by AMC-11 later in 2004, were designed to support SES Americom's cable network in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and Mexico. The satellite had a design life of 15 years and carried 24 x 36 MHz C-band transponders. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 134.97W drifting at 0.005E degrees per day.

DSP-1 Block 14 ballistic missile launch detection satellite. Last flight of the IUS upper stage. Launch delayed from November 4, 2003, and January 17, 2003. Planned IMEX piggyback payload cancelled. Still in service as of March 2007, expected to remain operational until 2017-2022. As of 2004 Feb 15 located at 96.66W drifting at 2.464W degrees per day.

Flight delayed after the Columbia disaster. STS-120 was to have flown ISS Assembly mission ISS-10A. It would have delivered to the station the second of three station connecting modules, Node 2. With this mission the redefined ISS US Core would have been completed.

All systems remain "go" for the only planned spacewalk by the International Space Station's Expedition 8 crewmembers. Commander Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri, who observed the four-month anniversary of their launch to the Space Station on Wednesday, finished up a long list of tasks this week to be ready for a spacewalk to be staged from the Pirs Docking Compartment Thursday, Feb. 26, starting at 3 p.m. CST. NASA Television coverage of the spacewalk will begin at 2 p.m. CST. Additional Details: here....

The residents of the International Space Station today conducted the first ever two-man spacewalk without a crewmember inside, but the planned five and a half hour-spacewalk to support technology experiments and prepare for a future visit from a cargo vehicle was cut short by a cooling system problem with one of the two crewmembers' Russian Orlan suits. Additional Details: here....

The astronauts retrieved and replaced and replaced science instruments on the ISS Pirs and Zvezda modules. These included sample materials that had been exposed to space for two years and a radiation phantom that measured doses a human would have received. The spacewalk, planned for 5 hours 45 minutes duration, was cut short when the cooling circuit in Kaleri's suit malfunctioned and he reported seeing drops of water on his helmet visor. This was the first time NASA had dared to send the entire crew of the station out on an EVA in the ISS program (though common Russian practice during their Mir project).

Expedition 8 Commander Michael Foale today reestablished a vacuum between the Destiny Laboratory's science window's two panes of optical-quality glass. The window work was associated with continuing repairs following a small pressure leak detected on the International Space Station in January. Additional Details: here....

Objectives: The twelfth flight of SpaceShipOne. Objectives included: pilot proficiency, reaction control system functionality check and stability and control and performance of the vehicle with the airframe thermal protection system installed. This was an unpowered glide test. Results: Launch conditions were 48,500 feet and 125 knots. All systems performed as expected and the vehicle landed successfully while demonstrating the maximum cross wind landing capability.

Flight Time: 1.3 hours / 18 mins 30 secs White Knight Pilot: Binnie White Knight Copilot: Stinemetze White Knight Flt Engineer: SpaceShipOne Pilot: Siebold High Chase-Starship Pilot: Karkow Low Chase-Extra Pilot: Melvill / Coleman

The Expedition 8 Commander Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri started the week with a three-day weekend and finished it with a successful treadmill repair. The International Space Station crew can now exercise on the treadmill with a working gyroscope. Additional Details: here....

Moved from Ariane 5. The satellite was to provide a full range of telecommunications applications including digital DVB broadcasting, multimedia, broadband access and pay-per-use bandwidth for corporate networks over a large zone covering Europe and Africa, for a minimum of 12 years. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 6.95E drifting at 0.006W degrees per day.

Heading into the homestretch of their 61/2-month mission aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 8 Commander Michael Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri spent the week conducting biomedical experiments and performing maintenance on a key Station component. Additional Details: here....

The second X-43 launch incorporated modifications to the first flight vehicle, including an upgraded control system, redesigned autopilot, off-loaded rocket motor, and improved analytical models. The second flight was launched at 12,200 m instead of the 7600 m altitude of the failed first launch to reduce transonic aerodynamic loads and improve structural and control system margins. An offloaded Orion 50S solid rocket motor reduced maximum dynamic pressure during the flight. Air dropped in Point Arguello WADZ.

