SPACEX LAUNCHES SUNRISE STARLINK MISSION FOLLOWING WEATHER SCRUB - The second time proved to be the charm as SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday morning. It came about 24 hours after a scrub on Wednesday due to poor weather that proved insurmountable. The Starlink 10-43 mission will add 29 broadband internet sa... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 5)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 24 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG - SpaceX is set to launch a batch of its Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base Wednesday morning. The Starlink 17-47 mission added another 24 broadband internet to its low Earth orbit constellation. There are currently more than 10,000 satellite... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 5)
FRENCH ASTRONAUT TO FLY TO COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION UNDER DEAL - Two French astronauts are to blast into space next year, one of whom will stay on board the world's first commercial space station, under a new deal sealed between France and the U.S. company Vast. "This confirms France's space ambitions," President Emmanuel Macron said on X late Monday after announ... More (Source: Phys.org - Jun 4)
FOR SATELLITES AS SMALL AS A BRIEFCASE, GETTING AROUND IN SPACE JUST GOT A WHOLE LOT EASIER - MIT engineers are testing a new propulsion system that combines the power and speed of conventional chemical thrusters with the precision and fuel-efficiency of electrical thrusters. The system could enable the design of nimbler, more flexible small satellites, which could perform both fast, powerfu... More (Source: Phys.org - Jun 3)
CHINA LAUNCHES TEST DIRECT-TO-DEVICE SATELLITES FOR MULTIPLE PROJECTS - China capped a busy month of launches by sending four new satellite internet test satellites into orbit with a workhorse hypergolic rocket. The Long March 2D lifted off at 2:07 p.m. Eastern May 30 (1807 UTC) from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. Orange exhaust briefly illuminat... More (Source: SpaceNews - Jun 2)
ROCKET GOES BOOM, SATELLITE CAMERAS ZOOM: EXPLOSIVE BLUE ORIGIN DAMAGE IS VISIBLE FROM SPACE - The dust has settled in the aftermath of last week's giant New Glenn rocket explosion, which shook Florida's Space Coast and the space industry itself. Blue Origin was conducting a fueling test on May 28, ahead of New Glenn's fourth mission, when a yet unknown event led to the total destruction o... More (Source: Space.com - Jun 2)
BLUE ORIGIN FACES MONTHS OF DELAYS AFTER ROCKET EXPLOSION DAMAGES LAUNCH PAD - Blue Origin faces a months-long setback after the explosion of a rocket damaged its launch pad, company and industry sources said, scrambling schedules for Amazon satellite launches and bolstering SpaceX's dominance in the commercial launch market. The mishap, which occurred during a test fir... More (Source: Reuters - Jun 1)
CHINA'S SHENZHOU 21 ASTRONAUTS RETURN TO EARTH AFTER BEING BRIEFLY 'STRANDED', WRAPPING UP RECORD-BREAKING MISSION - China's record-breaking, and very eventful, Shenzhou 21 astronaut mission has come to an end. The Shenzhou 21 trio returned to Earth today (May 29) from China's Tiangong space station, touching down safely at the Dongfeng Landing Site in Inner Mongolia at 8:11 a.m. EDT (1211 GMT; 8:11 p.m. China ... More (Source: Space.com - May 31)
ISS FACES ANOTHER AIR LEAK — AS CONCERNING SPACE STATION PROBLEM THAT SPRANG UP IN 2019 WON’T SEEM TO GO AWAY - The International Space Station is leaking air — again. The latest leak was confirmed by NASA last week and it follows an recurring problem that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration had hoped was resolved earlier this year, Ars Technica reported. The 27-year-old orbiting space s... More (Source: New York Post - May 31)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 50TH STARLINK MISSION OF 2026 - SpaceX launched its 50th dedicated Starlink mission of 2026 with a Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday morning. The Starlink 17-41 mission added another 24 broadband internet satellites to the company’s low Earth orbit constellation. It consists of more than 10,000 spac... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 31)
ULA LAUNCHES 29 AMAZON LEO SATELLITES ON ATLAS 5 ROCKET FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - United Launch Alliance overcame adverse weather conditions to launch a batch of Amazon Leo’s broadband internet satellites on its Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Friday evening. The countdown for the mission dubbed Amazon Leo 7 by ULA and Leo Atlas 07 (LA-07) by Amazon... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 30)
SPACEX LAUNCHED 29 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - SpaceX launched its penultimate planned flight in May, sending its Falcon 9 rocket flying from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Friday morning. The Starlink 10-53 mission will add another 29 broadband internet satellites to the company’s low Earth orbit megaconstellation. The network consi... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 30)
NASA IS HATCHING A 'FAST-PACED PLAN' TO BOOST THIS SPACE TELESCOPE. BUT FIRST, THEY'LL HAVE TO FIND IT - It's getting to be crunch time for a groundbreaking satellite-rescue mission. A private spacecraft called "Link" is set to lift off late next month to meet up with NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, which launched to low Earth orbit (LEO) in 2004 to hunt for powerful space explosions known as... More (Source: Space.com - May 30)
BLUE ORIGIN’S NEW GLENN ROCKET EXPLODES DURING PRELAUNCH TESTING AT CAPE CANAVERAL - A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Thursday night, in a major setback for Blue Origin, the company founded by Jeff Bezos. The rocket erupted in a giant fire ball that engulfed the launch pad at 9 p.m. EDT (0100 UTC) as the engines ap... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 29)
SPACEWALKERS BACK INSIDE STATION AFTER SCIENCE HARDWARE WORK - Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev concluded their spacewalk outside the International Space Station at 4:23 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, lasting 6 hours, 5 minutes. Kud-Sverchkov and Mikayev finished their major objectives, including collecting two completed science experiment... More (Source: NASA - May 29)
US SPACE FORCE AWARDS SPACEX $2.29 BILLION CONTRACT FOR MILITARY SPACE DATA NETWORK - The U.S. Space Force has awarded SpaceX a $2.29 billion contract to build a secure, high-speed satellite communications network to connect military sensors and weapons platforms across the globe, the service announced on Tuesday. The fixed-price nontraditional contracting agreement covers ... More (Source: Reuters - May 28)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 24 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SFB - SpaceX followed up a picturesque Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Monday morning with another from Vandenberg Space Force Base Tuesday morning. The Starlink 17-37 mission, which was originally scheduled to launch on May 9, faced several launch delays throughout the month of May. The flight wen... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 27)
SHENZHOU-23 CREW ARRIVES AT TIANGONG AS CHINA MAPS PATH TO 2030 LUNAR LANDING - Three Chinese astronauts arrived at Tiangong space station Sunday, with one crewmember expected to become China’s first to stay in orbit for an entire year. The Long March 2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft lifted off at 11:08 a.m. Eastern (1508 UTC; 11:08 p.m. Beijing time) May 24 f... More (Source: SpaceNews - May 27)
SHENZHOU 23 LAUNCHES NEW CREW TO TIANGONG SPACE STATION - The Chinese space station Tiangong, permanently occupied since June 5, 2022, is about to receive a new set of crew members. Shenzhou 23 launched atop a Chang Zheng 2F (CZ-2F) from Site 91 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Inner Mongolia province of northwest China.... More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - May 26)
