ASTRONAUT SNAPS STUNNING PHOTOS OF MASSIVE HURRICANE SAM FROM SPACE - NASA astronaut Megan McArthur shared three photos of the massive Hurricane Sam as seen from the International Space Station, showing off the storm's vast clouds and distinct eye. Fortunately, Hurricane Sam is chugging over the Atlantic Ocean without posing much of a threat to folks on land. Nevertheless, the duties of astronauts living and working in orbit regularly include photographing Earth from space, and there Sam is.   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 30)

CHINESE SATELLITE DECLARED LOST FOLLOWING BACK-TO-BACK LAUNCHES MONDAY - China has confirmed the loss of its Shiyan-10 satellite, despite an otherwise successful liftoff on Monday (Sept. 27). The Shiyan-10 satellite launched to space on a Long March 3B rocket, which lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China around 4:20 a.m. EDT (0820 GMT; 4 p.m. local time) on Monday (Sept. 27).    More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 30)

STUFFED COW GUARDS CHINA'S SPACE STATION AHEAD OF SHENZHOU 13 CREW ARRIVAL NEXT MONTH - There are no astronauts currently aboard China's new space station, but a stowaway on a recent cargo mission is now inhabiting the orbital outpost. Cameras aboard the Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft show a stuffed toy cow tucked away among supplies and equipment. Tianzhou 3 docked with the Tianhe module, the core module of China's Tiangong space station, on Sept. 20 in preparation for the upcoming Shenzhou 13 crewed mission, which is currently scheduled to launch Oct. 16.   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 29)

STATION CREW RELOCATES SOYUZ SPACESHIP TO NEW RUSSIAN MODULE - Two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut strapped into their Soyuz ferry ship Tuesday at the International Space Station and moved the craft to a new docking port on Russia’s Nauka lab module that arrived at the complex in July. The relocation maneuver cleared the way for a new Soyuz crew spacecraft to dock with the Rassvet module at the space station next month.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 29)

STATUS OF SATELLITE UNKNOWN AFTER CHINA CONDUCTS PAIR OF LAUNCHES IN 2 HOURS - The status of a classified satellite launched from southwest China Sept. 27 remains unknown more than 12 hours after liftoff. A Long March 3B rocket lifted from Xichang Satellite Launch Center at around 04:20 a.m. Eastern Monday marking China’s second orbital launch of the day. The launch was expected following the issuance of airspace closure notices and was apparently confirmed by footage posted on Chinese social media shortly after liftoff.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Sep 28)

CHINESE KZ-1A RETURNS TO FLIGHT AND LOFTS NEW REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE INTO ORBIT - A Chinese Kuaizhou 1A (KZ-1A) rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia at 06:19 UTC on September 27, lofting a new high-resolution remote sensing satellite into orbit. The rocket lifted off from Site 95 at Jiuquan, marking the 14th flight of a KZ-1 series rocket. This was also the first KZ-1 launch since the Jilin-1 Gaofen-02C launch in September 2020, which ended in failure and the loss of its payload.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Sep 28)

NEW EYE ON PLANET EARTH ROCKETS INTO ORBIT FROM CALIFORNIA - NASA and United Launch Alliance deployed a new Landsat satellite in orbit Monday after liftoff on an Atlas 5 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, marking the 2,000th launch from the West Coast spaceport since 1958 and extending a series of Earth observations used by farmers, urban planners, and climate scientists. The Landsat 9 satellite is the next in a line of remote sensing satellites developed by NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey, providing a continuous, unbroken stream of imagery of Earth’s land surfaces since 1972.    More
(Source: SoaceFlight Now - Sep 28)

RUSSIAN SPACE MOVIE CREW SET FOR BLAST-OFF - A Russian crew of two cosmonauts and two cinema professionals is set to take off for the International Space Station (ISS) early next month to shoot the first movie in outer space. The four are scheduled to be launched on a Soyuz MS-19 craft on Oct. 5 to be delivered to the station, which orbits Earth at an altitude of around 220 miles (354 km).   More
(Source: CTV News - Sep 27)

SPACEX SEES GROWING DEMAND FOR PRIVATE CREW DRAGON MISSIONS - With the all-civilian Inspiration4 crew mission back on Earth, SpaceX’s director of human spaceflight programs says the company is seeing increased interest in more private astronauts flights to orbit, and may expand its fleet of reusable Dragon spaceships to accommodate the growing demand. SpaceX has four more Crew Dragon missions to the International Space Station under contract with NASA, plus four private crew missions to the station for Axiom Space, a Houston-based company with ambitions to build a commercial research outpost in low Earth orbit that could replace the ISS.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 26)

Previous Next