SPACEX TO LAUNCH 22 STARLINK SATELLITES FROM CALIFORNIA ON FRIDAY - SpaceX is poised to launch 22 Starlink internet satellites on Friday (Jan. 19) on the company's second mission in as many days. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 22 Starlink spacecraft is set to lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California during a three-and-a-half-hour window that opens at 9:15 p.m. EST (6:15 p.m. California time; 2315 GMT). You can watch the launch live via SpaceX's account on X. Coverage will begin about five minutes before the window opens. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 19)
FALCON 9 BOOSTS AXIOM CREW INTO SPACE FOR COMMERCIAL VISIT TO ISS - After months of training and detailed planning, the most international crew yet to visit the International Space Station blasted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Thursday to kick off a two-week research mission, the third fully commercial flight to the orbital outpost. With retired NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría and Italian co-pilot Walter Villadei at the controls, flanked by Turkish mission specialists Alper Gezeravci and Marcus Wandt of Sweden, the Falcon 9 thundered to life at 4:49 p.m. EST and climbed away from historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center atop a brilliant jet of flaming exhaust. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 19)
CHINA LAUNCHES TIANZHOU 7 CARGO CRAFT TO TIANGONG SPACE STATION - China has launched its first space station mission of the year to resupply the orbital outpost. A Long March 7 rocket topped with the robotic Tianzhou 7 cargo spacecraft lifted off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island in the South China Sea on Wednesday (Jan. 17) at 9:27 a.m. EST (1427 GMT; 10:27 p.m. Beijing time). More (Source: Space.com - Jan 18)
GOES-U: ROAD TO LAUNCH - NOAA’s GOES-U, the fourth and final satellite in the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) – R Series, the Western Hemisphere’s most advanced weather-observing and environmental monitoring system, is entering the final stage of preparations before liftoff. NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than April 30 for the launch of GOES-U on a Falcon Heavy rocket. More (Source: nesdis - NOAA - Jan 18)
CHINESE KUAIZHOU-1A ROCKET LAUNCHES 4TH MISSION IN 18 DAYS - China sent a classified experimental satellite into orbit last week with yet another launch of the Kuaizhou-1A solid rocket. A Kuaizhou-1A lifted off from a transport erector launcher at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on Jan. 10 at 10:52 p.m. EST (0352 GMT and 11:52 a.m. Beijing time on Jan. 11). The rocket's operator, Expace, confirmed launch success within the hour, announcing the payload to be a satellite called Tianxing-1 (02). More (Source: Space.com - Jan 18)
SPACEX ORDERS 24-HOUR DELAY FOR COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION FLIGHT - SpaceX called off launch of its third commercial crew flight to the International Space Station Wednesday to allow more time for pre-flight data reviews. The flight, chartered by Houston-based Axiom Space, was reset for Thursday pending final analysis. The delay was announced as the flight’s four-man crew — retired astronaut Michael López-Alegría, Italian Walter Villadei, Swedish flier Marcus Wandt and Turkey’s Alper Gezeravci — were getting prepared for launch on a two-week research mission aboard the orbital outpost. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 17)
AIRBUS AND VOYAGER FINALIZE STARLAB JOINT VENTURE - Voyager Space and Airbus Defence and Space have finalized a partnership to develop the Starlab commercial space station, seeking to win customers for it from both sides of the Atlantic. The companies announced Jan. 9 that they completed the formation of Starlab Space LLC, the joint venture responsible for the design, construction and operation of the station. The companies announced plans to create the joint venture in August. “This joint venture solidifies our unwavering commitment to reimagining the future of commercial space alongside Voyager, anchoring Starlab to European and American ambitions and pioneering the future of humanity in space,” said Jean-Marc Nasr, head of space systems at Airbus, in a statement. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 17)
SPACEX READIES FALCON 9 FOR COMMERCIAL FLIGHT TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - An international four-man crew strapped into a SpaceX capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket at the Kennedy Space Center Tuesday for a dress-rehearsal countdown that sets the stage for launch Wednesday on a privately-funded research mission to the International Space Station. Retired NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, Italian co-pilot Walter Villadei, European Space Agency astronaut Marcus Wandt of Sweden, and Turkey's Alper Gezeravci, spent the afternoon rehearsing launch-day procedures aboard their Crew Dragon spacecraft before departing the pad to clear the way for an engine test firing. More (Source: CBS News - Jan 17)
SHUTTING DOWN THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: NASA'S BOLD PLANS TO LAND OUTPOST IN OCEAN - The International Space Station has been continuously occupied by spacefarers from countries around the world for the last two decades, but it's time among the cosmos won't last forever. Even now, NASA is laying the groundwork for plans to safely deorbit and land the low-Earth orbit space station, the largest of its kind ever built. Private companies have until Feb. 12 to submit design proposals for "a new or modified spacecraft using a large amount of propellant" that in the years ahead, will be tasked with docking with the space station and safely crashing it into an ocean. More (Source: USA Today - Jan 17)
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