HERE’S HOW A SATELLITE ENDED UP AS A GHOSTLY APPARITION ON GOOGLE EARTH - Dig deep on Google Earth and you'll inevitably find a surprise or two. Maybe you're looking at far-flung islands in the middle of an ocean or checking in on something closer to home. A few years ago, online sleuths found an image of a B-2 stealth bomber in flight over Missouri. The aircraft is sm... More (Source: Ars Technica - Apr 16)
EXPERIENCE THE LAUNCH OF NASA’S SPACEX CREW-11 MISSION - Digital content creators are invited to register to attend the launch of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission to carry astronauts to the International Space Station for a science expedition as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. This will be the 15th time a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft launched by a Fa... More (Source: NASA - Apr 16)
NASA ASTRONAUT DON PETTIT AND 2 COSMONAUTS WILL RETURN TO EARTH ON APRIL 19 - NASA astronaut Don Pettit and two cosmonaut colleagues will return to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) on Saturday night (April 19), if all goes to plan. The journey home for Pettit, Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner will begin Saturday at 5:57 p.m. EDT (2157 GMT), when their Russia... More (Source: Space.com - Apr 16)
NASA SETS COVERAGE FOR SPACEX 32ND STATION RESUPPLY LAUNCH, ARRIVAL - NASA and SpaceX are targeting 4:15 a.m. EDT, Monday, April 21, for the next launch to deliver science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. This is the 32nd SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the orbiting laboratory for the agency. Filled with mor... More (Source: PR Newswire - Apr 15)
REPORT: GLOBAL LEO SATELLITE GROWTH TO HIT 42,600 BY 2032 - The number of active low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites is expected to grow dramatically over the next decade, increasing from 7,473 in 2023 to about 42,600 by 2032, according to a new report from technology intelligence firm ABI Research. The report cites growing investment from China and Europe a... More (Source: Military Aerospace - Apr 15)
SPACEX FALCON 9 ROCKET LAUNCHES 27 STARLINK SATELLITES TO ORBIT ON RECORD-BREAKING 27TH FLIGHT - SpaceX continues to push the boundaries of rocket reuse. A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 27 of the company's Starlink internet satellites lifted off at midnight (0400 GMT) on Monday (April 14) from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It was the 27th launch for the rocket's first stage,... More (Source: Space.com - Apr 15)
KATY PERRY AND GAYLE KING LAUNCH TO SPACE WITH 4 OTHERS ON HISTORIC ALL-FEMALE BLUE ORIGIN ROCKET FLIGHT - Jeff Bezos' aerospace company launched its NS-31 mission today (April 14), sending the pop star and her five female crewmates on a brief mission to suborbital space. Liftoff occured at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) from Blue Origin's West Texas launch site. It was the first all-female spaceflight sinc... More (Source: Space.com - Apr 14)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 400TH FLIGHT-PROVEN FALCON BOOSTER WITH SATURDAY STARLINK MISSION - After being stymied by back-to-back scrubs on consecutive nights, SpaceX managed to launch the Starlink 12-17 mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Saturday night. The mission marked the 400th launch of a flight proven booster. Liftoff from Launch Complex 39A took place at 8:53 p.m. EDT (... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 13)
SPACEX LAUNCHES STARSHIELD SATELLITES FOR THE NRO ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG - The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) launched its ninth mission supporting its so-called proliferated architecture satellite constellation using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission, dubbed NROL-192, also marked a big milestone for SpaceX. It will be the 400th launch of a previously flown Fa... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 12)
A NEW SATELLITE WILL MAP THE CARBON CONTENT OF RAINFORESTS FROM SPACE, AND IT’S SET TO LAUNCH THIS MONTH - After more than ten years of development, the European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing to launch a satellite that will map the carbon content of the world’s rainforests. The probe, named Biomass, was recently shipped to French Guiana, where it’s slated to lift off from Europe’s Spaceport on... More (Source: Smithsonian Magazine - Apr 12)
NOAA BUDGET PROPOSAL WOULD AFFECT WEATHER SATELLITE, OTHER SPACE PROGRAMS - The White House’s budget proposal for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would seek to make major changes in a weather satellite program as well as transfer space weather and space traffic management efforts. NOAA received a draft of the fiscal year 2026 budget proposal from th... More (Source: SpaceNews - Apr 12)
SPACEX DELAYS LAUNCH OF STARLINK SATELLITES FROM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER - SpaceX scrubbed the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket early Friday for undisclosed reasons. It had been scheduled to loft 21 satellites for the company’s Starlink network. Liftoff from pad 39A was rescheduled for later on Friday at 9:15 p.m. EDT (0115 UTC). This will be the 28th launch of the company... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 11)
CHINA AND PAKISTAN AGREE TO FLY 1ST FOREIGN ASTRONAUT TO CHINESE SPACE STATION - For the first time, the Chinese space program will train a Pakistani astronaut, who will also be the first foreign astronaut to visit China's space station. The agreement, called the "Cooperation Agreement on the Selection, Training of Pakistani Astronauts and Participation in China's Space Stati... More (Source: Space.com - Apr 11)
POOR WEATHER FORCES A SCRUB OF THE KUIPER 1 LAUNCH ON A ULA ATLAS 5 - A band of off-shore thunderstorms forced United Launch Alliance to scrub a launch attempt of the first of dozens of missions on behalf of its largest commercial customer, Amazon. Its Atlas 5 551 rocket will carry 27 Project Kuiper satellites onboard. The mission, referred to as Kuiper 1 by ULA an... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 10)
NEW CREW DOCKS TO STATION ABOARD SOYUZ SPACECRAFT - At 4:57 a.m. EDT, the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station’s Prichal module. NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky launched at 1:47 a.m. on April 8 (10:47 a.m. Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. ... More (Source: NASA - Apr 10)
RUSSIA AND CHINA ARE THREATENING SPACEX'S STARLINK SATELLITE CONSTELLATION, NEW REPORT FINDS - SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation is facing threats from Russia and China because it was tapped for military use in Ukraine following Russia's invasion of the nation in 2022, according to a new report evaluating the counterspace capabilities of a dozen countries over the past year. The re... More (Source: Space.com - Apr 9)
RUSSIA TAKES AN AMERICAN ASTRONAUT TO THE SPACE STATION - A Russian spacecraft safely delivered an American astronaut Jonathan Kim and two Russian cosmonauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, a flight hailed by Moscow as an example of fruitful Russia-U.S. space cooperation. The Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket blasted off from the Baikonur cos... More (Source: Reuters - Apr 8)
NOAA’S GOES-19 SATELLITE NOW OPERATIONAL, PROVIDING CRITICAL NEW DATA TO FORECASTERS - NOAA’s GOES-19 satellite, the latest and final satellite in NOAA’s GOES-R Series, officially began operations as GOES East today. This milestone comes after its June 25, 2024 launch, and subsequent post-launch testing of its instruments, systems and data. GOES-19 replaces GOES-16 as GOES Eas... More (Source: NOAA - Apr 8)
SPACEX TO LAUNCH SECOND ACCELERATED GPS 3 SATELLITE MISSION IN LATE MAY - Following the successful accelerated launch of a Global Positioning System on a Falcon 9 rocket in mid-December, the U.S. Space Force, Lockheed Martin and SpaceX are preparing to launch another GPS 3 satellite on a fast tracked basis. The satellite, dubbed GPS 3 Space Vehicle 08 (SV-08), is targe... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 8)
