GROUND TESTING ANOMALY DESTROYS FIREFLY AEROSPACE’S ALPHA BOOSTER INTENDED FOR NEXT FLIGHT - Firefly Aerospace suffered a setback on its road to resuming launches with its Alpha rocket. During acceptance testing at its facility in Briggs, Texas, on Monday, the booster designated for Alpha Flight 7 “experienced an event that resulted in a loss of the stage,” the company said in a statement. A spokesperson for Firefly said this acceptance test was taking place prior to the company shipping the booster to Vandenberg Space Force Base ahead of conducting a final static fire test and preparing for launch.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 30)

CHINESE ASTRONAUTS ADD DEBRIS SHIELDING TO TIANGONG SPACE STATION DURING 6-HOUR SPACEWALK - China's Tiangong space station just got some more protection against debris strikes. Two astronauts from the three-person Shenzhou 20 mission installed additional shielding on Tiangong during a six-hour spacewalk on Friday (Sept. 26), according to the state-run broadcaster CCTV. It was the fourth spacewalk of the Shenzhou 20 mission, which arrived at Tiangong on April 24.   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 30)

CHINA LAUNCHES LOW EARTH ORBIT SATELLITE GROUP - China successfully launched a new batch of low Earth orbit satellites from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province on Saturday, marking the 597th mission of the Long March carrier rockets.   More
(Source: CGTN - Sep 29)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 28 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG SFB - SpaceX completed its final, scheduled launch of September Sunday evening. The Falcon 9 flight from Vandenberg Space Force Base was the 16th launch for SpaceX this month. The Starlink 11-20 mission saw 28 of SpaceX’s broadband internet satellites deployed into low Earth orbit with deployment scheduled for a little more than an hour after liftoff. SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East at 7:04 p.m. PDT (10:04 p.m. EDT / 0204 UTC). The Falcon 9 rocket flew away from the pad on a south-easterly trajectory upon liftoff.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 29)

CHINA LAUNCHES NEW FENGYUN METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITE - China launched a new Fengyun meteorological satellite, which will also contribute to a global green mission, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Saturday. A Long March-4C rocket, carrying the Fengyun-3 08 satellite, blasted off at 3:28 a.m., and sent the satellite into the preset orbit.   More
(Source: Ecns.cn - Sep 28)

SPACE DEBRIS LIGHTS UP NIGHT SKY OVER CALIFORNIA - Fiery space debris lit up the night sky over the Golden State on Thursday, sparking hundreds of reports from residents and leaving many to wonder what they had witnessed. The American Meteor Society said that within the first 24 hours after the event, it received more than 200 accounts from witnesses ranging from near the California-Oregon border southward to areas outside Los Angeles.   More
(Source: Fox Weather - Sep 28)

SIERRA SPACE’S DREAM CHASER DEBUT MISSION DELAYED AGAIN, NO LONGER DOCKING TO STATION - The debut of Sierra Space’s cargo space plane Dream Chaser has delayed again and will no longer see a docking with the International Space Station. In a statement Thursday afternoon, NASA said the space agency and Sierra Space had agreed to a major modification of their space station resupply contract. The space plane is now scheduled to launch on its inaugural flight no earlier than late 2026. Additionally, instead of docking to the ISS, the vehicle named Tenacity will now conduct a free-flyer mission.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 27)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 24 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM VANDENBERG - SpaceX launched its third Falcon 9 rocket in less than 41 hours. Completing the trio of flights, along with NASA’s IMAP and Starlink 10-15, was the flight of the Starlink 17-11 mission, which took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base Thursday night. Liftoff of the mission from Space Launch Complex 4 East happened at 9:26 p.m. PDT (12:26 a.m. EDT / 0426 UTC). The rocket deployed 24 of SpaceX’s Starlink V2 Mini broadband internet satellites into low Earth orbit a little more than an hour into the mission.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 27)

THE WORLD’S FIRST COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION IS GETTING CLOSER TO LAUNCH - The International Space Station (ISS) is one of humanity’s greatest achievements, providing a habitat in orbit that has been occupied continuously for almost 25 years. Visited by almost 300 people from 26 countries so far, it is a shining example of international collaboration and a one-of-a-kind technological marvel. But its lifespan is drawing to a close, and even though it has long outlived its originally scheduled 15-year mission, NASA plans to de-orbit the station around 2030.   More
(Source: CNN - Sep 26)

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