NASA AWARDS SPACEX THREE CREW FLIGHTS TO SPACE STATION - To continue regular crew transportation to the International Space Station, NASA has awarded SpaceX three additional missions through a contract modification. As part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contract, this change brings the total missions for SpaceX to 17 and helps NASA to maintain access to the space station with two unique commercial crew industry partners.   More
(Source: NASA - Sep 19)

VIASAT-3 F2 ENTERS SERVICE, EXPANDING CAPACITY AND ENABLING GROWTH ACROSS THE AMERICAS - Viasat, Inc., a global leader in satellite communications technology, today announced that its ViaSat-3 (VS3) F2 satellite has entered service across the Americas, significantly expanding the company's network capacity, flexibility and resilience across the region. The satellite strengthens Viasat's ability to deliver advanced connectivity services while creating new opportunities for growth in key markets and enhancing network economics.   More
(Source: Viasat - Sep 19)

ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES AN EARTH-OBSERVING RADAR SATELLITE FROM NEW ZEALAND - Rocket Lab launched a Japanese Earth-observing radar satellite to orbit tonight (Sept. 18). An Electron rocket carrying a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) spacecraft for the Tokyo-based company Synspective lifted off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site tonight at 11:22 p.m. EDT (0322 GMT and 3:22 p.m. local time on Sept. 19).   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 19)

SATREC INITIATIVE TO BUILD 10-CENTIMETER-CLASS OPTICAL SATELLITES FOR HANWHA CONSTELLATION - South Korean company Satrec Initiative is working with parent company Hanwha Systems to provide high-resolution Earth imagery for the synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) constellation announced in July. Satrec Initiative, acquires 25-centimeter optical imagery with SpaceEye-T, launched in 2025. To complement Hanwha’s 64-satellite SAR constellation, designed to provide 30-minute revisit by 2031, Satrec Initiative plans to manufacture and launch four satellites to gather 10-centimeter-class optical imagery, Eugene Kim, Satrec Initiative executive vice president told SpaceNews at the World Space Business Week conference here.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Sep 18)

RUSSIA LAUNCHES PROGRESS 96 WITH 3 TONS OF CARGO TO THE SPACE STATION - Russia launched a cargo mission toward the International Space Station today (Sept. 16), delivering the freighter spacecraft to orbit for a three-day rendezvous journey. The robotic Progress 96 spacecraft lifted off atop a Soyuz rocket from the Russian-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today at 9:33 a.m. EDT (1333 GMT).   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 17)

CHINA SATELLITE BREAKS UP IN UNUSUAL ORBIT, LEAVES 43 FRAGMENTS THAT MAY LAST CENTURIES - A Chinese satellite has left "space debris" in Earth's orbit, adding to the growing clutter that could circle our planet for centuries. The debris field was left by Yaogan 50-02 — a Chinese reconnaissance satellite that had been flying in an unusual retrograde orbit about 590 miles above Earth, according to Futurism. The U.S. Space Force is tracking 43 fragments from the breakup in orbits ranging from 372 to 683 miles.   More
(Source: Yahoo News - Sep 17)

SPACEX LAUNCHES NATIONAL SECURITY PAYLOAD FOR U.S. SPACE FORCE FROM VANDENBERG - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Wednesday night on a national security mission for the U.S. Space Force. The mission reset after a Tuesday launch attempt was scrubbed prior to fueling due to an unexplained issue. Liftoff of the USSF-259 mission happened at at 6:07:56 p.m. PDT / 9:07:56 p.m. EDT on Sept. 16 (0107:56 UTC on Sept. 17). The rocket flew on a southerly trajectory upon leaving Space Launch Complex 4E.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 17)

FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE US MILITARY CONFIRMS IT HAS DEPLOYED WEAPONS IN ORBIT - Air Force Secretary Troy Meink made the first public declaration Monday that the United States has placed “space control weapons” in orbit, an announcement that will surely reverberate in the power centers of Beijing and Moscow. Space Force officials have previously expressed their interest in acquiring space-based weapons, and Pentagon leaders have become more open to discussing space warfare in recent years. Therefore, Meink’s announcement Monday at the Air and Space Forces Association’s annual Air, Space & Cyber Conference near Washington, DC, was not entirely unexpected.   More
(Source: Ars Technica - Sep 17)

AVIO LAUNCHES PAIR OF CLIMATE MONITORING EUROPEAN SPACECRAFT TO STUDY PLANTS, OCEANS AND ATMOSPHERIC CHANGES - An Avio Vega-C rocket zipped off the launch pad Monday night from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. This was the eighth launch to date of the 34.8-meter-tall (114.2 ft.) rocket and the second of 2026. Onboard the launch with the designation VV30 were two spacecraft: the ocean- and atmosphere-monitoring Copernicus Sentinel-3C, managed by the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), and the plant health-monitoring Fluorescence Explorer (FLEX), managed by the European Space Agency (ESA).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 17)

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