SPACE LAUNCHES 29 STARLINK SATELLITES ON A FALCON 9 ROCKET ON ST. PATRICK’S DAY MORNING - SpaceX kicked off the St. Patrick’s Day holiday on Tuesday with a Falcon 9 rocket launch, flying from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The Starlink 10-46 mission added another 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites to the low Earth orbit megaconstellation. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 happened at 9:27 a.m. EDT (1327 UTC). The rocket flew on a north-easterly trajectory upon leaving the pad. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 18)
SPACEX REACHES 10,000 SIMULTANEOUS STARLINK SATELLITES IN ORBIT FOLLOWING FALCON 9 LAUNCH FROM CALIFORNIA - SpaceX crossed the threshold of having more than 10,000 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit simultaneously for the first time. The milestone comes less than seven years after launching its first batch of satellites in May 2019. Coincidently, the Monday night launch also coincided with the 100th anniversary of Robert Goddard’s launch of the first liquid-propelled rocket, which was fueled by gasoline. A century later, SpaceX’s Monday night launch of a Falcon 9 rocket was the 615th flight of this kerosene-fueled rocket. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 18)
RUSSIA'S PROGRESS 92 RESUPPLY CAPSULE DEPARTS SPACE STATION - Russia's Progress MS-31 resupply capsule departed the International Space Station March 16 filled with trash for a destructive reentry into Earth's atmosphere. Also designated Progress 92 by NASA, MS-31 undocked from the space-facing port of the Russian segment Poisk module at 9:24 a.m. EDT... More (Source: Aviation Week - Mar 17)
CHINA LAUNCHES NEW REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE - China successfully launched a remote sensing satellite from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province on Sunday. The Yaogan-50 02 satellite was launched at 9:22 p.m. aboard a modified Long March-6 carrier rocket and has entered its planned orbit. The launch mission was a complete success. More (Source: People's Daily - Mar 16)
SPACEX LAUNCHES STARLINK MISSION FROM CAPE CANAVERAL ON CLOUDY SATURDAY MORNING - SpaceX’s Falcon 9 soared in-between a patchwork of clouds, like a needle through fabric, as climbed away from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Saturday morning to deliver 29 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into low Earth orbit. Liftoff happened at 8:37:10 a.m. EDT (1237:10 UTC), with the rocket heading off on a north-easterly trajectory upon leaving the pad. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 15)
SPACEX LAUNCHES 25 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SPACE FORCE BASE - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rockets from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Friday morning, carrying 25 broadband internet satellites for SpaceX’s low Earth orbit megaconstellation. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 6:57:59 a.m. PDT (10:57:59 a.m. EDT / 1457:59 UTC). This was the company’s 25th mission supporting its low Earth orbit constellation so far this year. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 14)
SPACEX PLAN FOR 1 MILLION ORBITING AI DATA CENTERS COULD RUIN ASTRONOMY, SCIENTISTS SAY - SpaceX's plan to launch one million orbiting data centers to space worries astronomers,who say the satellite streaks caused by the proposed constellation would severely impair observations. Just as astronomers began to learn how to coexist with broadband megaconstellations in low Earth orbit (LEO), such as SpaceX's Starlink, a new threat has emerged, causing significant concerns. Elon Musk's envisioned constellation of one million orbital data centers would result in possibly tens of thousands of moving objects as bright as stars that are visible in the night sky at any given moment, even to the naked eye, according to astronomer and dark sky consultant John Barentine. More (Source: Space.com - Mar 14)
NORTHROP GRUMMAN'S 1ST 'CYGNUS XL' CARGO SPACECRAFT DEPARTS THE SPACE STATION - The first mission of Northrop Grumman's big new cargo spacecraft is nearly over. That freighter, known as Cygnus XL, left the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday morning (March 12), ending a nearly six-month orbital stay for the 23rd Northrop Grumman (NG-23) resupply mission to the orbital laboratory. Secured on the station's Canadarm2 after detaching from its berth on the Earth-facing port of the Unity module, the spacecraft was released at 7:06 a.m. EST (1105 GMT). More (Source: Space.com - Mar 13)
FIREFLY AEROSPACE'S ALPHA ROCKET REACHES ORBIT ON 1ST LAUNCH SINCE EXPLOSIVE ACCIDENTS LAST YEAR - Texas-based Firefly Aerospace is celebrating today (March 11) after successfully launching its Alpha rocket for the first time in nearly a year. Today's mission, called "Stairway to Seven," was the seventh flight for Alpha, which suffered two major mishaps during 2025. The first occurred during the "Message in a Booster" mission last April, which carried a technology-demonstrating satellite for Lockheed Martin but failed to deliver it to orbit after an anomaly occurred during stage separation. More (Source: Space.com - Mar 12)
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