The White House decision to extend International Space Station (ISS) operations until 2024 found widespread support among a global gathering of space-agency chiefs meeting in Washington this week, but in some cases mainly as a way to gain more time to prepare national space programs to participate in China’s planned space station later in the 2020s.

HOUSTON — Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy are potentially scheduling late January for a second attempt to install two Canadian-furnished commercial Earth-observing cameras outside the International Space Station, after transmission problems thwarted their efforts during a marathon Dec. 27 spacewalk. The latest excursion is tentatively planned for Jan. 27, according to Dan Hartman, NASA’s deputy International Space Station program manager.

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Crewmembers on the International Space Station are set to get 2,780 lb. of science experiments and fresh supplies early Sunday, after Orbital Sciences Corp.’s new Antares launch vehicle orbited the company’s Cygnus cargo carrier in a delayed launch Thursday afternoon. Liftoff of the Antares from its custom-built pad at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern Shore came at 1:07 p.m. EST, and the spacecraft separated into its target orbit 10 min. later. Solar array deployment followed shortly afterward.

NEW DELHI — India will carry out a test launch of the heaviest variant of its Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), the Mk. 3, in April. “The rocket will have a passive cryogenic engine,” Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman K. Radhakrishnan says. The Mk. 3, an advanced version of the GSLV, is designed to launch communications satellites weighing more than 4 metric tons (8,800 lb.). The chief objective of the mission “will be to study the aerodynamics and stability of the rocket,” Radhakrishnan says.

A concept for constructing satellites from building-block “satlets,” under development for the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), could allow a spacecraft to be assembled quickly around the payload for a specific mission or service, says developer NovaWurks. Instead of integrating the payload into a large satellite bus that provides the required mechanical, propulsion, power, thermal, communications, processing and other functions, the spacecraft would be assembled around the payload by connecting multiple satlets together.

A powerful solar flare forced Orbital Sciences Corp. to delay the first commercial mission of its Cygnus cargo vehicle atop the company’s new Antares rocket Wednesday, delaying delivery of 1,465 kg. of supplies and scientific gear to the International Space Station by at least a day. Company engineers scrubbed the planned attempt after determining that radiation levels “exceeded by a considerable margin the constraints imposed on the mission to ensure the rocket’s electronic systems are not impacted by a harsh radiation environment.”

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