SPACEX LAUNCHES 21 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM WEST COAST - SpaceX launched its latest batch of 21 Starlink satellites on a Thursday night Falcon 9 launch from California. The Falcon 9 rocket launch set a new record for Vandenberg Space Force Base, marking the first time that 31 orbital missions have taken off in a calendar year. Thirty of those launches ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 13)
POLARIS DAWN ASTRONAUTS PERFORM SPACEWALK - Astronauts on the Polaris Dawn mission conducted the first spacewalk on a non-governmental mission Sept. 12, briefly emerging from their Crew Dragon spacecraft. Jared Isaacman, commander of the four-person crew, emerged from the hatch in the nose of the capsule at approximately 6:52 a.m. Eastern.... More (Source: SpaceNews - Sep 12)
NASA ASTRONAUT, 2 COSMONAUTS ARRIVE AT ISS ABOARD RUSSIAN SOYUZ CAPSULE - A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) this afternoon after a brief orbital chase. A Russian Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA's Don Pettit and Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner of the Russian space agency Roscosmos docked with the ISS today at 3:3... More (Source: Space.com - Sep 12)
SOYUZ ROCKET LAUNCHES NEW US-RUSSIAN CREW OF 3 TO ISS - A NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts launched toward the International Space Station today (Sept. 11). NASA astronaut Don Pettit joined Roscosmos cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, which lifted off atop a Soyuz rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kaz... More (Source: Space.com - Sep 12)
BOEING PLOTS 2026 QUANTUM NETWORKING SATELLITE DEMO - Boeing plans to deploy a small satellite in 2026 to test technology needed for a quantum internet capable of connecting more advanced sensors and computers worldwide, the company announced Sept. 10. The microwave-sized Q4S satellite is being designed to demonstrate quantum entanglement swapping, ... More (Source: SpaceNews - Sep 11)
ASTRONOMERS WORRIED BY LAUNCH OF FIVE NEW SUPER-BRIGHT SATELLITES - An unusually reflective prototype satellite that outshines almost every star in the sky will be joined by another five later this week. Astronomers warn the appearance of more and more bright objects in the night sky will severely hinder their work and could even limit our ability to spot asteroids ... More (Source: New Scientist - Sep 11)
SPACEX SURMOUNTS CHALLENGING WEATHER, LAUNCHES POLARIS DAWN ASTRONAUT MISSION - Despite some challenging weather at the opening of the launch window, SpaceX managed to send the Polaris Dawn commercial astronaut mission up to low Earth orbit on the second of three available liftoff opportunities. The predawn launch began the journey for four astronauts aboard the SpaceX Crew ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 10)
ESA PERFORMS TARGETED REENTRY OF CLUSTER SATELLITE - The European Space Agency successfully deorbited the first of four Cluster space science satellites Sept. 8, performing a first-of-its-kind “targeted reentry” over the South Pacific. The satellite, called Cluster 2 or “Salsa,” reentered a 2:47 p.m. Eastern in the South Pacific west of Chi... More (Source: SpaceNews - Sep 10)
A FIERY SATELLITE WILL PLUMMET BACK TO EARTH THIS EVENING - An aging satellite made partly by UK scientists will plunge back to Earth tonight. The European satellite Salsa is due to reenter our atmosphere at 7.48pm UK time, where it will burn up, leaving a fiery trail and giving rare clues about how we can reduce space debris in future. Some pieces of it ... More (Source: MSN - Sep 9)
SHOEBOX-SIZED SATELLITE DETECTS A GAMMA-RAY EXPLOSION - BurstCube, a shoebox-sized satellite designed by NASA, has made a historic breakthrough by detecting its first gamma-ray burst, one of the most powerful explosions in the universe. This achievement marks a significant step forward in the study of these cosmic phenomena, demonstrating the incredible ... More (Source: Earth.com - Sep 9)
NASA REAFFIRMS DECISION TO CANCEL OSAM-1 - NASA is proceeding with plans to shut down a satellite servicing mission at the end of the month after rejecting a proposal to revise the mission to meet a 2026 launch date. In a statement posted online Sept. 5, NASA announced it would proceed with closing out the On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, an... More (Source: SpaceNews - Sep 8)
STARLINER LANDS SAFELY IN NEW MEXICO - Leaving its crew behind in orbit, Boeing’s troubled Starliner spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station Friday and chalked up a successful unpiloted return to Earth, closing out a disappointing test flight with an on-target and apparently problem-free New Mexico touchdown. Despit... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 7)
NEW GALILEO SATELLITES OPERATIONAL AFTER SUCCESSFUL IN-ORBIT TESTING - Three months after their launch from Cape Canaveral, Galileo satellites 29 and 30 have reached their target positions at an altitude of 23,222 km, where they have been fully tested and declared operational. Both satellites have been deployed on the same orbital plane, one of the three that make u... More (Source: Phys.org - Sep 7)
SPACEX LAUNCHES NEXT-GEN US SPY SATELLITES ON 2ND LEG OF SPACEFLIGHT DOUBLEHEADER - SpaceX continues to keep busy. One of the company's Falcon 9 rockets lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base tonight (Sept. 5) at 11:20 p.m. EDT (8:20 p.m. local California time; 0320 GMT on Sept. 6 ), sending a batch of next-gen spy satellites aloft for the U.S. National Reconna... More (Source: Space.com - Sep 7)
DISPATCH FROM THE CARBON MAPPER SATELLITE LAUNCH - The best things in life are worth waiting for. And after five years in the making, we have one more thing to add to this list: the launch of Carbon Mapper Coalition’s first (hopefully, of many) methane- and CO2-sensing satellite. The satellite, Tanager-1, built by Planet Labs with state-of-the-art... More (Source: RMI - Sep 7)
NEW SATELLITE TO IMAGE THE EARTH AND STRENGTHEN EUROPE’S COPERNICUS PROGRAMME - The third satellite in the Copernicus Sentinel 2 mission, Sentinel-2C will generate valuable images and data to help respond to natural disasters, monitor pollution and inform action on climate change. The Sentinels are a fleet of satellites that look down on the planet and gather vast quantitie... More (Source: GOV.UK - Sep 6)
NASA TO SUPPORT DARPA ROBOTIC SATELLITE SERVICING PROGRAM - NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have signed an interagency agreement to collaborate on a satellite servicing demonstration in geosynchronous Earth orbit, where hundreds of satellites provide communications, meteorological, national security, and other vital functions.... More (Source: NASA - Sep 6)
USED SPACEX ROCKET LAUNCHES 7,001ST STARLINK SATELLITE (AND 20 OTHERS), LANDS AT SEA - A SpaceX rocket carrying a new batch of Starlink internet satellites launched into orbit from Florida today (Sept. 5), then returned to Earth in a flawless landing. The used Falcon 9 rocket launched 21 Starlink satellites from a pad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and landed on a... More (Source: Space.com - Sep 6)
ESA COMPLETES SWAN SONG OF ITS VEGA ROCKET WITH SENTINEL-2C LAUNCH - The European Space Agency (ESA) completed its transition to its Vega-C rocket with the final launch of its first-generation Vega rocket. The mission, dubbed VV24, carried an Earth-imaging satellite to a sun-synchronous orbit. Liftoff of the 22nd and final Vega rocket happened Wednesday, Sept. 4, ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 5)
