THE ISS RESUPPLY MACHINE: HOW NASA’S COMMERCIAL CARGO MODEL BECAME THE AGENCY’S QUIETEST SUCCESS STORY - In the shuttle era, delivering cargo to the International Space Station meant strapping supplies into a vehicle that cost roughly $1.7 billion per mission to fly, operated by a standing army of civil servants and contractors, and required years of processing between flights. Today, NASA pays around $200 million per mission under fixed-price commercial contracts, launches happen on reused rockets at a pace that barely registers in the news cycle, and the agency doesn’t have to build or operate the spacecraft at all.   More
(Source: Space Daily - Apr 14)

SPACEX LAUNCHES HUGE 'CYGNUS XL' CARGO SHIP CARRYING OVER 5 TONS OF SUPPLIES TO ISS ASTRONAUTS - SpaceX launched launch a massive cargo ship packed with over 5 tons of gear for astronauts on the International Space Station early Saturday (April 11), then aced a rocket landing minutes after the Florida liftoff. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket soared into a blue sky over Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 7:41 a.m. EDT (1141 GMT) on Saturday, sending Northrop Grumman's "Cygnus XL" resupply freighter toward the International Space Station (ISS). The mission, called NG-24, is Northrop Grumman's 24th resupply flight to the ISS for NASA.   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 12)

CHINA SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES TEST SATELLITE FOR SATELLITE INTERNET TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT - China on Saturday launched a Smart Dragon-3 (SD-3) carrier rocket from the sea, sending a test satellite into its planned orbit to promote satellite internet technology. The SD-3 rocket blasted off at 7:32 p.m. (Beijing Time) from waters off the coast of Yangjiang in south China's Guangdong Province.   More
(Source: Xinhua - Apr 12)

SPLASHDOWN! ARTEMIS 2 ASTRONAUTS RETURN TO EARTH AFTER HISTORIC NASA MISSION TO THE MOON - The four Artemis 2 astronauts splashed down off the coast of San Diego this evening (April 10), wrapping up an epic mission that broke spaceflight records, caught the attention of the world and set the stage for even more ambitious moonshots to come. "From the pages of Jules Verne to a modern-day mission to the moon, a new chapter of the exploration of our celestial neighbor is complete. Integrity's astronauts are back on Earth," NASA spokesperson Rob Navias said just after splashdown, referring to the name of Artemis 2's Orion capsule.   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 11)

NASA’S NORTHROP GRUMMAN CRS-24 MISSION TARGETS APRIL 11 LAUNCH AMID FULL STATION SCHEDULE - NASA, Northrop Grumman, and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than 7:41 a.m. EDT Saturday, April 11, for the next Cygnus XL and Falcon 9 launch opportunity to resupply the International Space Station. Teams adjusted the Friday, April 10, launch opportunity due to forecasted inclement weather at Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.    More
(Source: NASA - Apr 10)

LIGHT POLLUTION HAS BRIGHTENED EARTH BY 16% SINCE 2014, SATELLITES FIND - Artificial lights at night brightened up planet Earth by 16% between 2014 and 2022, a new study using satellite images has revealed. But some areas, including those struck by war and natural disasters, or those in countries with effective light pollution and energy-saving policies in place, are bucking the trend. From space, Earth at night is a magnificent sight — a darkened sphere lined and dotted by blueish and golden lights revealing outlines of countries and continents. It has not always looked like that...   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 10)

NORTHROP GRUMMAN TO BUILD HUGEO SATELLITE FOR HUNGARY’S 4IG - Hungarian company 4iG Space and Defense Technologies has signed with Northrop Grumman to develop the nation’s first communications satellite under a deal announced Tuesday. Northrop Grumman will build HUGEO — a Ka-band satellite based on its GEOStar-3 platform. 4iG said the satellite is set to be completed in 2030 and is a contract “worth several hundred million dollars.”    More
(Source: Via Satellite - Apr 9)

U.S. SPACE FORCE LAUNCHES DOW STP-S29A MISSION, DELIVERS EXPERIMENTAL AND RESEARCH PAYLOADS - The U.S. Space Force successfully launched the Department of War’s (DoW) Space Test Program S29A (STP-S29A) mission aboard a Minotaur IV rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. This mission delivered the the STPSat-7 space vehicle housing five DoW experiments and additional research CubeSats into low Earth orbit (LEO).    More
(Source: Space Systems Command - Space Force - Apr 9)

STATION CREW TALKS TO ARTEMIS II CREW AMID BUSY RESEARCH SCHEDULE - Four Expedition 74 astronauts had a ship-to-ship call with the four Artemis II astronauts on Tuesday after they flew around the Moon in a historic first for NASA and its international partners. The International Space Station residents also continued their ongoing biomedical research, trained to capture a U.S. cargo craft, and installed a small experimental robotic arm. The station crewmates called to the Artemis II crew, NASA Commander Reid Wiseman, NASA Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch of NASA and Jeremy Hansen of CSA (Canadian Space Agency), who are returning to Earth aboard the spacecraft Integrity for a short conversation.   More
(Source: NASA - Apr 8)

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