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)

CREW UNPACKS NEW STATION SCIENCE DELIVERED ABOARD DRAGON - New science experiments and research samples delivered aboard the SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft on Tuesday are being installed today aboard the International Space Station. Meanwhile, more science and lab maintenance continued ensuring the upkeep of the orbital outpost. The four NASA astronauts representing the Expedition 72 crew, Flight Engineers Don Pettit, Nick Hague, and Butch Wilmore, and Commander Suni Williams, spent the day unloading the research-packed Dragon that arrived on Tuesday, Nov. 5.   More
(Source: NASA - Nov 8)

SPACEX'S DRAGON IS ABOUT TO DO SOMETHING TO THE ISS IT'S NEVER DONE BEFORE - SpaceX will boost the space station for the first time Friday (Nov. 8), as the company prepares to eventually kill the orbiting complex. A Dragon cargo spacecraft docked to the International Space Station (ISS) will fire its engines for 12.5 minutes on Friday (Nov. 8), NASA officials said at a press conference Monday (Nov. 4). Other spacecraft have done this before, but it will be a first for a SpaceX capsule — and an important precursor to a bigger Dragon vehicle that will one day drive the ISS to its demise.   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 8)

SPACEX LAUNCHING 20 STARLINK SATELLITES FROM CALIFORNIA EARLY NOV. 9 - SpaceX will launch 20 Starlink internet satellites from California early Saturday morning (Nov. 9). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Starlink spacecraft — 13 of which have direct-to-cell capability — is scheduled to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday, during a four-hour window that opens at 1:14 a.m. EST (0514 GMT; 10:14 p.m. Nov. 8 local time). SpaceX will webcast the launch live via X, beginning about five minutes before liftoff.   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 8)

RUSSIA SENDS 53 SATELLITES TO ORBIT ON RECORD-BREAKING LAUNCH - Russia launched 53 small satellites into orbit on Monday (Nov. 4), a mix of Russian and international spacecraft. A Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with a Fregat upper stage lifted off from the Vostochny spaceport in the Russian Far East at 6:18 p.m. EST on Monday (2318 GMT; or 2:18 a.m. on Nov. 5 local time).   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 8)

CARGO SHIP BRINGS SUPPLIES, SCIENCE GEAR AND HOLIDAY TREATS FOR SPACE STATION CREW - An unpiloted SpaceX Dragon cargo ship caught up with the International Space Station and glided in for a smooth docking on Tuesday — Election Day across the U.S. — bringing 3 tons of supplies, science gear and other equipment to the lab, including holiday treats for the crew. The Dragon's Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from historic launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center at 9:29 p.m. EST Monday, lighting up the night sky for miles around as it climbed away atop 1.7 million pounds of thrust.   More
(Source: CBS News - Nov 7)

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