IRAN, IMAGERY SUGGEST PREPARATION FOR SATELLITE LAUNCH DESPITE US CRITICISM, PAST FAILURES - Iran is apparently trying to launch a satellite into space despite a string of failures last year and U.S. concerns that the program is acting as a front for ballistic missile development. Images taken from space Sunday appear to show an increase in activity at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran’s Semnan province. The photos, which were annotated by experts at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, show an apparent influx of cars and work activity at a launchpad, suggesting Iran might be repairing the damaged site.   More
(Source: Fox News - Jan 29)

NASA SELECTS AXIOM SPACE TO BUILD COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION SEGMENT - NASA has announced that they have selected Axiom Space, an American company headquartered in Houston, Texas, to design, build and launch three large pressurized modules and a large Earth observation window to the International Space Station (ISS). This partnership between NASA and Axiom is issued under Appendix I of NASA Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships 2 (NextSTEP-2) public-private partnership program which the agency hopes will help stimulate commercial development of deep space exploration capabilities.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jan 29)

TWO OLD SATELLITES COULD COLLIDE OVER US, SPACE DEBRIS TRACKER WARNS - Two satellites could potentially collide just above Pittsburgh on Wednesday, according to space debris tracker LeoLabs. IRAS (13777), a decommissioned space telescope launched in 1983, and GGSE-4 (2828), an experimental US payload launched in 1967, will pass incredibly close to each other at a relative velocity of 14.7 km/s, LeoLabs said in a tweet Monday.   More
(Source: CNET - Jan 28)

SPACEX POSTPONES LAUNCH OF STARLINK SATELLITE FLEET DUE TO BAD WEATHER - The California-based spaceflight company was scheduled to launch 60 of its internet-beaming satellites at 9:49 a.m. EST (1449 GMT) today from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. However, high winds at the launch site prompted the delay. SpaceX is now targeting no earlier than Wednesday (Jan. 29) at 9:06 a.m. EST (1406 GMT) for this Starlink launch "due to poor weather in the recovery area," the company tweeted Monday night.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 28)

SPACEX SUCCESSFUL ABORT TEST WIDENS LEAD OVER BOEING - It was truly a show to see. Last Sunday, SpaceX blasted off the latest in a seemingly unceasing stream of Falcon 9 rockets, this time with a Crew Dragon space capsule at the tip. About 90 seconds into the flight, that capsule fired off an octet of its own rockets -- SuperDraco thrusters -- blasting itself clear of the rocket main body. Ten seconds later, that rocket main body blew up -- on purpose.   More
(Source: Motley Fool - Jan 28)

SPACEX IS ABOUT TO LAUNCH A HISTORIC MISSION WITH ACTUAL PEOPLE ON BOARD CREW DRAGON - SpaceX is poised to launch its first astronauts into space this spring: Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley. Their flight on the company's Crew Dragon spaceship will mark the first time an American spacecraft has carried NASA astronauts since the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011.   More
(Source: ScienceAlert - Jan 27)

SPACEX WINS CONTRACT TO LAUNCH EGYPTIAN COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE - SpaceX and the Egyptian satellite operator Nilesat have signed a contract to launch the Nilesat 301 communications craft on a Falcon 9 rocket in early 2022, SpaceX confirmed this week. The commercial agreement was signed in Cairo on Tuesday by SpaceX and Nilesat officials. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 26)

BOEING SAYS SPACEWAY-1 BATTERY FAILURE HAS LOW RISK OF REPEATING ON SIMILAR SATELLITES - The battery malfunction that put DirecTV’s Spaceway-1 satellite at risk of exploding has a “very low likelihood” of occuring on other satellites, according to the satellite’s manufacturer, Boeing. Spaceway-1 was the first of three virtually identical Spaceway satellites built by Boeing and launched between 2005 and 2007. AT&T subsidiary DirectTV owns Spaceway-1 and -2, which were launched to provide direct broadcast TV services over the Americas. Hughes Network Systems, which was spun off from DirecTV in 2005, owns Spaceway-3 and uses it to provide internet connectivity to customers in North America.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jan 26)

NORTHROP GRUMMAN TARGETING FEB. 9 FOR LAUNCH OF CYGNUS SPACECRAFT TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Northrop Grumman is targeting Sunday, Feb. 9, at 5:39 p.m., for the launch of its Cygnus spacecraft on an Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. This will be Northrop Grumman’s 13th commercial resupply mission for the agency to the International Space Station.   More
(Source: SpaceCoastDaily.com - Jan 26)

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