BOEING'S FIRST MANNED SPACEFLIGHT TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION DELAYED TO NEXT YEAR - Boeing's first manned spaceflight with NASA astronauts to the International Space Station was delayed on Thursday to next year, the aerospace company announced on Thursday. The Starliner spacecraft is now scheduled to carry astronauts Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Suni Williams to the ISS in February as Boeing works out problems with thrusters and a cooling loop anomaly that arose during an unmanned test flight in May.   More
(Source: Fox Business - Aug 26)

T-MOBILE AND SPACEX STARLINK SAY YOUR 5G PHONE WILL CONNECT TO SATELLITES NEXT YEAR - T-Mobile says it's getting rid of mobile dead zones thanks to a new partnership with SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet, at an event hosted by T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert and Elon Musk. With their "Coverage Above and Beyond" setup, mobile phones could connect to satellites and use a slice of a connection providing around 2 to 4 Megabits per second connection (total) across a given coverage area.    More
(Source: The Verge - Aug 26)

KUAIZHOU-1A, CHANG ZHENG 2D LAUNCHES HIGHLIGHT BUSY CHINA WEEK IN SPACEFLIGHT - The Chinese space sector has been very busy this year, averaging approximately one orbital launch attempt per week. This week was no exception, with two successful launches taking place from different parts of China. The Kuaizhou-1A (KZ-1A) and Chang Zheng 2D rockets carried out one mission each, with KZ-1A lofting the Chuangzin-16 payload to orbit while CA-2D took the Beijing 3D satellite to space.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Aug 25)

INTENSE SOLAR STORMS LEAVE INTELSAT'S GALAXY 15 SATELLITE OUT OF CONTROL - International satellite services firm Intelsat has lost control of one of its satellites after it was presumably disabled by space weather. Intelsat is attempting to regain control of the Galaxy 15 broadcast satellite after a disruption on Friday (Aug. 19). Intelsat said that a geomagnetic storm likely "knocked out onboard electronics needed to communicate with the satellite," according to a report from Spacenews.com (opens in new tab).   More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 25)

BLUE ORIGIN'S PRIVATE ORBITAL REEF SPACE STATION PASSES KEY DESIGN REVIEW - A private space station that Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and other partners plan to build just cleared a hurdle on its path to orbit. Orbital Reef — a project involving Blue Origin, Sierra Space, Boeing and a number of other companies and institutions — has passed its system definition review (SDR) with NASA, team members announced on Monday (Aug. 22). The milestone shows that Orbital Reef's envisioned architecture is sound and clears the project to proceed further into the design phase.   More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 25)

NASA ASKS INDUSTRY FOR INPUT ON ISS DEORBIT CAPABILITIES - NASA is requesting information from industry on its capabilities and interest in developing a spacecraft that would deorbit the International Space Station at the end of its life. NASA issued the request for information (RFI) late Aug. 19, asking companies to supply information about how they could develop a spacecraft that would be used to perform the final reentry maneuvers at the end of the station’s life, pushing it into the atmosphere to break up over the South Pacific Ocean.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Aug 24)

NOAA’S JPSS-2 ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE ARRIVES AT LAUNCH SITE - NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System-2 (JPSS-2) is now at Vandenberg Space Force Base California, ahead of its mission to scan the Earth from orbit. A transport truck originating from Northrop Grumman’s facility in Gilbert, Arizona – where the spacecraft’s instruments were integrated – arrived Aug. 19, at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility at Vandenberg, where the satellite is slated to undergo final preparations before launch. Arriving ahead of the satellite were three trucks of equipment needed to support the next two and half months of processing JPSS-2 to ready it for operations.   More
(Source: noaa/nesdis - Aug 23)

SPACE FORCE WARGAME CHALLENGES SATELLITE OPERATORS TO THINK CRITICALLY - As satellites become military targets, the U.S. Space Force is training its operators to think on their feet, said officials who participated in a two-week exercise focused on space operations. “The threats have grown in both scope and complexity over the years,” said Lt. Col. Albert Harris, commander of the Space Training and Readiness Command’s 392nd Combat Training Squadron.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Aug 22)

CHANG ZHENG 2D LAUNCHES YAOGAN-35-04 FROM XICHANG - At 17:36 UTC, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) launched another trio of Yaogan 35 satellites on a Chang Zheng 2D. Launching from Launch Complex 3 (LC-3) at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, this was the fifth launch of the CZ-2D this year, all having carried Yaogan satellites to orbit. Yaogan Weixing, which translates to “remote sensing satellite” and is often shortened to Yaogan, is the name that the Chinese space administration gives to its classified military satellites...   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Aug 21)

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