A DYING SATELLITE COULD USE ITS FINAL MOMENTS TO PHOTOGRAPH THE INFAMOUS ASTEROID APOPHIS IN 2029 - An Australian company wants to join efforts to study a rare space event, conducting its own flyby of the asteroid Apophis when it makes its close approach to Earth in 2029. Sydney-based HEO Robotics, a provider of commercial satellite-to-satellite imagery, wants to add to the international missio... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 3)
ARIANESPACE LAUNCHES KOREAN EO SATELLITE IN VEGA C MISSION - Arianespace launched the KOMPSAT-7 Korean Earth Observation satellite on Monday in a Vega C mission from French Guiana. This was Arianespace’s sixth mission of 2025 overall, and the third Vega C mission of this year. The launch took place from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on Dec. 1, t... More (Source: Via Satellite - Dec 2)
TINY SATELLITE BUILT BY UNH STUDENTS BLASTS OFF TO SPACE - When the Falcon 9 rocket blasted off the day after Thanksgiving, it carried with it years of hard work — and the hopes and dreams — of 26 UNH undergraduate students who built a miniature satellite to study the sun and its effects on space weather. A UNH-led student collaboration with NASA’s... More (Source: University of New Hampshire - Dec 2)
CHINA LAUNCHES NEW SATELLITE INTO SPACE - China on Sunday launched a new satellite from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan. The Shijian-28 satellite was launched at 8:20 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a modified Long March-7 carrier rocket. It has entered its preset orbit successfully. It was the... More (Source: Xinhua - Dec 1)
ITALIAN MISSION ADDS TO GROWING IRIDE SPACE FLEET - The Italian programme IRIDE, which provides public sector services based on data from its fleet of Earth observation constellations, has added eight satellites to its second constellation, Eaglet II. The Eaglet II satellites lifted off on board a Falcon 9 rocket at 19:44 CET (10:44 local time... More (Source: European Space Agency - Dec 1)
THE METOP SECOND GENERATION-B1 SATELLITE LAUNCH DRAWS CLOSER - The launch of the MetOp second generation-B1 satellite is scheduled for 2026 as it enters its third round of pre-launch testing. This satellite will be the second entry in the MetOp second generation satellite program, as the first entry, the second-generation A1 satellite, was launched a few months... More (Source: Orbital Today - Dec 1)
CHINA PLANS 'ORBITAL GUARDIAN,' A 156-SATELLITE SAFEGUARD FOR SPACE - China is deploying a satellite constellation to enhance its space situational awareness, focusing on debris tracking for collision avoidance. The constellation will be used to track space debris and ensure the safe operation of spacecraft. With global coverage, it is a responsive low Earth orbit ... More (Source: CGTN - Dec 1)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 140 SPACECRAFT ON TRANSPORTER-15 RIDESHARE MISSION - The second time proved to be the charm as SpaceX successfully launched 140 payloads onboard its Falcon 9 rocket at Vandenberg Space Force Base Friday morning. The flight came two days after SpaceX scrubbed the mission around the time liquid oxygen load was supposed to start on the rocket’s upper s... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 1)
RUSSIA'S ONLY ACTIVE LAUNCH PAD FOR COSMONAUTS DAMAGED BY SOYUZ CREW LAUNCH TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Russia's successful launch of three new crew members to the International Space Station on Thursday (Nov. 27), resulted in damage to country's only active launch pad for crewed spaceflights to the orbiting lab, Russia's federal space corporation has confirmed. The maintenance cabin (also referred... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 1)
SOUTH KOREA’S LARGEST SATELLITE LAUNCHED ON NURI ROCKET IN AMBITIOUS SPACE MISSION - South Korea launched its largest satellite yet on its nationally developed space rocket early Thursday in the fourth of six launches planned through 2027. The three-stage Nuri rocket lifted off from a spaceport on an island off the southwestern coastal county of Goheung. Aerospace officials said ... More (Source: AP News - Nov 28)
NASA ASTRONAUT CHRIS WILLIAMS, CREWMATES ARRIVE AT SPACE STATION - NASA astronaut Chris Williams, accompanied by Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergei Mikaev, safely arrived at the International Space Station on Thursday, expanding the orbiting laboratory’s crew to 10 for the next two weeks. The trio launched aboard the Soyuz MS-28 spacecraft at... More (Source: NASA - Nov 28)
NASA ASTRONAUT, TWO COSMONAUTS TAKE THANKSGIVING DAY RIDE TO SPACE STATION - Astronomer-turned-medical physicist and now NASA astronaut Chris Williams joined two Russian cosmonauts aboard a Soyuz ferry ship Thursday for a Thanksgiving Day flight to the International Space Station, kicking off a planned eight-month stay in orbit. With commander Sergey Kud-Sverchkov at the ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 27)
SPACEX SCRUBS TRANSPORTER-15 LAUNCH, TARGETS FRIDAY FOR NEXT ATTEMPT - SpaceX is preparing to fly dozens of spacecraft into a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) during its fourth smallsat rideshare mission of the year as part of its Transporter series. The flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California was set to happen a day before the Thanksgiving Day holiday in the ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 27)
NEW STATION CREW COUNTS DOWN TO THANKSGIVING DAY LAUNCH - One NASA astronaut and two Roscosmos cosmonauts are at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan counting down to a lift off on Thanksgiving Day to the International Space Station to begin an eight-month microgravity research mission. The seven-member Expedition 73 crew will expand to ten when the new t... More (Source: NASA - Nov 27)
WATCH CHINA'S SHENZHOU 22 RESCUE SHIP ARRIVE AT TIANGONG SPACE STATION - Three Chinese astronauts finally have a reliable way to get home from orbit. The uncrewed Shenzhou 22 spacecraft arrived at Tiangong space station today (Nov. 25) at 2:50 a.m. EST (0750 GMT and 3:50 p.m. Beijing time), about 3.5 hours after launching to orbit atop a Long March 2F/G rocket.... More (Source: Space.com - Nov 26)
BLACKSKY RELEASES FIRST IMAGES FROM NEW GEN-3 SATELLITE AFTER UNDISCLOSED LAUNCH - BlackSky Technology released images on Tuesday from a recently launched Gen-3 satellite, reporting that it delivered images from the satellite less than 24 hours after launch. The image (above) collected by the Gen-3 satellite shows the Port of Jebel Ali in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Thousands of ... More (Source: Via Satellite - Nov 26)
NASA REDUCES FLIGHTS ON BOEING'S STARLINER AFTER BOTCHED ASTRONAUT MISSION - NASA on Monday slashed the number of astronaut missions on Boeing's Starliner contract and said the spacecraft's next mission to the International Space Station will fly without a crew, reducing the scope of a program hobbled by engineering woes and outpaced by Elon Musk's SpaceX. The most recent m... More (Source: Reuters - Nov 25)
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)
