RELATIVITY SPACE ABORTS LAUNCH OF TERRAN 1, THE WORLD'S FIRST 3D-PRINTED ROCKET, TWICE IN 1 DAY - An attempt by startup Relativity Space to launch the world's first 3D-printed rocket on Saturday (March 11) was cut short by two different aborts amid weather and range safety delays. The 3d-printed rocket, called Terran 1, was scheduled to launch on a debut flight from Launch Complex 16 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida during a three-hour window on Saturday afternoon. Despite three attempts, the company was unable to launch the rocket after suffering two last-minute aborts, including on that fired up its engines, and one hold when boat encroached in the offshore safety zone.   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 13)

ROCKET LAB’S SECOND LAUNCH FROM VIRGINIA WILL LOFT TWO COMMERCIAL RADAR SATELLITES - Rocket Lab’s second mission from a new launch pad in Virginia is set to take off with two commercial radar remote sensing satellites for Capella Space. The company had a two-hour launch window opening at 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT) for liftoff Saturday from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia, but officials scrubbed the launch attempt due to upper level winds that were out limits.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 12)

CANADIAN MILITARY ORDERS SPACE SURVEILLANCE MICRO SATELLITE - Canada’s Department of National Defence is moving ahead with a new microsatellite project for space domain awareness. The Redwing satellite will monitor objects in congested orbits and will be able to record and transmit tracking data from anywhere in its orbit, according to the department. Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand announced March 9 that a contract worth $15.8 million Canadian dollars ($11.3 million) has been awarded to Magellan Aerospace of Winnipeg, Manitoba.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Mar 12)

ASTRONAUT CREW SPLASHES DOWN NEAR FLORIDA, ENDING FIVE-MONTH STAY IN SPACE - The four astronauts who make up the Crew-5 team aboard the International Space Station returned home from a five-month stay in space Saturday, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico. The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule disembarked from the space station at 2:20 am ET, beginning the final leg of the astronauts’ journey. The spacecraft then maneuvered back toward Earth before plunging back into the atmosphere for a landing off the coast of Tampa, Florida just after 9 p.m. ET Saturday.    More
(Source: CNN - Mar 12)

SPACEX CAPSULE WITH FOUR-PERSON CREW DEPARTS SPACE STATION, HEADS FOR EARTH - Closing out five months on the International Space Station, two NASA astronauts, a five-time Japanese space flier, and a Russian cosmonaut departed the complex Saturday inside a SpaceX Dragon crew capsule, heading for a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico around 19 hours later. NASA commander Nicole Mann, pilot Josh Cassada, Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Russian kosmonaut Anna Kikina will ride back to Earth inside the SpaceX crew capsule. They launched Oct. 5 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on top of a Falcon 9 rocket, and docked at the space station a day later to begin their long-duration expedition operating science experiments and maintaining the 450-ton research outpost.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 12)

CHINA IS DEVELOPING A QUANTUM COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE NETWORK - Chinese research institutes are working to construct a quantum communications network using satellites in low and medium-to-high Earth orbits. Pan Jianwei, a scientist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and a member of the member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), made the comments in an interview with media March 4 on the sidelines of China’s annual political sessions in Beijing.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Mar 11)

WATCH SPACEX CREW-5 ASTRONAUTS LEAVE THE SPACE STATION MARCH 11 AFTER DELAY - SpaceX's Crew-5 astronaut mission for NASA is scheduled to depart the International Space Station on Saturday (March 11), and you can watch the action live. A SpaceX Dragon capsule carrying the Crew-5 quartet — NASA astronauts Josh Cassada and Nicole Mann, Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina and Japan's Koichi Wakata — is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) at 2:05 a.m. EST (0705 GMT) on Saturday, wrapping up five months in orbit.   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 11)

SPACEX LAUNCHES AND LANDS ROCKET ON MISSION FOR ONEWEB - SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Thursday with 40 more internet satellites for rival OneWeb, followed eight minutes later by the landing of the rocket’s first stage booster back at the Florida spaceport. The mission, SpaceX’s 16th flight of the year overall, was the third and final planned dedicated Falcon 9 launch for OneWeb, which switched launch providers from Russia’s Soyuz rocket to SpaceX and Indian rockets last year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. OneWeb has another reservation with SpaceX for a rideshare mission with Iridium later this year.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 10)

SPACEX CREW-5 ASTRONAUTS HOPE TO LEAVE SPACE STATION MARCH 9 AS NASA WATCHES WEATHER - Crew-5 will soon wrap up an eventful half-year in space. The SpaceX Crew-5 astronauts will begin their return trip back to Earth after undocking from the International Space Station (ISS) at 5:05 p.m. EST (2205 GMT) on Thursday (March 9), NASA said in a statement given to reporters today. The crew will then splash down at 9:25 p.m. EST (0125 GMT the following day) on Friday (March 10).   More
(Source: Space.com - Mar 9)

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