TENSIONS WITH RUSSIA WORRY FORMER US ASTRONAUTS ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP IN SPACE - The International Space Station has transcended terrestrial political troubles between the United States and Russia for more than two decades. But some former NASA astronauts who spent months floating alongside Russian cosmonauts are worried the current crisis in Ukraine could end the US-Russian partnership in space.    More
(Source: CNN - Jan 29)

SPACEX SCRUBS LAUNCH OF ITALIAN SATELLITE FROM FLORIDA, WILL TRY AGAIN FRIDAY - SpaceX on Thursday scrubbed its planned launch of an Italian Earth-observation satellite, the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation 2 and said it plans to try again Friday. "Due to unfavorable weather, now targeting Friday, January 28 at 6:11 p.m. EST for launch of COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2," the company tweeted.    More
(Source: UPI - Jan 28)

VEGA-C STAGES IN LAUNCH PREPARATION AS AVIO, ARIANESPACE PROGRESS TOWARD ROCKET’S DEBUT - Components for the first Vega-C (Vega Consolidation) rocket are entering launch preparations at the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. This month, the first flightworthy P120C solid rocket motor was activated and moved to the launch facility. Vega-C is an upgraded version of the Vega rocket and is currently set to launch no earlier than April 2022. The rocket will feature improved first and second stage solid rocket motors, an upgraded liquid-fueled AVUM+ upper stage, and usher in an era of propulsion system commonality between the Vega and Ariane rocket lines.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jan 27)

CHINA LAUNCHES L-SAR 01A SATELLITE FOR LAND OBSERVING - China launched a Long March-4C rocket to place a new satellite in space Wednesday. The rocket blasted off at 7:44 a.m. (Beijing Time) at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China and soon sent the L-SAR 01A satellite into preset orbit. The satellite, equipped with L-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR), will be used to monitor the geological environment, landslides and earthquakes.   More
(Source: xinhuanet.com - Jan 27)

SPACEX READY TO LAUNCH ITALIAN RADAR REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE - SpaceX plans to launch an Italian Earth observation satellite with radar vision Thursday evening from Cape Canaveral on a twilight flight that could dazzle spectators with the ascent and descent of the reusable Falcon 9 booster. The mission is scheduled to get underway from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:11 p.m. EST (2311 GMT) Thursday. The launch will mark the fifth space mission to depart Florida’s Space Coast this month, and the fourth by SpaceX, continuing a busy start to 2022.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 27)

WEAK SIGNALS HEARD FROM SPANISH SATELLITES EASAT-2 AND HADES - AMSAT-EA (Spain) has said it appears that EASAT-2 and HADES are transmitting, and that weak signals have been heard, but the satellites’ antennas may not have deployed. “We confirm the reception of both EASAT-2 and HADES, as well as the decoding of telemetry and the FM recorded voice beacon with the call sign AM5SAT of the first one. EASAT-2 appears to be working well, except for the deployment of the antennas — something that apparently has not yet occurred and causes weak signals,” said AMSAT-EA Mission Manager Felix Paez, EA4GQS   More
(Source: ARRL - Jan 26)

NOAA TO MOVE NEW WEATHER SATELLITE QUICKLY INTO POSITION - The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will move its next Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) weather satellite into position over the Western United States soon after launch to speed up data delivery to the National Weather Service. The GOES-T satellite, scheduled to launch March 1 on a United Launch Alliance Atlas Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, will be renamed GOES-18 after launch.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jan 26)

AXIOM SPACE PLANS TO BUILD A MOVIE STUDIO MODULE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION BY 2024 - U.K.-based Space Entertainment Enterprise (SEE) has announced plans to launch a movie production studio module intended to connect to the International Space Station (ISS). The company, which is co-producing Tom Cruise's upcoming unnamed space movie, has commissioned Houston-based Axiom Space to build an inflatable space station module that contains a production studio — including a sports arena — by December 2024.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 26)

CARGO DRAGON RETURNS TO EARTH, BRINGING CRS-24 MISSION TO A CLOSE - After a month-long stay at the International Space Station, NASA and SpaceX have successfully returned the CRS-24 Cargo Dragon back to Earth. Ground controllers commanded the undocking of the Dragon spacecraft from the Harmony module’s zenith – or space-facing – port at 10:35 AM EST (15:35 UTC) on Sunday, January 23. Once the spacecraft undocked from the Station, it performed a series of maneuvers to lower its orbit and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. This set up a splashdown off the coast of Florida at approximately 4:05 PM EST on Monday, January 24.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jan 26)

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