NASA LAUNCHED THIS SPACECRAFT TO SAVE A SATELLITE. NOW, IT NEEDS SAVING TOO - Things aren't going so well for NASA's latest satellite rescue mission. NASA launched the Swift Boost mission on July 3, sending a specialized spacecraft to low Earth orbit on the final flight of Northrop Grumman's air-launched Pegasus XL rocket. The spacecraft is called LINK and was built by Arizona-based Katalyst Space Technologies. LINK was sent to orbit to try and link up with NASA's Swift observatory, a highly successful scientific satellite designed to search for gamma-ray bursts, some of the most energetic events in the universe.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 30)

AST SPACEMOBILE ANNOUNCES LAUNCH DATE FOR BLUEBIRD SATELLITES 11, 12, AND 13 - SpaceMobile, Inc., the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by everyday smartphones, designed for both commercial and government applications, today announced that the launch of BlueBird 11, 12, and 13 satellites is currently scheduled for Wednesday, August 5, 2026, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, aboard a Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff is targeted for 3:42 a.m. EDT with an additional opportunity available at 5:10 a.m.   More
(Source: Yahoo - Jul 29)

AMAZON SEEKS FEDERAL APPROVAL TO LAUNCH 5,105 SATELLITES FOR DIRECT-TO-DEVICE NETWORK - Amazon has asked federal regulators to approve a request to launch up to 5,105 internet satellites as part of a constellation that will provide direct-to-device connectivity. The company first telegraphed plans to launch a D2D network in April, when Amazon announced that it would acquire satellite operator Globalstar in a deal worth about $11.6 billion. D2D networks provide connectivity straight to smartphones or other devices via satellites in place of traditional cell towers.    More
(Source: CNBC - Jul 28)

NASA ASTRONAUT, 2 COSMONAUTS RETURN TO EARTH AFTER 241 DAYS ON SPACE STATION - A U.S.-Russian crew returned to Earth from the International Space Station early Sunday morning (July 26), after 241 days in orbit. A Soyuz spacecraft carrying NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos undocked from the orbiting lab on Sunday at 3:03 a.m. EDT (0703 GMT). The Soyuz, known as MS-28, landed on the steppe of Kazakhstan 3 hours and 24 minutes later, at 6:27 a.m. EDT (1027 GMT).   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 27)

NASA ‘HEARS’ FROM LOST SPACECRAFT AFTER NEARLY TWO YEARS - NASA re-established contact with a wayward sun-watching science satellite Sunday nearly two years after the spacecraft suddenly dropped off line during a test, the agency said in a statement Monday. NASA’s Deep Space Network, or DSN, “established a lock on the STEREO-B (spacecraft’s) downlink carrier at 6:27 p.m. EDT,” NASA said in a statement. “The downlink signal was monitored by the Mission Operations team over several hours to characterize the attitude of the spacecraft and then transmitter high voltage was powered down to save battery power.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 26)

LIGHTNING STRIKE ON CHINESE ROCKET CAPTURED IN EPIC LAUNCH PHOTO - Lightning struck a Chinese rocket shortly after liftoff this week, as seen in incredible video and photographs. A Long March-3B rocket lifted off from China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Thursday (July 23) carrying a communications relay satellite destined for geostationary orbit. Some 30 seconds into flight, lightning struck the rocket, leading to awestruck cries from crowds gathered nearby to watch the launch.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 26)

SUPER HEAVY-STARSHIP ROCKET CHALKS UP MOSTLY SUCCESSFUL TEST FLIGHT - SpaceX launched it’s 13th Super Heavy-Starship rocket Friday, with the giant booster chalking up an on-target but “hard” splashdown off the Texas Gulf Coast while the Starship upper stage carried out a successful sub-orbital hop to the Indian Ocean. Powered by 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines, the 407-foot-tall two-stage rocket blasted off from SpaceX’s “Starbase,” Texas, launch site at 5:51 p.m. EDT, putting on a spectacular show for area residents and tourists as it climbed away atop some 16 million pounds of thrust.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 26)

SPACEX FALCON 9 LAUNCHES STARLINK SATELLITES FROM WEST COAST - A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched from the West Coast Saturday, carrying another batch of satellites for the company’s Starlink internet service. Liftoff from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California occurred at 8:51 a.m. PDT (11:51 a.m. EDT / 1551 UTC). The Falcon 9 look a southerly trajectory on departure from Space Launch Complex 4E, as it targeted an 97-degree inclination orbit.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 26)

COLLISIONS IN SPACE ARE A GROWING CONCERN. A PLAN TO ADDRESS IT IS REIGNITING A TURF WAR - As the number of satellites orbiting Earth continues to grow, so does the risk of crashes between these spacecraft. Such collisions could create fields of debris, potentially rendering entire areas of orbit useless. Objects in space have crashed, or had near misses, in the past. But while such incidents remain extremely rare, there are now more than 18,000 active and inactive satellites in orbit — a number that has more than doubled in the past six years alone. And the vast majority of them are located in the same region, low-Earth orbit, where the increased congestion is making collisions statistically more likely.   More
(Source: CNN - Jul 24)

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