AALTO-2 SATELLITE LAUNCHED INTO SPACE - In the evening on Tuesday 18 April, Aalto-2, the satellite designed and built by students in Otaniemi was launched on the Atlas V booster rocket towards the International Space Station orbiting the Earth. It will take the cargo spacecraft Cygnus about three days to reach the International Space Station. 'We have been preparing for the launch of either Aalto-1 or Aalto-2 for a long time. There was a big crowd of us looking forward to and celebrating this historic event in Otaniemi,' says Professor Jaan Praks, the director of the project. More (Source: Phys.org - Apr 20)
TRUMP TO CALL COMMANDER OF INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - President Donald Trump will speak next week to the commander of the orbiting International Space Station. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Wednesday the call with Peggy Whitson — and fellow astronaut Jack Fischer — will take place April 24. On that date, Whitson, the first woman to command the International Space Station, will have spent 535 days in space, the most time spent in space of any American astronaut. Astronaut Jeffrey Williams currently holds the record. More (Source: ABC News - Apr 20)
SOYUZ SPACE CAPSULE WITH AMERICAN, RUSSIAN ONBOARD ARRIVES AT INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - A Soyuz space capsule delivered an American astronaut making his first space flight and a veteran Russian cosmonaut to the International Space Station on Thursday. NASA's Jack Fischer and Russia's Fyodor Yurchikhin lifted off from the Russia-leased launch facility in Kazakhstan at 1:13 p.m. Thursday. They reached orbit about nine minutes later, a moment illustrated when a small white stuffed dog hanging from a string in the capsule began to float. More (Source: Chicago Tribune - Apr 20)
ASTRONAUT AND COSMONAUT LAUNCH TO SPACE STATION ON RUSSIAN SOYUZ - MORE Partner Series An astronaut and a cosmonaut launched on the first two-person spaceflight in 14 years, bound for a 5-month stay on the International Space Station. Astronaut Jack Fischer with NASA and cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin of Roscosmos lifted off on Russia's Soyuz MS-04 spacecraft, atop a Soyuz-FG rocket, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:13 a.m. EDT (0713 GMT; 1:13 p.m. local time) Thursday (April 20). Launched on a "fast-track," six-orbit rendezvous. More (Source: Space.com - Apr 20)
FIRST SUPPLY SHIP FOR CHINESE SPACE STATION LIFTS OFF ON TEST FLIGHT - A Long March 7 rocket lifted off Thursday with Tianzhou 1, an unpiloted refueling freighter heading for China’s Tiangong 2 mini-space station to conduct several months of robotic demonstrations, practicing for the assembly and maintenance of a future permanently-staffed orbital research complex. The 174-foot-tall (53-meter) kerosene-fueled launcher blasted off from the Wenchang space center, a tropical facility on Hainan Island at China’s southern frontier, at 1141:35 GMT (7:41:35 a.m. EDT; 7:41:35 p.m. Beijing time), shortly after sunset at launch site. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 20)
SATELLITE SWARMS COULD EAT THEMSELVES - What goes up, may come down in pieces—and cause some trouble in the process. As hardware prices and launch costs fall, there’s an increasing trend to launch swarms of satellites into space to monitor our planet and transmit data. But some academics are concerned that the rising numbers may make an existing space junk problem far worse. At the end of 2016, it was estimated that 1,459 operating satellites were in orbit around Earth. But that number looks set to rise quickly, as companies continue to launch swarms of smaller spacecraft. Earlier this year, for instance, Planet Labs popped 88 of its tiny satellites into space to photograph the planet below. More (Source: MIT Technology Review - Apr 19)
CHINA’S FIRST ROBOTIC RESUPPLY FREIGHTER TRANSFERRED TO LAUNCH PAD - Chinese engineers rolled out a Long March 7 rocket to a seaside launch complex on Hainan Island in the South China Sea on Monday, aiming to fire a robotic refueling freighter into orbit as soon as Thursday to test technology for China’s future space station. The Tianzhou 1 spacecraft mounted on top of the 174-foot-tall (53-meter) Long March 7 launcher will dock with the Tiangong 2 space lab around two days after liftoff, the first of three linkups planned during the cargo carrier’s mission. Chinese officials said the automated mission is due to launch some time between Thursday and next Monday. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 19)
HAM ASTRONAUTS SWAP PLACES ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - With US Astronaut and ISS Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough, KE5HOD, now back on Earth, two more radio amateurs will head into space this week from Kazakhstan to join the ISS crew members that Kimbrough and Russian crewmates Sergey Ryzhikov and Andrey Borisenko left behind on the ISS. The three touched down safely in Kazakhstan on April 10 after spending 173 days on board the orbiting laboratory. More (Source: ARRL - Apr 19)
ATLAS 5 ROCKET SUCCESSFULLY BOOSTS CYGNUS CARGO SHIP ON TREK TO SPACE STATION - Loaded with supplies to keep the International Space Station’s crew fed, clothed and busy with new science projects, a Cygnus cargo vessel sped into orbit today atop an Atlas 5 rocket. The 194-foot-tall United Launch Alliance rocket was activated and tested during a seven-hour countdown at its Complex 41 pad, leading to cryogenic fueling with 66,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. With the final status check confirming readiness at T-minus 25 seconds — “Go Atlas,” “Go Centaur,” “Go OA-7” — the computer-controlled countdown proceeded flawlessly and the main engine roared to life at 11:11:26 a.m. EDT (1511:26 GMT). More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 19)
Previous Next
