SPACEX TO TRY AGAIN AT LAUNCHING 23 STARLINK SATELLITES ON OCT. 30 AFTER ABORT - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch 23 Starlink internet satellites on Monday (Oct. 30), on its second attempt after an abort. A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday (Oct. 30) at 7:20 p.m. EDT (2320 GMT). If the Falcon 9 can't get off the ground on time, seven backup opportunities are available, from 7:52 p.m. EDT to 10:22 p.m. EDT (2352 to 0222 GMT on Oct. 30), according to a SpaceX mission description.    More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 30)

NEW AGREEMENT ENABLES U.S. LAUNCHES FROM AUSTRALIAN SPACEPORTS - The governments of Australia and the United States have signed an agreement that could allow American rockets to launch from Australian spaceports, although it is unclear how much demand there is for them. The U.S. State Department announced Oct. 26 that the two countries signed a technology safeguards agreement (TSA) regarding space launches from Australia. The agreement provides the “legal and technical framework” for American launches from Australian facilities while protecting sensitive technologies.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 29)

GROUNDBREAKING LASER COMMUNICATIONS EXPERIMENT FLYING TO ISS ON SPACEX CARGO MISSION ON NOV. 5 - Early next month, SpaceX will send a clutch of science experiments to the space station investigating a range of topics, from high-speed laser communications to rolling atmospheric waves on Earth. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, carrying the uncrewed Dragon spacecraft, is scheduled to launch toward the International Space Station (ISS) no earlier than Nov. 5, kicking off the CRS-29 cargo mission. Launch coverage will be available here at Space.com, via NASA Television.   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 29)

PROGRESS CONTINUES TOWARD NASA’S BOEING CREW FLIGHT TEST TO STATION - NASA and Boeing are working to complete the agency’s verification and validation activities ahead of Starliner’s first flight with astronauts to the International Space Station. While Boeing is targeting March to have the spacecraft ready for flight, teams decided during a launch manifest evaluation that a launch in April will better accommodate upcoming crew rotations and cargo resupply missions this spring.   More
(Source: NASA - Oct 29)

RUSSIA RENAMED ITS AMBITIOUS SATELLITE PROGRAM AFTER PUTIN MISSPOKE ITS NAME - It was always abundantly clear that the leader of the Russian space corporation Roscosmos from 2018 to 2022, Dmitry Rogozin, sought to kowtow to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Now we have an anecdote from Putin himself that highlights how much. The story concerns a satellite constellation now known as Sfera (or Sphere, in English), a modestly ambitious constellation of 264 satellites. The Sphere constellation is intended to provide broadband Internet service from middle-Earth orbit to Russia and high-resolution Earth observation satellites.   More
(Source: Ars Technica - Oct 29)

CHINA HAS SENT ITS YOUNGEST-EVER ASTRONAUT CREW TO THE TIANGONG SPACE STATION - When China’s first astronaut Yang Liwei blasted off into space in 2003, it was a history making moment that declared his country’s arrival as an emerging space power. Two decades on, China has become a major presence in space – a status that mirrors its growing economic, political and military ascendency on Earth. It now has its own permanent outpost in orbit – a fully operational space station – and routinely rotates crews to live and work there.    More
(Source: CNN - Oct 27)

CHINA TO SEND YOUNGEST-EVER CREW TO SPACE STATION - China will send its youngest-ever crew of astronauts to the Tiangong space station this week, officials said Wednesday, as Beijing pursues plans for a manned mission to the moon by the end of the decade. Tiangong is the crown jewel of Beijing's space program, which has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and the moon and made China the third country to put humans in orbit.   More
(Source: Phys.org - Oct 27)

SPACE FORCE WANTS ABILITY TO REFUEL MILITARY SATELLITES IN ORBIT - Space tankers being developed by a Denver-based tech company could soon keep U.S. military satellites in orbit longer. The Space Force awarded a $25.5 million contract last month to Astroscale U.S. Inc. to develop and deliver an in-orbit refueler by 2026, the service announced in a Sept. 19 news release. The firm is a subsidiary of the Tokyo-based Astroscale Holdings Inc., a private orbital debris removal company.   More
(Source: Stars and Stripes - Oct 27)

NASA SETS COVERAGE FOR ROSCOSMOS SPACEWALK OUTSIDE SPACE STATION - NASA will provide live coverage as two Roscosmos cosmonauts conduct a spacewalk outside the International Space Station Wednesday, Oct. 25, to install communications hardware and inspect a portion of the orbital complex. Coverage begins at 1:45 p.m. EDT on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website. The spacewalk is expected to begin at 2:10 p.m. and could last up to seven hours.   More
(Source: PR Newswire - Oct 25)

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