CREW-11 ASTRONAUTS ARRIVE IN HOUSTON AFTER 1ST-EVER MEDICAL EVACUATION FROM ISS - The four astronauts of SpaceX's Crew-11 mission made it to Houston today (Jan. 16), just a day after their unprecedented medical evacuation from the International Space Station. The Crew-11 spaceflyers — NASA's Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, Kimiya Yui of Japan and cosmonaut Oleg Platonov — splashed down off the coast of Long Beach, California early Thursday morning (Jan. 15). They then spent a day and night at a local medical facility before heading east to Texas. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 18)
NRO, SPACEX LAUNCH RECONNAISSANCE SATELLITES FROM VANDENBERG - SpaceX executed a late night Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Friday, which carrying an undisclosed number of intelligence-gathering satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office. The mission, NROL-105, has a payload of satellites heading to low Earth orbit, which are believed to be Starshield, a government variant of the Starlink satellites. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 8:39:51 p.m. PST (11:39:51 p.m. EST / 0439:51 UTC). More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 17)
CHINESE COMMERCIAL ROCKET LAUNCHES NEW SATELLITES FROM SEA FOR IOT CONSTELLATION - China launched a group of satellites from the waters near its eastern Shandong Province on Friday morning, marking the country's first sea-based launch in the new year. The commercial rocket, CERES-1 Y7, carrying four satellites for the Tianqi constellation, blasted off at 4:10 a.m., and sent them into the preset orbit. More (Source: CGTN - Jan 17)
IS ELON MUSK LOSING THE SPACE CELLPHONE WAR? - The fiercest space race is not about getting back to the moon—it’s about allowing you to post a TikTok or watch Netflix on your phone anywhere around the globe, from the Atacama Salt Flats to the Khongor sand dunes in the Gobi Desert. To make this happen, two distinct design philosophies are at war, as companies build out the infrastructure needed to ensure every phone on the planet is permanently connected to the internet. More (Source: Fast Company - Jan 16)
CREW 11 SAFELY SPLASHES DOWN AFTER SHORTENED MISSION - Four space station crewmates undocked and plunged back to Earth Thursday, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast six days after NASA ordered them home early because of a medical issue. Descending under four large parachutes, Crew 11 commander Zena Cardman, co-pilot Mike Fincke, Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Platonov landed in the Pacific near San Diego at 3:41 a.m. EST, closing out a 167-day stay in space More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 16)
SPACEX BREAKS PAD TURNAROUND RECORD AT CAPE CANAVERAL WITH MIDDAY STARLINK LAUNCH - SpaceX’s launch of its Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday afternoon broke the turnaround record at its launchpad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station by more than five hours. The Starlink 6-98 mission lifted off at 1:08 p.m. EST (1808 UTC), just 45 hours after the launch of the Starlink 6-97 mission at 4:08 p.m. EST (2108 UTC) on Monday. The previous record, set in December 2025, was 50 hours and 44 between the launches of NROL-77 and Starlink 6-90. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 16)
NASA ASTRONAUTS BEGIN 'BITTERSWEET' MEDICAL EVACUATION FROM SPACE STATION - Four astronauts have left the International Space Station a month early, in the first medical evacuation since the station was put into Earth's orbit in 1998. The astronauts, known as Crew 11, are expected to splash down off the coast of California in the early hours of Thursday local time. Their journey was cut short because of medical issue involving one crew member, Nasa said. The agency did not provide details about the crew member or the nature of the medical issue, but said they were in stable condition. More (Source: BBC News - Jan 15)
SPACEX BREAKS PAD TURNAROUND RECORD AT CAPE CANAVERAL WITH MIDDAY STARLINK LAUNCH - SpaceX’s launch of its Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday afternoon broke the turnaround record at its launchpad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station by more than five hours. The Starlink 6-98 mission lifted off at 1:08 p.m. EST (1808 UTC), just 45 hours after the launch of the Starlink 6-97 mission at 4:08 p.m. EST (2108 UTC) on Monday. The previous record, set in December 2025, was 50 hours and 44 between the launches of NROL-77 and Starlink 6-90. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 15)
CHINA HAS APPLIED TO LAUNCH 200,000 SATELLITES, BUT WHAT ARE THEY FOR? - China has applied to launch nearly 200,000 satellites into Earth orbit, but the move may be an attempt at merely reserving orbital space rather than a genuine effort to build the largest mega-constellation in existence. More (Source: New Scientist - Jan 15)
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