ASTRONAUTS COMPLETE SHORTENED SPACEWALK OUTSIDE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer put on spacesuits Friday and headed outside the International Space Station for several repair and maintenance tasks, but the duo only completed part of their originally planned work after a leaky cooling umbilical delayed the start of their spacewalk. Mission control in Houston marked the official start of the spacewalk at 9:08 a.m. EDT (1308 GMT), when the atmospheric pressure inside the station’s Quest airlock passed below 1 pound per square inch.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 13)

NORTH KOREA BOASTS OF SPYING CAPABILITIES BY AIRING SATELLITE IMAGES OF THAAD MISSILE DEFENCE SYSTEM - North Korea has boasted of its own spying capabilities by airing what it claims is satellite images of a missile defence system on a South Korean golf course. A sophisticated US missile defence system called THAAD was deployed in the South last month amid heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. This morning Kim Jong-un's state-run Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station unveiled what it claimed to be overhead images of the advanced military equipment.    More
(Source: Daily Mail - May 12)

AFTER STATIC FIRE, FALCON 9 PREPARES TO MEET INMARSAT PAYLOAD - Ten days after the last liftoff from historic launch pad 39A in Florida, another SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket ignited its Merlin main engines for several seconds in a hold-down firing Thursday ahead of a planned expendable flight next week with an Inmarsat communications satellite. The two-stage rocket was filled with super-chilled, densified RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen propellants in a mock countdown Thursday. SpaceX engineers monitored the computer-controlled countdown as the rocket’s engines were primed and fuel tanks pressurized for ignition.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 12)

WATCH: ASTRONAUT SPACEWALK AT INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - On Tuesday, NASA released breathtaking views of the Earth during a spacewalk by two astronauts at the International Space Station. The video was taken by astronaut Peggy Whitson on a helmet cam. Whitson and fellow astronaut Shane Kimbrough were performing maintenance on the spacecraft when they captured the stunning shots. During the spacewalk, NASA says, “the two spacewalkers reconnected cables and electrical connections on PMA-3 at its new home on top of the Harmony module.    More
(Source: WKRG - May 11)

BUZZ ALDRIN TO NASA: RETIRE THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION ASAP TO REACH MARS - If NASA and its partner agencies are serious about putting boots on Mars in the near future, they should pull the plug on the International Space Station (ISS) at the earliest opportunity, Buzz Aldrin said. "We must retire the ISS as soon as possible," the former Apollo 11 moonwalker said Tuesday (May 9) during a presentation at the 2017 Humans to Mars conference in Washington, D.C. "We simply cannot afford $3.5 billion a year of that cost." Instead, Aldrin said, NASA should continue to hand over activities in low Earth orbit (LEO) to private industry partners.   More
(Source: Space.com - May 11)

WHAT IS AMERICA'S SECRET SPACE SHUTTLE FOR? - Top-secret military spaceplanes certainly know how to make an entrance. The U.S. military’s X-37B, an uncrewed spacecraft that looks like a miniature version of the retired space shuttles, returned to Earth over the weekend after spending nearly two years in low-Earth orbit. It sent shockwaves rippling through the air as it entered the atmosphere over Florida, producing a sonic boom loud enough to jolt people awake across the state. The Air Force, which operates the X-37B, tweeted about its return minutes later, and soon posted a flurry of images and videos of the spaceplane online. “Our team has been preparing for this event for several years, and I am extremely proud to see our hard work and dedication culminate in today’s safe and successful landing of the X-37B,” said Brigadier General Wayne Monteith, the commander of the Air Force’s Space Wing.   More
(Source: The Atlantic - May 10)

KAIST NANOSATELLITE LAUNCHED ON TRIP TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Aerospace researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have successfully launched a nanosatellite destined for the International Space Station (ISS). Called LINK (Little Intelligent Nanosatellite of KAIST), the nanosatellite was launched on an Atlas V booster aboard the NASA CRS-7 Mission on April 18 at Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. LINK was developed by a research team led by Professor Bang Hyochoong of the Department of Aerospace Engineering.    More
(Source: Asian Scientist Magazine - May 10)

NOAA CUTS TARGET FUTURE POLAR WEATHER SATELLITES - While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration received full funding for its ongoing weather satellite programs, the agency is looking at options after a cut to a program for future polar-orbiting weather satellites. The omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2017, signed into law May 5, provides NOAA weather satellite programs with $1.979 billion, $84 million less than requested. The bill fully funds the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R (GOES-R) and Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) programs for a combined total of $1.54 billion.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - May 9)

4TH X-37B CONDUCTS FIRST LANDING AT KENNEDY SPACE CENTER - After 718 days on orbit, the U.S. Air Force’s fourth X-37B mission concluded and returned to Earth for an automated landing at Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility – the first time that the secretive spaceplane has touched down on the historic runway. The spaceplane heralded its arrival in Florida with twin sonic booms. These were the first in the area by a returning spaceplane since the end of the Shuttle Program in 2011.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Insider - May 8)

Previous Next