FIREFLY SUCCEEDS ON SECOND ALPHA FLIGHT - With the goal of successfully reaching orbit, Firefly successfully launched FLTA002 – its second demonstration flight of the Alpha launch vehicle – on the mission dubbed “To The Black.” Launching from Space Launch Complex 2 West (SLC-2W) at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, the vehicle lifted off at 12:01 AM PDT (07:01 UTC) on Oct. 1. A scrub on Friday morning came after a hold was called at T-0 during engine ignition. FLTA002 launched with several small satellites into a 300 km circular low-Earth orbit (LEO) with a 137-degree inclination.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Oct 2)

3 RUSSIAN COSMONAUTS RETURN SAFELY FROM INTL SPACE STATION - Three Russian cosmonauts returned safely Thursday from a mission to the International Space Station. The Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft carrying Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveyev and Sergey Korsakov touched down softly at 4:57 p.m. at a designated site in the steppes of Kazakhstan, 150 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of the city of Zhezkazgan.   More
(Source: ABC News - Sep 30)

WATCH LIVE EARLY THURSDAY: RUSSIAN COSMONAUTS DEPARTING INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Three Russian cosmonauts will return to Earth Thursday (Sept. 29), and you can watch the whole thing live. Expedition 67 cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov will fly back to Earth on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft from the International Space Station (ISS). Their Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft is scheduled to undock from the Prichal module of the ISS at 3:34 a.m. EDT (0734 GMT) and arrive in Kazakhstan, outside of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, at 6:57 a.m. EDT (1057 GMT or 4:57 a.m. local time), NASA officials (opens in new tab) said.   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 29)

SEE HURRICANE IAN CHURN IN VIDEO FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Cameras aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are providing a birds-eye view of Hurricane Ian as it churns northward toward Florida. The storm looks gigantic in video captured Monday (Sept. 26) by cameras mounted to the exterior of the ISS, which flies about 250 miles (400 kilometers) above Earth. And Hurricane Ian is starting to deliver on that threatening visual; it was expected to bring powerful winds and a life-threatening storm surge to western Cuba on Monday evening, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC).   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 28)

DELTA 4-HEAVY ROCKET DEPLOYS SPYSAT ON FINAL PLANNED MISSION FROM ‘SLICK SIX’ - United Launch Alliance sent a triple-core Delta 4-Heavy with a top secret U.S. government spy satellite into orbit Saturday from California’s Central Coast, closing out a chapter in the tangled history of a launch pad originally built to support military astronaut missions on Titan rockets and space shuttles. The spy satellite on-board the Delta 4-Heavy is owned by the National Reconnaissance Office, which discloses few details about its spacecraft.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 27)

SLS TO ROLL BACK TO VAB AS HURRICANE APPROACHES FLORIDA - NASA will move the Space Launch System rocket from its launch pad back the Vehicle Assembly Building as a precaution for an approaching hurricane, a decision that may delay the Artemis 1 mission until November. NASA announced Sept. 26 that mission managers decided, after days of deliberation, to move the SLS from Launch Complex 39B back to the VAB as a precaution given the approach of what is now Hurricane Ian to Florida.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Sep 27)

NRO SATELLITE FLIES TO ORBIT IN DELTA 4’S FINAL WEST COAST LAUNCH - United Launch Alliance launched a classified National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite on a Delta 4 Heavy rocket September 24 at 3:25 p.m. Pacific from Space Launch Complex-6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. NROL-91 is the Delta 4’s final mission from the West Coast. The vehicle last flew in April 2021 when it launched NROL-82. About four minutes into flight, the outer boosters of the three-core Delta 4 Heavy separated. The second stage separated about two minutes later.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Sep 27)

OPEN COSMOS UNVEILS OPENCONSTELLATION, SHARED SPACE INFRASTRUCTURE - British small satellite startup Open Cosmos announced plans Sept. 21 for OpenConstellation, shared space infrastructure that offers partners access to satellite data. At the International Astronautical Congress here, Open Cosmos invited countries, institutions or companies around the world to contribute their satellites to OpenConstellation. Eventually, Open Cosmos hopes OpenConstellation expands to include 25 satellites with sensors offering varying spatial and spectral resolutions.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Sep 23)

SOYUZ MS-22 SPACECRAFT DOCKS TO SPACE STATION – NEW CREW BEGINS SIX-MONTH MISSION - NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station (ISS) at 1:06 p.m. EDT (10:06 a.m. PDT) on Wednesday, September 21. The hatches between the International Space Station and the newly arrived Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft officially opened at 3:34 p.m. EDT. With the arrival of three new crew members in addition to the existing seven people already aboard for Expedition 67, the station’s population temporarily increases to 10.   More
(Source: SciTechDaily - Sep 23)

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