THE SATELLITES USING RADAR TO PEER AT EARTH IN MINUTE DETAIL - Clouds cover around two-thirds of the world at any one time, preventing conventional satellites from seeing much of the planet. But now a declassified technology known as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) can be installed on satellites to "see" the Earth's surface in the dark, through the clouds (or the smoke of wildfires), to provide a constant unobscured view of our planet, and show changes on the Earth's surface in great detail.   More
(Source: BBC - May 30)

CHINESE ASTRONAUTS PERFORM RECORD-BREAKING SPACEWALK OUTSIDE TIANGONG SPACE STATION - Two Chinese astronauts just set a new spacewalking record for the country. Ye Guangfu and Li Guangsu, two members of China's three-person Shenzhou 18 mission, spent about 8.5 hours working outside the Tiangong space station today (May 28). That's longer than any previous Chinese spacewalk, or extravehicular activity (EVA), according to the nation's state-run Xinhua news service.   More
(Source: Space.com - May 30)

NASA TO PROVIDE COVERAGE OF PROGRESS 88 LAUNCH, SPACE STATION DOCKING - NASA will provide live launch and docking coverage of a Roscosmos cargo spacecraft carrying about three tons of food, fuel, and supplies for the Expedition 71 crew aboard the International Space Station. The unpiloted Progress 88 spacecraft is scheduled to launch at 5:43 a.m. EDT (2:43 p.m. Baikonur time) Thursday, May 30, on a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.   More
(Source: NASA - May 30)

SPACEX HAS LAUNCHED THE EARTHCARE CLIMATE RESEARCH SATELLITE FOR ESA AND JAXA - The joint European-Japanese EarthCARE satellite has begun its mission to improve our understanding of Earth’s climate Tuesday, with a launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California happened at 3:20 PM Pacific Time (22:20 UTC).   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - May 29)

UPDATE: SHENZHOU-18 CREW TO CONDUCT EXTRAVEHICULAR ACTIVITIES - The Shenzhou-18 crew members, who are currently on board China's space station, will conduct their first extravehicular activities (EVAs) within the next few days, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced on Monday. The astronauts, stationed in the orbital complex for the last 32 days, have accomplished a rotation with the Shenzhou-17 crew, attended to the maintenance and upkeep of the space station platform, ensured the upkeep of the life and health support system, conducted inspections and tests on EVA suits, and prepared for spacewalk.   More
(Source: Xinhua - May 28)

NORTH KOREA SAYS ITS LATEST SATELLITE LAUNCH EXPLODED IN FLIGHT - North Korea said its attempt to launch a new military reconnaissance satellite ended in failure on Monday when a newly developed rocket engine exploded in flight. The attempt came just hours after Pyongyang issued a warning that it would try to launch a satellite by June 4, in what would have been its second spy satellite in orbit.   More
(Source: CNBC - May 28)

SPACEX TO LAUNCH 23 STARLINK SATELLITES FROM FLORIDA ON TUESDAY MORNING - SpaceX is set to launch yet another batch of its Starlink internet satellites from Florida on Tuesday morning (May 28). A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to loft 23 Starlink spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Tuesday during a four-hour window beginning at 7:30 a.m. EDT (1130 GMT). SpaceX will webcast the launch live via its X account, beginning about five minutes before the window opens.   More
(Source: Space.com - May 28)

NASA LAUNCHES SMALL CLIMATE SATELLITE TO STUDY EARTH’S POLES - The first of a pair of climate satellites designed to study heat emissions at Earth’s poles for NASA is in orbit after lifting off atop Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in Māhia, New Zealand at 7:41 p.m. NZST (3:41 a.m. EDT) on Saturday. The agency’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) mission consists of two shoebox-size cube satellites, or CubeSats, that will measure the amount of heat Earth radiates into space from two of the coldest, most remote regions on the planet.   More
(Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory - NASA - May 27)

NASA SAYS BOEING’S STARLINER CREW CAPSULE CAN SAFELY FLY ‘AS IS’ WITH PROPULSION SYSTEM HELIUM LEAK - After nearly three weeks of exhaustive tests and data analysis, NASA managers said Friday they are confident Boeing’s oft-delayed Starliner crew capsule can safely launch “as is” June 1, saying a small helium leak in the ship’s propulsion system does not pose a flight safety concern. Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, said even if a suspect shirt-button-size rubber seal in the plumbing leading to one specific thruster failed completely in flight — resulting in a leak rate 100 times worse than what’s been observed to date — the Starliner could still fly safely.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 27)

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