ULA’S TORY BRUNO LAYS OUT PLANS FOR RAMPING UP LAUNCH CADENCE - United Launch Alliance is on the cusp of a significant milestone for its Vulcan rocket. The 202-foot-tall (61 m) launch vehicle is poised to take flight on its first national security mission as soon as Tuesday, August 12. Atop the two-stage rocket are a pair of missions for that are part of the U.S. Space Force’s National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program. The launch will be the first post-certification flight for a Vulcan rocket.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 8)

NASA TO PROVIDE LIVE COVERAGE OF CREW-10 RETURN, SPLASHDOWN - NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than 6:05 p.m. EDT, Friday, Aug. 8, for the undocking of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission from the International Space Station. Pending weather conditions, splashdown is targeted at 11:33 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 9. Crew-10 will be the first mission to splash down off the California coast for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.   More
(Source: NASA - Aug 8)

FIRST NEXT-GEN GEO-BASED MISSILE WARNING SATELLITE SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETES ENVIRONMENTAL TESTING, ON TRACK FOR DELIVERY TO SPACE FORCE - The first of a new, more capable, more survivable missile warning satellite, designed by Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) for today’s highly contested space domain, has successfully completed environmental testing. The first Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) Block 0 missile warning satellite recently completed thermal vacuum (TVAC) and acoustic testing. Completion of both tests, performed at Lockheed Martin Space’s facility in Sunnyvale, California, keeps the satellite on track for delivery.   More
(Source: Lockheed Martin - Aug 7)

LOCKHEED MARTIN AIMS TO TEST A MISSILE-KILLING SATELLITE BY 2028 - With hundreds of billions of dollars potentially at stake, weapons maker Lockheed Martin said Monday it hopes to achieve a historic first: the test of a satellite weapon capable of destroying a highly-maneuverable hypersonic missile, within the next three years. The concept is perhaps the most pivotal and ambitious portion of the Golden Dome missile defense shield plan, though Pentagon leaders are still considering key aspects of the shield’s overall architecture and few details are known about what it will look like.   More
(Source: Defense One - Aug 6)

STATION EXPANDS TO 11 BEFORE NEXT CREW LEAVES THIS WEEK - Four new crew members are adjusting to life on the International Space Station and gearing up for several months of microgravity research to benefit humans living on and off the Earth. Meanwhile, another quartet that has been orbiting Earth since March is packing up and handing over responsibilities to the new crew before returning to Earth this week.   More
(Source: NASA - Aug 6)

ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES PRIVATE JAPANESE RADAR SATELLITE TO ORBIT FROM NEW ZEALAND - Rocket Lab launched a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite for the Japanese Earth-imaging company iQPS early Tuesday morning (Aug. 5). An Electron rocket carrying the QPS-SAR-12 satellite, nicknamed Kushinada-I, lifted off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site Tuesday at 12:10 a.m. EDT (0410 GMT and 4:10 p.m. local New Zealand time).   More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 5)

WHY A NASA SATELLITE THAT SCIENTISTS AND FARMERS RELY ON MAY BE DESTROYED ON PURPOSE - NASA’s critical effort to monitor Earth’s carbon emissions is now in jeopardy as budget pressures and technical setbacks force a reevaluation of the mission’s future. For years, the satellite (Orbiting Carbon Observatories) has provided essential, high-resolution data on carbon dioxide levels worldwide, setting a benchmark for climate research and policy development. Recent reports indicate that escalating costs and potential delays may risk the continuity of operations, undermining global efforts to track and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Researchers and environmental advocates warn that any interruption could leave a significant gap in our understanding of climate dynamics at a time when precise data are more important than ever.   More
(Source: NPR - Aug 5)

STARLINK MISSION MARKS SPACEX’S 450TH FLIGHT-PROVEN FALCON BOOSTER LAUNCHED - SpaceX passed another milestone in rocket reuse when it launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in the overnight hours of Monday, Aug. 4. The mission, dubbed Starlink 10-30, features the company’s 450th launch of a flight-proven booster. That stat is a combination of both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. SpaceX first reused a Falcon booster with the launch of the SES-10 satellite on March 30, 2017, using the first-stage booster with the tail number 1021.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 5)

SPACEX DELIVERS FOUR ASTRONAUTS TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - SpaceX delivered a fresh crew to the International Space Station on Saturday, making the trip in a quick 15 hours. The four U.S., Russian and Japanese astronauts pulled up in their SpaceX capsule after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. They will spend at least six months at the orbiting lab, swapping places with colleagues up there since March. SpaceX will bring those four back as early as Wednesday.   More
(Source: PBS - Aug 4)

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