NASA ATTEMPT TO BOOST SPACE STATION CUTS OFF UNEXPECTEDLY - The International Space Station sometimes has to shift its path to stay in the right orbit or to avoid debris (like it did last week). Usually, the ISS crew calls on Russian equipment to provide the thrust for the adjustments, but NASA tried to use a Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo craft in a "reboost" test on Monday. It didn't go as planned.   More
(Source: CNET - Jun 22)

KARI REACHES ORBIT ON SECOND TEST FLIGHT OF DOMESTIC NURI ROCKET - The Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) has conducted its second launch of the Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV)-II rocket, also known as Nuri. This was Nuri’s return to flight after nearly reaching orbit on its previous mission. The rocket lifted off from Launch Complex-2 (LC-2) at the Naro Space Center on June 21 at 16:00 Korea Time (07:00 UTC). This launch was Nuri’s second demonstration flight and KARI’s fifth orbital launch attempt overall. On this flight, Nuri carried a 1.2 metric ton mass simulator, the 162.5 kg Performance Verification Satellite (PVSAT), four CubeSats, and a dummy CubeSat successfully to orbit.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jun 22)

SOUTH KOREAN ROCKET’S SECOND LAUNCH RESCHEDULED FOR JUNE 21 - The second launch of South Korea’s first domestically built rocket is set for June 21, a delay of a week due to strong winds and a technical glitch. “We convened a meeting of the launch management committee and decided to pursue the second launch on June 21,” Kwon Hyun-joon, a senior science ministry official, said June 17 in a live-streamed media briefing. Kwon said the kerosene and liquid oxygen-fueled three-stage rocket KSLV-2 was lying horizontally in a hangar at the Naro Space Center, after a malfunctioning sensor in the first-stage booster was replaced with a new one.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jun 21)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION DODGES ORBITAL DEBRIS FROM RUSSIAN ANTI-SATELLITE TEST - A piece of space junk from a Russian anti-satellite weapons test forced the International Space Station to maneuver to avoid the orbital debris on Thursday (June 16). Russia's space agency Roscosmos used an uncrewed Progress 81 cargo ship docked at the International Space Station to move the orbiting lab clear of a piece of space debris from the Russian satellite Cosmos 1408, sharing video of the activity (opens in new tab) on the social media service Telegram. Russia destroyed the defunct Soviet-era satellite in a November 2021 anti-satellite missile test.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jun 20)

SPACEX LAUNCHES GERMAN MILITARY RADAR SATELLITE FROM CALIFORNIA - A four-ton, cloud-penetrating radar observation satellite for the German military soared into orbit Saturday from California on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, beginning a 10-year mission to collect all-weather reconnaissance imagery. The Falcon 9 rocket flashed to life and climbed away from its launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 7:19:52 a.m. PDT (10:19:52 a.m. EDT; 1419:52 GMT), rumbling through a low-altitude fog layer before breaking into a clear sky for rest of the ascent into space with Germany’s SARah 1 radar imaging satellite.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 20)

SPACEX LAUNCHES GLOBALSTAR SATELLITE ON MYSTERIOUS FALCON 9 MISSION - SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket on a secretive mission in the early hours of Sunday morning. Liftoff occurred at 12:27 AM EDT (04:27 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 of the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, with the rocket’s official mission being the deployment of a single replacement satellite for communications operator Globalstar. The Globalstar-2 FM15 spacecraft was manufactured by Thales Alenia Space as part of Globalstar’s second-generation constellation of low Earth orbit (LEO) communications satellites.    More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jun 19)

ASTRONOMERS RENEW CONCERNS ABOUT STARLINK SATELLITE BRIGHTNESS - As SpaceX gears up for another launch of Starlink satellites, astronomers are concerned the company maybe backsliding in its efforts to reduce the brightness of those satellites. A Falcon 9 is scheduled to lift off at 12:08 p.m. Eastern June 17 from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A, placing 53 Starlink satellites into orbit. This mission will bring the total number of Starlink satellites launched to more than 2,700, with more than 2,450 in orbit.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jun 18)

THE US HAS A NATIONAL STRATEGY TO PUT FACTORIES IN SPACE - The US government wants to see more of the expensive hardware in space maintained and even built there, rather than back on Earth. Space activities add billions to the US economy, but the inability to build in orbit limits that contribution. Now, new technologies developed by the US government and private firms are showing what it will take to begin servicing, assembling, and even manufacturing in space. Experts say it is the path toward orbiting factories and long-term habitation on the Moon.   More
(Source: Quartz - Jun 17)

NASA ASSIGNS 2 ASTRONAUTS TO FLY ON BOEING STARLINER'S 1ST CREWED MISSION - We now know who will get to take Boeing's Starliner capsule out for its first crewed test ride. NASA astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Suni Williams will fly on Crew Flight Test (CFT), Starliner's first crewed mission to the International Space Station, the agency announced today (June 16). Wilmore will command the mission, with Williams serving as pilot and fellow NASA astronaut Mike Fincke training as backup pilot.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jun 17)

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