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)
THIRD SET OF UPGRADED SOLAR ARRAYS READY FOR RIDE TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Two more roll-out solar arrays will ride a SpaceX cargo ship to the International Space Station this weekend, continuing a years-long mid-life station upgrade as NASA plans procurement of a final set of new solar wings to fully reinforce the lab’s power supply. The two solar array wings are rolled up on spools to fit inside the 13-foot (4-meter) diameter of the Dragon spacecraft’s rear cargo bay. Later this month, astronauts Steve Bowen and Woody Hoburg will head outside the space station for two spacewalks to install and assist in the deployment of the two roll-out solar arrays. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 3)
JAPAN HAS A WILD IDEA TO LAUNCH A SATELLITE MADE OF WOOD IN 2024 - A team of researchers want to put a wooden satellite into orbit. It's not as outrageous as you might think. Results from a recent test aboard the International Space Station (ISS), which exposed different woods to the vacuum of space, have been confirmed by the project's research team at Kyoto University, in Japan. Sure enough, the findings indicated that wood is remarkably resilient even in the environment of outer space. More (Source: Space.com - Jun 2)
Previous Next
