NASA, SPACEX TARGET NEW LAUNCH DATE FOR NOAA WEATHER SATELLITE - NASA and SpaceX now are targeting Tuesday, June 25, for the launch of GOES-U, the fourth and final satellite in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) – R Series. The new launch date allows time for teams to fully re... More (Source: NOAA - Mar 27)
OPEN COSMOS ‘HAMMER’ SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED VIA THE SPACEX TRANSPORTER-10 MISSION - Open Cosmos recently launched HAMMER, the company’s latest Earth Observation (EO) satellite — after a successful lift off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California onboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 as part of the Transporter 10 mission. The company received confirmation of the deployment of HAMME... More (Source: SatNews - Mar 27)
SOUTH KOREA PLANS SECOND SPY SATELLITE LAUNCH FROM US NEXT MONTH - Seoul is close to launching its second military reconnaissance satellite from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, according to South Korea’s military Tuesday. The upcoming launch may come as soon as early April, pending favorable weather conditions, Ministry of National Defense spok... More (Source: Stars and Stripes - Mar 27)
SPACE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY MAY HIRE COMPANIES TO TOW DEFUNCT SATELLITES - The Space Development Agency is interested in hiring commercial space firms to move inactive satellites out of low Earth orbit at the end of their service life. The agency issued a notice to industry March 25 asking for analysis and studies on the feasibility and availability of in-space disposal... More (Source: C4ISRNet - Mar 27)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 23 STARLINK SATELLITES FROM FLORIDA - SpaceX launched another batch of its broadband satellites to orbit this evening (March 25). A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 23 of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today at 7:42 p.m. EDT (2342 GMT). The Falcon 9's first stage came ... More (Source: Space.com - Mar 26)
SPACEX'S DRAGON CAPSULE DOCKS AT ISS ON 30TH CARGO MISSION FOR NASA - After an orbital chase lasting a day and a half, SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft rendezvoused and docked with the International Space Station (ISS) early Saturday morning (March 23). The uncrewed spacecraft launched on Thursday afternoon (March 21) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Flor... More (Source: Space.com - Mar 25)
NASA ASTRONAUT TRACY DYSON, CREWMATES SAFELY EN ROUTE TO SPACE STATION - Three crew members including NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson successfully launched at 8:36 a.m. EDT Saturday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station. Dyson, along with her crewmates Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Novitskiy and spaceflight participant Marina Vasilevsk... More (Source: NASA - Mar 25)
RUSSIA LAUNCHES CREW OF THREE, INCLUDING U.S. ASTRONAUT, TO SPACE STATION - Two days after a rare last-second launch abort, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft blasted off Saturday on a flight to the International Space Station, carrying two short-duration crew members and a NASA astronaut bound for a six-month tour of duty. Soyuz MS-25/71S commander Oleg Novitskiy, Belarus guest... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 24)
SPACEX REACHES 19 FLIGHTS WITH A FALCON 9 BOOSTER FOR A THIRD TIME WITH STARLINK MISSION - SpaceX managed to thread the needle with the weather and launch the first of two planned Starlink missions from Cape Canaveral in 48 hours. A Falcon 9 rocket launched from pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday at 11:09 p.m. EDT (0309 UTC on Sunday). It will be followed by another Falcon 9 ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 24)
WORK CONTINUES ON NISAR SATELLITE AS MISSION LOOKS TOWARD LAUNCH - The NISAR (NASA ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellite – a joint NASA-Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Earth-observing mission – is nearly complete, and a launch readiness date will be determined at the end of April. The spacecraft will launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on In... More (Source: NASA - Mar 23)
ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES MYSTERIOUS SPY SATELLITES IN 4TH-EVER US LIFTOFF - Rocket Lab launched from the U.S. for the fourth time ever on Thursday morning (March 21), sending mystery payloads aloft for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The NROL-123 mission — or "Live and Let Fly," as Rocket Lab called it — lifted off from the company's Launch Complex 2 (... More (Source: Space.com - Mar 22)
ROSCOSMOS SCRUBS SOYUZ CREW LAUNCH 20 SECONDS BEFORE LIFTOFF - A Russian cosmonaut, an American astronaut and a Belarusian flight attendant turned spaceflight participant are preparing for a mission to the International Space Station. Their arrival at the orbiting outpost will mark the beginning of Expedition 71. Liftoff onboard a Soyuz 2.1a rocket from the ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 22)
DRAGON SOARS FROM CAPE CANAVERAL’S PAD 40 ON SPACEX’S 30TH CARGO MISSION TO THE SPACE STATION - SpaceX is gearing up for the next phase of launches from Cape Canaveral that is, in a way, a callback to a previous era in their launch history. While this will be SpaceX’s 30th flight as part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program, it’s the first time a Dragon 2 spacecraft will ... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 22)
WALLOPS ISLAND POISED FOR ROCKET LAB SATELLITE LAUNCH - Another rocket launch on Virginia’s Eastern Shore is planned for this week, and this one will mark the first time Rocket Lab sends up an intelligence satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office from U.S. soil. Rocket Lab USA will launch a dedicated mission for the National Reconnaissance O... More (Source: Chesapeake Bay Magazine - Mar 21)
CHINA LAUNCHES QUEQIAO-2 RELAY SATELLITE TO SUPPORT MOON MISSIONS - China launched its Queqiao-2 relay satellite Tuesday to support upcoming lunar far side and south polar missions. A Long March 8 rocket lifted off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 8:31 p.m. Eastern, March 19 (0031 UTC March 20). The China National Space Administration (CNSA) confirmed the... More (Source: SpaceNews - Mar 21)
10 SMALL RESEARCH SATELLITES TO FLY TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - NASA selected 10 small research satellites across eight U.S. states to fly to the International Space Station as part of the agency's efforts to expand education and science opportunities, support technology advancement, and provide for workforce development. These small satellites, called CubeSa... More (Source: RTTNews - Mar 21)
SOYUZ MS-25 SET TO LAUNCH TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION WITH CREW FROM RUSSIA, BELARUS, AND NASA - The fourth human spaceflight — and third orbital human flight — of the year is being readied for launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to the International Space Station (ISS). Soyuz MS-25 is scheduled to fly on Thursday, March 21, at 13:21 UTC from Site 31/6 at the spaceport. Mission commander Ol... More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Mar 21)
NASA, SPACEX READY TO LAUNCH 30TH CARGO MISSION TO ISS ON MARCH 21 - Welcome back to Pad-40! SpaceX and NASA are moving toward the launch of company's 30th commercial resupply services mission (CRS-30) to the International Space Station (ISS). Liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying an uncrewed SpaceX Cargo Dragon is scheduled for Thursday, March 21, at 4:55 p.m. EDT (... More (Source: Space.com - Mar 21)
INTELSAT EXPANDS ONEWEB LEO PARTNERSHIP - Geostationary satellite operator Intelsat has bought at least five times more capacity from Eutelsat’s OneWeb low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation to strengthen its multi-orbit broadband strategy. The companies announced March 19 that Intelsat has made a firm commitment to buy $250 million worth... More (Source: SpaceNews - Mar 20)