White Knight/SpaceShipOne Flight 53L / 13P. 40 second motor burn time. Handling qualities during boost, through transonic and supersonic. Reaction control system functionality in-flight and feather configuration stability during transonic re-entry. Evaluation of radar tracking capability. Launch conditions were 13.96 km and 230 kph. A planned immediate motor ignition was delayed about 2 minutes to evaluate a shock induced stall buffet resulting in an ignition altitude of only 11.7 km. The 40 second rocket boost was smooth with good control. Pilot commented that the motor was surprisingly quiet; however the boost was heard by ground observers. Burnout occurred at 1.6M and apogee was over 32 km. There was no noted flight control flutter or buzz during the climb. Feather recovery was nominal. Maximum feathered speed on entry was 0.9 Mach. The wing was de-feathered and locked by 12 km. Handling quality assessments during descent were satisfactory and a smooth landing made to runway 30 at Mojave. All video and tracking systems performed well with spectacular footage obtained onboard, from chase and from ground stations.

Three weeks remain in the six-month voyage aboard the International Space Station for Commander Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri as the Expedition 8 crew prepares to return home later this month. Their week aboard the station focused on wrapping up science experiments and tidying up for their replacement crew, which is in Russia for launch preparations. Additional Details: here....

China's first transmission-type small satellite capable of stereo mapping. It was jointly designed by the Harbin Polytechnic University, Chinese Research Institute of Space Technology, Changchun Photomechanical Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)and Xi'an Surveys and Designs Institute. The experiment satellite carried out photographic surveys of China's land resources, monitored the geographical environment and conducted scientific research on mapping. It was handed over for use to the Satellite Remote-Sensing Ground Station of CAS following the on-orbit testing.

The announced mass of the two satellites launched was far less than the payload capability of the CZ-2C. It was believed that an unannounced military satellite may have been orbited. Object 2004-12D was in a much lower perigee orbit of 350 x 606 km x 97 deg and may have separated prior to second stage vernier cutoff.

Soyuz TMA-4 was ISS transport mission ISS 8S and delivered the EO-9 caretaker crew of Gennadiy Padalka and Michael Fincke, together with the ESA/Netherlands Delta mission crewmember Andre Kuipers, to the Space Station. Soyuz TMA-4 docked with the nadir port on Zarya at 05:01 GMT on April 21 and the hatches to the ISS were opened at 06:30 GMT. Another gyro on the station had shut down prior to the docking and possibly would require a maintenance spacewalk to replace its failed electronics.

After Soyuz TMA-5 docked with the ISS on October 16, the EO-9 crew handed activities over to the EO-10 crew.

Gravity Probe B's mission was to confirm a prediction of Einstein's theory of relativity. The physics experiment, developed by Stanford University and Lockheed Martin, was to observe the magnitude 5 star IM Pegasi for over a year, attempting to measure the tiny shifts in the spacecraft gyroscopes' orientation caused by the Lense-Thirring gravitomagnetic (or `frame-dragging') effect. To accomplish this the spacecraft carried four gyroscopes kept at 1.8 deg Kelvin by a liquid helium dewar, laser retroreflectors and two GPS receivers for orbit determination, a drag compensation system, and a 14 cm aperture quartz telescope. The satellite was also to make an accurate measurement of the already-established gravitostatic warping of spacetime due to the Earth's mass.

Completing more than six months in space, the International Space Station Expedition 8 crew, Commander Mike Foale and Flight Engineer Alexander Kaleri, returned to Earth today, bringing with them European Space Agency Astronaut Andre Kuipers of the Netherlands, who had spent nine days aboard the complex conducting research. Additional Details: here....

The ISS EO-8 crew of Kaleri and Foale, together with the ESA Delta mission astronaut Kuipers, undocked Soyuz TMA-3 from the International Space Station at 20:52 GMT on 29 April. There was minor concern due to a helium leak in the Soyuz engine pressurisation system. The Soyuz capsule made a soft landing at 00:11 GMT on 30 April near the city of Arkalyk. The recovery forces consisted of 160 people, eight helicopters, two aircraft and two all-terrain vehicles.The EO-9 crew of Fincke and Padalka remained aboard the ISS on a six-month caretaking mission.

