WATCH A REAL-TIME MAP OF STARLINK SATELLITES ORBITING EARTH - In an effort to enhance the educational outreach of their Starlink constellation, SpaceX has an interactive global map of their Starlink internet satellites, which provides live coverage of every satellite in orbit around the Earth. This interactive map comes as SpaceX continues to launch Starlink satellites into orbit on a near-weekly basis with the goal of providing customers around the world with high-speed internet while specifically targeting rural regions of the globe. More (Source: Phys.org - Mar 29)
LONG MARCH 6A LAUNCHES SECOND YUNHAI-3 SATELLITE - China added to its fleet of secretive meteorological satellites with the launch of Yunhai-3 (02) late Tuesday. A Long March 6A rocket lifted off from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, north China, at 6:51 p.m. Eastern (2251 UTC), March 26 . The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) later confirmed launch success, revealing the previously unstated payload to be Yunhai-3 (02). More (Source: SpaceNews - Mar 28)
GOES-U WEATHER SATELLITE TO LAUNCH JUNE 25 AFTER LEAK CAUSES DELAY - NOAA and SpaceX have finally set a date to launch the last satellite of the GOES-R Series into geostationary orbit on June 25 after a lengthy delay due to a rocket booster leak. NOAA called this launch "monumental" and claimed its network of Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites is "the nation's most advanced weather observing and environmental monitoring satellite system." More (Source: FOX Weather - Mar 28)
BOEING, NASA TARGET MAY 1 FOR FIRST CREWED FLIGHT OF STARLINER TO THE SPACE STATION - NASA is five weeks away from putting astronauts aboard a new commercial crew capsule. May 1 is the target launch date for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on the Crew Flight Test-1 (CFT-1) mission the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams on board. The capsule will launch atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 (SLC-41) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff on May 1 would be at 12:55 a.m. ET (1655 UTC) with docking taking place on May 2. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 28)
STATION CREW EXPANDS TO TEN, BEGINS WORKING TOGETHER - Astronaut Matthew Dominick receives a haircut from astronaut Loral O'Hara. Astronaut Matthew Dominick receives a haircut from astronaut Loral O’Hara. Ten crewmates now reside aboard the International Space Station after the arrival of the Soyuz MS-25 crew ship on Monday. They will live and work together the next several days before returning to a seven-member crew again and beginning the Expedition 71 mission in early April. NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson arrived at the orbital lab on Monday with Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and Belarus spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya. Dyson will stay in space for about six months as a member of the station crew. More (Source: NASA - Mar 28)
SOYUZ HATCHES OPEN, EXPEDITION 70 WELCOMES CREW ABOARD STATION - The hatches between the International Space Station and the newly arrived Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft officially opened at 1:26 p.m. EDT. The arrival of three new crew members to the existing seven people already aboard for Expedition 70 temporarily increases the station’s population to 10. NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy, and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus joined NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara, Matthew Dominick, Mike Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, as well as Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko, Nikolai Chub, and Alexander Grebenkin, already living and working aboard the space station. More (Source: NASA - Mar 27)
NASA, SPACEX TARGET NEW LAUNCH DATE FOR NOAA WEATHER SATELLITE - NASA and SpaceX now are targeting Tuesday, June 25, for the launch of GOES-U, the fourth and final satellite in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) – R Series. The new launch date allows time for teams to fully repair and test the Falcon Heavy core booster after a liquid oxygen leak was identified during routine new booster testing in February. NASA and SpaceX teams have resumed preparation of the GOES-U launch. GOES-U will launch on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. More (Source: NOAA - Mar 27)
OPEN COSMOS ‘HAMMER’ SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED VIA THE SPACEX TRANSPORTER-10 MISSION - Open Cosmos recently launched HAMMER, the company’s latest Earth Observation (EO) satellite — after a successful lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California onboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 as part of the Transporter 10 mission. The company received confirmation of the deployment of HAMMER from the Exolaunch deployer and, on first pass over the ground station, satellite operators at the Open Cosmos Control center received a strong signal from the satellite and initiated telemetry downloads. More (Source: SatNews - Mar 27)
SOUTH KOREA PLANS SECOND SPY SATELLITE LAUNCH FROM US NEXT MONTH - Seoul is close to launching its second military reconnaissance satellite from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, according to South Korea’s military Tuesday. The upcoming launch may come as soon as early April, pending favorable weather conditions, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Jeon Ha Gyu said at a news briefing. The launch will be South Korea’s second after it successfully placed a satellite into orbit Dec. 1 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. More (Source: Stars and Stripes - Mar 27)
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