CHINESE STARTUP GALACTIC ENERGY BOUNCES BACK WITH SUCCESSFUL SATELLITE LAUNCH - Chinese startup Galactic Energy is flying high again after a successful satellite launch on Monday (Dec. 4). The company's Ceres-1 solid rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 6:33 p.m. EST on Monday (2333 GMT; or 7:33 a.m. Beijing time on Dec. 5). The rocket... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 8)
NASA LEADERS TO HIGHLIGHT 25TH ANNIVERSARY OF SPACE STATION WITH CREW - NASA is celebrating the 25th anniversary of International Space Station operations during a live conversation with crew aboard the microgravity laboratory for the benefit of humanity. During a space-to-Earth call at 12:25 p.m. EST Wednesday, Dec. 6, the Expedition 70 crew will speak with NASA Associ... More (Source: NASA - Dec 7)
CHINA LAUNCHES INTERNET TECHNOLOGY TEST SATELLITE FROM SEA BARGE - China launched a new internet technology experiment satellite from a sea platform Tuesday, apparently continuing tests for a low Earth orbit megaconstellation. The Jielong-3 (Smart Dragon-3) solid rocket lifted off from a mobile sea platform from waters off the coast of Yangjiang, Guangdong provi... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 7)
SPACEX SENDS 23 STARLINK SATELLITES TO ORBIT ON 90TH FALCON LAUNCH OF 2023 - SpaceX hit another milestone with its overnight Starlink mission launch. The flight from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station marks the company’s 90th orbital launch in 2023 and its 280th Falcon 9 launch to date. Liftoff of the Starlink 6-33 mission took place at 12:07 p.m. EST (0507 UTC) from Space... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 7)
CAPELLA TO USE SPACEX FOR TWO ACADIA SATELLITE LAUNCHES - Capella Space will launch two radar imaging satellites on SpaceX rideshare missions after an Electron launch failure disrupted its deployment plans. Capella announced Dec. 5 that it had arranged to fly two of its Acadia satellites on SpaceX rideshare missions in the first half of 2024. Acadia-4 w... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 7)
CHINA LAUNCHES EXPERIMENTAL SATELLITE FOR SATELLITE INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES - China successfully sent a satellite for testing satellite internet technologies into space from a sea area near Yangjiang City, south China's Guangdong Province, on Wednesday. The satellite was launched by a Smart Dragon-3 (SD-3) rocket at 3:24 a.m. Beijing Time and has entered the preset orbit.... More (Source: CGTN - Dec 6)
CHINA'S COMMERCIAL CERES-1 Y9 ROCKET LAUNCHES NEW SATELLITES - China on Tuesday launched the CERES-1 Y9 carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, sending two new satellites into their planned orbits. The commercial rocket blasted off at 7:33 a.m. (Beijing Time) from the launch site. The launch was the 11th flight mission ... More (Source: Xinhua - Dec 6)
INDIA RETURNS CHANDRAYAAN-3 PROPULSION MODULE TO EARTH ORBIT - The spacecraft that transported the Chandrayaan-3 lander to the moon has returned to Earth orbit, a demonstration of technologies to support a future Indian lunar sample return mission. The Indian space agency ISRO announced Dec. 4 that the propulsion module for the Chandrayaan-3 mission is now i... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 5)
SOUTH KOREA FLIES SOLID-FUEL ROCKET AMID SPACE RACE WITH NORTH KOREA - South Korea on Monday successfully conducted a flight of a solid-fuel rocket carrying a satellite over the sea near Jeju Island, the defence ministry said, amid a growing space race with neighbouring North Korea. It was the third successful test of the rocket's technology after two others in Marc... More (Source: Reuters - Dec 5)
TENSE 'I.S.S.' TRAILER TEASES ASTRONAUTS FIGHTING FOR CONTROL OF THE SPACE STATION - What would happen onboard the International Space Station (ISS) if war broke out on Earth? That's the question posed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite's tense-looking sci-fi I.S.S., which sees U.S. astronauts suddenly pitted against their Russian colleagues when they receive orders from the ground to tak... More (Source: Marshable - Dec 5)
COSMONAUTS DOCK RUSSIAN PROGRESS CARGO SHIP TO ISS ON REMOTE CONTROL AFTER AUTOPILOT GLITCH - Russian cosmonauts on the International Space Station (ISS) took manual control of an incoming cargo ship carrying tons of supplies after its automated rendezvous system suffered a glitch. The unpiloted cargo ship, called Progress 86, docked to the station's Russian-built Poisk module under remo... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 4)
LIFT-OFF FOR EIRSAT-1, IRELAND’S FIRST EVER SATELLITE - EIRSAT-1 was designed, built, and tested by students from University College Dublin (UCD) participating in ESA Academy’s Fly Your Satellite! program, a hands-on initiative supporting university student teams to develop their own satellites according to professional standards. The launch opportunit... More (Source: SatNews - Dec 4)
SPACEX LAUNCHES FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM CAPE CANAVERAL ON STARLINK MISSION - SpaceX continued a busy weekend with the launch of another batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station late Saturday night. Liftoff of the Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 40 occurred at 11:00 p.m. EST (0400 UTC). Overcoming weather hurdles, the Starlink 6-31 mission ma... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 4)
RUSSIA LAUNCHES SPACE STATION CARGO SHIP - A Russian Progress cargo ship loaded with more than 5,500 pounds of supplies and equipment bound for the International Space Station blasted off from Kazakhstan early Friday, kicking off a two-day orbital chase. Perched atop a Soyuz 2.1a rocket, the Progress MS-25/86P spacecraft took off from the... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 3)
CHINA RELEASES 1ST IMAGES OF COMPLETE TIANGONG SPACE STATION - The crew of China's Shenzhou 16 mission captured incredible images of the Tiangong Space Station as they departed on their way back to Earth. The pictures, taken with a high-definition camera, represent the first time the full structure of the Tiangong space station has been fully imaged since i... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 3)
SPACEX LAUNCHES RIDE SHARE MISSION WITH SOUTH KOREAN SPY SATELLITE, FIRST IRISH SATELLITE - Kicking off the month of December for SpaceX was a Falcon 9 ride share mission with a payload of 25 spacecraft on board. The launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base was headlined by the Korea 425 mission. The rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at 10:19 a.m. PST (1:19 EST,... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 2)
AMAZON BUYS SPACEX ROCKET LAUNCHES FOR KUIPER SATELLITE INTERNET PROJECT - Amazon bought three rocket launches from SpaceX for its Project Kuiper internet satellites, the tech giant announced on Friday. The move is a surprise from Amazon, given the company’s Kuiper system aims to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink in the satellite broadband market. Both Starlink and ... More (Source: CNBC - Dec 2)
SATELLITE IMAGERY REVEALS EXPLOSION AT CHINA’S JIUQUAN SPACEPORT - A Chinese launch vehicle maker appears to have suffered an explosion at a test site at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Satellite images show what are likely test stand facilities and the apparent aftermath of an exhaust plume from a hot fire test on the desert surface. Charred debris can be seen... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 1)
S. KOREA SPY SATELLITE TO LIFT OFF AT VANDENBERG DAYS AFTER N. KOREA LAUNCHES ONE - South Korea is set to launch its inaugural homemade reconnaissance satellite on Dec. 2 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. The electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) satellite, to be carried by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, is Seoul’s first of five planned satellites. Following the initial positio... More (Source: Air & Space Forces Magazine - Dec 1)
