CHINA’S CARGO SPACECRAFT COMPLETES FAST-DOCKING WITH SPACE LAB TIANGONG-2 - China’s first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 completed an automated fast-docking with experimental space lab Tiangong-2 which is currently in orbit. Controlled from Earth, Tianzhou-1 began to approach Tiangong-2 at 5:24PM (local time) yesterday and it took six and a half hours to complete the fast-docking with the space lab. It was the third docking between the two spacecraft using fast-docking technology. Previously, it took about two days to dock, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. More (Source: Livemint - Sep 15)
US-RUSSIAN CREW ARRIVES SPACE STATION AFTER QUICK 6-HOUR TRIP - Two NASA astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut successfully launched toward the International Space Station (ISS) Tuesday (Sept. 12). NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Joe Acaba and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin blasted off atop a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 5:17 p.m. EDT (2127 GMT). Packed tightly inside their Soyuz MS-06 space capsule, the trio began their 6-hour trip to the ISS after a flawless launch sequence. "Everything is nominal on board [and] the crew is doing fine," a translator for Russia's Mission Control Center in Moscow repeatedly announced during a live webcast as the Soyuz MS-06 soared into the sky. More (Source: Space.com - Sep 13)
SPACE STATION CREW FORCED TO SEEK SHELTER DURING MASSIVE SOLAR FLARE - The International Space Station (ISS) crew had to hide in a special shelter during a massive solar flare, a nuclear scientist said. The sun produced several huge solar flares last week, one of which was the strongest observed in a decade. “Yesterday [on Sunday], the cosmonauts on the ISS received an ‘alert’ signal, and they had to seek a temporary shelter at the station,”... More (Source: RT - Sep 13)
SOYUZ MS-06 SPACECRAFT WITH CREW OF THREE LAUNCHED FROM BAIKONUR - The Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft carrying three international crew members to the International Space Station (ISS) was launched on Wednesday from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan, a TASS correspondent reported. "The launch of the Soyuz-FG carrier rocket with the Soyuz MS-06 spacecraft was performed at 00:17 Moscow time," a spokesman for the Russian space agency Roscosmos said. The spacecraft, carrying Russia’s Aleksandr Misurkin, and NASA’s Mark Vande Hei and Joseph Acaba, has been successfully put into the designated orbit. More (Source: TASS - Sep 13)
THIS IS WHAT THE WORLD LOOKS LIKE THROUGH THE EYE OF A HURRICANE - As Florida struggles with the floods and winds from Hurricane Irma, another big storm in the Atlantic is being closely watched by meteorologists: Hurricane Jose, which is currently considered Category 2, though it is still too early to tell if it will make landfall. To give some sense of scale to what typically appears as a colorful splotch on maps, meteorologist Antti Lipponen used a satellite to peer straight through the eye of the storm. Through the perspective of the European Space Agency’s satellite Sentinel-2A, the Finnish researcher was able to show a turbulent sea beneath Hurricane Jose. More (Source: Quartz - Sep 12)
PROTON-M LAUNCHES FROM BAIKONUR WITH AMAZONAS 5 TELECOM SATELLITE - International Launch Services (ILS) has successfully launched into space its Proton-M rocket carrying the Amazonas 5 communications satellite for Spanish operator Hispasat. The launch was conducted on September 11 at 19:23 GMT (3:23 p.m. EDT) from Site 200/39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The launch campaign for the mission started on August 8 when the Amazonas 5 satellite arrived at Baikonur aboard an Antonov cargo jet. Ten days later, the Proton-M launch vehicle was shipped to Baikonur by rail. More (Source: SpaceFlight Insider - Sep 12)
RUSSIAN PROTON ROCKET SET TO DEPLOY TELECOM SATELLITE FOR HISPASAT - A new communications spacecraft for Hispasat, a Spanish communications satellite operator, will get a boost from a Russian Proton rocket Monday toward an orbital position more than 22,000 miles above Earth. The Amazonas 5 satellite is set for liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Proton launcher at 1923:41 GMT (3:23:41 p.m. EDT) Monday, kicking off a nine-hour ascent toward a geostationary transfer orbit. More (Source: SapceFlight Now - Sep 11)
HURRICANE IRMA CAUSES KENNEDY SPACE CENTER TO CLOSE - NASA has closed Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, FL. as the state braces for the impact of Hurricane Irma. Arguably NASA's most important launch site, Kennedy will be closed from Sept. 8 to at least Sept. 11, because of the approaching storm. "The storm currently is expected to make its closest approach to the Kennedy/Cape Canaveral Air Force Station area during the weekend," NASA said in a blog post. "Currently a Category 5 hurricane, Irma could potentially bring heavy rain and strong winds to the spaceport." More (Source: Fox News - Sep 11)
ASTRONAUT TWEETS SOBERING PHOTO OF HURRICANE IRMA FROM SPACE - "Too many people in Irma's path," says ISS commander Randy Bresnik as he shares a view of the storm few of us would ever have the chance to see. Viewing Hurricane Irma's immense size on your nightly news weather report is one thing. Seeing it from space, as an enormous white swirl dominating a portion of our fragile planet, is quite another. More (Source: CNET - Sep 10)
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