The group was selected to provide pilot and mission specialists for post-ISS spaceflights to the moon and beyond. Qualifications: Pilots: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics. Advanced degree desirable. At least 1,000 flight-hours of pilot-in-command time. Flight test experience desirable. Excellent health. Vision minimum 20/50 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20 vision; maximum sitting blood pressure 140/90. Height between 163 and 193 cm.

Mission Specialists: Bachelor's degree in engineering, biological science, physical science or mathematics and minimum three years of related experience or an advanced degree. Vision minimum 20/150 uncorrected, correctable to 20/20. Maximum sitting blood pressure of 140/90. Height between 150 and 193 cm.. Due to a surplus of astronauts and a dearth of missions, NASA cancelled the planned 2002 astronaut selection. The next call for applications was made in May 2003, with a due date of 1 July. 'Educator astronauts' were especially requested, and 1100 applications were received in this category. The final selection was two pilots and nine mission specialists; nine men and two women. Given the drastic reduction if shuttle flights and ISS crew size planned for the post-Columbia disaster period, the chances for astronauts from this group flying in the next decade seemed slim indeed. Also training in this group were three NASDA astronauts from Japan.

White Knight/SpaceShipOne Flight 56L / 14P. 55 second motor burn time. Handling qualities during boost and performance verification. Reaction control system use for reorientation to entry attitude. Supersonic feather stability and control. Launch conditions were 14 km and 220 kph. Motor light off occurred 10 seconds after release and the vehicle boosted smoothly to 46 km and Mach 2.5. Subsequent coast to apogee of 64.5 km. During a portion of the boost, the flight director display was inoperative, however the pilot continued the planned trajectory referencing the external horizon. Reaction control authority was as predicted and the vehicle recovered in feather experiencing 1.9M and 3.5G's. Feather oscillations were actively damped by the pilot and the wing was de-feathered starting at 17 km. The onboard avionics was re-booted and a smooth and uneventful landing made to Mojave.

International Space Station Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA Science Officer and Flight Engineer Mike Fincke eased into a regular schedule of operations in orbit this week, preparing spacesuits for checkouts next week and loading trash aboard a Progress vehicle that will soon depart. Additional Details: here....

First civilian rocket, built by volunteers, to reach outer space. Launched from Black Rock Desert, Nevada - Latitude: 41.00 N - Longitude: 119.00 W. The payload was recovered the next day and the data download showed the rocket had reached 124 km alitutde and a maximum velocity of mach 5.5.

Docked at the aft port of the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station on 27 May at 13:55 GMT. Delivered two and a half tons of food, water, fuel, spare parts and supplies. Progress M-49 undocked from the Zvezda module on 30 July 2004 at 7:05 GMT, after having been filled with a tonne of trash. Fincke filmed its departure, and Station exterior cameras captured rare footage of the Progress' fiery re-entry into Earth's atmosphere after it was deorbited.

White Knight/SpaceShipOne Flight 60L / 15P. First private manned spaceflight. A control system failure during ascent caused 90 degree rolls to left and right. This led to spacecraft not reaching the planned altitude and re-entering 35 km away from the intended point. Nevertheless pilot Melvill took SpaceShipOne just over 100 km, thereby becoming the first private citizen, third person born in Africa, second person born in South Africa, and oldest pilot in command to reach outer space.

The astronauts exited the station at 21:56 GMT on what was to be a six hour spacewalk to replace a failed gyroscope electronics module. The EVA had already been delayed from 10, then 16 June. The original plan was to use American suits, but a coolant leak in one of those forced the crew to use Russian suits. This in turn meant they would have to exist from the airlock in the station's Russian Pirs module, which in turn extended the distance they would have to travel outside the station to 30 m. Eight minutes after exiting the hatch, a serious leak was detected by Russian ground controllers in Fincke's suit. The crew was called back in and it was planned that the EVA would be repeated six days later.

