NASA CANCELS ISS SPACEWALK DUE TO SPACESUIT COOLANT LEAK - NASA cancelled a spacewalk at the International Space Station today (June 24) following a spacesuit coolant leak in the hatch. NASA astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson and Mike Barratt were told by Mission Control at 8:52 a.m. EDT (1252 GMT) to stop the planned 6.5-hour spacewalk outside the Internat... More (Source: Space.com - Jun 26)
FIREFLY TO LAUNCH ALPHA FROM WALLOPS - Firefly Aerospace announced June 24 it plans to launch its Alpha rocket from the same pad at Wallops Island, Virginia, used by the Antares rocket, rather than from Cape Canaveral as previously planned. The company said that it would use Pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wall... More (Source: SpaceNews - Jun 25)
POWERFUL GOES-U WEATHER SATELLITE CLEARED FOR JUNE 25 LAUNCH ON SPACEX FALCON HEAVY ROCKET - The green lights continue to shine leading up to the launch of a powerful U.S. weather satellite. GOES-U, the fourth and final member of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) GOES-R series of next-gen weather satellites, has been cleared for its planned Tuesday (June ... More (Source: Space.com - Jun 25)
IRAN TO CONDUCT TWO MAJOR SATELLITE LAUNCHES IN COMING WEEKS - Iran is set to conduct two significant satellite launches in the coming weeks, according to Hassan Salariyeh, the head of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA). Salariyeh announced on Saturday that the launches are scheduled to occur before July 21, as reported by the official IRNA news agency. Sala... More (Source: Eurasia Review - Jun 24)
SPACEX MARKS RECORD 20TH FLIGHT WITH FALCON 9 PAYLOAD FAIRING HALF ON STARLINK MISSION - SpaceX completed the launch of its first Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in more than two weeks on Saturday. The last time the company attempted to launch the Starlink 10-2 mission, it encountered a rare scrub as the Falcon 9’s first stage Merlin engines began firing. L... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 24)
SPACEX COMPLETES FALCON 9 DOUBLE LAUNCH DAY WITH STARLINK MISSION FROM VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE STATION - SpaceX completed another double launch day with a West Coast launch of 20 Starlink V2 Mini satellites, including 13 featuring Direct to Cell capabilities. Liftoff of the Starlink 9-2 mission happened at 8:47 p.m. PDT (11:47 p.m. EDT, 0347 UTC). It came following the launch of 22 Starlink satellit... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 24)
HOW THE GOES U SATELLITE WILL CHANGE EARTH AND SPACE WEATHER FORECASTS FOREVER - I remember in college in the late 2000s learning about forecasting weather. My classmates and I would hand draw maps with the current weather systems and then we'd look at the satellite data to help paint the picture of what would happen in the coming hours and days. NOAA's weather satellites we... More (Source: Space.com - Jun 24)
CHINA LAUNCHES SINO-FRENCH ASTROPHYSICS SATELLITE, DEBRIS FALLS OVER POPULATED AREA - A Chinese launch of the joint Sino-French SVOM mission to study Gamma-ray bursts early Saturday saw toxic rocket debris fall over a populated area. A Long March 2C rocket lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 3:00 a.m. Eastern (0700 UTC) June 22, sending the Space Variable Objects Mo... More (Source: SpaceNews - Jun 24)
‘LOST SATELLITE’ FOUND (AGAIN) AFTER ORBITING EARTH FOR 25 YEARS - An experimental satellite that drifted undetected in space for 25 years has been found using tracking data from the U.S. Space Force, Space.com is reporting. The Infra-Red Calibration Balloon (S73-7) satellite was launched on April 10, 1974, through the U.S. Air Force’s Space Test Program. The ... More (Source: WOKV - Jun 22)
SPACEX LAUNCHES LATEST SES BROADCAST SATELLITE - SpaceX successfully launched Astra 1P for Luxembourg fleet operator SES June 20 toward geostationary orbit, where it is eventually due to replace four older broadcast satellites over Europe. A Falcon 9 lifted off 5:35 p.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida after twice be... More (Source: SpaceNews - Jun 22)
ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES 5 IOT SATELLITES ON LANDMARK 50TH MISSION - Rocket Lab reached the milestone 50th launch of its Electron rocket in record time. An Electron lifted off from Pad B at Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand, at 2:13 p.m. EDT on June 20 (1813 GMT; 6:13 a.m. local New Zealand time on June 21). The rocket was operating with an instantaneous laun... More (Source: Space.com - Jun 21)
SATELLITES CAPTURES UNIQUE IMAGE OF SPACE JUNK - Astroscale's ADRAS-J satellite, launched by a Rocket Lab Electron rocket in February 2024, captured close-up images of a discarded 11-meter-long (36 feet) H-2A rocket upper stage that has been orbiting Earth for nearly 20 years as part of JAXA's CRD2 program, marking a world first. Satellites in ... More (Source: Israel Hayom - Jun 21)
MEGACONSTELLATIONS OF SATELLITES ARE BURNING UP IN OUR ATMOSPHERE. THAT COULD HAVE CONSEQUENCES - If, on a clear night, you were to gaze up into the blackness of the sky, you would expect to see nothing but the magnificent Milky Way stretching out above you, billions of stars twinkling in place. Instead, every few minutes or so, you will most likely also see an ersatz star breaking through an... More (Source: CBC - Jun 21)
FIRST CREW OF BOEING STARLINER TO REMAIN AT ISS UNTIL LATE JUNE - Wilmore and Williams arrived at the ISS on June 6, one day after launching from the U.S. spaceport in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Their scheduled docking with the space station was delayed when five of its 28 maneuvering thrusters failed as it approached the orbital outpost. The spacecraft has also exp... More (Source: VOA - Jun 20)
NASA RESCHEDULES ISS SPACEWALK AFTER ASTRONAUT EXPERIENCES 'SPACESUIT DISCOMFORT' - NASA has picked a new date for the spacewalk that was postponed last weekend due to "spacesuit discomfort." NASA astronauts Tracy Dyson and Matt Dominick were set to perform the International Space Station's (ISS) 90th extravehicular activity (EVA 90) on June 13, and had already been outfitted wi... More (Source: Space.com - Jun 19)
NASA EXTENDS STARLINER STAY AT SPACE STATION TO FURTHER ASSESS HELIUM LEAKS AND THRUSTER ISSUES - Boeing's leak-prone Starliner capsule will remain docked to the International Space Station for an additional four days, NASA announced Tuesday, returning to Earth with a pre-dawn landing at White Sands, New Mexico, on June 26 to close out an extended 20-day test flight — the first with astronauts... More (Source: CBS News - Jun 19)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 20 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE STATION - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Tuesday evening, following the scrub of a planned mission for satellite communications company, SES, from Florida. SpaceX sent another batch of its Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, which included another 13 with direct to cell (DTC) capabilities. Liftoff from... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 19)
NASA SETS LAUNCH COVERAGE FOR NOAA WEATHER SATELLITE - NASA will provide live coverage of prelaunch and launch activities for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) mission. The two-hour launch window opens at 5:16 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 25, for the satellite’s launch... More (Source: NASA - Jun 19)
SPACEX FALCON 9 ROCKET TO LAUNCH SES’S ASTRA 1P TELEVISION SATELLITE FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - SpaceX is preparing to launch a satellite to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) on behalf of one of its oldest customers: Luxembourg-based SES. The prolific launch company aims to bounce back from an unusually quiet period in its launch cadence, accented by a last-second abort as the engines on anot... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 18)
