ASTRONAUTS STRANDED IN SPACE ARE NOW ONE STEP CLOSER TO RETURNING HOME - On Saturday afternoon, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral for a mission that marked the first human spaceflight to lift off from the company's Space Launch Complex-40. The mission, however, will likely be remembered for something different. In August, NASA determined that SpaceX’s Crew-9 mission would be the solution to a months-long space drama that turned astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore’s eight-day stay at the International Space Station (ISS) into eight months.   More
(Source: Smithsonian Magazine - Oct 3)

U.S. FACES STIFF COMPETITION FROM CHINA IN SATELLITE REMOTE SENSING - A new report by a group of national security think tanks sheds light on the rapidly evolving global commercial remote sensing industry and delves into the heated competition between the United States and China. Titled “Gold Rush: The 2024 Commercial Remote Sensing Global Rankings,” the report was published Oct. 1 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Taylor Geospatial Institute, Taylor Geospatial Engine, and the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (USGIF). It ranks the world’s best commercial space-based remote sensing systems across several performance categories, providing critical insights into the state of the industry.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 2)

SPACEX DRAGON WITH CREW-9 ABOARD DOCKS TO STATION - NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov arrived at the International Space Station Sunday, as the SpaceX Dragon Freedom docked to the orbiting complex at 5:30 p.m. EDT while the station was 260 statute miles over Botswana. Following Dragon’s link up to the Harmony module, the astronauts aboard the Dragon and the space station will begin conducting standard leak checks and pressurization between the spacecraft in preparation for hatch opening scheduled for approximately 7:15 p.m.   More
(Source: NASA - Oct 1)

SPACEX POSTPONES MONDAY’S ONEWEB SATELLITE CONSTELLATION LAUNCH DUE TO A BOOSTER MISHAP AFTER CREW-9 LAUNCH — TO RESUME AFTER “WE BETTER UNDERSTAND ROOT CAUSE” - The launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to send up 20 microsatellites for the OneWeb satellite constellation from Vandenberg Space Force Base, originally planned for late Sunday night, has been postponed due to a mishap that occurred Saturday with the landing of a second stage booster associated with the Crew 9 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The launch will be no earlier than Tuesday, October 1, according to base officials. SpaceX plans to resume launching after “we better understand root cause.”    More
(Source: SatNews - Oct 1)

CHINA LAUNCHES FIRST REUSABLE, RETURNABLE TEST SATELLITE - China sent its first reusable and returnable test satellite, Shijian-19, into space on Friday, using a Long March-2D rocket for the launch, Xinhua reports. The rocket blasted off at 6:30 p.m. (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.   More
(Source: Kazinform - Sep 29)

CHINA'S CAS SPACE LAUNCHES 5 SATELLITES WITH ITS 4TH ROCKET - A commercial Chinese rocket maker has completed its fourth solid rocket launch, sending five satellites into orbit. CAS Space's Kinetica-1 (also known as Lijian-1) solid rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert at 7:33 p.m. EDT on Sept. 24 (2333 GMT; or 7:33 a.m. Beijing time on Sept. 25).   More
(Source: - Sep 29)

EUROPEAN TWIN SATELLITE MISSION BIDS TO CREATE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE ON DEMAND - European scientists are preparing to launch a space mission that has been designed to create total eclipses of the sun on demand. The robot spacecraft Proba-3 will be launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) in a few weeks in a mission which will involve flying a pair of satellites in close formation round the Earth. They will be linked by lasers and light sensors, with one probe blocking the view of the sun as seen from the other craft. The effect will be to create solar eclipses that will last for several hours.   More
(Source: The Guardian - Sep 29)

SPACEX LAUNCHES TWO TO SPACE STATION, GIVING STARLINER ASTRONAUTS A RIDE HOME IN FEBRUARY - SpaceX launched a reduced two-man crew on a flight to the International Space Station Saturday, along with supplies and a pair of empty seats for two Starliner astronauts waiting to hitch a ride home in February after an unexpected eight-and-a-half-month stay in orbit. Running two days late because of high winds, rain and clouds spawned by Hurricane Helene, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roared to life and blasted off from pad 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 1:17 p.m. EDT, climbing away on a northeasterly trajectory directly into the plane of the space station’s orbit.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 29)

EUROPE’S SPACE AGENCY WILL DESTROY A BRAND-NEW SATELLITE IN 2027 JUST TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS - The European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch a satellite into Earth’s orbit in 2027 to watch it get wrecked as it reenters the atmosphere. The project is intended to help understand how exactly satellites break apart so that scientists can learn how to prevent the creation of more space debris. Space junk is becoming a bigger problem as we send more satellites into orbit, but there are efforts to try and address it. This mission is part of the ESA’s Zero Debris Charter initiative to stop the creation of additional space debris by 2030.   More
(Source: The Verge - Sep 28)

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