CREW GOES INTO THANKSGIVING WITH SPACEWALK AND DRAGON PREPS - Four Expedition 68 astronauts will relax on Thanksgiving day as three cosmonauts continue preparing for a spacewalk on Friday. The International Space Station residents are also expecting a space delivery this weekend bringing new roll-out solar arrays and science experiments. Three NASA astronauts and one astronaut from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) spent Wednesday performing numerous research, cargo, and maintenance tasks. The quartet will also be off-duty the next day observing the U.S. holiday before going into a busy weekend. More (Source: NASA - Nov 24)
CHINA TO USE SPACE STATION TO TEST SPACE-BASED SOLAR POWER - China intends to use its newly-completed Tiangong space station to test key technologies required for space-based polar power, according to a senior space official. Robotic arms already operating on the outside of Tiangong will be used to test on-orbit assembly of modules for a space-based solar power test system, Yang Hong, chief designer of the Tiangong space station said in a presentation at the ongoing China Space Conference. More (Source: SpaceNews - Nov 24)
JPSS-2 HAS A NEW NAME: NOAA-21 - NOAA’s JPSS-2 satellite successfully launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Nov. 10 at 1:49 a.m. PST. This week, it was officially renamed NOAA-21. The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) series of satellites provides the latest advancement in observations gathered from a polar orbit. In the past, NOAA's polar-orbiting satellites were each assigned a letter (-A, -B, -C, etc.) as they were being designed, built, and launched. Then, once each satellite reached orbit, they were renamed and assigned a number. More (Source: NOAA - Nov 23)
CHINA ROLLS OUT ROCKET TO LAUNCH NEW CREW TO NEWLY-COMPLETED SPACE STATION - China is gearing up to send a new crew up to the newly-completed space station. A Long March 2F rocket tipped with the Shenzhou 15 crew spacecraft was rolled out to the pad at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on Monday (Nov. 21), China's human spaceflight agency, CMSA, announced (opens in new tab). More (Source: Space.com - Nov 23)
SPACEX SCRUBS RESUPPLY LAUNCH TO THE SPACE STATION - SpaceX called off a launch attempt Tuesday due to bad weather at Kennedy Space Center, delaying until Saturday the start of a resupply mission to the International Space Station. The 26th SpaceX cargo mission to the space station, called CRS-26, will deliver about 7,700 pounds (3.5 metric tons) of supplies, experiments, and hardware to the complex. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 23)
SPACEX LAUNCHES EUTELSAT 10B COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE - SpaceX launched a communications satellite to space Tuesday (Nov. 22) to serve air and sea traffic. SpaceX used a Falcon 9 rocket to launch the Eutelsat 10B satellite on behalf of Eutelsat Tuesday (Nov. 22) at 9:57 p.m. EST (0257 on Nov. 23 GMT). The Falcon 9's upper stage deployed Eutelsat 10B as planned (opens in new tab) about 35.5 minutes after liftoff. This was the 11th launch for this Falcon 9 first stage, according to SpaceX. More (Source: Space.com - Nov 23)
SPACEX DELAYS EUTELSAT-10B LAUNCH ON FINAL FLIGHT OF B1049 - SpaceX is set to launch the Eutelsat-10B communication satellite into a supersynchronous geostationary transfer orbit. A Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket carrying the satellite will lift off from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida with liftoff now scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 22 at 9:57 PM EST (02:57 UTC on Nov. 23). For an initial attempt on Monday, citing the thick cloud layer, cumulus cloud, and disturbed weather rules, the Space Launch Delta 45 released a launch mission execution forecast putting the probability of violation of weather constraints at 70%. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Nov 22)
THE FIRST SATELLITES LAUNCHED BY UGANDA AND ZIMBABWE AIM TO IMPROVE LIFE ON THE GROUND - When Uganda's very first satellite was launched into space last week on Nov. 7, Bonny Omara, the lead engineer on the satellite development team, was filled with emotion. "I was watching it on TV, together with my Honourable Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation," he says. "It was really amazing and we hugged each other! To see my baby takeoff from the ground headed for the International Space Station — it's really a great feeling of my life." More (Source: NPR - Nov 21)
JAPAN AGREES TO SPACE STATION EXTENSION AND GATEWAY CONTRIBUTIONS - The Japanese government has formally agreed to extend its participation on the International Space Station through 2030 and provide components for the lunar Gateway. In a virtual ceremony Nov. 17, NASA and Japanese government officials signed an agreement outlining the roles that Japan will provide in the Gateway, including components for several modules and a cargo resupply mission. NASA, in turn, will fly a Japanese astronaut to the Gateway on a future Artemis mission. More (Source: SpaceNews - Nov 20)
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