NEW SPY-SATELLITE CONSTELLATION BEGINS LAUNCH NEXT MONTH - The National Reconnaissance Office will soon launch the first group of satellites to begin building the spy agency’s future network of intelligence satellites. “We've already launched a number of demonstration satellites over the last few years to verify cost and performance….This launch will be the first launch of an actual operational system. This system will increase timeliness of access, diversity of communication pathways, and enhance our resilience,” said Troy Meink, the principal deputy director of the NRO.   More
(Source: Defense One - Apr 11)

SPACEX LAUNCHES FALCON 9 ROCKET ON STARLINK MISSION FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - SpaceX launched its latest batch of Starlink satellites during a mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Falcon 9 flight was the company’s 24th dedicated Starlink launch in 2024. Liftoff of the Starlink 6-48 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 1:40 a.m. EDT (0540 UTC).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 11)

MAX SPACE ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR INFLATABLE SPACE STATION MODULES - A startup has unveiled plans to develop inflatable modules that the company believes can be made larger and less expensive than alternatives, supporting commercial space stations and other applications. Max Space is developing a series of expandable modules, the first of which is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX rideshare mission in 2025. That Max Space 20 module, compacted into a volume of two cubic meters for launch, will expand to 20 cubic meters after deployment, making it the largest expandable module flown to date.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Apr 11)

ENDING AN ERA, FINAL DELTA 4 HEAVY BOOSTS CLASSIFIED SPY SATELLITE INTO ORBIT - Ending an era in U.S. rocketry, United Launch Alliance fired off its 16th and final triple-core Delta 4 Heavy Tuesday, launching a classified spy satellite in the last hurrah of a storied family of rockets dating back to the dawn of the space age. The Heavy's three hydrogen-fueled RS-68A first stage engines ignited with a rush of bright orange flame at 12:53 p.m. EDT, smoothly pushing the 235-foot-tall rocket away from pad 37 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.   More
(Source: CBS News - Apr 10)

STATION ORBITS INTO ECLIPSE, CREW WORKS RESEARCH AND SPACESUITS - The International Space Station soared into the Moon’s shadow during the solar eclipse on Monday afternoon. The Expedition 71 crew members had an opportunity to view the shadow at the end of their workday filled with cargo transfers, spacesuit maintenance, and microgravity research. The windows on the cupola, the orbital outpost’s “window to the world,” were open and NASA Flight Engineers Matthew Dominick and Jeanette Epps were inside photographing and videotaping the Moon’s shadow on Earth, or umbra, beneath them. They were orbiting 260 miles above southeastern Canada as the Moon’s umbra was moving from New York state into Newfoundland.   More
(Source: NASA - Apr 10)

HERE’S WHAT A SOLAR ECLIPSE LOOKS LIKE FROM SPACE - Few people get a better view of the Earth than those who are actually off the Earth—astronauts who can look down on our planet from above. They are the lucky handful who get to experience the so-called overview effect—the transcendent sense of seeing the world as the fragile biosphere it is, set against the blackness of space. But when it comes to witnessing a solar eclipse, the astronauts don’t have it so good, with a phenomenon that is flat-out eye popping when witnessed from the surface of our world, appearing dark, unsettling, and even a little ugly from space.   More
(Source: TIME - Apr 9)

SPACEX ROCKET LAUNCHES 11 SATELLITES, INCLUDING ONE FOR SOUTH KOREA, ON BANDWAGON-1 RIDESHARE FLIGHT - SpaceX launched 11 satellites on its first-ever Bandwagon-1 class rideshare mission from Florida tonight (April 7) and aced an evening rocket landing just minutes later. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) tonight at 7:16 p.m. EDT (2316 GMT), kicking off the 11-satellite Bandwagon-1 mission. The spacecraft successfully reached orbit, with SpaceX ending its livestream early at the request of its customer South Korea, which flew its Project 425 SAR synthetic aperture radar satellite on the mission, according to Spaceflight Now.   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 8)

SPACEX BEGINS COMMERCIAL DIRECT TO CELL STARLINK CONSTELLATION WITH FALCON 9 FLIGHT FROM VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE - For a second time this year, SpaceX is preparing to launch another batch of Starlink satellites that support its Direct to Cell capability. The six spacecraft are among the 21 total satellites which launched on Saturday, April 6, from Vandenberg Space Force Base. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) happened at 7:25 p.m. PDT (10:25 EDT, 0225 UTC).   More
(Source: SpacFlight Now - Apr 7)

A SOYUZ CAPSULE CARRYING 3 CREW FROM THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION LANDS SAFELY IN KAZAKHSTAN - A Russian space capsule with two women and one man safely landed in a steppe in Kazakhstan on Saturday after their missions aboard the International Space Station. The Soyuz MS-24 carrying Russia’s Oleg Novitsky, NASA's Loral O'Hara and Marina Vasilevskaya of Belarus touched down southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan at 12:17 p.m. Kazakh time (0717 GMT).    More
(Source: NBC New York - Apr 6)

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