SPACEX LAUNCHES 24 STARLINK SATELLITES INTO POLAR ORBIT ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM CALIFORNIA - SpaceX launched for a rare launch of its Starlink Version 2 Mini satellites into a polar orbit shortly after sunset on Friday night. The mission, dubbed Starlink 17-3, adds another 24 satellites into the company’s megaconstellation consisting of more than 7,900 satellites on orbit, according to statistics compiled by expert orbital tracker and astronomer, Jonathan McDowell. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 8:52 p.m. PDT (11:52 p.m. EDT / 0352 UTC).    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 19)

NASA SEES KEY PROGRESS ON STARLAB COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION - s NASA continues its transition toward a commercial low Earth orbit marketplace, an agency-supported commercial space station, Starlab, recently completed five development and design milestones. Starlab’s planned design consists of a service module and a habitat that will be launched to orbit on a single flight. The milestones, part of a NASA Space Act Agreement awarded in 2021, focused on reviews of Starlab’s preliminary design and safety, as well as spacecraft mockup and procurement plans. Each milestone provides NASA insight into the company’s development progress.   More
(Source: NASA - Jul 18)

NASA TO PREVIEW ADVANCED US-INDIA RADAR MISSION AHEAD OF LAUNCH - The Earth-observing satellite, a first-of-its-kind collaboration between NASA and ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation), carries an advanced radar system that will help protect communities by providing a dynamic, three-dimensional view of Earth in unprecedented detail and detecting the movement of land and ice surfaces down to the centimeter. The NISAR mission will lift off from ISRO’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, on India’s southeastern coast. Launch is targeted for no earlier than late July.   More
(Source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) - Jul 18)

SATELLITE CONSTELLATIONS ARE TOO BRIGHT—MAY THREATEN ASTRONOMY AND OUR NIGHT SKY - The race to connect the world through satellite internet has created an unexpected casualty: our view of the cosmos. A new study reveals that major satellite constellations, including Starlink, BlueBird, and OneWeb, are significantly brighter than international standards allow, potentially disrupting both professional astronomy and the simple pleasure of stargazing.   More
(Source: Phys.org - Jul 17)

SPACEX LAUNCHES FIRST OF THREE MISSIONS FOR AMAZON’S PROJECT KUIPER CONSTELLATION - Amazon now has the third launch of its Project Kuiper broadband internet satellites in the books. This time around, they launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission, dubbed KF-01 or Kuiper Falcon 1, lifted off at 2:30 a.m. EDT (0630 UTC). The rocket took off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and will begin deploying the 24 Project Kuiper satellites about 56 minutes after liftoff.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 17)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 26 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SFB - SpaceX launched its latest batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base about an hour before sunset on Tuesday. The Starlink 15-2 saw 26 satellites launch into low Earth orbit onboard a Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East at 7:05 p.m. PDT (10:05 p.m. EDT, 0205 UTC).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 17)

PRIVATE AX-4 ASTRONAUTS SPLASH DOWN ABOARD SPACEX CAPSULE TO CONCLUDE ISS MISSION - Welcome home! Four astronauts have returned to Earth following more than two weeks living aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Axiom Space's fourth crewed mission to the ISS, known as Ax-4, concluded early this morning, with the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule "Grace" splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at 5:32 a.m. EDT (0932 GMT; locally, 2:32 a.m. PDT). Grace undocked from the ISS yesterday (July 14) at 7:15 a.m. EDT (1115 GMT), beginning the 22-hour final leg of the crew's journey in space.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 17)

SHENZHOU XX CREW ENTER TIANZHOU-9 CARGO CRAFT - China's Shenzhou XX crew, aboard the orbiting Tiangong space station, has opened the hatch of Tianzhou-9 and entered the cargo craft. The crew will proceed with cargo transfer and related tasks as scheduled. Earlier on Tuesday, Tianzhou-9 successfully docked at the rear docking port of Tianhe, the core module of Tiangong, according to the China Manned Space Agency.   More
(Source: China Daily - Jul 16)

AMAZON TURNS TO RIVAL SPACEX TO LAUNCH NEXT BATCH OF KUIPER INTERNET SATELLITES - As Amazon chases SpaceX in the internet satellite market, the e-commerce and computing giant is now counting on Elon Musk’s rival company to get its next batch of devices into space. On Wednesday, weather permitting, 24 Kuiper satellites will hitch a ride on one of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets from a launchpad on Florida’s Space Coast. A 27-minute launch window for the mission, dubbed “KF-01,” opens at 2:18 a.m. ET. The launch will be livestreamed on X, the social media platform also owned by Musk.   More
(Source: CNBC - Jul 16)

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