CARGO DRAGON DOCKS AT SPACE STATION - Closing out an automated 18-hour rendezvous, a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship loaded with 7,000 pounds of supplies and equipment, including two add-on roll-out solar blankets, caught up with the International Space Station early Tuesday and moved in for a problem-free docking. Flying through orbital darkness 270 miles above the southern tip of South America, the unpiloted Dragon, launched Monday from the Kennedy Space Center, approached the lab from behind and below, looping up in front of the station and then on to a point about 600 feet directly above the forward Harmony module’s space-facing port. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 7)
GALILEO SECOND GENERATION ENTERS FULL DEVELOPMENT PHASE - Galileo Second Generation will be made up of two independent families of satellites meeting the same performance requirements, produced by Thales Alenia Space in Italy and Airbus Defence and Space in Germany. ESA Director of Navigation, Javier Benedicto, invited Thales Alenia Space (Italy), Airbus Defence and Space (Germany) and Thales Six GTS (France) to sign respective contracts to initiate System Engineering Support for the next generation of Europe’s navigation satellite system. More (Source: SatNews - Jun 6)
MOMENTUS SECURES SECOND PICOSATELLITE TRANSPORTATION DEAL WITH APOGEO SPACE - Space infrastructure services company Momentus secured a contract with Italy’s Apogeo Space to provide orbital transportation services for nine of Apogeo’s IoT constellation picosatellites. The deal, announced Monday, represents the second nine-satellite batch Momentus that will deliver for Apogeo’s planned 100-satellite constellation, which is schedule to enter service by the second half of 2023. More (Source: Via Satellite - Jun 6)
WATCH SPACEX DRAGON CARGO CAPSULE DOCK WITH SPACE STATION EARLY TUESDAY - A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule will arrive at the International Space Station early Tuesday morning (June 6), and you can watch the action live. The robotic Dragon launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Monday (June 5) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It's schedule to dock at the space-facing port of the orbiting lab's Harmony module on Tuesday at 5:50 a.m. EDT (0950 GMT), ending an 18-hour orbital chase. More (Source: Space.com - Jun 6)
SPACEX LAUNCH SENDS UPGRADED SOLAR ARRAYS TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - SpaceX’s 28th resupply mission to the International Space Station lifted off Monday from the Kennedy Space Center, carrying new solar arrays, fresh food, and experiments to sustain research and upgrade the power system on the orbiting laboratory. Liftoff of the Cargo Dragon spacecraft aboard a Falcon 9 rocket occurred at 11:47 a.m. EDT (1547 UTC) from pad 39A at Kennedy, a day later than planned after SpaceX scrubbed a launch attempt Sunday due to high winds in the booster’s offshore recovery zone. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 6)
MORE SECOND-GEN STARLINK SATELLITES LAUNCH ON FALCON 9 ROCKET - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Sunday morning with 22 upgraded Starlink internet satellites, but officials called off a second Falcon 9 launch later in the day due to high winds in the booster’s offshore recovery area. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket took off from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 8:20 a.m. EDT (1220 UTC), lofting 22 second-generation Starlink internet satellites into orbit on a mission SpaceX called Starlink 6-4. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 5)
WATCH SPACEX LAUNCH DRAGON CARGO MISSION TO SPACE STATION SUNDAY AFTER ONE-DAY DELAY - SpaceX will launch its 28th cargo mission to the International Space Station for NASA Sunday (June 4) after a one-day weather delay and you can watch the action live. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is now scheduled to launch a robotic Dragon cargo capsule toward the orbiting lab Sunday at 12:12 p.m. EDT (1612 GMT) from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch was originally scheduled for Saturday, June 3, but SpaceX announced a 24-hour delay in the wee hours citing the need to "allow more time for vehicle preparations and for weather conditions to improve," according to a Twitter update. More (Source: Space.com - Jun 4)
CHINA'S SHENZHOU 15 SPACE CAPSULE LANDS SAFELY, 3 ASTRONAUTS HOME AFTER MONTHS ON TIANGONG STATION - Three Chinese astronauts are safely back on Earth after a smooth weekend landing to end a six-month mission to the country's Tiangong space station. Shenzhou 15 mission commander Fei Junlong and crewmates Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu returned to Earth at 6:34 a.m. Beijing Time on Sunday, June 4 (6:34 p.m. EDT or 2234 GMTon June 3) as the sun rose over their Dongfeng landing site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. They had been aboard the Tiangong space station since November last year. More (Source: Space.com - Jun 4)
LOADED WITH SCIENCE, SUPPLIES, SPACEX FREIGHTER READY FOR LAUNCH TO SPACE STATION - A freighter carrying solar panels to boost the International Space Station's electrical reserves for scientific activities, equipment to collect data on solar storms and the thawing of Earth's arctic permafrost is ready for launch to the International Space Station on Saturday. If the weather cooperates, liftoff will come at 12:34 p.m. EDT from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Space Force forecasters are predicting only a 30% chance of favorable conditions, however. More (Source: UPI - Jun 3)
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