Demeter studied disturbances of the ionosphere due to seismo electromagnetic effects and human activities (power lines, VLF transmitters, HF broadcasting stations). Study of natural electromagnetic emissions in the ULF/ELF/VLF range related to seismic or volcanic activity could be used to predict earthquatkes or eruptions in advance. Demeter tracked these emissions and other space plasma parameters (ion composition, electron density and temperature, energetic particles). The scientific payload consisted of three electric and three magnetic sensors (covering six components of the electromagnetic field from DC to 3.5 MHz); a Langmuir probe; an ion spectrometer; and an energetic particle analyzer. 8 Gbits of onboard memory recorded the data, which was returned to earth as 18 Mb/s high bit rate telemetry in the X band. The two-year mission was handled from a control center in Toulouse.

A newly reactivated gyroscope on the International Space Station today was successfully brought on line for attitude control at 6:20 a.m. CDT. The Control Moment Gyroscope 2 was fully operational at 6,600 revolutions per minute Thursday afternoon after being powered back on as a result of this week's spacewalk. Testing overnight proved its operation adequate for orientation control. Additional Details: here....

Chuvash-Russian pilot cosmonaut 1960-1982. First person to fly more than one day in space. Married Valentina Tereshkova, and fathered first child born to parents that had both flown in space. 2 spaceflights, 21.6 days in space. Flew to orbit on Vostok 3 (1962), Soyuz 9. Died of a heart attack while judging the All-Russian rural sport gamesat Cheboksary, Chuvash Autonomous Republic.

The NASA Messenger probe to Mercury was was first placed into a parking orbit. The Delta booster second stage's second burn raised the orbit, then the PAM-D solid motor burned to put the probe on an escape trajectory into a 0.92 x 1.08 AU x 6.4 deg heliocentric orbit. Messenger (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) was to make an Earth flyby on August 1, 2005; Venus flybys in 2006 and 2007; and Mercury encounters in January and October 2008 , September 2009 and March 2011 . On this last encounter the Aerojet 660N engine was to fire to put Messenger into a 200 x 15,193 km x 80 deg orbit around Mercury. Launch delayed from March 10, May 11, August 2

Aboard the International Space Station this week, Expedition 9 Commander Gennady Padalka and NASA ISS Science Officer Mike Fincke resumed scientific investigations, routine maintenance, and preparations for the arrival of a new cargo ship - all following a spacewalk on Tuesday. Additional Details: here....

Recoverable satellite officially stated to be conducting space scientific research, land surveying, mapping and other scientific experiments. Said to have improved experimental technology, with higher orientation precision and more complex on-board computers and software. Controlled from the Xian Satellite Monitoring and Control Centre. Successfully re-entered and recovered after 27 days in space at 23:55 GMT on 24 September.

63rd and last flight of Atlas IIAS. 576th and final launch of Rocketdyne-powered Atlas rockets. Final launch from LC36A after 42 years of use. Launch delayed from June 24 and 25, July 1 and 27, August 27, 28, 29 and 30. The payload was probably a communications satellite used to relay data from imaging spy satellites.

The hatch was opened at 16:43 GMT. The astronauts used the Russian Orlan suits M-25 and M-26, requiring them to exit from the Pirs module airlock. The 70 kg PIG container on the Zarya module with the RRZh1 flow regulator valve panel was removed and jettisoned Three antennae were installed on the Zvezda module for future rendezvous and docking operations with the European ATV logistics spacecraft.

It was announced that the two satellites had a design life of at least two years, and would be used to probe the space environment, radiation and its effects, record space physical environment parameters, and conduct other related space experiments. The two satellites were built by the Shanghai Academy of Space Flight Technology and Dongfanghong Satellite Company under subcontract to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The scientific instruments aboard the satellites were mainly manufactured by the China Electronics Technology Corporation. Some Western observors believed the mission of the satellites included electronic intelligence technology tests.

