NASA ASTRONAUT KATE RUBINS IS READY FOR A 2ND 'BUCKET LIST' TRIP TO THE SPACE STATION - Just a few weeks ahead of the 20th anniversary of a continuous human presence in space, NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov are scheduled to launch for a stay on the International Space Station. The launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in southern Kazakhstan is scheduled for 1:45 am ET on Wednesday and will be broadcast live on NASA's website. More (Source: CNN - Oct 15)
SOYUZ CREW LAUNCHES ON 'ULTRAFAST' TWO-ORBIT FLIGHT TO SPACE STATION - An American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts have launched to the International Space Station just ahead of and to extend 20 years of a continuous human presence in Earth orbit. Kate Rubins of NASA, together with Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov of Roscosmos, lifted off on Russia's Soyuz MS-17 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday (Oct. 14). Their launch, atop a Soyuz-2.1a rocket, began at 1:45 a.m. EDT (0545 GMT; 10:45 a.m. local Kazakh time). More (Source: Space.com - Oct 15)
SOYUZ MS-17 PREPARES FOR ULTRAFAST, 3 HOUR JOURNEY TO ISS - The three space travelers of the Soyuz MS-17 mission are making their final preparations ahead of a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station. The flight is scheduled to lift off on a Soyuz 2.1a booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Site No. 31/6, in Kazakhstan at 05:45:04 UTC on 14 October (01:45:04 EDT), lofting its international crew to space for a very fast, two orbit, three hour rendezvous with Station. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Oct 14)
STARLINK ALREADY THREATENS OPTICAL ASTRONOMY. NOW, RADIO ASTRONOMERS ARE WORRIED - The 197 radio astronomy dishes of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in South Africa will sit within a radio-quiet zone the size of Pennsylvania where even a cellphone is forbidden, to preserve the array’s views of the heavens. Yet that precaution won’t save the telescope, due to be completed in the late 2020s, from what may soon be overhead: tens of thousands of communications satellites beaming down radio signals straight from the heavens. “The sky will be full of these things,” says SKA Director General Phil Diamond. More (Source: ScienceMag.org - Oct 14)
NASA ADVANCES PLAN TO COMMERCIALIZE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - The planned launch of a private commercial airlock to the International Space Station in November will accelerate NASA's plan to turn the station into a hub of private industry, space agency officials said. The commercialization plan also includes the launch of a private habitat and laboratory by 2024 and a project NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced on Twitter in May in which actor Tom Cruise will film a movie in space. More (Source: UPI.com - Oct 13)
NASA TO LAUNCH KARUR STUDENTS’ SATELLITE - An experimental satellite developed by three students of Karur has been selected for launch in sub-orbital space by NASA. It took more than two years of research and development for M. Adnaan of Thanthonrimalai, M. Kesavan of Nagampalli village near Malaikovilur and V. Arun of Thennilai to design and develop the satellite that outsmarted a number of satellites developed by aspiring space scientists to win the global competition conducted by the Cubes in Space, a programme of Idoodledu Inc in association with NASA. More (Source: The Hindu - Oct 13)
A SECOND LIFE FOR A DEFUNCT BILLION-DOLLAR WEATHER SATELLITE - The GOES series of weather satellites (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites) were first launched in 1974 with GOES-1. In addition to pictures of the clouds, they provide critical inputs into the computer weather models that help forecast the weather around the globe. These variables include snow cover, water vapor, sunspot activity, even upper-air wind data to help hurricane forecasts. More (Source: Bay News 9 - Oct 13)
RUSSIAN ROCKET FOR NEXT SPACE STATION CREW TRANSFERRED TO LAUNCH PAD - A Russian Soyuz booster arrived at its launch pad on the Kazakh steppe Sunday, the last stop before liftoff Wednesday with a three-person crew bound for the International Space Station. The Soyuz-2.1a rocket emerged from its assembly building at sunrise Sunday for the railroad trek to pad 31 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After the Soyuz reached the pad, hydraulic cylinders raised the three-stage rocket vertical and gantry arms folded into position around the launcher. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 13)
CHINA LAUNCHES GAOFEN-13 OBSERVATION SATELLITE TOWARDS GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT - Chinese Earth observation Gaofen-13 is on its way to a geostationary orbit after successful launch on a Long March 3B from Xichang Oct. 11. The Long March 3B lifted off from Xichang, southwest China at 12:57 p.m. Eastern. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) confirmed launch success just over an hour later (Chinese). More (Source: SpaceNews - Oct 12)
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