WITH SUCCESSFUL SPLASHDOWN, SPACEX RETIRES FIRST VERSION OF DRAGON SPACECRAFT - For the final time, a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule was released from the International Space Station’s robotic arm Tuesday and splashed down hours later in Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles. Beginning later this year, SpaceX will fly upgraded Dragon freighters that will dock automatically with the space station and parachute into the Atlantic Ocean east of Florida. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 8)
BOEING INTENDS TO REATTEMPT STARLINER TEST FLIGHT TO SPACE STATION - Boeing plans to launch a second unpiloted test flight of its CST-100 Starliner crew ferry ship after software glitches last December prevented a rendezvous and docking with the International Space Station and briefly threatened the spacecraft's survival, company officials said Monday. A review of the December flight pinpointed the causes of the problems and the steps required to correct them. More (Source: CBS News - Apr 7)
ROCKET FOR NEXT SPACE STATION CREW ARRIVES ON LAUNCH PAD IN KAZAKHSTAN - A Russian Soyuz-2.1a rocket rolled out to a launch pad Monday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, ready for the first crewed flight to use the modernized Soyuz booster configuration. Liftoff with two Russian cosmonauts and a veteran NASA astronaut is scheduled Thursday on an expedition to the International Space Station. Preparations for crew and cargo launches to the space station are proceeding amid the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 7)
RUSSIA READY TO LAUNCH MULTI-SATELLITE ORBITAL GROUPS - ROSCOSMOS CHIEF - The launch of British OneWeb communications satellites on March 21 by the Soyuz 2.1b carrier rocket showed that Russia is ready for deploying multi-satellite orbital groups, Head of Roscosmos space corporation Dmitry Rogozin said on Sunday. "By this launch we proved that our equipment is ready for a swift deployment of multi-satellite groups of complex orbital configuration," Rogozin wrote on his Twitter account. More (Source: TASS - Apr 6)
ASTRONAUTS TRAIN TO RIDE A DRAGON INTO SPACE - Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, two veteran space shuttle fliers, are gearing up to fly a privately-developed SpaceX Dragon capsule into orbit this year. The two astronauts participated in several major training events in March, including long-duration simulations to rehearse procedures they will execute during launch on top of a Falcon 9 rocket, their docking with the International Space Station, and then departure from the orbiting lab for return to Earth. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 5)
IS THIS THE OLDEST STILL-WORKING GEOSTATIONARY SATELLITE? - Regular followers of space news will know that when satellites or space probes reach the end of their life, they either are de-orbited in a fiery re-entry, or they stay lifeless in orbit, often in a safe graveyard orbit where they are unlikely to harm other craft. Sometimes these deactivated satellites spring back into life, and there is a dedicated band of enthusiasts who seek out these oddities. More (Source: Hackaday - Apr 5)
COVID-19: HOW SATELLITES CAN HELP - The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic has virtually paralyzed daily life as we know it. Even when the spread of this highly infectious disease has been stemmed, the world will face huge challenges getting back to normal. To help support experts working in Europe's research centers and technical organizations during these unprecedented times, ESA has issued two new initiatives related to understanding the effects that COVID-19 is imposing on society, the economy and the environment. More (Source: Phys.org - Apr 5)
PANDEMIC PROMPTS FEW CHANGES TO BUSY MONTH ON SPACE STATION - U.S. and Russian vehicles ferrying crews and cargo will continue traveling to and from the International Space Station this month, sustaining the orbiting lab in its 20th year of continuous human occupation amid an escalating pandemic on Earth. A new European platform was also robotically installed outside the space station early Thursday, giving the international research lab a new outdoor deck to host a range of materials science, Earth observation and space science instruments. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 4)
CELEBRATING THE WORLDS FIRST WEATHER SATELLITE - On April 1, 1960, NASA launched TIROS-1, the world’s first successful meteorological satellite. A couple years before, on October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, which began the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The U.S.’s first operational satellite was launched a year later in 1958 as Explorer-1, which was the first U.S. satellite in orbit. More (Source: WBRZ - Apr 3)
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