Gsat-3 / Edusat was the first Indian satellite built exclusively for the educational sector. It was mainly intended to meet the demand for an interactive satellite based distance education system for India. Edusat was launched into a geosynchronous transfer orbit by its launch vehicle. Edusat was to reach geostationary orbit by firing, in stages, its on board Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM). In geostationary orbit the satellite was to be co-located with Kalpana-1 and Insat-3C satellites at 74 deg East longitude.

Compared to earlier satellites in the Insat series, Edusat used several new technologies. The spacecraft was built around the I-2K standardised spacecraft bus. It had a multiple spot beam antenna with a 1.2 m reflector to direct Ku band spot beams, a dual core bent heat pipe for thermal control, high efficiency multi-junction solar cells and an improved thruster configuration for optimised propellant use for orbit and orientation maintenance. The satellite used radiatively cooled Ku-band Travelling Wave Tube Amplifiers and a dielectrically loaded C-band demultiplexer for its communication payloads. Edusat carried five Ku-band transponders providing spot beams, one Ku-band transponder providing a national beam and six Extended C-band transponders with a national coverage beam. It was to join the Insat system that already provided more than 130 transponders in C-band, Extended C-band and Ku-band for a variety of telecommunication and television services.

First operational flight of launch vehicle. Launch delayed from July, August and September 10. Dry mass 820 kg. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 73.92E drifting at 0.006W degrees per day.

Film-return reconnaisance satellite. Maneuvered on October 1 to a 213 x 330 km orbit. Believed to be an improved Yantar-4K1 with a longer lifetime - and given the code name 'Kobalt' previously applied to the defunct Yantar-4K2 system. When re-entry was commanded after only 107 days in orbit, there was speculation that problems had arisen with the satellite. Sources claimed the satellite had some kind of control problem, which was brought under control, and the two smaller film return capsules were successfully returned. But when the control problem reoccurred, it was decided to bring the main re-entry capsule down early. At retrofire, two objects were tracked as having separated from the spacecraft. Russian search teams were unable to locate the capsule after re-entry. Further launches of the satellite were put on hold until a State Commission could determine the causes of the failure.

SpaceShipOne coasted to 103 km altitude and successfully completed the first of two X-Prize flights. The motor was shut down when the pilot noted that his altitude predictor exceeded the required 100 km mark. The motor burn lasted 77 seconds, 1 second longer than on the June 21st flight. Melvill was prepared to burn the motor up to 89 seconds, which indicates significant additional performance remains in SS1. During the motor burn the spacecraft began to roll uncontrollably, but Melvill pressed on despite advice from the ground to shut the motor down and abort the attempt.

Objectives of the flight were to win the Ansari X-Prize and break the rocketplane altitude record set by the X-15 in 1963. The Tier One (White Knight/SpaceShipOne) composite aircraft took off at 06:49 PST. Drop of the rockeplane was made exactly one hour later at 14.4 km altitude. Pilot Brian Binnie fired the hybrid rocket motor, which burned for 83 seconds. The engine cut off with SpaceShipOne at Mach 3.09 (3524 kph) at 65 km altitude. From there it coasted to 112 km altitude. Binnie experienced weightlessness for 3.5 minutes before re-entry began. The spacecraft reached Mach 3.25 during re-entry and a peak deceleration of 5.4 G's at 32 km altitude. Binnie reconfigured the vehicle to a glider at 15.5 km and then made an 18 minute glide to a landing at Mojave airport. SpaceShipOne thereby won the $10 million X-Prize. No anomalies were noted on the flight and SpaceShipOne returned with no maintenance squawks.

As the end of its mission approaches, the Expedition 9 crew aboard the International Space Station prepared for the trip home by wrapping up science experiments and continuing maintenance operations of the vehicle. After spending six months onboard, the crew will greet its first visitors one week from today. Additional Details: here....

Soyuz TMA-5 docked with the Pirs module on October 16 at 0416 GMT. Aboard the spacecraft were the EO-10 crew of Sharipov and Chiao, and guest cosmonaut Shargin. After a week at the station, the EO-9 crew of Padalka and Fincke, together with Shargin, entered Soyuz TMA-4 at 18:14 GMT on October 23 and returned to earth. Chiao and Sharipov continued as the ISS skeleton station crew.

