SOUTH KOREA DELAYS ITS OWN SPY SATELLITE LIFTOFF, DAYS AFTER NORTH'S SATELLITE LAUNCH - South Korea has postponed the planned launch of its first military spy satellite set for this Thursday, officials said, days after rival North Korea claimed to put its own spy satellite into orbit for the first time. Under a contract with SpaceX, South Korea is to launch five spy satellites by 2025, and its first launch using SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket had been scheduled to take place at California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base in the United States.   More
(Source: Yahoo News - Nov 29)

SPACEX FALCON 9 ROCKET LAUNCHES 23 STARLINK SATELLITES FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - The next batch of Starlink satellites for SpaceX’s space-based internet service soared into orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket Monday night from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Liftoff occurred at 11:20 p.m. EST (0420 UTC) the Falcon 9 piercing a thin layer of cloud as it headed on southerly trajectory as it targeted an orbit inclined at 43 degrees. The first stage booster flying on this mission, tail number 1062, made its 17th flight. It previously supported two crewed missions with the Ax-1 private astronaut mission to the International Space Station as well as the Inspiration4 mission.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 28)

LAUNCH OF IRELAND’S 1ST SATELLITE IS UPCOMING… - Built by students at University College Dublin under guidance of ESA’s Education Office, EIRSAT-1 is a 2U CubeSat carrying three experiments, including a novel gamma ray detector that will study some of the most luminous explosions in the universe. The mission has been in development since the team was accepted to the ESA Academy Fly Your Satellite! program in 2017. Over the past six years, the students have worked with ESA experts and acquired the professional competences needed to design and build their satellite. They were accompanied through test campaigns at ESA Education’s CubeSat Support Facility in Belgium and other ESA sites, and were also offered by ESA the opportunity to launch their satellite.    More
(Source: SatNews - Nov 27)

NORTH KOREA ROCKET EXPLODES DURING SPY SATELLITE LAUNCH, AND METEOR HUNTERS CAUGHT IT ON CAMERA - The first stage of a North Korean rocket apparently exploded Tuesday (Nov. 21) during a purported spy satellite launch, a new video suggests. A camera at South Korea's Yonsei University, usually used for tracking meteors or shooting stars, showed the first stage of the North Korean Chollima-1 rocket appearing to erupt and spread debris, Reuters reported Friday (Nov. 24). "This time they appear to have detonated the first stage propellant in mid-air," Byun Yong-Ik, an astronomy professor at Yonsei University, told Reuters.    More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 27)

CHINA CONDUCTS LAUNCH TO TEST SATELLITE INTERNET CAPABILITIES - China sent an undisclosed number of satellites into orbit Thursday to test satellite internet technologies. A Long March 2D rocket using a Yuanzheng-3 upper stage lifted off at 5:00 a.m. Eastern (1000 UTC) Nov. 23 from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., (CASC), only announced the nature of the payload when it declared the launch successful. No details of the launch payloads were revealed. Xinhua tersely described the launch as carrying a single “experiment satellite for satellite internet technologies.”   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Nov 24)

CHINA'S YOUNGEST SPACE STATION CREW SEND HOME SPECTACULAR VIEWS FROM SPACE - China's Shenzhou 17 astronauts are getting into the rhythms of life in orbit — and also sending back some choice clips of their activities. Shenzhou 17 arrived at the Tiangong space station on Oct. 26, where they were greeted by the outgoing Shenzhou 16 mission crew. Mission commander Tang Hongbo, a veteran of 2021's Shenzhou 12 mission, and rookie astronauts Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin have now been in orbit for three weeks and working well.   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 24)

CHINA'S NEXT CARGO SPACECRAFT ARRIVES AT LAUNCH SITE AHEAD OF EARLY 2024 LIFTOFF - China is preparing to send fresh supplies and more propellant to its space station. The robotic Tianzhou 7 cargo spacecraft arrived recently at China's coastal Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, according to Chinese state media. The spacecraft will undergo final assembly and testing ahead of a launch on a Long March 7 rocket in early 2024.   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 23)

NASA ACKNOWLEDGES POSSIBILITY OF SHORT-TERM POST-ISS GAP - While NASA seeks to maintain an uninterrupted human presence in low Earth orbit, an agency official said a short-term gap between the International Space Station and commercial successors would not be “the end of the world.” NASA’s current approach to its future in LEO counts on supporting development of commercial space stations with the goal of having at least one such station ready to support NASA astronauts and research by 2030, when the ISS is scheduled for retirement. A key question, though, will be whether any of the several companies working on such concepts will be ready by the end of the decade.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Nov 23)

3RD TIME LUCKY? NORTH KOREA CLAIMS SUCCESSFUL SPY SATELLITE LAUNCH - South Korea moved Wednesday to suspend parts of a 2018 military pact with North Korea after Pyongyang defied warnings from the U.S. and its allies with what it said was the successful launch of its first spy satellite. North Korea launched the Malligyong-1 satellite on a Chollima-1 rocket from the Sohae facility on its west coast at 10:42 p.m. Tuesday (8:42 a.m. ET), according to KCNA, the state news agency. The rocket flew normally along the preset flight track, and the satellite entered orbit at 10:54 p.m., KCNA said, citing North Korea’s space agency.   More
(Source: NBC News - Nov 23)

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