SOLAR ARRAYS DEPLOY AS CYGNUS XL ORBITS TOWARD STATION - Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus XL spacecraft deployed its two solar arrays after launching earlier Sunday at 6:11 p.m. EDT on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida to the International Space Station. ... More (Source: NASA - Sep 16)
NORTHROP GRUMMAN’S 1ST CYGNUS XL SPACECRAFT LAUNCHES ON CARGO RUN TO THE SPACE STATION - Northrop Grumman’s first Cygnus XL vehicle was jettisoned on its way to the International Space Station following a pre-sunset launch from Cape Canaveral Sunday evening. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket thundered off the pad at Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at 6:11 a.m. EDT (2211). About 8 minutes... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 15)
PROGRESS 93 CARGO CRAFT DOCKS TO STATION RESUPPLYING CREW - The unpiloted Progress 93 spacecraft arrived at aft port of the International Space Station’s Zvezda module at 1:23 p.m. EDT on Saturday. The Roscosmos spacecraft is delivering about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the Expedition 73 crew aboard the space station. It will remain doc... More (Source: NASA - Sep 14)
RUSSIA LAUNCHES MILITARY SATELLITE AND STUDENT-BUILT SPACECRAFT FROM ARCTIC BASE - Russia’s Defense Ministry reported the successful launch of a Soyuz-2.1b medium-class carrier rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the Arkhangelsk region on 13 September, according to Russian news agency Interfax. The launch deployed two spacecraft into orbit: a military satellite serving Def... More (Source: Euromaidan Press - Sep 14)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 300TH STARLINK SATELLITE-INTERNET MISSION - SpaceX just lofted yet another batch of its Starlink broadband satellites to orbit. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 24 Starlink craft lifted off from foggy Vandenberg Space Force Base in California today (Sept. 13) at 1:55 p.m. EDT (1755 GMT; 10:55 a.m. local California time). It was the 300th Star... More (Source: Space.com - Sep 14)
DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE, FAA CLEAR SPACEX TO LAUNCH UP TO 120 FALCON 9 ROCKETS ANNUALLY FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - The Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of the Air Force gave the green light for SpaceX to more than double its launch cadence from its workhorse launch pad in Florida and construct a new landing zone for its Falcon rocket boosters. On Sept. 3, the FAA published documents supporti... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 13)
RUSSIAN SOYUZ ROCKET LAUNCHES ROBOTIC PROGRESS CARGO SHIP WITH 2.8 TONS OF SUPPLIES TOWARD THE ISS - A Russian Progress freighter launched toward the International Space Station today (Sept. 11) on a mission to deliver several tons of cargo for the station's astronaut crew. A Soyuz rocket lifted off from the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan today at 11:54 a.m. EDT (1554 GMT; 8:54 p.m... More (Source: Space.com - Sep 13)
NEW U.S. MILITARY SATELLITE CONSTELLATION TAKES SHAPE WITH FIRST LAUNCH FROM VANDENBERG SFB - The Space Development Agency took a big step in realizing a new satellite constellation to support the various branches of the U.S. military and its allies. On Wednesday, the SDA, part of the U.S. Space Force (USSF), celebrated the successful launch and deployment of 21 communication satellites t... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 13)
NEW U.S.-EUROPEAN SEA LEVEL SATELLITE WILL HELP SAFEGUARD SHIPS AT SEA - Sea surface height data from the Sentinel-6B satellite, led by NASA and ESA, will help with the development of marine weather forecasts, alerting ships to possible dangers. Because most global trade travels by ship, accurate, timely ocean forecasts are essential. These forecasts provide crucial i... More (Source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) - Sep 12)
SPACEX LAUNCHES INDONESIAN COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE FOLLOWING THREE DAYS OF SCRUBS - SpaceX succeeded in launching a communications satellite from an Indonesian company following three days of mission scrubs. Possible technical issues got in the way of a launch attempt Wednesday evening after back-to-back days of weather delays on Monday and Tuesday. Less than 30 minutes after li... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 12)
SPACEX TARGETS SEPT. 23 FOR LAUNCH OF NASA'S IMAP MISSION TO MAP THE BOUNDARIES OF OUR SOLAR SYSTEM - SpaceX is preparing to launch three spacecraft on a first-of-its-kind mission to study the sun's influence throughout the solar system, from Earth's atmosphere to the edge of interstellar space. A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex-39A, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in ... More (Source: Space.com - Sep 11)
STATION GETS READY FOR TWO CARGO MISSIONS LAUNCHING DAYS APART - The Progress 93 cargo craft from Roscosmos rolled out to its launch pad today at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan where will launch at 11:54 a.m. EDT on Thursday to the International Space Station. Progress 93, carrying 2.8 tons of food, fuel, and supplies to resupply the Expedition 73 crew, wi... More (Source: NASA - Sep 11)
ROSCOSMOS PROGRESS 91 UNDOCKED FROM SPACE STATION - The unpiloted Roscosmos Progress 91 spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station at 11:45 a.m. EDT on Tuesday, backing away from the station for a deorbit maneuver and destructive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere to dispose of trash loaded by the crew. ... More (Source: NASA - Sep 11)
SPACEX ATTEMPTS TO LAUNCH INDONESIAN COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE FOLLOWING THREE DAYS OF SCRUBS - SpaceX scrubbed launching a communications satellite from an Indonesian company for a third consecutive day. Possible technical issues got in the way of a launch attempt Wednesday evening after back-to-back days of weather delays. When it’s able to launch, the Nusantara Lima (N5) satellite will... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 11)
SDA READIES FOR PRIME TIME WITH FIRST OPERATIONAL SATELLITE LAUNCH - The Space Development Agency is ready to start launching operational satellites—and launch and launch again over the next 10 months. Twenty-one of SDA’s low-Earth orbit satellites are scheduled to launch shortly after 7 a.m. Pacific time on Sept. 10. The spacecraft, built by York Space Syste... More (Source: Air & Space Forces Magazine - Sep 11)
CHINA LAUNCHES NEW REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE - China launched a new remote sensing satellite from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan on Tuesday. The Yaogan-45 satellite was launched at 10 a.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a modified Long March-7 carrier rocket. It has entered the preset orbit successfully. ... More (Source: www.gov.cn - Sep 10)
POOR WEATHER FORCES SPACEX TO SCRUB LAUNCH OF INDONESIAN COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - An Indonesian company is looking to improve its space-based communications service with a state-of-the-art Boeing-built satellite bound for geostationary orbit. The spacecraft comes from Satelit Nusantara Lima (SNL), a subsidiary of Indonesia’s first private satellite company, Pasifik Satelit N... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 9)
CHINA LAUNCHES NEW REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE GROUP - China launched a new group of remote sensing satellites from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province on Sunday. The satellites of the Yaogan-40 03 group were launched at 12:34 a.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a modified Long March-6 carrier rocket, and they entered the preset or... More (Source: www.gov.cn - Sep 8)
GOP MAY FINALLY SUCCEED IN UNRELENTING QUEST TO KILL TWO NASA CLIMATE SATELLITES - It was in 2002, during the George W. Bush administration, when NASA decided to put a satellite into orbit to track emissions of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas pumped into the atmosphere through human activity. After many twists and turns, NASA's 23-year remit of charting greenhouse ga... More (Source: Ars Technica - Sep 7)
