NASA SETS COVERAGE FOR NEXT SPACEX RESUPPLY LAUNCH TO SPACE STATION - NASA and SpaceX are targeting 4:19 p.m. EST Monday, Nov. 21, to launch the company’s 26th commercial resupply mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff will be from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft will deliver new science investigations, supplies, and equipment for the international crew. Live launch coverage will air on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website, with prelaunch events starting Friday, Nov. 18. Follow all events at: https://www.nasa.gov/live   More
(Source: NASA - Nov 15)

SPACEX LAUNCHES FALCON 9 BOOSTER INTO RETIREMENT ON INTELSAT MISSION - SpaceX launched one of its reusable Falcon 9 rocket boosters for the last time Saturday on a rare expendable mission for Intelsat, devoting all of the launcher’s propellant toward placing a pair of television broadcasting satellites into orbit. Intelsat says it paid SpaceX an additional fee for the expendable mission. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off at 11:06 a.m. EST (1606 GMT) Saturday after a four-day delay caused by Hurricane Nicole.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 14)

CHINA LAUNCHES TIANZHOU 5 CARGO SHIP TO TIANGONG SPACE STATION - China just launched a cargo mission to its newly completed space station in preparation for a coming crewed flight. The Tianzhou 5 freighter lifted off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in southern China's Hainan Province atop a Long March 7 rocket at 9:03 p.m. EST on Nov. 11 (0203 GMT and 10:03 a.m. Beijing time, Nov. 12). The 35-foot-long (10.6 meters) freighter docked with the Tiangong space station just over two hours later, at 11:10 p.m. EST (0410 GMT and 12:10 p.m. Beijing time on Nov. 12), Chinese space officials said (opens in new tab).   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 13)

SPACE FORCE ORDERS NEW WEATHER SATELLITE FROM BALL AEROSPACE - The U.S. Space Force has ordered a second environmental satellite known as the Weather System Follow-on Microwave, or WSF-M, made by Ball Aerospace. The first one was purchased in 2018 and is projected to launch in 2024. The Space Force announced Nov. 9 it awarded the company a $78.2 million contract modification, exercising an option to acquire a second WSF-M satellite that would launch in 2028.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Nov 13)

X-37B SPACE PLANE COMPLETES ITS SIXTH MISSION, LANDS AFTER NEARLY 30 MONTHS IN ORBIT - The X-37B space plane landed Nov. 12 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, at 5:22 a.m. Eastern, setting a new endurance record after spending 908 days on orbit. Its previous record was 780 days. This was the sixth mission of the crewless reusable plane, built by Boeing and jointly operated by the U.S. Space Force and the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office. Known as Orbital Test Vehicle 6, it launched to orbit May 17, 2020, on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Nov 13)

TIANZHOU 4 CARGO SPACECRAFT UNDOCKS FROM CHINA'S TIANGONG SPACE STATION - A cargo ship has undocked from China’s space station and will soon burn up in the atmosphere after completing its mission. The uncrewed Tianzhou 4 detached from the docking hub of the Tiangong space station on Wednesday (Nov. 9) at 1:55 a.m. EDT (0655 GMT), China’s human spaceflight agency, CMSA, announced (opens in new tab). "After the Tianzhou 4 separated from the orbiting station, we will independently monitor and control the Tianzhou 4 cargo spacecraft. Some related experiments will be carried out in the next step," Wang Saijin, deputy chief engineer of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, told CCTV (opens in new tab).   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 12)

ATLAS 5 LAUNCHES WEATHER SATELLITE, REENTRY TECH DEMO MISSION - An Atlas 5 successfully launched a polar-orbiting weather satellite and a reentry technology demonstrator on the final flight of the vehicle from California. The United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 401 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 4:49 a.m. Eastern Nov. 10. A problem loading liquid oxygen in the rocket’s Centaur upper stage delayed the liftoff by 24 minutes, two-thirds of the way into the 36-minute launch window.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Nov 11)

LATEST U.S. WEATHER SATELLITE, SET TO SCAN STORMS LIKE NICOLE, LAUNCHES - As Tropical Storm Nicole neared Florida on Wednesday, a satellite passed 512 miles overhead, scanning for data to help meteorologists understand what was happening beneath the clouds — and better predict what the storm would do next. On Thursday, on the other side of the United States, the satellite’s $1.4 billion successor rocketed into space. NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) launched an Atlas V rocket carrying the JPSS-2 — the second of four satellites in a series known as the Joint Polar Satellite System — at 1:49 a.m. local time from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.   More
(Source: The Washington Post - Nov 11)

CYGNUS CARGO SHIP ARRIVE AT SPACE STATION AFTER SOLAR ARRAY TROUBLE - A Northrop Grumman Cygnus supply ship arrived at the International Space Station Wednesday, overcoming a deployment failure on one of its two power-generating solar arrays to deliver 4.1 tons of cargo and experiments to the complex. The Cygnus spacecraft, nicknamed the “S.S.” Sally Ride after the first U.S. woman to fly in space, was captured by the station’s Canadian-built robotic arm at 5:20 a.m. EST (1020 GMT) Wednesday as the complex sailed more than 250 miles over the Indian Ocean. NASA astronaut Nicole Mann controlled the robotic arm for the capture of the Cygnus supply ship.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 10)

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