NASA INVITES MEDIA TO ROMAN SPACE TELESCOPE, CREW-13 LAUNCHES - Media accreditation now is open for the launch of NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the agency’s SpaceX Crew-13 missions, both targeting launch in the coming months. The Roman telescope is slated to launch no earlier than 7:20 a.m. EDT Sunday, Aug. 30, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The observatory, named after NASA’s first chief astronomer, will have a deep, panoramic view of the cosmos, generating never-before-seen pictures that will revolutionize our understanding of the universe. More (Source: NASA - Jul 19)
TRUMP DECIMATED A SATELLITE PROGRAM THAT WOULD’VE VASTLY IMPROVED WILDFIRE SMOKE MONITORING - When Donald Trump, Elon Musk and the DOGE boys started snipping wires across DC, they took out critical programs like the government's premier climate research website and the hurricane-hunter aircraft gathering data on dangerous storms. While they were at it, the Trump administration also ripped up a project that would have vastly improved the country's ability to monitor wildfires. The GeoXO program was a project originally encompassing six satellites that would greatly improve the resolution available to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to monitor atmospheric conditions like wildfire smoke, as well as weather events like lightning strikes, and climate observations such as color changes in the ocean's surface. More (Source: Yahoo - Jul 18)
STATION’S NEWEST TRIO ADJUSTS TO MISSION LIFE BEFORE NEXT CREW DEPARTURE - 10 crew members now occupy the International Space Station following the arrival of NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina aboard the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft on Tuesday. The expanded Expedition 74 crew will stay that way until the end of the month when another three crewmates depart the orbital outpost after an eight-month space research mission. More (Source: NASA - Jul 17)
POST-IGNITION ANOMALY CAUSES ABORT OF SPACEX’S STARSHIP FLIGHT 13 - SpaceX will have to wait debut its long-promised Starlink Version 3 satellites after an apparent engine issue forced a last second abort of the suborbital test mission The Starship Flight 13 mission will be the second launch of a third-generation Starship-Super Heavy launch vehicle and the second mission for the program this year. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 17)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 21 COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES FOR THE SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY - The Space Development Agency launched its third batch of operational satellites designed to improve secure communications between members of the U.S. military and its allies across the globe aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from California on Thursday. The SDA’s constellation, the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA), consists of a series of series of interconnected satellites with varying focuses, from missile tracking to navigation. The satellites launching on Thursday afternoon are part of the communications layer, referred to as the Tranche 1 Transport Layer (T1TL). More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 17)
LATEST ON THE GOES-19 SATELLITE OUTAGE - The primary satellite used to monitor weather disturbances across the United States and the Atlantic Basin is currently offline. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released a statement Wednesday evening that the GOES-19 satellite experienced a major technical anomaly. The satellite unexpectedly entered a 'safehold' mode yesterday. More (Source: Yahoo - Jul 17)
SOYUZ SPACECRAFT LAUNCHES NEW CREW FOR STATION ARRIVAL TODAY - The Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft reached orbit after its 10:47 a.m. EDT (7:47 p.m. Baikonur time) launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying NASA astronaut Anil Menon and Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina to the International Space Station. After a two-orbit, three-hour trip to the orbital complex, the spacecraft will automatically dock at about 1:56 p.m. to the Prichal module. Shortly after, hatches between Soyuz and the space station will open. More (Source: NASA - Jul 16)
EVERY SPACEX STARLINK SATELLITE HAS TO DODGE A COLLISION ALMOST WEEKLY, AND EXPERTS FEAR THE WORST - SpaceX's Starlink satellites made over 355,000 collision avoidance maneuvers throughout the past year, with each satellite now dodging debris and other spacecraft on an almost weekly basis. The numbers are based on disclosures made by SpaceX in its latest semiannual report to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). According to the latest report, Starlink satellites performed an overall 207,152 avoidance maneuvers between December 2025 and May 2026, up nearly 60,000 from the 148,696 reported in the previous half year. That brings the yearly total to over 355,000, more than three times as many as the constellation performed in 2024. More (Source: Space.com - Jul 16)
A SATELLITE LAUNCHED IN 1958 IS STILL THE OLDEST HUMAN-MADE OBJECT CIRCLING EARTH — AND IT IS EXPECTED TO KEEP QUIETLY ORBITING OVERHEAD FOR ANOTHER FEW CENTURIES - )n 17 March 1958, a three-stage rocket lifted a polished aluminium sphere from Cape Canaveral and placed it in a long, elliptical orbit around Earth. Vanguard 1 was only 16.3 centimetres across and weighed about 1.5 kilograms. Six thin aerials made it look larger, but the spacecraft itself really was close to the size of a grapefruit. More (Source: Space Daily - Jul 16)
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