NEW ZEALAND JOINS ASAT TESTING BAN - The government of New Zealand has formally joined a U.S.-led ban on testing of destructive direct-ascent antisatellite (ASAT) weapons in an effort to build momentum for a global prohibition on such tests. In a July 1 speech at the University of Otago, New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced that the government would join the declaration by the United States in April that it would not conduct such “irresponsible” ASAT tests because of the debris they produce, increasing the risk of collisions with satellites.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 4)

NASA AND ROSCOSMOS CONTINUE SEAT BARTER DISCUSSIONS - NASA is continuing to work with Roscosmos on a seat barter agreement despite missing a self-imposed deadline last month to complete a deal in time to allow exchanges on missions launching this fall. In April, NASA International Space Station officials said they needed to have an agreement between NASA and Roscosmos finalized by late June in order to have a Russian cosmonaut, Anna Kikina, fly on the Crew-5 Crew Dragon mission in early September and an American astronaut, likely Frank Rubio, fly on the Soyuz MS-22 mission launching later in September.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 3)

THE UNITED STATE ANNOUNCES A STOP TO TESTING ANTI-SATELLITE WEAPONS - The United States Government has declared that it will no longer be performing tests of Anti-Satellite (ASAT) weapons. In a public statement during a visit to the Vandenberg Space Force Base, Vice President Kamala Harris confirmed that this policy has the primary purpose of setting an example to other countries. It represents an important step in the direction of establishing “space norms” for all countries to follow.    More
(Source: Universe Today - Jul 3)

VIRGIN ORBIT LAUNCHES 7 SATELLITES IN 1ST NIGHT MISSION - Virgin Orbit just aced its fourth mission in a row, launching seven small satellites in the company's first-ever night flight. Virgin Orbit's carrier plane, a modified Boeing 747 called Cosmic Girl, lifted off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in Southern California on Saturday (July 2) at 1:49 a.m. EDT (0549 GMT; 10:49 p.m. local time) with the company's LauncherOne rocket tucked under one wing.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 3)

ISRO PLACES 3 SINGAPORE SATELLITES, 6 EXPERIMENTS IN ORBIT IN SECOND LAUNCH THIS YEAR - The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Thursday successfully launched three Singaporean satellites in a commercial mission of the New Space India Limited. This was the second launch of the year by the space agency, the first one having placed an Indian Earth Observation Satellite in orbit in February. Along with the commercial satellites, the space agency also sent on board six in-orbit experiments mounted on the fourth stage of the rocket in the current mission. On Thursday, the workhorse rocket of the country, PSLV-C53, took off from Sriharikota at 6pm and injected the three satellites into precise orbits around 18 minutes later.   More
(Source: The Indian Express - Jul 2)

ATLAS V ROCKET LAUNCHES CLASSIFIED MISSILE-TRACKING SATELLITE FOR US SPACE FORCE - A missile-warning satellite and another spacecraft are on their way to orbit to help the U.S. military get better at tracking fast-moving threats. The two U.S. military surveillance satellites lifted off today (July 1) atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket, which rose off a pad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 7:15 p.m. EDT (2315 GMT) on a mission for the U.S. Space Force called USSF-12.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 2)

INDIA LAUNCHES 3 SATELLITES AND AN EXPERIMENTAL ORBITING PLATFORM - An Indian rocket launched three satellites and an experimental orbiting platform on Thursday morning (June 30) on the vehicle's 55th mission to date. The four-stage, 145.7-foot-tall (44.4 meters) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lifted off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in southeastern India on Thursday at 8:33 a.m. EDT (1233 GMT; 6:03 p.m. local time) into the clear blue sky in what was described as "a marvelous liftoff" by the mission commentator.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 1)

VIRGIN ORBIT DELAYS LAUNCH OF SEVEN SATELLITES FOR US SPACE FORCE AND NASA - Virgin Orbit has scrubbed the launch the fifth flight of the LauncherOne rocket, after propellant temperature was deemed to be “slightly out of bounds”. The decision was made prior to the take off of Cosmic Girl, the carrier aircraft. The mission, named Straight Up, consists of seven satellites from the US Space Force and NASA that are destined for low Earth orbit. Straight Up is still expected to be Virgin Orbit’s first nighttime launch, with a 24 hour turnaround likely.    More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight - Jun 30)

SPACEX LAUNCHES SES BROADCASTING SATELLITE - SpaceX launched a television broadcasting satellite Wednesday for SES, with liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral occurring at 5:04 p.m. EDT (2104 GMT). There was a two-hour window for SpaceX’s launch Wednesday, and the official launch weather outlook predicted an 80% chance of favorable weather for liftoff. SpaceX ground crews rolled the Falcon 9 rocket and its commercial satellite payload to pad 40 earlier this week, and raised it vertical in the launch mount at pad 40 for final checkouts.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 30)

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