SHENZHOU 22 LAUNCHES UNCREWED TO CHINESE TIANGONG SPACE STATION - The Shenzhou 22 mission, originally scheduled to fly next year, launched successfully on Tuesday, Nov. 25, at 04:11 UTC from Site 901 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China’s Inner Mongolia province. Shenzhou 22, mounted atop a Chang Zheng-2F rocket, launched without crew and will dock au... More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Nov 25)
SOYUZ ROCKET ROLLS OUT AS CYGNUS PARKS AWAY FROM STATION - Soyuz rocket rolled out to its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today to begin counting down to a Thanksgiving Day liftoff of three new crew members to the International Space Station. NASA astronaut Chris Williams and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev ar... More (Source: NASA - Nov 25)
NEXT METOP SECOND GENERATION WEATHER SATELLITE IN THE SPOTLIGHT - The MetOp Second Generation-B1 satellite has entered its third and most delicate round of pre-launch testing, marking another step towards strengthening Europe’s weather forecasting capabilities. Engineers are now putting the satellite through rigorous electromagnetic compatibility tests to... More (Source: European Space Agency - Nov 25)
AMAZON STARTS LETTING BUSINESSES TEST REBRANDED LEO SATELLITE SERVICE AS IT PLAYS CATCH-UP TO MUSK’S STARLINK - Amazon said Monday it will begin allowing businesses to test its recently rebranded internet-from-space service that seeks to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink. Select businesses will be able to test Amazon Leo production hardware and software as part of an “enterprise preview” of the servi... More (Source: CNBC - Nov 25)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 28 STARLINK SATELLITES FROM VANDENBERG ON BRAND NEW FALCON 9 ROCKET - SpaceX launched a brand new Falcon 9 booster on a mission from California to deploy another batch of satellites for the company’s Starlink internet service. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, occurred at 12:48 a.m. PST (3:48 a.m. EST / 0848 UTC). It... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 24)
25 YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY ABOARD THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - November marks 25 years of human presence aboard the International Space Station, a testament to international collaboration and human ingenuity. Since the first crew arrived on Nov. 2, 2000, NASA and its partners have conducted thousands of research investigations and technology demonstrations to a... More (Source: NASA - Nov 23)
CHINA LAUNCHES NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY TEST SATELLITE - China sent a new communication technology test satellite into space from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in its southwest Sichuan Province on Friday. The Shiyan-21 satellite was launched at 6:55 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket and entered the preset orbit successfully. ... More (Source: Shabelle Media Network - Nov 23)
FALCON 9 ROCKET CONTINUES STARLINK DEPLOYMENTS WITH LAUNCH FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in the early hours Saturday as the company continues to expand its network of more than 9,000 satellites for the Starlink internet service. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station came at 2:53 a.m. EST (0753 ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 23)
HOW MEGA-CONSTELLATIONS ARE LEARNING TO MANAGE THEMSELVES - Satellite megaconstellations are quickly becoming the backbone of a number of industries. Cellular communication, GPS, weather monitoring and more are now, at least in part, reliant on the networks of thousands of satellites cruising by in low Earth orbit. But, as these constellations grow into the ... More (Source: Universe Today - Nov 22)
ARIANESPACE TO LAUNCH EU'S GALILEO L14 ON DECEMBER 17, 2025, WITH ARIANE 6 - On December 17, 2025 at 2:01 a.m. local time (5:01 a.m. UTC, 6:01 a.m. CET), Arianespace will launch Galileo L14, a pair of satellites, with Ariane 6 from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. The mission, called VA266, will be the fifth flight for Ariane 6, Europe's heavy-lift launcher. It will b... More (Source: Newsroom Arianespace - Nov 21)
FALCON 9 STARLINK MISSION MARKS 100TH LAUNCH OF THE YEAR FROM FLORIDA’S SPACE COAST - A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center Thursday evening on a milestone mission marking the 100th launch from the Space Coast this year. The Starlink 6-78 mission, carrying 29 satellites for SpaceX’s internet service, soared spaceward at 10:39 p.m. EST (0339 UTC), the Faclon ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 21)
ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES HYPERSONIC TEST FLIGHT FOR US MILITARY - Rocket Lab launched its hypersonic test vehicle for the sixth time ever this week. The HASTE suborbital rocket lifted off Tuesday (Nov. 18) at 8 a.m. EST (1300 GMT) from Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 2 on Wallops Island, Virginia, on a mission for the U.S. Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) and Missile ... More (Source: Space.com - Nov 20)
STATION ORBITING HIGHER AS EXERCISE RESEARCH AND MAINTENANCE CONTINUE - The International Space Station is orbiting higher today after the Progress 93 cargo spacecraft, docked to the Zvezda service module’s aft port, fired its engines for over 14 minutes, 7 seconds at 8:04 a.m. EST on Wednesday. The reboost increased the space station’s altitude by 1 mile at apogee ... More (Source: NASA - Nov 20)
KEPLER ANNOUNCES LAUNCH DATE FOR FIRST TRANCHE OF OPTICAL SATELLITES - Kepler Communications will launch ten 300-kilogram-class satellites for its optical data relay network aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, in Jan. 2026. The launch marks the beginning of Kepler’s next-generation operational constellation, designed to provide real... More (Source: Satellite Evolution - Nov 20)
SPACEX RESUMES EARLY EVENING LAUNCHES AFTER FAA RESTRICTIONS LIFTED - SpaceX launched of a batch of Starlink satellites on Tuesday, its first early-evening flight since the FAA lifted restrictions on commercial launches prompted by the government shutdown. The Starlink 6-94 mission lifted off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, at 7:12 p.m. ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 19)
CHINESE ASTRONAUTS 'STUCK' ON SPACE STATION TO GET A NEW SPACECRAFT AFTER DEBRIS STRIKE LEAVES THEM WITHOUT A RIDE HOME - China appears to have set a launch date for an uncrewed spacecraft that will replace one damaged by space debris while docked at the Tiangong Space Station. The three astronauts (or taikonauts) of the Shenzhou 21 mission are currently aboard China's Tiangong Space Station without a ride home afte... More (Source: Space.com - Nov 19)
POLAND IS READY TO LAUNCH ITS FIRST MILITARY SATELLITE, A SAR, FROM CALIFORNIA - The plans to launch Poland’s first military satellite, a Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite built by the Polish-Finnish consortium ICEYE, will be from Vandenberg AFB in California on November 22. The launch was originally planned for November 11, which coincidentally is Veterans day here in ... More (Source: SatNews - Nov 18)
SPACEX LAUNCHES JOINT NASA-EUROPEAN SEA LEVEL MONITOR - SpaceX launched a joint NASA-European environmental research satellite early Monday, the second in an ongoing billion-dollar project to measure long-term changes in sea level, a key indicator of climate change. The first satellite, known as Sentinel-6 and named in honor of NASA climate researcher... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 18)
SPACEX COMPLETES SECOND FASTEST TURNAROUND BETWEEN FALCON 9 LAUNCHES FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - SpaceX kicked off the weekend with a pair of Falcon 9 launches. With both flights depart Florida’s Space Coast at about three hours and 35 minutes of each other, this was the second shortest turnaround from Cape-based flights for SpaceX. The Starlink 6-85 mission was the second scheduled to fly... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 16)
