SPACEX LAUNCHES 46 STARLINK SATELLITES, LANDS ROCKET ON SHIP AT SEA - SpaceX launched 46 satellites and landed the returning rocket on a ship at sea on Sunday (July 10). A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket topped with 46 of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Sunday at 9:39 p.m. EDT (6:39 p.m. local California time; 0139 GMT on July 11). About 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth and landed on the SpaceX droneship Of Course I Still Love You, which was stationed in the Pacific Ocean.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 11)

CHINA'S SHENZHOU 14 ASTRONAUTS MARK BUSY 1ST MONTH ABOARD TIANGONG SPACE STATION - China's three Shenzhou 14 astronauts have completed their first month in orbit as they prepare for the arrival of the Chinese space station’s second module. Astronauts Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe launched aboard the Shenzhou 14 spacecraft on June 5 and docked with Tianhe, the core module of the under-construction Tiangong space station, around six hours later.    More
(Source: Soace.com - Jul 10)

RUSSIAN MILITARY LAUNCHES GLONASS-K NAVIGATION SATELLITE FROM PLESETSK - The Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS), itself a division of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, continued to build on their 2022 campaign with the successful launch of a GLONASS-K navigation satellite on a Soyuz rocket. The launch, which took place from Site 43/4 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northwestern Russia, occurred at approximately 09:18 UTC on Thursday, July 7.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jul 9)

NASA CONDEMNS RUSSIA'S USE OF SPACE STATION FOR PROPAGANDA - NASA has issued a statement formally condemning a pair of images shared this week by Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos. The images show three Russian cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station holding the flags of two Russian-backed breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine that Russia invaded in 2014. On Thursday (July 7), NASA released a statement through its press secretary in response to Roscosmos' anti-Ukranian propaganda.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 9)

SECOND COMMERCIAL LYNK GLOBAL SATELLITE STILL LOOKING FOR LAUNCH - Lynk Global said it is still waiting for Spaceflight to rebook a flight for the second commercial satellite in its cellphone-compatible broadband network, four months after the launch services provider’s space tug was kicked off a SpaceX mission. Lynk-07 was supposed to launch onboard Spaceflight’s Sherpa orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) in April on a Falcon 9 rideshare mission, Lynk Global CEO Charles Miller told SpaceNews.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 9)

TRASH BAG JETTISONED FROM SPACE STATION IN WASTE-MANAGEMENT FIRST - There's been a lot of trash-talking about the International Space Station (ISS) recently. Roughly 172 pounds (78 kilograms) of garbage was ejected in a specialized trash bag from the station's commercial Bishop Airlock on July 2, Nanoracks, the company that built and operates the airlock, announced (opens in new tab) in a press release on Wednesday (July 6). The operation was a test of Nanoracks' new orbital waste-disposal tech, and it went swimmingly, company representatives said.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 9)

SPACEX OPENS BUSY SECOND HALF OF 2022 WITH STARLINK LAUNCH - NASASpaceFlight.com Forums L2 Sign Up Artemis SpaceX Commercial ISS International Other Shop SpaceX opens busy second half of 2022 with Starlink launch written by Alejandro Alcantarilla Romera July 7, 2022 SpaceX’s first launch of the second half of 2022 occurred on Thursday when a Falcon 9 rocket lofted another 53 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO). Liftoff occurred at 9:11 AM EDT (13:11 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This mission kicks off a busy second half of the year for SpaceX where over 30 missions are on the schedule for the company. This follows the 27 missions conducted by SpaceX in the first half of 2022, achieving a launch cadence that would allow them to hit their target of 50 launches or more this year.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jul 7)

VIRGIN GALACTIC SELECTS AURORA FLIGHT SCIENCES TO BUILD NEW MOTHERSHIPS - Virgin Galactic announced July 6 it signed an agreement with a Boeing subsidiary to build two new aircraft that will be used as launch platforms for its next-generation suborbital spaceplanes. Virgin Galactic said Aurora Flight Sciences will build two carrier aircraft, or motherships, that will succeed the original WhiteKnightTwo aircraft, called VMS Eve, that it has used for carrying SpaceShipTwo vehicles aloft on suborbital spaceflights. The companies did not disclose the value of the contract, but according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission...   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 7)

NASA SATELLITE BREAKS FROM ORBIT AROUND EARTH, HEADS TO MOON - A satellite the size of a microwave oven successfully broke free from its orbit around Earth on Monday and is headed toward the moon, the latest step in NASA's plan to land astronauts on the lunar surface again. It's been an unusual journey already for the Capstone satellite. It was launched six days ago from New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula by the company Rocket Lab in one of their small Electron rockets. It will take another four months for the satellite to reach the moon, as it cruises along using minimal energy.   More
(Source: Phys.org - Jul 5)

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