U.S. SPACE FORCE SWITCHES ROCKETS FOR UPCOMING GPS SATELLITE LAUNCH - The next Global Positioning System satellite is switching from a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket to a SpaceX Falcon 9, a spokesperson for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command System Delta 80 said Tuesday. SpaceX could launch the GPS III Space Vehicle 09 (SV09) within the next few weeks, as the satellite was entering the final stages of pre-flight preparations. As part of the swap, United Launch Alliance (ULA) will instead launch the third of the next generation of Global Positioning System satellites. The GPS III Follow-on (GPS IIIF) SV13 satellite was originally scheduled to launch on a Falcon Heavy, but will now fly on Vulcan.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 14)

NASA, SPACEX INVITE MEDIA TO WATCH CREW-12 LAUNCH TO SPACE STATION - NASA announced it is targeting no earlier than Thursday, Jan. 15, for a splashdown of its Crew-11 mission. The agency also is working with SpaceX and international partners to advance the launch of Crew-12, which is currently slated for Sunday, Feb. 15. The crew includes NASA astronauts Jessica Meir, commander, Jack Hathaway, pilot; ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot, mission specialist; and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, mission specialist.   More
(Source: NASA - Jan 13)

AIRBUS AWARDED EUTELSAT CONTRACT FOR FURTHER 340 LOW EARTH ORBIT ONEWEB SATELLITES - Airbus Defence and Space has been awarded a contract by Eutelsat to build a further 340 OneWeb low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Together with the previous batch of 100 satellites procured in December 2024, the total number of satellites ordered by Eutelsat amounts to 440. These new satellites will ensure operational continuity of the OneWeb constellation.   More
(Source: Airbus - Jan 13)

INDIA’S PSLV SUFFERS SECOND CONSECUTIVE LAUNCH FAILURE, 16 SATELLITES LOST - India’s first launch of 2026 ended in failure due to an issue with the third stage of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). The mission, designated PSLV-C62, was also the second consecutive failure of this four-stage rocket with both anomalies affecting the third stage. This time, 16 satellites were lost, including those of other nations.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 13)

ISRO TO LAUNCH ANVESHA SATELLITE ON PSLV-C62: WHY NO ONE CAN HIDE FROM IT - Imagine having a superpower that lets you see beyond what the human eye can detect, revealing hidden details in everything from forests to battlefields. That's hyperspectral remote sensing (HRS) in a nutshell. Think of it as turning ordinary satellite photos into a high-tech detective tool.   More
(Source: India Today - Jan 12)

SPACEX DEPLOYS NASA’S PANDORA, OTHER SMALLSATS AMID 1ST ‘TWILIGHT’ RIDESHARE MISSION - SpaceX debuted a new class of rideshare mission on Sunday with the launch of its first Twilight flight. The mission was described by the company as flying to a “dawn-dusk Sun-synchronous orbit” after departing from Vandenberg Space Force Base. There were 40 spacecraft jettisoned from the Falcon 9 rocket’s upper stage starting roughly an hour after liftoff and concluding more than 2.5 hours into the mission.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 12)

CHANGE OF COMMAND OF INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TO OCCUR - NASA will provide live coverage of the International Space Station change of command ceremony starting at 2:35 p.m. EST Monday, Jan. 12. on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel. As Crew-11 prepares to depart from the space station, NASA astronaut Mike Fincke will hand command of Expedition 74 aboard the orbital complex to Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Kud-Sverchkov.   More
(Source: NASA - Jan 11)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 29 STARLINK SATELLITES ON ITS 3RD MISSION OF 2026 - SpaceX's third mission of 2026 is in the books. A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 29 of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Friday (Jan. 9) at 4:41 p.m. EST (2141 GMT). About 8.5 minutes later, the rocket's first stage landed in the Atlantic Ocean on the drone ship "Just Read the Instructions." It was the 29th launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 11)

NASA CONSIDERING BRINGING ASTRONAUTS HOME EARLY FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION DUE TO MEDICAL ISSUE - The health issue affecting an astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) may be serious enough to end his or her orbital stay early. On Wednesday afternoon (Jan. 7), NASA announced that it has postponed a planned Thursday (Jan. 8) spacewalk outside the ISS due to an astronaut "medical concern." The agency did not name the astronaut or share details about his or her condition, citing privacy issues, but did note that the situation is stable.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 10)

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