SPACEX LAUNCHES FIRST CREW DRAGON FERRY SHIP - Opening a new era in American spaceflight, a Falcon 9 rocket streaked into space early Saturday, boosting the company’s first Crew Dragon spacecraft into orbit on an unpiloted test flight, the first launch of a commercially developed capsule intended to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Lighting up the deep overnight sky for miles around, the rocket’s nine first stage engines ignited and throttled up to full thrust at 2:49 a.m. EST (GMT-5), generating 1.7 million pounds of thrust and quickly thundering skyward from launch complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 2)
SENATE BILL SEEKS EXTENSION OF THE SPACE STATION - A bill introduced by a bipartisan pair of senators Feb. 27 would authorize an extension of the International Space Station to 2030 and also make permanent human settlement of space a national goal. Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Gary Peters (D-Mich.) introduced the Advancing Human Spaceflight Act Feb. 27, with its central provision authorizing an extension of operations of the ISS from 2024 to 2030. Other members of Congress sought such an extension last year in response to a proposal in NASA’s fiscal year 2019 budget proposal to end direct federal funding of the station in 2025, part of an effort to commercialize low Earth orbit operations. More (Source: SpaceNews - Mar 1)
SPACEX’S CREW DRAGON ROLLS OUT FOR TEST FLIGHT - SpaceX’s first Crew Dragon spacecraft, fixed to the forward end of a Falcon 9 rocket, emerged Thursday from the company’s hangar at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for the quarter-mile journey to its launch mount at pad 39A, where liftoff is scheduled early Saturday. The launcher was visible heading up the ramp to pad 39A shortly after 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT) Thursday, once low-level fog began lifting at the Florida spaceport. The strongback transporter lifted the 215-foot-tall (65-meter) rocket vertical around 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT) for final cargo loading and checkouts. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 1)
WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN CREW DRAGON LAUNCHES TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - It's finally happening. Nearly 8 years after the final space shuttle flight, a crew-capable spacecraft is once again ready to launch from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. SpaceX's Crew Dragon is scheduled to blast off for a 6-day, uncrewed test flight on 2 March at 02:49 EST (07:49 UTC). If all goes well, the spacecraft will dock at the International Space Station (ISS) on 3 March around 06:00 EST (11:00 UTC) and stay there until 8 March, when it returns to Earth and splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast. More (Source: The Planetary Society - Feb 28)
ISRO TO LAUNCH DEFENCE SATELLITE IN MARCH FOR DEFENCE RESEARCH BODY - In a special mission in March, the Indian space agency will launch an electronic intelligence satellite Emisat for the DRDO, 28 third party satellites and also demonstrate its new technologies like three different orbits with a new variant of Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket, said a top official. The exact date has not been specified yet. "It is a special mission for us. We will be using a PSLV rocket with four strap-on motors. Further, for the first time we will be trying to orbit the rocket at three different altitudes," K. Sivan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) told IANS. More (Source: NDTV - Feb 28)
FIRST SIX ONEWEB SATELLITES LAUNCHED FROM FRENCH GUIANA - Carrying the ambition of an entrepreneur with a passion for connecting the world, a half-dozen satellites lifted off Wednesday aboard a Soyuz rocket from the edge of the Amazon jungle in South America to kick off a series of at least 21 planned launches to deploy OneWeb’s global Internet network. A Soyuz ST-B rocket fired into a mostly cloudy sky at 6:37 p.m. local time in French Guiana (2137 GMT; 4:37 p.m. EST), sending the six refrigerator-sized north from the European-run spaceport with a push from 32 engine nozzles generating more than 900,000 pounds of thrust. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 28)
SES-12 SATELLITE NOW OPERATIONAL - SES’ newest satellite, SES-12, is now ready to serve its video, fixed data, mobility, and government customers across Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. The satellite is designed with both wide beams and High Throughput Satellite (HTS) beams, and will join SES-8 at 95 degrees East. SES-12 is the latest satellite that SES has launched to that orbital position where it will operate under the authority of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The all-electric satellite will replace and augment the services currently being provided on SES’s NSS-6 satellite. More (Source: Space Daily - Feb 27)
COMPANY'S 10TH CARGO SUPPLY MISSION FEATURED EXPANDED COMMERCIAL CAPABILITIES FOR CYGNUS SPACECRAFT - Northrop Grumman reports that the company successfully completed its 10th cargo supply mission to the International Space Station under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-1) contract. During the mission, the "S.S. John Young" Cygnus met the needs of multiple customers throughout this flight to the International Space Station. The spacecraft removed more than 5,500 pounds (2,500 kilograms) of disposal cargo from the space station. After departure, the extended mission included the deployment of three CubeSats via the NanoRacks External Cygnus Deployer at two different altitudes and two CubeSats from the Slingshot CubeSat Deployer System. More (Source: Space Daily - Feb 27)
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION’S ORBIT RAISED BY 1.6 KM - Specialists of the Russian Mission Control Center have adjusted the International Space Station’s orbit, raising it to the medium altitude of 408.5 km, a spokesman for the Central Research Institute of Machine-Building (TsNIImash) said on Tuesday. "The orbit adjustment was performed as scheduled. As a result of the maneuver the medium altitude of the space station’s orbit was raised to 408.5 km," the spokesman said. The research institute earlier told TASS that the ISS’s orbit would be adjusted by 1.6 km to create ballistic conditions for Russian spacecraft’s flight with the help of the engines of the Progress MS-10 cargo spaceship. More (Source: TASS - Feb 27)
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