CHINA TO BUILD SPACE STATION ACCOMMODATING 3 ASTRONAUTS - China is scheduled to build and operate a space station in 2022, which will accommodate three astronauts, and space would be reserved for enlargement. Zhou Jianping, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the chief designer of China's manned space program, said at the Forth China Summit Forum on Human Factors Engineering that the station, which will orbit 340 to 450 kilometers above Earth's surface, could be enlarged to 180 tons if necessary and will accommodate three to six astronauts, Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday.   More
(Source: ecns - Nov 18)

CHINA LAUNCHES SECOND KUAIZHOU-1A ROCKET IN FOUR DAYS - In just a little more than a four day period, from the very same pad, with the very same launch team and launch truck, China has launched yet another Kuaizhou-1A rocket carrying satellites into orbit. This flight, fresh on the heels of yet another flight with the Jilin-1 Gaofen-2A satellite on November 13, lifted off from the mobile launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China today at 10:00 UTC. Chinese media has later declared the launch a success.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Nov 18)

1ST UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA SMALL SATELLITE NOW IN SPACE - University of Minnesota senior Jenna Burgett was on bleachers two miles from the NASA Virginia launching site on Nov. 2, watching a rocket launch into space that carried a small satellite she and other students helped create. “The sound hits you and from two miles away ... the bleachers were shaking. You can hear it resonating in your ears and in your chest,” said Burgett, manager of the University’s Small Satellite Project.   More
(Source: U.S. News & World Report - Nov 17)

SPACEWALKERS BEGIN "OPEN HEART SURGERY" TO REPAIR COSTLY COSMIC RAY DETECTOR - Two astronauts ventured outside the International Space Station Friday for the first of four spacewalks to repair a $2 billion cosmic ray detector, breezing through difficult work to prep the device for invasive surgery to splice in new coolant pumps and extend the instrument's life probing the composition of the universe. "We're going to perform what could be considered open heart surgery on this amazing experiment," said Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, the current space station commander.   More
(Source: CBS News - Nov 16)

BROADBAND SATELLITE TO SERVE PACIFIC ISLANDS DELIVERED TO FLORIDA LAUNCH BASE - A powerful commercial communications satellite to broadcast Internet signals over the Asia-Pacific region has arrived at Cape Canaveral for final launch preparations ahead of a planned Dec. 15 liftoff on top of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The JCSAT 18/Kacific 1 communications satellite, based on Boeing’s 702MP satellite design, is a shared spacecraft between Sky Perfect JSAT Corp. of Japan and Kacific, a startup telecom company headquartered in Singapore.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 16)

WATCH SPACEWALK ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 15 - On Friday, November 15, 2019, two astronauts will venture outside the International Space Station for the first of a series of complex spacewalks to repair a cosmic ray detector. NASA TV begins its live spacewalk coverage Friday at 10:30 UTC (5:30 a.m. EST). Translate UTC to your time. The astronauts, Luca Parmitano of ESA (European Space Agency) and NASA Flight Engineer Drew Morgan will set their spacesuits to battery power at 12:05 UTC (7:05 a.m EST), signifying the start of their spacewalk.   More
(Source: EarthSky - Nov 15)

NEW SOLAR POWER GENERATOR TO BE DEPLOYED TO SPACE STATION - A new solar power generator prototype developed by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and research teams in the United States, will be deployed on the first 2020 NASA flight launch to the International Space Station. According to research published in Optics Express, the compact, microconcentrator photovoltaic system could provide unprecedented watt per kilogram of power critical to lowering costs for private space flight.   More
(Source: Phys.org - Nov 15)

LIFE ON THE SPACE STATION IS ABOUT TO GET REALLY WEIRD AND LONELY - Right now, there are six astronauts aboard the International Space Station, floating 408km above our heads. But soon things could be about to get a lot lonelier up there. Delays in building new spacecraft to get astronauts into space mean that the next trio of astronauts set to join the ISS in April 2020 are facing the possibility of being the space station’s lone occupants for six months.   More
(Source: Wired.co.uk - Nov 15)

TWO CHINESE SATELLITE LAUNCHERS LIFT OFF THREE HOURS APART - Chinese rockets performed two satellite delivery missions in a three-hour span Wednesday, carrying a commercial Earth-imaging satellite and five mysterious surveillance payloads into orbit. The launches originated from two separate spaceports in northern China, using a light-class solid-fueled Kuaizhou 1A launcher and a liquid-fueled Long March 6 rocket, according to Chinese state media reports. The back-to-back launches carried different missions into orbit, and were not originally planned to occur on the same day. Officials aborted a Kuaizhou 1A launch attempt last month for unspecified technical reasons.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 14)

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