CHINESE ASTRONAUTS RETURN TO EARTH AFTER 6 MONTHS ON SPACE STATION - A Chinese spacecraft returned to Earth on Tuesday with three astronauts who completed a six-month mission aboard the country’s orbiting space station. The Shenzhou-17 craft carrying Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin landed at the Dongfeng site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the Gobi Desert shortly before 6 p.m. It comes roughly four days after the Shenzhou-18 mission docked with the station with their three-member replacement crew.    More
(Source: AP News - May 2)

AIRBUS OUTLINES PLANS FOR FUTURE HIGH-RESOLUTION IMAGING SATELLITES - More than a year after losing two Pléiades Neo high-resolution imaging satellites in a launch failure, Airbus has outlined plans to replace them. The company announced April 29 a new program called Pléiades Neo Next, which it described as creating “new satellite assets and capabilities” to augment the two Pléiades Neo satellites currently in operation. That will start with one satellite Airbus has started to manufacture that will launch in the next few years.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - May 1)

MORE SATELLITES, LESS SPACE: NEW REPORT HIGHLIGHTS RISK GROWTH ON ORBIT - A new report finds that 2023 was yet another boom year for space operations with more launches, more satellites deployed, more dead satellites littering the heavens, more satellite maneuvers — and with that increase in on-orbit activity a growth in risks to operators, in part evidenced by “markedly increasing” insurance rates for operators. “The State of Satellite Deployments and Orbital Operations” is the first of what space monitoring firm Slingshot Aerospace intends as an annual report looking at the domain through “the lens of the satellite lifecycle” from launch to deployment to on–orbit operations to end-of-life disposal.   More
(Source: Breaking Defense - May 1)

SPACEX'S 30TH DRAGON CARGO MISSION DEPARTS THE ISS, SPLASHES DOWN ON EARTH - Dragon departed from the International Space Station (ISS) today (April 28) at 1:10 p.m. EDT (1710 GMT), while the two spacecraft were flying over Thailand. It was orbital nighttime in that locale, so there were no good visuals of the moment of undocking. Dragon returned to Earth with an ocean splashdown off the coast of Florida around 2:30 a.m. EDT (0630 GMT) on Tuesday (April 30), SpaceX confirmed in a post on X.   More
(Source: Space.com - May 1)

TWO NEW SATELLITES JOIN THE GALILEO CONSTELLATION - The European Galileo navigation system has two more satellites in orbit following their launch in the early morning of Sunday, 28 April, at 01:34 BST/02:34 CEST. With 30 satellites now in orbit, Galileo is expanding its constellation, increasing the reliability, robustness and, ultimately, the precision, benefiting billions of users worldwide. Already the most precise satellite navigation system in the world and the largest European constellation of satellites, Galileo has been operational since 2016, when Initial Services were declared. Galileo is making a difference across the fields of rail, maritime, agriculture, financial timing services and rescue operations.   More
(Source: European Space Agency - Apr 30)

BOEING'S STARLINER SPACECRAFT WILL NOT FLY PRIVATE MISSIONS YET, OFFICIALS SAY - Boeing says it may sign up private astronauts for future Starliner missions, but the focus is on NASA for now. The spacecraft's program manager, Mark Nappi, told reporters Thursday (April 25) the company is very focused on flying the first Starliner mission for NASA with astronauts on board. That mission, Crew Flight Test (CFT), will see NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams rocket to space aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket no earlier than May 6.   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 29)

SPACEX LAUNCHES FALCON 9 ROCKET ON RECORD-TYING 20TH MISSION - SpaceX tied its rocket-reuse record on Saturday night (April 27). A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida at 8:34 p.m. EDT (0034 GMT on April 28). It was the 20th launch for this Falcon 9's first stage, according to a SpaceX mission description. That tied a mark set earlier this month by a different Falcon 9 booster, on a launch of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites.   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 29)

NASA TO PROVIDE COVERAGE AS DRAGON DEPARTS STATION WITH SCIENCE - NASA and its international partners are set to receive scientific research samples and hardware as a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft departs the International Space Station on Sunday, April 28 weather permitting. The agency will provide coverage of undocking and departure beginning at 12:45 p.m. EDT on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website. Learn how to stream NASA TV through a variety of platforms including social media.   More
(Source: NASA - Apr 29)

NEWS FROM THE PRESS SITE: BOEING STARLINER GETS GO AHEAD FOR CREW FLIGHT TEST, COMMUNICATION REESTABLISHED WITH VOYAGER 1 - In this week’s edition of News from the Press Site, Spaceflight Now’s Will Robinson-Smith is joined by Tariq Malik, editor-in-chief of Space.com, and Passant Robie, space reporter for Gizmodo. The panel discusses the arrival of the NASA astronauts who will be the first to fly onboard Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, the reestablishment of contact with the Voyager 1 spacecraft, the 300th Falcon 9 booster landing for SpaceX and much more.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 27)

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