SES-22 SATELLITE TO LAUNCH ON JUNE 29 - Satellite operator SES has announced that its latest unit, the SES-22 is currently being prepared for launch from SpaceX’s Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on June 29, 2022, at 5:04 pm/11:04 pm. Built by Thales Alenia Space, SES-22 will operate in the 135 degrees West orbital slot and will deliver TV and radio to millions of American homes and provide other critical data transmission services. SES-22 is expected to start operations by early August of 2022.   More
(Source: Satellite Pro ME - Jun 28)

BUZZ LIGHTYEAR HAS REALLY FLOWN IN SPACE. HERE ARE THE VIDEOS TO PROVE IT. - At 468 days in space, Buzz Lightyear has spent the longest time ever in space on a single mission. The catch is, as Lightyear's friend Woody would remind us in a hot minute, he is a toy! Whether toy or space ranger, however, the loveable Lightyear is back in the popular conversation yet again for the Disney movie "Lightyear," which is out now exclusively in theaters.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jun 27)

NASA TO LAUNCH FIRST ROCKET FROM A COMMERCIAL SPACEPORT IN AUSTRALIA ON SUNDAY - NASA will launch a rocket from the remote wilderness of northern Australia on Sunday evening, the first commercial space launch in Australia and the agency's first from a commercial spaceport. The suborbital rocket will be briefly visible seconds after the launch, scheduled for 10:44 p.m. (1344 GMT) Australian Central Standard Time, and will travel 300 kilometres (186 miles) into space.   More
(Source: Reuters - Jun 27)

IRAN LAUNCHES ROCKET INTO SPACE AS NUCLEAR TALKS TO RESUME - Iranian state television said Sunday that Tehran had launched a solid-fueled rocket into space, drawing a rebuke from Washington ahead of the expected resumption of stalled talks over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers. It’s unclear when or where the rocket was launched, but the announcement came after satellite photos showed preparations at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran’s rural Semnan province, the site of Iran’s frequent failed attempts to put a satellite into orbit.   More
(Source: AP News - Jun 27)

CYGNUS CARGO CRAFT FIRES ENGINE FOR LIMITED STATION REBOOST - On Saturday, June 25, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus completed its first limited reboost of the International Space Station. Cygnus’ gimbaled delta velocity engine was used to adjust the space station’s orbit through a reboost of the altitude of the space station. The maneuver lasted 5 minutes, 1 second and raised the station’s altitude 1/10 of a mile at apogee and 5/10 of a mile at perigee. This Cygnus mission is the first to feature this enhanced capability as a standard service for NASA, following a test of the maneuver which was performed in 2018 during Cygnus’s ninth resupply mission.   More
(Source: NASA - Jun 26)

CHINA COMPLETES SECOND LAUNCH THIS WEEK WITH YAOGAN 35-2 - A second launch out of China this week lifted off at 02:22 UTC from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center with three satellites of the Yaogan family aboard a Chang Zheng 2D. The satellites, called Yaogan 35 Group 2, are possibly related to another triplet of payloads that launched in November 2021 from the same spaceport on the same rocket.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jun 25)

KUAIZHOU-1A RETURNS TO FLIGHT WITH A MYSTERIOUS PAYLOAD - This morning at 02:20 UTC, Kuaizhou-1A successfully returned to flight with the Tianxing-1 mission. The launch was conducted from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. This mission comes after the GeeSAT-1A&1B mission, which launched in December 2021 on the same rocket configuration and failed. The payload went to a 275 x 292 km orbit, with an inclination of 96.8 degrees. The launch was confirmed to be a success by Chinese state media. The payload is called Tianxing-1 and is referred to as a test satellite.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jun 25)

WILD SOLAR WEATHER IS CAUSING SATELLITES TO PLUMMET FROM ORBIT. IT'S ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE. - In late 2021, operators of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Swarm constellation noticed something worrying: The satellites, which measure the magnetic field around Earth, started sinking toward the atmosphere at an unusually fast rate — up to 10 times faster than before. The change coincided with the onset of the new solar cycle, and experts think it might be the beginning of some difficult years for spacecraft orbiting our planet.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jun 24)

LAUNCH OF NASA'S CAPSTONE CUBESAT MOON MISSION DELAYED TO JUNE 27 - The launch of NASA's CAPSTONE moon mission has been delayed at least two additional days, to no earlier than Monday (June 27). The microwave oven-sized CAPSTONE will head toward the moon atop a Rocket Lab Electron vehicle, which will lift off from the company's New Zealand launch site. NASA and Rocket Lab had been eyeing Saturday (June 25) for the launch, but it has been pushed back to allow for additional checks on the Electron, NASA officials said in a brief update last night (opens in new tab) (June 22).   More
(Source: Space.com - Jun 24)

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