SPACEX LAUNCHES 24 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SFB - SpaceX launched its latest batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Friday. The Starlink 17-6 mission will add another 24 satellites to the low Earth orbit constellation. With a successful completion of this mission, SpaceX will have launched more than 1,800 of its Starlink satellites in 2025 alone. In a social media post, SpaceX confirmed deployment of the satellites a little over an hour after launch. More (Source: SoaceFlight Now - Aug 23)
SOUTH KOREA'S K-RADCUBE RADIATION SATELLITE WILL HITCH A RIDE ON NASA'S ARTEMIS 2 MOON MISSION - South Korea's K-RadCube satellite has arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida ahead of its launch toward the moon next year. The Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA) announced the arrival of the K-RadCube in Florida on Aug. 13 via the social media platform X. The milestone comes as preparations for NASA's Artemis 2 mission build. The 10-day mission will send four astronauts around the moon aboard the Orion spacecraft, with launch currently scheduled for no earlier than February 2026, and no later than April 2026. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 22)
SPACEX TO LAUNCH X-37B MILITARY SPACEPLANE ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM THE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER - The U.S. Space Force and SpaceX are preparing to launch the Boeing-built X-37B spaceplane on its eighth mission shortly before midnight on Thursday. The winged spacecraft, flying under the mission names USSF-36 and Orbital Test Vehicle 8 (OTV-8), will launch atop a Falcon 9 rocket from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at 11:50 p.m. EDT (0350 UTC). More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 22)
RUSSIA LAUNCHES BION-M NO.2 RESEARCH SATELLITE - Russia launched the Bion-M No.2 satellite at 17:13 UTC on Wednesday, Aug. 20, aboard a Soyuz-2-1b rocket from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. This biomedical satellite is a continuation of a Soviet and later Russian scientific program, which started with the launch of Bion 1 back in 1973. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Aug 21)
SPACEX PARTNERS WITH ASTRONOMERS TO PROTECT RADIO ASTRONOMY FROM SATELLITE INTERFERENCE - An automated data-sharing system co-developed by SpaceX and American radio astronomers promises to protect radio telescopes around the world from disruptive interference from satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). Big constellations such as SpaceX's Starlink bring high-speed internet to people in remote, under-connected areas. But they also stain optical telescope images with streaks and disrupt observations by radio telescopes — highly sensitive antennas designed to detect weak radio waves emitted by distant galactic cores, black holes and neutron stars. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 21)
NEW NASA-ESA SEA LEVEL SATELLITE ARRIVES AT CALIFORNIA LAUNCH SITE - The Sentinel-6B satellite will soon start final preparation to ready it for launch later this year. After a trans-Atlantic journey on a cargo ship and a truck ride from Texas to California, the international sea level satellite Sentinel-6B arrived at a NASA facility at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California Aug.18. Teams from the main mission partners, NASA and ESA (European Space Agency), as well as ESA’s prime contractor Airbus, will begin final preparations for the spacecraft’s launch this fall. More (Source: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) - Aug 21)
NASA INVITES MEDIA TO NORTHROP GRUMMAN CRS-23 STATION RESUPPLY LAUNCH - Media accreditation is open for the next launch to deliver NASA science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. A Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft will launch to the orbital laboratory on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for NASA. The mission is known as NASA’s Northrop Grumman Commercial Resupply Services 23, or Northrop Grumman CRS-23. Liftoff is targeted for mid-September from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. More (Source: NASA - Aug 20)
CHINESE ASTRONAUTS BEEF UP TIANGONG SPACE STATION'S DEBRIS SHIELD DURING 6.5-HOUR SPACEWALK - Chinese astronauts added more debris shielding to the Tiangong space station during a 6.5-hour spacewalk on Friday (Aug. 15), according to state media. Two astronauts from the three-person Shenzhou 20 mission ventured outside Tiangong to do the spacewalk, which concluded Friday at 9:27 a.m. EDT (1447 UTC, or 10:47 p.m. in Beijing). It was at least the second effort for the crew to put "debris protection" devices on the three-module space station, following similar work on May 22. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 20)
NASA SETS COVERAGE FOR SPACEX 33RD STATION RESUPPLY LAUNCH, ARRIVAL - NASA and SpaceX are targeting 2:45 a.m. EDT, Sunday, Aug. 24, for the next launch to deliver science investigations, supplies, and equipment to the International Space Station. This is the 33rd SpaceX commercial resupply services mission to the orbital laboratory for NASA. Filled with more than 5,000 pounds of supplies, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Dragon will dock autonomously about 7:30 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 25, to the forward port of the space station’s Harmony module. More (Source: NASA - Aug 20)
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