SOUTH KOREA SAYS HOMEGROWN SPACE ROCKET PUT SATELLITES INTO ORBIT - South Korea's domestically made space rocket delivered a commercial grade satellite into orbit for the first time on Thursday, the country's science minister said, a breakthrough in its ambitions to compete in a space race with its Asian neighbours. The Nuri rocket lifted off from Naro Space Cent... More (Source: Reuters - May 26)
ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES 2 TINY NASA HURRICANE-WATCHING PROBES TO ORBIT - The second set of NASA's TROPICS cubesats launched on Thursday night (May 25), completing the agency's hurricane-studying miniconstellation. The two tiny satellites lifted off atop a Rocket Lab Electron vehicle from the company's Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's North Island on Thursday at 11:46... More (Source: Space.com - May 26)
RUSSIAN SUPPLY SHIP LAUNCHES TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Russia’s Progress MS-23 cargo freighter launched Wednesday from Kazakhstan on a mission hauling more than 2.7 tons of fuel, food, experiments, and supplies to the International Space Station. The Progress MS-23 supply ship lifted off at 8:56:07 a.m. EDT (1256:07 UTC) from the Site 31 launch com... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 25)
VIRGIN ORBIT TO CEASE OPERATIONS, SELL ASSETS OF RICHARD BRANSON'S SATELLITE LAUNCHER - Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit is shutting down less than two months after the satellite launch start-up filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to a Tuesday company announcement. Virgin Orbit will cease operations and sell its assets to four winning bidders, the company announced... More (Source: ABC News - May 25)
ARABSAT 7B TO BE SLC-40’S QUICKEST TURNAROUND - SpaceX is set to launch the Arabsat 7B satellite to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) for Arabsat atop its Falcon 9 rocket. The launch is currently scheduled for May 23 at 11:25 PM EDT (03:25 UTC on May 24) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40), at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.... More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - May 24)
ORBITAL SIDEKICK ACQUIRES FIRST LIGHT IMAGERY - Hyperspectral startup Orbital Sidekick is acquiring imagery from its first two satellites launched in April on the SpaceX Transporter-7 rideshare flight. “We recently acquired first light, which was very exciting,” Katie Corcoran, OSK vice president of government affairs, said May 22 at the G... More (Source: SpaceNews - May 24)
THE SPACEPORT COMPANY DEMONSTRATES OFFSHORE LAUNCH OPERATIONS - Two companies have demonstrated the ability to conduct launches from a floating platform in U.S. territorial waters, a concept that could help address congestion at terrestrial launch sites. The Spaceport Company announced May 23 it hosted four sounding rocket launches by Evolution Space on May 2... More (Source: SpaceNews - May 24)
AXIOM’S SECOND PRIVATE ASTRONAUT MISSION DOCKS AT INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Four commercial space fliers who launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Axiom’s second private astronaut mission Sunday arrived at the International Space Station on a SpaceX crew capsule Monday to start an eight-day stay full of scientific experiments, student outreach events, and sightse... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 23)
CHINA LAUNCHES "MACAO SCIENCE 1" SPACE EXPLORATION SATELLITES - China successfully sent two satellites of "Macao Science 1," a space exploration program, into space on Sunday. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) said that the satellites were launched at 4:00 p.m. (Beijing Time) by a Long March-2C carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Cen... More (Source: China Military - May 22)
ICEYE TO SUPPLY UAE SAR SATELLITES - Finland-based Iceye announced an agreement May 17 to develop a five-satellite constellation for Bayanat, a United Arab Emirates geospatial analysis firm, and Emirati fleet operator Yahsat. The first Iceye-built Emirati synthetic aperture radar satellites is scheduled to launch in the first quarte... More (Source: SpaceNews - May 22)
TWO AMERICANS, TWO SAUDIS LAUNCH ON COMMERCIAL ASTRONAUT MISSION - Former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, with more time in space than any other American, rocketed back into orbit for the fourth time Sunday, riding a SpaceX Falcon 9 launcher from Florida with a fare-paying investor and private pilot, and the first two Saudi Arabian astronauts to fly to the Internatio... More (Source: SpoaceFlight Now - May 22)
SPACEX LAUNCHES ONEWEB GEN 2 TECHNOLOGY DEMONSTRATOR - SpaceX launched a technology demonstration satellite for OneWeb’s second-generation broadband constellation May 20, along with spares for the British firm’s current low Earth orbit (LEO) network and another that U.S.-based Iridium Communications operates. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying a total 21... More (Source: SpaceNews - May 21)
AXIOM’S SECOND CREW MISSION HAS NARROW WINDOW FOR LAUNCH - The second fully commercial astronaut flight to the International Space Station will have just two opportunities to launch Sunday and Monday, or else wait until after an upcoming SpaceX resupply mission next month to deliver a new set of high-priority solar arrays to the complex. The private crew... More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 21)
SPACE FORCE DELIVERS SECOND U.S. PAYLOAD TO BE HOSTED ON JAPANESE SATELLITE - The U.S. Space Force announced May 17 it has delivered the second of two payloads to be hosted on Japanese satellites under an agreement the United States signed with Japan in 2020. The two U.S. payloads are optical sensors developed by MIT Lincoln Laboratory. They will be hosted on Japan’s ge... More (Source: SpaceNews - May 20)
AXIOM MISSION 2: 4 ASTRONAUTS TO HEAD TO SPACE SUNDAY - The second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station is on target for a Sunday afternoon liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center. The four-member crew will spend eight days docked at the ISS. Axiom Space’s Director of Human Spaceflight Peggy Whitson –- a former NASA astronau... More (Source: Yahoo News - May 20)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 22 NEXT-GEN STARLINK SATELLITES TO ORBIT, LANDS ROCKET AT SEA - SpaceX launched 22 of its "V2 mini" Starlink broadband satellites to orbit early Friday morning (May 19) and landed the returning rocket at sea. A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 22 next-generation Starlink spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Friday at 2:19 a.m... More (Source: Space.com - May 19)
STATION PREPS FOR AXIOM MISSION 2 NEARING SUNDAY LAUNCH - Axiom Mission 2 Nearing Sunday Launch The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour carrying four Axiom Mission 1 astronauts approaches the International Space Station on April 9, 2022, with the first quarter Moon in the background. The SpaceX Dragon Endeavour carrying four Axiom Mission 1 astronauts approaches the... More (Source: NASA - May 19)
BEIDOU-3 G4 GETS LAUNCHED AND CHINESE RAPTOR GETS TESTED, AS IT RECEIVES ITS OWN NAME - One of China’s biggest rockets flew again this Wednesday. Chang Zheng 3B/E successfully launched the Beidou-3 G4 payload at 2:49 AM UTC. The launch was conducted from launch complex 2 of the China Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC). This is already the third flight of the massive first-generat... More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - May 18)
PHOTOS SHOW KIM JONG UN AND HIS DAUGHTER INSPECTING MILITARY SPY SATELLITE - World Photos show Kim Jong Un and his daughter inspecting military spy satellite May 17, 2023 / 3:08 PM / AP North Korean leader Kim Jong Un examined a finished military spy satellite, which his country is expected to launch soon, during a visit to an aerospace facility where he described s... More (Source: CBS News - May 18)