Communications satellite for SES Americom, equipped with Ku-band and Ka-band transponders. The Briz-M upper stage made three burns, then released the satellite on October 15 at 03:58 GMT into a 7132 x 35780 km x 18.6 deg orbit. AMC-15's on-board engine would be used to maneuver the spacecraft into its final geostationary orbit. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 105.02W drifting at 0.003W degrees per day.

Third Fengyun-2 weather satellite. The apogee motor placed the satellite into a drifting geostationary orbit. As of the date of the launch, four FY-2 satellites had been launched. FY-2 01 was destroyed in a ground fire 1994. FY-2 02 / FY-2A was placed in reserve in May 2000 86 deg E; and FY-2 03 / FY-2B was operational at 123 deg E. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 104.44E drifting at 0.026W degrees per day.

Unguided test launch. During the 45 seconds total burn time of both motors the vehicle was accelerated to a final velocity of 1676 m/s. The payload segment with an approximate weight of 400 kg was carried to an apogee height of almost 240 km, which was reached 252 seconds after lift-off. At T+650 seconds the payload landed 190 km northeast of the launch site in the ocean, only 700 meters from the nominal impact point.

At 1814 GMT on October 23 Padalka, Fincke and guest cosmonaut Shargin (delivered for a one week mission aboard Soyuz TMA-5), entered Soyuz TMA-4 and closed the hatches leaving Chiao and Sharipov as the EO-10 station crew. Soyuz TMA-4 undocked at 21:08 GMT and made a small separation burn at 21:11 GMT. At 23:42 GMT the deorbit burn lowered the orbit from 353 x 366 km to -23 x 355 km. The descent module separated at 00:08 GMT on October 24, with a landing at 50.47 deg N / 67.12 deg E near Arkalyk at 00:36 GMT.

The REXUS program was a joint project between the Swedish Space Corporation SSC, ESRANGE, and the Mobile Rocket Base (Moraba) of the German Aerospace Center DLR, conducted by newly founded EUROLAUNCH. The scientific payload capacity was shared between Swedish and German student experimenters. REXUS was considered as an annual sounding rocket program.

Russian Satellite Communications Company spacecraft, to be stationed at 40 deg E, providing 28 C, Ku, and L band transponders for a wide range of communications and data services. The Ekspress-AM uses an improved Ekspress-M or 727M bus, first used on the Sesat satellite, while the earlier models used the KAUR-4 MSO-2500 bus. As of 2007 Mar 10 located at 39.98E drifting at 0.006W degrees per day.

First flight test of a modernized version of the Soyuz ST equipped with a digital control system. Suborbital launch; carried an obsolete Zenit-8 reconnaisance satellite as a mass model and impacted in the Pacific Ocean. Launch delayed from October 15 and 29, November 6.

Delayed from September, November 9 and 15. Final test of NASA's X-43A-3 Hyper X hypersonic scramjet demonstrated air-frame integrated scramjet performance at speeds approaching Mach 10. Changes to the launch vehicle compared to Flight 2 included high-temperature thermal protection system tiles on the wing and fin leading edge, elimination of all ballast, a full propellant load on the ATK Orion 50S booster, lightweight aluminum structures, and updated control laws and aerodynamics. Air dropped in Point Arguello WADZ.

The EO-10 crew entered Soyuz TMA-5, undocked it from the Pirs module of the International Space Station at 09:32 GMT and redocked it at the nearby Zarya module at 09:53 GMT. This cleared the Pirs docking port for the expected arrival of a Progress unmanned logistics spacecraft.

Launch abort - booster shut down in silo. Missile target, launched from Alaska, impacted in Pacific Ocean. Delayed from January, August, November, December 9 and 12. The failed attempt was later said to be due to a very minor software glitch which created a gap in the flow of electronic messages between the flight computer and the interceptor's thrust vector controller. Five flight tests of the system were scheduled for 2005, including at least two attempted intercepts. The IFT-13c test was expected to be repeated as early as mid-February. IFT-14 was planned for March or April.

