INMARSAT LAUNCHES FIFTH SATELLITE IN GLOBAL XPRESS FLEET - Global mobile satellite communications company Inmarsat has successfully launched the company’s fifth satellite in its Global Xpress (GX) fleet. Named GX5, the satellite was on-board the Ariane 5 launch vehicle that took off from the Ariane Launch Complex No. 3 (ELA-3) in Kourou, French Guiana. Designed to provide additional, focused broadband capacity over Europe and the Middle East, the GX5 will enter commercial service early next year.    More
(Source: Aerospace Technology - Nov 30)

CHINA'S BIG AMBITIONS FOR SPACE ARE RIDING ON A DECEMBER LAUNCH - China's space program recently staged a show test of its first Mars lander on a nearly 460 feet (140-meter) tower at a site near Beijing, looking ahead to the program's launch next summer. But an equally crucial mission component faces a different kind of test in December. That's when the country's largest rocket will resume to flight, blasting off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island in southern China. The Long March 5, with a length of 184 feet (56 meters) and a mass at liftoff of nearly 2 million lbs. (867,000 kilograms)...   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 30)

ASTRONAUT SNOOPY FLOATS ON SPACE STATION, FLIES IN MACY'S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE - Snoopy, "the world famous astronaut," has reached new heights — above the streets of New York City and aboard the International Space Station. The Peanuts comic strip beagle took flight in real life on Thursday (Nov. 28), as a new, NASA-inspired giant balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and as a plush doll floating aboard the orbiting laboratory. NASA crew members Jessica Meir and Christina Koch from on board the space station revealed the Astronaut Snoopy doll in a video shown as part of NBC's television coverage of the holiday celebration.   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 29)

CHINA LAUNCHES RADAR OBSERVATION SATELLITE - A new all-weather radar imaging satellite for China’s civilian-oriented fleet of Gaofen Earth observatories launched Wednesday aboard a Long March 4C rocket, according to Chinese state media. The Gaofen 12 radar surveillance payload lifted off from the Taiyuan space center, located in northern China’s Shanxi province southwest of Beijing, at 2352 GMT (6:52 p.m. EST) Wednesday, China’s government-run Xinhua news agency reported. Liftoff occurred at 7:52 a.m. Beijing time Thursday.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 29)

JAPANESE COMPANY TO LAUNCH ARTIFICIAL METEOR SHOWER SATELLITE - A small Japanese satellite scheduled for launch Friday on a Rocket Lab Electron booster will release hundreds of colorful sky pellets to fall into the atmosphere next year, creating an artificial meteor shower that could be visible to millions. The satellite, built and owned by Tokyo-based Astro Live Experiences, will launch into a 250-mile-high (400-kilometer) polar orbit to prepare for next year’s sky spectacle. On-board thrusters will help target re-entry over a specific region for the artificial shooting stars.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 29)

NEXT BATCH OF PLANET’S UPGRADED EARTH-IMAGING SATELLITES READY FOR LAUNCH - A dozen SuperDove nanosatellites with improved vision are set to join Planet’s Earth-observing fleet Tuesday night (U.S. time) after riding into orbit aboard an Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle alongside an Indian mapping payload. The 12 SuperDove satellites will lift off on India’s PSLV at 10:58 p.m. EST Tuesday (0358 GMT Wednesday) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center, located on Sriharikota Island on India’s southeastern coast.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 27)

INDIA’S PSLV CONDUCTS CARTOSAT-3 LAUNCH - India deployed the first in a new generation of remote sensing satellites Wednesday, via its PSLV rocket. The Cartosat-3 satellite lifted off at 09:28 local time (03:58 UTC), with the PSLV taking just under eighteen minutes to place it into orbit. Thirteen nanosatellites were also deployed by Wednesday’s launch.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Nov 27)

RUSSIA LAUNCHES SPACE SURVEILLANCE SATELLITE - A modified Soyuz rocket delivered a top secret Russian military payload into orbit Monday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, according to the country’s defense ministry. The mission lifted off from the Site 43 launch complex at Plesetsk at 1752 GMT (12:52 p.m. EST; 8:52 p.m. Moscow time) Monday. A Soyuz 2-1v rocket carried a Volga upper stage and the classified military satellite into space, and the Volga stage successfully delivered its payload into the targeted orbit, Russian officials said.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 26)

ARIANE 5 LAUNCH WITH TIBA-1 AND INMARSAT GX5 SCRUBBED - After a short three-month break between flights, Arianespace is looking to return to action with the launch of two telecommunications satellites in TIBA-1 and Inmarsat GX5 on an Ariane 5 rocket. Liftoff from Ariane Launch Complex No. 3 (ELA 3) at the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana was scheduled to occur at the start of a 95-minute launch window on Friday before being scrubbed with less than 20 minutes to launch. Another attempt will take place on Sunday.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Nov 25)

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