SOYUZ MS-20 LANDS FOLLOWING 12-DAY ISS MISSION - Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and Japanese spaceflight participants Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano have concluded their short, 12-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Soyuz MS-20 – carried the trio home – undocked from the Station’s Poisk module on December 19 at 23:50 UTC, ahead of landing in Kazakhstan on December 20 at 03:13 UTC.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Dec 20)

FALCON 9 SETS REUSE MILESTONE WITH STARLINK LAUNCH - A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched a new set of Starlink satellites Dec. 18, setting a new reusability mark for the vehicle in the process. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 7:41 a.m. Eastern. The rocket’s upper stage deployed a payload of 52 satellites into a mid-inclination orbit nearly 16 minutes later. The rocket’s first stage landed on the droneship “Of Course I Still Love You” about eight and a half minutes after liftoff.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Dec 19)

SPACEX LOFTS TURKISH COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE TO ORBIT IN 2ND FALCON 9 ROCKET LAUNCH OF THE DAY - SpaceX launched its second rocket in less than 24 hours on Saturday night (Dec. 18), delivering a Turkish communications satellite into orbit before capping off the successful mission with a landing at sea. A 230-foot-tall (70 meters) Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Space Launch Complex 40 here at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 10:58 p.m. EST (0358 GMT on Dec. 19), at the beginning of a planned 90-minute window, carrying the Turksat 5B satellite into space.    More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 19)

SPACEX FALCON 9 SET FOR RARE 53 DEGREE INCLINATION LAUNCH FROM VANDENBERG - NASASpaceFlight.com Forums L2 Sign Up Artemis SpaceX Commercial ISS International Other Shop SpaceX Falcon 9 set for rare 53 degree inclination launch from Vandenberg written by Trevor Sesnic December 17, 2021 In the company’s third-to-last launch of 2021, SpaceX will deploy another group of Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit early on Saturday morning. The Starlink Group 4-4 mission will launch 52 Starlink satellites into a 53.22° inclination orbit at 4:41 AM PST (12:41 UTC) Saturday morning. The mission will lift off from SLC-4E (Space Launch Complex 4 East) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. But despite launching from the west coast, the mission is targeting the 53.2° shell – SpaceX’s first launch to a non-polar orbit from Vandenberg.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Dec 18)

NASA SATELLITE DATA USED TO ASSESS TORNADO DAMAGE, UNDERSTAND STORMS - As people across the Midwestern U.S. take stock of the devastation from a Dec. 10 trail of tornados that blew across the region, data and images from NASA Earth-observing satellites aid first responders and recovery agencies in assessing the damage and help researchers understand the nature of these unusually powerful storms. The natural-color image above that shows the tornado track across western Kentucky, which suffered some of the worst damage. The image was captured Dec. 12 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Aqua satellite. Researchers also are using satellite data to study the supercell thunderstorms that spawned these tornados.   More
(Source: NASA - Dec 18)

PLéIADES NEO 4 SATELLITE ENTERS SERVICE WITHOUT A HITCH - Pléiades Neo 4, the second of four planned high-resolution images satellites built and operated by Airbus Defense and Space, entered service Dec. 15 free from an issue that prompted an insurance claim for Pléiades Neo 3. Francois Lombard, Airbus Defense and Space head of intelligence, told SpaceNews that Pléiades Neo 4 “is fullfilling all expected performance specifications” as it begins commercial operations four months after its mid-August launch aboard a Vega rocket.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Dec 17)

SPACEX TO CLOSE OUT YEAR WITH SURGE OF LAUNCHES - SpaceX is set to close out the year with three Falcon 9 rocket flights in a span of about 72 hours from launch pads in Florida and California, carrying another batch of Starlink internet satellites, a Turkish data relay spacecraft, and a resupply mission to the International Space Station. The missions will blast off from each of the company’s active orbital launch pads at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and Kennedy Space Center.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 17)

CHINESE KUAIZHOU-1A ROCKET FAILS AFTER LAUNCH, 2 SATELLITES LOST - A Kuaizhou-1A solid rocket by Chinese commercial company Expace failed to make it to orbit Tuesday (Dec. 14), taking two commercial satellites with it during its demise. The rocket launched from the China National Space Administration's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert at 9 p.m. EST (0200 GMT or 10 a.m. local time Wednesday, Dec. 15), according to a SpaceNews report, which cited airspace closure notices in pinpointing the launch time. On board the rocket were two satellites for Geespace, which were expected to test autonomous driving navigation assistance.   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 16)

NASA DELAYS LAUNCH OF WEBB TELESCOPE TO NO EARLIER THAN DEC. 24 - Engineers discovered an intermittent data dropout associated with a piece of ground support equipment after connecting the James Webb Space Telescope with its Ariane 5 launcher over the weekend in French Guiana. The observatory’s long-awaited blastoff will be delayed at least two days to Dec. 24 to troubleshoot the problem, the head of NASA’s science division said Tuesday.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 16)

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