AMC-16, like AMC-15, was a hybrid Ku/Ka-band satellite built by Lockheed Martin and based on the A2100 spacecraft platform. The spacecraft was to become operational in early 2005 from 85º West with a 15 year design life. The satellite carried 24 x 36 MHz/140 W Ku-band transponders and 12 x 125MHz/75 W spot beams. Coverage included the continental United States, Alaska, and Hawaii. Launch was delayed from December 6 and 16. As of 2007 Mar 9 located at 118.75W drifting at 0.002W degrees per day.

Parasol carried a wide-field imaging radiometer/polarimeter called POLDER (Polarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances), designed in partnership with the LOA atmospheric optics laboratory in Lille (CNRS-USTL). POLDER was designed to improve the knowledge of the radiative and microphysical properties of clouds and aerosols by measuring the directionality and polarization of light reflected by the Earth-atmosphere system.

The Essaim demonstrator was a system of several micro-satellites (Essaim means 'swarm' in French) for 'analysis of the electro-magnetic environment of the Earth's surface' (electronic intelligence). DGA, the French Ministry of Defence's procurement agency, developed the project. The system also comprised a ground control segment and a ground station for data processing. It was called a 'demonstrator' since the mission's objective was to assess the operational capability of such a system, paving the way for the next generation. The Essaim satellites were based on EADS Astrium's Myriade multipurpose micro-satellite. In early 2000, the DGA awarded the contract for the development, manufacturing of this turnkey system of micro-satellites and associated ground segment. Under the contract, EADS Astrium was also responsible for personnel training and system operations during the three-year life duration of the programme.

Mass model payload. First launch of a heavy EELV. The demonstration satellite was supposed to have been inserted into a sub-geosynchronous 36,350 km circular orbit but was instead deployed in a 19,035 km x 36,413 km orbit following a 5-hour and 50-minute flight. A shorter than expected first burn of the Centaur upper stage led to an orbit well below that planned. The Air Force EELV program office claimed that the primary flight objectives were accomplished. These included the heavy boost phase, flight of the new five-meter diameter Centaur upper stage and five-meter payload fairing, extended coast, upper stage third burn and payload separation, and activation and usage of Space Launch Complex 37B. Delayed from September 2003, July 3, September 10, November 18, December 10, 11 and 12.

One of a pair of student-built nanosats for stero cloud imagery. The satellites did not contact the ground after separation from the booster in a lower-than-planned orbit and their fate was unclear. It was believed that they separated but re-entered rapidly from the 105 km perigee orbit.

The sixteen-year old missile was launched from an operational ICBM base and its dummy warheads impacted in the test range on the Kamchatka Peninsula after a 6,000 kilometer flight. The test was touted as a demonstration of use of the surplus ICBM's, launched directly from their silos, for launch of commerical orbital payloads, in lieu of more expensive decommissioning. Others saw it as the beginning of the development of Dombarovskiy into a new spaceport, on Russian soil, in replacement of Baikonur.

Launch delayed from November 24, December 22 . Progress M-51 docked with the Zvezda module of the International Space Station on December 25 at 23:58 GMT, bringing critical food supplies to the EO-10 crew. Press hype during the delays prior to the launch had portrayed the situation as one where failure of the Progress to dock would have required the crew to either return to earth or starve.

Undocked from at 16:06 GMT on February 27, 2005, in order to clear the port for Progress M-52, which would launch the next day. Progress M-51 lowered its perigee at around 18:30 GMT and remained in orbit for several days. FInally an engine firing was commanded, bringing it down in a destructive re-entry over the Pacific Ocean on March 9.

The Mikron microsatellite was equipped with a small visible range video camera. The information from the satellite was to be used to provide remote sensing of topography and meteorology. However the main purpose of the experimental satellite was to test the MS-1 microsatellite bus created under the Ukrainian National Space Program. The satellites spectral range was from 0.45 to 0.90 mm; swath width was 253-391 km; resolution 124-191 m.