ASTRONAUTS ON THE ISS ARE BRACED FOR AN URGENT EVACUATION - AS NASA UNCOVERS 50 'AREAS OF CONCERN' INCLUDING LEAKS AND CRACKS ON THE 25-YEAR-OLD SPACE STATION - NASA's astronauts aboard the International Space Station have been told to prepare for an urgent evacuation amid growing safety concerns. The US space agency and its Russian counterpart, Roscomos, are tracking 50 'areas of concern' related to a growing leak aboard the station. NASA is now calling the cracks in a Russian service module a 'top safety risk' - escalating the threat rating to five out of five.   More
(Source: Daily Mail - Oct 30)

CHINA LAUNCHES 3 ASTRONAUTS TO TIANGONG SPACE STATION ON SHENZHOU 19 MISSION - China's next human spaceflight mission is on its way into orbit. A Long March 2F rocket topped with the Shenzhou 19 crew spacecraft lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center today (Oct. 19) at 4:27 p.m. EDT (2027 GMT; 4:27 a.m. Oct. 30 Beijing time), rising into a night sky above the spaceport. Aboard are commander Cai Xuzhe, 48, who was a member of the Shenzhou 14 mission, and rookie astronauts Song Lingdong, 34, a former air force pilot, and Wang Haoze, also 34, a spaceflight engineer.   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 30)

NOAA SHARES FIRST IMAGERY FROM GOES-19 SUVI INSTRUMENT - The Solar Ultraviolet Imager, or SUVI, onboard NOAA’s GOES-19 satellite, which launched on June 25, 2024, began observing the sun on Sept. 24, 2024. SUVI monitors the sun in the extreme ultraviolet portion of the electromagnetic spectrum to watch for hazardous space weather that could affect Earth. The sun’s upper atmosphere, or solar corona, consists of extremely hot plasma, which is ionized gas.   More
(Source: nesdis - Oct 29)

LIVE COVERAGE: SPACEX TO LAUNCH 20 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SFB - SpaceX is preparing to launch another Falcon 9 rocket in the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday morning The flight will add another 20 Starlink satellites to the megaconstellation. The Starlink 9-9 mission features 13 satellites that include Direct to Cell capabilities. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base is set for 4:44 a.m. PDT (7:44 a.m. EDT, 1144 UTC).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 29)

ASTRONAUT RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL AFTER RETURN FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - An unnamed astronaut was released from Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola in Florida and returned to Johnson Space Center in Houston in good health Saturday, NASA reported. The astronaut was one of four who splashed down while aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on Friday to conclude NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 mission. The four aboard the SpaceX Dragon were astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin.   More
(Source: UPI - Oct 29)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 22 STARLINK INTERNET SATELLITES FROM FLORIDA - SpaceX launched another batch of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida's Space Coast on Saturday evening (Oct. 26). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:47 p.m. EDT (2147 GMT). The first stage from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lands on the Just Read the Instructions droneship in the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday, Oct. 26, 2024.   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 28)

LARGEST COMMERCIAL SATELLITES UNFURL, OUTSHINING MOST OF THE NIGHT SKY - The dawn of annoyingly massive satellites is upon us, shielding our views of the shimmering cosmos. Five of the largest communication satellites just unfolded in Earth orbit, and this is only the beginning of a Texas startup’s constellation of cellphone towers in space. AST SpaceMobile announced today that its first five satellites, BlueBirds 1 to 5, unfolded to their full size in space. Each satellite unfurled the largest ever commercial communications array to be deployed in low Earth orbit, stretching across 693 square feet (64 square meters) when unfolded.   More
(Source: Gizmodo - Oct 28)

AST SPACEMOBILE UNFOLDS DEBUT PRODUCTION DIRECT-TO-SMARTPHONE SATELLITES - AST SpaceMobile successfully unfolded its first five production satellites after compacting them for their SpaceX launch to low Earth orbit (LEO) last month, the direct-to-smartphone broadband constellation developer announced Oct. 25. Each unfolded Block 1 BlueBird spans about 64 square meters, featuring the largest solar array commercially deployed to LEO and matching the size of AST SpaceMobile’s BlueWalker-3 prototype launched two years ago.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 26)

ONE ASTRONAUT HOSPITALIZED IN PENSACOLA AFTER SPLASHDOWN; CREWMATES FLOWN BACK TO HOUSTON - Three NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut returned to Earth early Friday, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico to close out an extended 235-day expedition to the International Space Station. But one crew member experienced a “medical issue” of some sort after splashdown and was hospitalized in Pensacola. The astronaut “is in stable condition under observation as a precautionary measure,” NASA said in a statement 10 hours after the Crew Dragon’s landing. “To protect the crew member’s medical privacy, specific details on the individual’s condition or identity will not be shared.”   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 26)

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