NASA TO COVER NORTHROP GRUMMAN’S 20TH CARGO SPACE STATION DEPARTURE - Northrop Grumman’s uncrewed Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to depart the International Space Station on Friday, July 12, five and a half months after delivering more than 8,200 pounds of supplies, scientific investigations, commercial products, hardware, and other cargo to the orbiting laboratory for NASA and its international partners. This mission was the company’s 20th commercial resupply mission to the space station for NASA. Live coverage of the spacecraft’s departure will begin at 6:30 a.m. EDT on the NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, YouTube, and the agency’s website.   More
(Source: NASA - Jul 10)

NOAA'S UPCOMING GEOXO SATELLITES COULD BE 'WEATHER-MONITORING PLATFORM OF THE FUTURE' - For the second time in a row, Lockheed Martin will be at the forefront of the creation of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s next generation weather satellites. Last month, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded the aerospace company a $2.27 billion contract to develop and manufacture spacecraft for the next generation of NOAA satellites that will follow the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) series, Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO).   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 10)

NOAA’S GOES-U REACHES GEOSTATIONARY ORBIT, NOW DESIGNATED GOES-19 - On July 7, 2024, NOAA’s GOES-U executed its final engine burn, placing the satellite in geostationary orbit 22,236 miles above Earth’s equator. Upon reaching this milestone, GOES-U was renamed GOES-19. GOES satellites are designated with a letter prior to launch and a number once they achieve geostationary orbit. GOES-U launched on June 25, 2024, at 5:26 p.m. EDT, lifting off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. The launch was managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center.    More
(Source: noaa nesdis - Jul 9)

SPACEX LAUNCHES TüRKSAT 6A SATELLITE, TURKEY’S FIRST DOMESTICALLY-BUILD SATELLITE - Turkey launched its first home-grown communications satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Monday evening. Prior to the mission’s launch, Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu called the Türksat 6A geostationary satellite “the symbol of our independence”. While this wasn’t the first Türksat spacecraft launched, it’s garnered such national pride because it is the first of its kind to be entirely built in Turkey. Uraloğlu said Turkey is just the 11th country capable of manufacturing its own communications satellites.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 9)

SPACEX TO LAUNCH TüRKSAT 6A COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE MONDAY AFTERNOON FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - After bouncing around the range schedule a bit, SpaceX's upcoming launch of the Türksat 6A communications satellite is targeted for a Monday afternoon liftoff, a Federal Aviation Administration operations plan advisory shows. Though SpaceX has yet to announce this mission, the Falcon 9 rocket liftoff target time is 5:20 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.   More
(Source: Yahoo - Jul 8)

COMPANIES PREPARE NEXT GENERATION OF SPACE STATIONS FOR ORBIT - NASA is working with at least three companies that are designing space stations to replace the International Space Station before it de-orbits in 2031. "NASA can utilize those resources in our exploration of the heavens, back to the moon and on to Mars. Then we can rent space on a commercial space station to do our research, to prepare our astronauts for longer flights out into the cosmos," NASA administrator Bill Nelson said. "We've given them seed money so that they can jump start developing space stations." The cost to the U.S. government is a factor, but Nelson believes the investment will pay off.   More
(Source: FoxNews - Jul 7)

LOW-INTENSITY EXPLOSION CAUSED RUSSIAN SATELLITE TO SPEW DEBRIS - A Russian satellite likely suffered a “low-intensity explosion” that created hundreds of pieces of debris in low Earth orbit, according to one company’s analysis. Both U.S. Space Command and private space situational awareness providers reported that Resurs P1, a defunct Russian remote sensing satellite, suffered a breakup event on June 26. That event created more than 100 pieces of debris that could be tracked by ground-based sensors.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 7)

CHINA SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES NEW SATELLITE GROUP - China successfully launched the Tianhui 5-02 satellite group at 6:49 a.m. Friday from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province. The satellite group was carried by a modified Long March-6 carrier rocket and has entered the planned orbits. This group of satellites will be used for geographic mapping, land resource surveys, scientific experiments and other purposes. It was the 527th mission of the Long March series carrier rockets.   More
(Source: www.gov.cn - Jul 6)

NASA ASTRONAUTS SEND FOURTH OF JULY MESSAGE TO EARTH FROM ISS - The six NASA astronauts who are living off planet at the moment just beamed a special birthday message down to their home country. Mike Barratt, Matt Dominick, Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Jeanette Epps, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore each took a turn at the mic, saying a few words about the Fourth of July from their perch aboard the International Space Station (ISS), about 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 6)

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