SPACEX LAUNCHES 20 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE STATION - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Tuesday evening, following the scrub of a planned mission for satellite communications company, SES, from Florida. SpaceX sent another batch of its Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit, which included another 13 with direct to cell (DTC) capabilities. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California happened at 8:40 p.m. PDT (11:40 p.m. EDT, 0340 UTC). This marked the 20th orbital launch from California in 2024 so far.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 19)

NASA SETS LAUNCH COVERAGE FOR NOAA WEATHER SATELLITE - NASA will provide live coverage of prelaunch and launch activities for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite U) mission. The two-hour launch window opens at 5:16 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 25, for the satellite’s launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The GOES-U satellite, the final addition to GOES-R series, will help to prepare for two kinds of weather — Earth and space weather.   More
(Source: NASA - Jun 19)

SPACEX FALCON 9 ROCKET TO LAUNCH SES’S ASTRA 1P TELEVISION SATELLITE FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - SpaceX is preparing to launch a satellite to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) on behalf of one of its oldest customers: Luxembourg-based SES. The prolific launch company aims to bounce back from an unusually quiet period in its launch cadence, accented by a last-second abort as the engines on another one of its Falcon 9 rockets began to fire. Liftoff of the mission is set for 5:35 p.m. EDT (2135 UTC). The mission is set to be the 45th orbital flight from Florida’s Space Coast in 2024.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 18)

ROCKET COMPANY DEVELOPS MASSIVE CATAPULT TO LAUNCH SATELLITES INTO SPACE WITHOUT USING JET FUEL: '10,000 TIMES THE FORCE OF EARTH'S GRAVITY' - A California company has tech that will likely draw attention from the Punkin Chunkin community. That's because SpinLaunch is developing a large rotating arm that uses kinetic energy to fling 440-pound satellites into low orbit, with successful tests already in the books. Importantly, the process doesn't need rocket fuel to work. It's all powered by electricity.   More
(Source: Yahoo - Jun 17)

SPACEX FALCON 9 ROCKET SUFFERS RARE LAST-SECOND ABORT DURING STARLINK SATELLITE LAUNCH - A SpaceX rocket suffered a last-second abort during the attempted launch of 22 Starlink internet satellites from Florida on Friday afternoon (June 14). The SpaceX booster, a workhorse Falcon 9 rocket that has flown 15 times before, aborted its liftoff while igniting its nine first-stage engines at 5:07 p.m. EDT (2107 GMT) atop the Space Launch Complex 40 pad of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jun 17)

'NO EMERGENCY SITUATION' ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION, NASA SAYS AFTER ASTRONAUT MEDICAL DRILL AUDIO CAUSES STIR - It sounded like a nightmare scenario: An astronaut commander on the International Space Station in distress, suffering from decompression sickness and a flight surgeon on Earth stuck in traffic giving advice that was broadcast live on an official NASA livestream. But while it seemed all-too-real, the scenario was actually audio from a simulation on Earth that, somehow, made it out on NASA's public broadcast, sparking news and social media reports of a dire situation in space.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jun 17)

OVZON’S FIRST BROADBAND SATELLITE REACHES GEOSTATIONARY SLOT - Ovzon’s first fully owned satellite has reached its geostationary position after a five-month journey in space and passed initial health checks, the Swedish broadband operator announced June 14. Per Norén, Ovzon’s CEO, said Ovzon 3 will enter service “within a few short weeks,” once manufacturer Maxar Technologies completes the remaining in-orbit tests. SpaceX launched Ovzon 3 on a Falcon 9 rocket Jan. 3, closing a chapter on years of launch and manufacturing setbacks for a satellite originally slated to fly in 2021.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jun 15)

TO CALIBRATE TELESCOPES ON EARTH, NASA'S LAUNCHING AN 'ARTIFICIAL STAR' TO ORBIT - Come 2029, skywatchers can glimpse at least one "star" in the sky made by humans. Earlier this week, NASA announced plans to place a small satellite in Earth orbit at a little over 22,000 miles (35,400 kilometers) above our planet's surface — far enough for the satellite to mimic a real star to telescopes on Earth. Scientists say the satellite, named Landolt, wouldn't be bright enough to be seen with the unaided eye, but if you happen to have a personal telescope at home, you may be able to spot a shoebox-sized object hovering above the United States in a stationary position.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jun 15)

ONE SATELLITE CRASH COULD UPEND MODERN LIFE - Earlier this year, two satellites from two adversarial countries nearly collided while orbiting Earth at thousands of miles an hour. The first, an American spacecraft on a NASA mission to study the planet’s upper atmosphere, wasn’t built to maneuver in orbit. The second, a Russian surveillance spacecraft, was defunct, and thus uncontrollable. The only thing people on Earth could do was watch. Darren McKnight, a space-debris expert, stayed up all night on February 28, monitoring the trajectories of the satellites, which, combined, weighed several thousand pounds.    More
(Source: The Atlantic - Jun 15)

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