KATY PERRY AND GAYLE KING LAUNCH TO SPACE WITH 4 OTHERS ON HISTORIC ALL-FEMALE BLUE ORIGIN ROCKET FLIGHT - Jeff Bezos' aerospace company launched its NS-31 mission today (April 14), sending the pop star and her five female crewmates on a brief mission to suborbital space. Liftoff occured at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) from Blue Origin's West Texas launch site. It was the first all-female spaceflight since June 16, 1963, when the Soviet Union's Valentina Tereshkova launched on a three-day mission to Earth orbit. Tereshkova flew by herself, however, so NS-31 was the first-ever multiperson human spaceflight not to feature a male crewmember.   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 14)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 400TH FLIGHT-PROVEN FALCON BOOSTER WITH SATURDAY STARLINK MISSION - After being stymied by back-to-back scrubs on consecutive nights, SpaceX managed to launch the Starlink 12-17 mission from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Saturday night. The mission marked the 400th launch of a flight proven booster. Liftoff from Launch Complex 39A took place at 8:53 p.m. EDT (12:53 UTC) against a cloudless night sky.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 13)

SPACEX LAUNCHES STARSHIELD SATELLITES FOR THE NRO ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG - The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) launched its ninth mission supporting its so-called proliferated architecture satellite constellation using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission, dubbed NROL-192, also marked a big milestone for SpaceX. It will be the 400th launch of a previously flown Falcon booster. It is the third such launch so far in 2025. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Base occurred on time at 5:25 a.m. PDT (8:25 a.m. EDT, 1225 UTC) Saturday, April 12.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 12)

A NEW SATELLITE WILL MAP THE CARBON CONTENT OF RAINFORESTS FROM SPACE, AND IT’S SET TO LAUNCH THIS MONTH - After more than ten years of development, the European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing to launch a satellite that will map the carbon content of the world’s rainforests. The probe, named Biomass, was recently shipped to French Guiana, where it’s slated to lift off from Europe’s Spaceport on April 29 aboard a 230-ton Vega-C rocket. Over the next five years, the spacecraft will orbit the Earth and monitor forests’ above-ground biomass—think trunks and large branches—as well as the height of trees in Africa, Asia and South America. Those measurements, captured with the help of a first-of-its-kind radar, can then serve as a proxy for tracking stored carbon.   More
(Source: Smithsonian Magazine - Apr 12)

NOAA BUDGET PROPOSAL WOULD AFFECT WEATHER SATELLITE, OTHER SPACE PROGRAMS - The White House’s budget proposal for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would seek to make major changes in a weather satellite program as well as transfer space weather and space traffic management efforts. NOAA received a draft of the fiscal year 2026 budget proposal from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) April 10. The document, known as a passback, offers the agency a chance to seek any final changes in the proposal before the budget proposal is formally released by the administration.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Apr 12)

SPACEX DELAYS LAUNCH OF STARLINK SATELLITES FROM KENNEDY SPACE CENTER - SpaceX scrubbed the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket early Friday for undisclosed reasons. It had been scheduled to loft 21 satellites for the company’s Starlink network. Liftoff from pad 39A was rescheduled for later on Friday at 9:15 p.m. EDT (0115 UTC). This will be the 28th launch of the company’s internet satellites so far in 2025. Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about an hour before liftoff.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 11)

CHINA AND PAKISTAN AGREE TO FLY 1ST FOREIGN ASTRONAUT TO CHINESE SPACE STATION - For the first time, the Chinese space program will train a Pakistani astronaut, who will also be the first foreign astronaut to visit China's space station. The agreement, called the "Cooperation Agreement on the Selection, Training of Pakistani Astronauts and Participation in China's Space Station Flight Mission," was signed by officials from the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSE) and the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) on Feb. 28.   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 11)

POOR WEATHER FORCES A SCRUB OF THE KUIPER 1 LAUNCH ON A ULA ATLAS 5 - A band of off-shore thunderstorms forced United Launch Alliance to scrub a launch attempt of the first of dozens of missions on behalf of its largest commercial customer, Amazon. Its Atlas 5 551 rocket will carry 27 Project Kuiper satellites onboard. The mission, referred to as Kuiper 1 by ULA and Kuiper Atlas 1 (KA-01) by Amazon, will send the first batch of its full production satellites into low Earth orbit. Amazon’s satellite internet constellation, called Project Kuiper, is designed to rival others, like SpaceX’s Starlink and Eutelsat’s OneWeb.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 10)

NEW CREW DOCKS TO STATION ABOARD SOYUZ SPACECRAFT - At 4:57 a.m. EDT, the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station’s Prichal module. NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky launched at 1:47 a.m. on April 8 (10:47 a.m. Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Hatch opening is scheduled for 7:20 a.m. with NASA’s live coverage resuming at 7 a.m. on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms.   More
(Source: NASA - Apr 10)

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