CHINA LIVESTREAMS NEW YEAR'S VIEW FROM NEW SPACE STATION - China welcomed the New Year with a live stream from cameras outside the new Tianhe space station module. In a new video from the China National Space Administration, livestreamed on New Year's Day (Jan. 1), you can now see the beauty of the Earth below from the Tianhe module on China's Tiangong s... More (Source: Space.com - Jan 6)
OP-ED | IS THERE ENOUGH ROOM IN SPACE FOR TENS OF BILLIONS OF SATELLITES, AS ELON MUSK SUGGESTS? WE DON’T THINK SO. - As researchers interested in orbital capacity, it’s surreal to wake up and find Elon Musk commenting on the question that has been central to your work: how many satellites can we fit in low Earth orbit (LEO)? According to a recent interview with the Financial Times, Mr. Musk’s stance is that te... More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 5)
THE RULES OF SPACE HAVEN'T BEEN UPDATED IN 50 YEARS, AND THE UN SAYS IT'S TIME - On November 15, 2021, Russia destroyed one of its own old satellites using a missile launched from the surface of Earth, creating a massive debris cloud that threatens many space assets, including astronauts onboard the International Space Station. This happened only two weeks after the United Nati... More (Source: CNN - Jan 4)
SPACEX’S FIRST LAUNCH OF 2022 WILL DEPLOY MORE STARLINK INTERNET SATELLITES - SpaceX plans to kick off its 2022 launch schedule with a Falcon 9 rocket flight Thursday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with the company’s next group of Starlink internet satellites. In a change from previous Starlink missions, the Falcon 9 rocket will fly southeast from the coast of Florid... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 3)
WHY CAN'T WE PUT A SPACE STATION ON THE MOON? - A space station on the moon could be very useful. It would provide future space missions with a stopping point between leaving the Earth and reaching further into the solar system or even the Milky Way. One reason we haven’t built a space station on the moon is that we don’t send people there ve... More (Source: Space.com - Jan 3)
ASTRONAUTS RING IN NEW YEAR ABOARD SPACE STATION TO WELCOME 2022 - The astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station are marking the New Year, becoming only the 37th crew in history to be in space as Earth begins another revolution around the Sun. Expedition 66 crew members Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron and Mark Vande Hei of NASA, Ma... More (Source: Space.com - Jan 2)
BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION EXTENDS SPACE STATION OPERATIONS THROUGH 2030 - NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced today the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to extend International Space Station (ISS) operations through 2030, and to work with our international partners in Europe (ESA, European Space Agency), Japan (JAXA, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), Can... More (Source: NASA - Jan 2)
NASA AND ROCKET LAB CLEAR WAY FOR ELECTRON LAUNCH FROM VIRGINIA IN 2022 - Rocket Lab‘s launch site at the Wallops Flight Facility on the eastern coast of Virginia is expected to see a launch in 2022, as Rocket Lab and NASA near completion of a new flight safety certification system. Launch Complex 2 will be the company’s first launch site in the United States. It w... More (Source: Via Satellite - Jan 2)
THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION WRAPS UP A BUSY 2021 - The ISS, now in its twenty-first year of continuous human occupation, has had a busy year of operations. Two new modules were added and 18 visiting vehicles were at the Station throughout the year. In total, 23 humans called the orbiting outpost home in 2021. This year marked the completion of the R... More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jan 2)
IRAN LAUNCHES ROCKET INTO SPACE AMID NUCLEAR TALKS - Iran launched a rocket with a satellite carrier bearing three devices into space, authorities announced Thursday, without saying whether any of the objects had entered Earth’s orbit. It was not clear when the launch happened or what devices the carrier brought with it. Iran aired footage of the... More (Source: NBC News - Jan 2)
RUSSIA LAUNCHES THIRD AND FINAL ANGARA A5 DEMONSTRATION MISSION - Russia has launched its third and final demonstration flight of the Angara A5 rocket on Monday, December 27. Angara is being developed and built by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and is intended to replace several existing launch vehicles. Angara attempted to place its ... More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Dec 31)
IRAN’S SIMORGH ROCKET FALLS SHORT OF ORBIT WITH THREE PAYLOADS ABOARD - Iran’s Simorgh rocket appears to have suffered another failure during a previously-unexpected launch Thursday. Iranian media has reported that the rocket lifted off from the Imam Khomeini Space Centre at 03:30 UTC (07:00 local time) Thursday morning with three payloads aboard, and although a succe... More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Dec 31)
HERE'S 7 THINGS THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TAUGHT US IN 2021 - The International Space Station is the world's most extreme and expensive scientific laboratory. In its more than 20 years of operations it has housed thousands of experiments, providing fascinating insights into the effects of microgravity on the human body, cultured cells or various materials and ... More (Source: Space.com - Dec 31)
TELESCOPE TOWER EXTENDS ON WEBB OBSERVATORY - The James Webb Space Telescope extended a four-foot tower Wednesday to give the observatory’s mirrors and instruments, designed to function at cryogenic temperatures, enough separation from the hot side of the spacecraft after the mission’s sunshield deploys over the next few days. Webb’s D... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 31)
NASA INVITES MEDIA TO VIEW NOAA’S WEATHER SATELLITE AHEAD OF LAUNCH - Media are invited to view the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite T (GOES-T) satellite Thursday, Jan. 20, at 9:30 a.m. EST at the Astrotech Space Operations payload processing facility in Titusville, Florida. Media will have an opp... More (Source: NASA - Dec 30)
CHINA URGES US TO PROTECT ITS SPACE STATION FROM SATELLITES - China is calling on the United States to protect a Chinese space station and its three-member crew after Beijing complained that satellites launched by Elon Musk’s SpaceX nearly struck the station. A foreign ministry spokesman accused Washington on Tuesday of ignoring its treaty obligations to ... More (Source: AP News - Dec 30)
CHINA’S SPACE STATION MANEUVERED TO AVOID STARLINK SATELLITES - China has informed the United Nations that its crewed space station twice maneuvered to avoid potential collisions with SpaceX Starlink satellites earlier this year. A notification dated Dec. 6 by China under Article V of the Outer Space Treaty stated that the Tianhe space station module conducte... More (Source: SpaceNews - Dec 29)
ELON MUSK, SPACEX FACE ONLINE BACKLASH IN CHINA AFTER SPACE STATION NEAR-MISSES - Chinese citizens lashed out online against billionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Monday after China complained that its space station was forced to take evasive action to avoid collision with satellites launched by Musk’s Starlink programme.... More (Source: CNBC - Dec 28)
SOYUZ 2.1B LAUNCHES WITH 36 ONEWEB SATELLITES - Starsem, Arianespace, and Roscosmos have launched a Soyuz 2.1b for OneWeb flight 12. Lift-off from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan occurred at 13:10 UTC (08:10 EST) on December 27. Also known as ST-37 by both Arianespace and Starsem, the latter is a joint French-Russian company... More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Dec 27)
