EUROPE’S FIRST SATELLITE LAUNCH COMPLEX TO BE INAUGURATED IN NORTHERN SWEDEN - After years of preparation and construction, European mainland’s first orbital launch complex, Spaceport Esrange, will be inaugurated. The event will take place in the city of Kiruna in conjunction with Sweden taking over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. For Europe, the new ... More (Source: Satnews - Dec 24)
CHINA'S SPACE STATION RELEASES SMALL TEST SATELLITE INTO ORBIT - China has released a small test satellite into orbit from its recently completed Tiangong space station. The satellite was released from a deployer on the Tianzhou 5 cargo ship, which is currently docked at Tiangong. Tianzhou 5 launched on Nov. 12 with the primary mission of delivering supplies t... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 24)
ASTRONAUTS UNFURL FOURTH ROLL-OUT SOLAR ARRAY OUTSIDE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Another roll-out solar array was installed and deployed by astronauts Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada outside the International Space Station on on a spacewalk Thursday, a day later than previously planned after the space station needed to dodge a piece of space junk. Rubio and Cassada continued a m... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 24)
NASA, RUSSIAN SPACE AGENCY EVALUATE NEED FOR SPACE STATION RESCUE MISSION - NASA and the Russian space agency Roscosmos are evaluating if they will need to mount a rescue mission to the International Space Station after discovering a coolant leak from the Russian Soyuz spacecraft currently docked at the station. The leaking spacecraft, designated Soyuz MS-22, carried U.S... More (Source: UPI - Dec 23)
RUSSIA MULLS EARLY RETURN OF SPACE STATION CREW AFTER SOYUZ CAPSULE LEAK - Russia's space agency said it is considering a "rescue" plan to send an empty spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) to bring home three crew members ahead of schedule, after their Soyuz capsule sprang a coolant leak while docked to the orbiting outpost. Roscosmos and NASA officials ... More (Source: Reuters - Dec 23)
NASA ASTRONAUTS UNFURL 4TH ROLL-OUT SOLAR ARRAY ON SPACEWALK OUTSIDE SPACE STATION - The International Space Station (ISS) has a fourth new solar array thanks to the work of two NASA astronauts on a seven-hour spacewalk. Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada, both flight engineers on the space station's Expedition 68 crew, again ventured outside of the orbiting complex on Thursday (Dec.... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 23)
RUSSIAN SPACE DEBRIS FORCES SPACE STATION TO DODGE, DELAYS US SPACEWALK - NASA delayed a planned spacewalk to venture outside the International Space Station at the last moment on Wednesday after a large piece of Russian space debris came dangerously close to the orbital outpost. NASA astronauts Frank Rubio and Josh Cassada were getting ready to step out from the U.S.-... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 22)
TWO PLéIADES NEO EARTH-IMAGING SATELLITES LOST IN FAILURE OF EUROPE’S VEGA C ROCKET - The final two spacecraft in Airbus’s four-satellite, 600 million-euro commercial Pléiades Neo Earth observation fleet crashed into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after launch from French Guiana Tuesday night, falling victim to a failure of a European Vega C rocket. The Vega C rocket’s launch ope... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 22)
VEGA C FAILS ON SECOND LAUNCH - The second flight of Arianespace’s Vega C failed to reach orbit Dec. 20 after its second stage malfunctioned, destroying two Pléiades Neo imaging satellites. The Vega C rocket lifted off at 8:47 p.m. Eastern from Kourou, French Guiana, carrying the Pléiades Neo 5 and 6 imaging satellites for... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 21)
SPACEX PREPARING TO START STARLINK GEN2 LAUNCHES THIS MONTH - SpaceX could start launching second-generation Starlink satellites in the coming weeks to add more capacity to its increasingly congested broadband network. In Dec. 16 regulatory filings with the Federal Communications Commission, SpaceX said it “anticipates that it will begin launching Gen2 ... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 20)
RUSSIA MAY EXPEDITE LAUNCH OF NEXT SPACE CAPSULE AFTER LEAK - Russia's space corporation Roscosmos said Monday that a coolant leak from a Russian space capsule attached to the International Space Station doesn't require evacuation of its crew, but the agency kept open the possibility of launching a replacement capsule, if needed. Roscosmos said a panel of e... More (Source: Yahoo News - Dec 20)
METEOROID STRIKE MAY HAVE CAUSED SOYUZ SPACECRAFT LEAK, RUSSIAN STATE NEWS REPORTS - The Russian space agency will decide by the end of December whether to fly a space station crew back to Earth in a damaged Soyuz spacecraft. The Russian federal space agency Roscosmos stressed there is no immediate danger regarding the damaged Soyuz spacecraft, which suddenly leaked coolant while... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 20)
NORTH KOREA SAYS LATEST LAUNCHES TESTED 1ST SPY SATELLITE - North Korea said Monday it fired a test satellite in an important final-stage test for the development of its first spy satellite, a key military capability coveted by its leader Kim Jong Un along with other high-tech weapons systems. The North’s official Korean Central News Agency also release... More (Source: AP News - Dec 19)
ROCKET LAB DELAYS 1ST US LAUNCH DUE TO UNACCEPTABLY HIGH WINDS - Unfavorable upper level winds kept Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher on the ground Sunday night in Virginia. The company will try again Monday to launch its first mission from U.S. soil during a two-hour window opening at 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT). An Electron rocket will head into orbit with three comme... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 19)
NASA POSTPONES SPACEWALK TO SUPPORT SOYUZ INVESTIGATION - NASA is delaying a spacewalk at the International Space Station by two days to support the Russian investigation into a coolant leak on a Soyuz spacecraft docked there. In a statement late Dec. 16, NASA announced that a spacewalk by astronauts Josh Cassada and Frank Rubio, previously scheduled fo... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 18)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 2 TELECOM SATELLITES TO ORBIT IN LANDMARK 200TH MISSION - SpaceX carried out its milestone 200th orbital mission on Friday (Dec. 16), sending up a pair of powerful new communications satellites. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Friday from Space Launch Complex 40 at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:48 p.m. EST (2248 GMT). The first s... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 17)
TINY METEORITE MAY HAVE CAUSED LEAK FROM SOYUZ CAPSULE - Russian and NASA engineers were assessing a coolant leak on Thursday from a Soyuz crew capsule docked with the International Space Station that could have been caused by a micrometeorite strike. Dramatic NASA TV images showed white particles resembling snowflakes streaming out of the rear of the ... More (Source: voanews.com - Dec 17)
SPACEX LAUNCHES SWOT OCEAN RESEARCH MISSION - SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched the joint NASA/CNES Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite mission from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 3:46 AM PST (11:46 UTC) on Friday, Dec. 16, after a 24-hour delay to allow teams to complete further data review and analysis after moi... More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Dec 16)
CHINA LAUNCHES YET MORE CLASSIFIED YAOGAN RECONNAISSANCE SATELLITES TO ORBIT - China has added more satellites to its Yaogan remote sensing collection. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China on Wednesday (Dec. 14) at 1:25 p.m. EST (1815 GMT; or 12:25 a.m. Beijing time on Dec. 15). The China Aerospace Science and Tec... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 16)
