NASA ASTRONAUT STUCK IN SPACE VENTURES OUTSIDE - Nasa astronaut Suni Williams, one of two astronauts stuck on the International Space Station, ventured outside for a spacewalk on Thursday for the first time since arriving on board seven months ago. Ms Williams and fellow astronaut Butch Wilmore were due to return to Earth after a week-long miss... More (Source: BBC News - Jan 17)
HISTORY MADE: BLUE ORIGIN BECOMES FIRST NEW SPACE COMPANY TO REACH ORBIT ON ITS FIRST LAUNCH - Blue Origin entered into the history books in the predawn hours of Thursday. The company, founded by Jeff Bezos, became the first to successfully reach orbit on their first launch with a new orbital-class rocket in the new era of commercial spaceflight that dawned in the last two decades. After d... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 17)
IRIDE PATHFINDER SATELLITE HAS LAUNCHED - The first IRIDE satellite – the Pathfinder Hawk – is now in orbit around Earth after lifting off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on 14 January. As its ‘Pathfinder’ name suggests, this new microsatellite is a prototype for one of the six IRIDE... More (Source: European Space Agency - Jan 16)
NASA’S LATEST CUBESAT LAUNCHES TO EARTH’S THERMOSPHERE - A NASA-developed CubeSat, Technology Education Satellite 22 (TES-22), launched at 11:09 a.m. PST on Tuesday, Jan. 14, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The small satellite will test a variety of technology, including a deployable drag sail to help deorbi... More (Source: NASA - Jan 16)
PLANET LAUNCHES HIGH-RESOLUTION PELICAN-2 SATELLITE & 36 SUPERDOVES - We are thrilled to announce today that our high-resolution Pelican-2 satellite and 36 SuperDoves of Flock 4G were successfully launched to orbit on SpaceX’s Transporter-12 Rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Our Planet team has successfully made contact with Pelican-2... More (Source: Planet Labs - Jan 16)
CHINA PLANS TO BUILD ENORMOUS SOLAR ARRAY IN SPACE — AND IT COULD COLLECT MORE ENERGY IN A YEAR THAN 'ALL THE OIL ON EARTH' - Chinese scientists have announced a plan to build an enormous, 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) wide solar power station in space that will beam continuous energy back to Earth via microwaves. The project, which will see its components lofted to a geostationary orbit above Earth using super-heavy rockets, ... More (Source: Live Science - Jan 15)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 131 SATELLITES ON TRANSPORTER 12 RIDESHARE MISSION - SpaceX launched a slew of satellites to orbit from California today (Jan. 14). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 131 different payloads lifted off on the company's Transporter 12 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base today at 2:09 p.m. EST (1909 GMT; 11:09 a.m. local California time). That's a big... More (Source: Space,cin - Jan 15)
CHINA'S SMART DRAGON-3 ROCKET LAUNCHES SATELLITES FROM SEA - A Smart Dragon-3 rocket lifted off on Monday in east China's Shandong Province, sending the satellite group CentiSpace 01 into the planned orbit. The rocket blasted off at 11 a.m. (Beijing Time) from the sea near the city of Haiyang. Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center conducted the offshore launch m... More (Source: Xinhua - Jan 14)
THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM? SPADEX SATELLITES 230 METRES APART, ISRO MAY ATTEMPT DOCKING TODAY - The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is hoping to get third-time lucky as it is likely to make another attempt at docking the two satellites of the SpaDeX mission in space on Sunday. The two satellites, called Chaser and Target, were brought together, just 230 metres apart, on Saturday e... More (Source: The Indian Express - Jan 13)
BLUE ORIGIN READY FOR MAIDEN FLIGHT OF NEW GLENN - After years of development, Blue Origin’s semi-reusable heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle, New Glenn, is due to launch on its maiden flight now on Jan. 13 at 1:00 AM EST (06:00 UTC) after recently completing its seven-engine hotfire and moving to the right due to sea state conditions for recovery.... More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jan 12)
FOUR ASTRANIS GEO SATELLITES PASS INITIAL COMMISSIONING MILESTONE - Astranis said Jan. 10 that all four of its recently launched broadband satellites have passed early tests and begun using electric propulsion to reach geostationary orbit in the coming months. The satellites launched on a Falcon 9 rocket Dec. 29 and feature multiple upgrades over Arcturus, the Sa... More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 12)
NASA’S 2024 INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION ACHIEVEMENTS - or more than 24 years, NASA has supported a continuous U.S. human presence aboard the International Space Station, advancing scientific knowledge and making research breakthroughs not possible on Earth for the benefit of humanity. The space station is a springboard to NASA’s next great leaps in ex... More (Source: NASA - Jan 11)
SPACEX LAUNCHES, LANDS FIRST STAGE BOOSTER FOR RECORD-SETTING 25TH TIME DURING STARLINK FLIGHT - SpaceX maintained its rapid pace of launching an orbital mission on average every two days with its Falcon 9 flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Friday afternoon. It also completed a record-breaking 25th landing of an orbital class rocket. Liftoff of the Starlink 12-12 mission from ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 11)
SPACEX LAUNCHES STARSHIELD SATELLITES FOR THE NRO ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM CALIFORNIA - SpaceX completed its first West Coast Falcon 9 launch of the year Thursday night, which featured the latest batch of Starshield satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office. Liftoff of the NROL-153 mission from pad 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 7:53 p.m. PST (10:53 p.m. E... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 10)
NASA JET PROPULSION LABORATORY EVACUATED DUE TO LA WILDFIRE - Devastating fires here have forced the closure and evacuation of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory as flames came less than one mile away from the facility. JPL, which operates robotic spacecraft and the Deep Space Network used for planetary missions, is located in a mandatory evacuation zone bu... More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 10)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 21 NEW STARLINK SATELLITES FROM FLORIDA - SpaceX launched more of its internet satellites from Florida's Space Coast today (Jan. 8). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 21 Starlink spacecraft, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities, lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center at 10:27 a.m. EST (1527 GMT) on Wednesday.... More (Source: Space.com - Jan 9)
INDIA DELAYS 1ST SPACE DOCKING OF SPADEX SATELLITES, 'FURTHER VALIDATION' NEEDED - India postponed its first attempt to dock two spaceraft in Earth orbit to allow more time for tests as the country prepares for what will be a vital technology tests for its future ambitions in space. The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) Space Docking Experiment, or SpaDeX, was expecte... More (Source: Space.com - Jan 8)
SPACEX: LOWERING STARLINK SATELLITE ORBITS REDUCES IMPACT ON ASTRONOMY - SpaceX has found a new way to prevent Starlink satellites from interfering with astronomy: Bring them closer to Earth. The satellites can reflect sunlight and accidentally photobomb astronomical observations. But last week, SpaceX told the Federal Communications Commission that its effort to op... More (Source: PCMag - Jan 8)
JAXA’S FIRST WOODEN SATELLITE DEPLOYS FROM SPACE STATION - In December 2024, five CubeSats deployed into Earth’s orbit from the International Space Station. Among them was LignoSat, a wooden satellite from JAXA (Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency) that investigates the use of wood in space. Findings could offer a more sustainable alternative to convent... More (Source: NASA - Jan 8)
