SPACEX LANDS FALCON 9 BOOSTER FOR A RECORD 23RD TIME AMID KOREASAT-6A MISSION - SpaceX launched the latest communications satellite for KT SAT Corporation Ltd., a satellite service provider in South Korea Monday in the noontime hour. The Falcon 9 rocket was the first of what could shaped up to be a double launch day. Liftoff of the Koreasat-6A mission happened at 12:22 p.m. EST (1722 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. A Starlink delivery mission, postponed from Sunday, is scheduled to fly from pad 40 at neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, four hours later. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 12)
SPACEX LAUNCHING 24 STARLINK SATELLITES FROM FLORIDA ON MONDAY - SpaceX plans to launch 24 more of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida's Space Coast on Monday (Nov. 11). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday during a four-hour window that opens at 4:02 p.m. EST (2102 GMT). The launch had originally been planned for Sunday evening, but was delayed due to poor "unfavorable recovery weather conditions," according to SpaceX. More (Source: Space.com - Nov 11)
SPACEX TO LAUNCH KOREASAT-6A ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM THE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER - SpaceX is preparing to launch the latest communications satellite for KT SAT Corporation Ltd., a satellite service provider in South Korea. The Falcon 9 rocket is set to be the first of a potential double launch day on Monday. Liftoff of the Koreasat-6A mission is scheduled for 12:07 p.m. EST (1707 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. A Starlink delivery mission, postponed from Sunday, is scheduled to fly from pad 40 at neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, four hours later. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 11)
NASA EXTENDS ISS CARGO CONTRACTS THROUGH 2030 - NASA has extended three contracts with companies to continue providing transportation of cargo to and from the International Space Station through the projected end of the station’s life in 2030. In procurement filings Nov. 8, NASA stated it planned to extend the existing Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) 2 contracts with Northrop Grumman, Sierra Space and SpaceX that were set to expire at the end of 2026 through the end of 2030. NASA’s current plans call for retiring the ISS in 2030. More (Source: SpaceNews - Nov 10)
LONG MARCH 2C LAUNCHES 4 PIESAT-2 COMMERCIAL RADAR SATELLITES - A Long March rocket launch sent four satellites into orbit late Friday to provide commercial X-band radar imaging services. A Long March 2C rocket lifted off at 10:39 p.m. Eastern Nov. 8 (0339 UTC, Nov. 9) from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. Insulation tiles fell away from the rocket as it climbed into clear blue skies. The announcement of launch success that followed revealed the payloads to be the PIESAT-2 (Hongtu-2) 01-04 radar satellites. More (Source: SpaceNews - Nov 10)
SPACEX LAUNCHES FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM CALIFORNIA WITH 20 STARLINK SATELLITES - A Falcon 9 rocket lofted another batch of satellites for SpaceX’s Starlink internet service from California on Friday. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base occurred at 10:14 p.m. PST (1:14 a.m. EST, 0614 UTC on Saturday) after a two-day delay. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 10)
WHY DID THE UK'S FIRST SATELLITE END UP THOUSANDS OF MILES FROM WHERE IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN? - Someone moved the UK's oldest satellite and there appears to be no record of exactly who, when or why. Launched in 1969, just a few months after humans first set foot on the Moon, Skynet-1A was put high above Africa's east coast to relay communications for British forces. When the spacecraft ceased working a few years later, gravity might have been expected to pull it even further to the east, out over the Indian Ocean. But today, curiously, Skynet-1A is actually half a planet away, in a position 22,369 miles (36,000km) above the Americas. More (Source: - Nov 9)
POWERFUL NEW US-INDIAN SATELLITE WILL TRACK EARTH’S CHANGING SURFACE - The NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) mission will measure the motion of nearly all of the planet’s land and ice-covered surfaces twice every 12 days. The pace of NISAR’s data collection will give researchers a fuller picture of how Earth’s surface changes over time. “This kind of regular observation allows us to look at how Earth’s surface moves across nearly the entire planet,” said Cathleen Jones, NISAR applications lead at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. More (Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory - NASA - Nov 9)
WE’RE ENTERING THE ERA OF PRIVATE SPACE STATIONS - Lockheed Martin’s Starlab is one of several currently proposed private space stations. The company hopes to have it built by 2027. Credit: Nanoracks The era of the International Space Station (ISS) is coming to a close. In the near future, NASA plans to bring down the station in a controlled deorbit. The end of the ISS will leave a large gap in human spaceflight, although the Chinese Tiangong space station is currently active. Still, to make a space pun, nature abhors a vacuum. Multiple companies are actively working on creating the next generation of crewed space stations to maintain a human presence in space. Of critical importance, these will be privately owned and operated by a variety of commercial entities More (Source: Astronomy Magazine - Nov 8)
Previous Next
