CHINA LAUNCHES ZIYUAN-1 02E SATELLITE VIA CHANG ZHENG 4C - China has deployed a new Earth resources observation satellite Sunday via its Chang Zheng 4C rocket. The Ziyuan-1 02E satellite, along with an amateur radio CubeSat, lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 03:11 UTC (11:11 Beijing Time). Ziyuan (ZY), meaning Resource, is a series of remote-sensing satellites which China uses to acquire high-resolution images that can be used for surveying Earth resources, disaster management, and ecological and land use monitoring.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Dec 27)

JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE NOTCHES CRUCIAL MANEUVER TO SET ITS PATH - The James Webb Space Telescope is truly on its way. The massive observatory launched today (Dec. 25) from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, at 7:20 a.m. EST (1220 GMT). Just 12.5 hours later, the spacecraft began a vital maneuver on its month-long journey to its future outpost as the observatory executed a 65-minute-long thruster burn that concluded at 8:55 p.m. EST (0155 GMT), according to a statement from NASA.   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 27)

CHINESE ASTRONAUT PAIR COMPLETE SIX-HOUR SPACEWALK - Two Shenzhou-13 astronauts embarked on a six-hour extravehicular activity Sunday to install equipment outside China’s Tianhe space station module. Astronaut Ye Guangfu, wearing a Fetian EVA suit with yellow markings, opened the Tianhe airlock hatch at 5:44 a.m. Eastern Dec. 26 before exiting the space station module, according to the China Manned Space Agency. Mission commander Zhai Zhigang, with red markings on his Feitian suit, followed his colleague outside at 6:37 a.m., embarking on his third spacewalk. Wang Yaping, the third Shenzhou-13 crew member, assisted from inside Tianhe, operating the module’s large robotic arm.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Dec 27)

CAN NASA BUILD A NEW SPACE STATION? - By 2023 (or 2024, or 2025, or maybe 2030, depending on whom you ask) you may look up into the night sky and see no International Space Station (ISS) flying above you. Russia, you see, keeps threatening to pull out of the project and take its space station modules with it -- and right now, ISS can't operate without them.    More
(Source: The Motley Fool - Dec 27)

ASTRONAUTS ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION SEND CHRISTMAS VIDEO MESSAGE TO EARTH - Astronauts on the International Space Station shared a festive message for people on Earth as they prepare to spend the holidays in orbit. Expedition 66 crew members, including NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron, and Mark Vande Hei, ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov, will be celebrating Christmas aboard the orbiting lab this year. The crew shared a special holiday message on Twitter, explaining what Christmas means to each of them and reflecting on childhood memories spent with family.    More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 26)

WEBB TELESCOPE FINALLY LEAVES EARTH IN SEARCH OF LIGHT FROM FIRST GALAXIES - The James Webb Space Telescope, a NASA-led international collaboration that took nearly 30 years and $10 billion to get to the launch pad, finally left Earth with a Christmas morning rocket ride from a European spaceport in South America, setting off on a mission to hunt for the first light in the universe. That was just the easy part. “Webb’s scientific promise is now closer than it ever has been,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, head of NASA’s science division. “We are poised on the edge of a truly exciting time of discovery, of things we’ve never before seen or imagined.”   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 26)

WATCH NORAD'S SANTA TRACKER AS HE DELIVERS GIFTS AROUND THE WORLD - NORAD, which is responsible for protecting the skies over the United States and Canada, has activated its Santa tracking system for Christmas Eve. Watch NORAD's Santa tracker as he delivers gifts around the world   More
(Source: NORADSanta.org - Dec 24)

MODIFIED RUSSIAN PROPULSION MODULE DEPARTS STATION - A modified Russian Progress propulsion compartment used to deliver the five-ton Prichal docking module to the International Space Station successfully undocked from the Prichal module at 6:03 p.m. EST. The spacecraft arrived and docked to the Nauka module on the Earth-facing side of the Russian segment Friday, Nov. 26, two days after lifting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan Wednesday, Nov. 24.   More
(Source: NASA - Dec 24)

LONG MARCH 7A LAUNCHES CLASSIFIED SHIYAN-12 SATELLITES - China launched a new-generation Long March 7A rocket Thursday, successfully sending a pair of Shiyan-12 test satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit. The Long March 7A lifted off from the coastal Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 5:12 a.m. Eastern, rising into a broken cloudy sky just after local sunset.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Dec 24)

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