SPACE FORCE DELAYS SELECTION OF WEATHER SATELLITES - The U.S. Space Force was expected this year to choose which vendors will build next-generation weather satellites for the Defense Department. But the competition is being extended until 2022 to give the teams more time to fine tune their designs, a program official said. The Space Enterprise Consortium — a Space Force organization that works with startups and commercial space companies — in June 2020 awarded $309 million in contracts to three teams...   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Sep 6)

CHINA LAUNCHES 4 SATELLITES ON 2 ROCKETS WITHIN HOURS OF EACH OTHER - China launched four new communications satellites this week in two launches from different launch sites, within hours of each other, as the country's intense launch activity continues. First up, a Long March 2C lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, northwest China, at 7:15 a.m. EDT (1115 GMT, 7:15 p.m. local time) on Aug. 24.   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 5)

FIREFLY’S ALPHA ROCKET EXPLODES ON INAUGURAL TEST LAUNCH - The first test flight of Firefly Aerospace’s privately-developed Alpha small satellite launcher ended in a fiery failure soon after liftoff Thursday from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The rocket roared away from its pad at Space Launch Complex 2-West at 6:59 p.m. PDT (9:59 p.m. EDT; 0159 GMT) and all appeared to be going well as it climbed into a clear blue sky. The first sign of possible trouble came at about T+1 minute 47 seconds when a launch controller reported Alpha was not yet supersonic, a milestone it was supposed to have reached 40 seconds prior to that.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 3)

RUSSIAN COSMONAUTS CONDUCT FIRST OF 11 SPACEWALKS FOR NEW SPACE STATION MODULE - Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov are conducting a spacewalk Friday to prepare the new Nauka module for operations on the International Space Station. The spacewalk will begin Friday at 10:35 a.m. ET and is expected to last for nearly seven hours. Live coverage will be shared on NASA TV and the agency's website.   More
(Source: CNN - Sep 3)

VIRGIN ORBIT CLEARS FAA HURDLE FOR SMALL SATELLITE LAUNCHES FROM GUAM - Andersen Air Force Base sits at the northern tip of the isle of Guam, amidst the western half of the Pacific Ocean. While the base has been a U.S. military outpost for decades, soon it could be a new launch site for the commercial rocket provider Virgin Orbit. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has completed an environmental review that's brought Virgin Orbit a step closer to using the runways of Andersen Air Force Base to stage future launches of small satellites using its LauncherOne rocket.    More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 3)

NORTHROP GRUMMAN DISCUSSES ANTARES NG-16’S EVENTFUL COUNTDOWN, TALKS FUTURE MISSIONS - On August 10, the S.S. Ellison Onizuka launched on an Antares 230+ rocket from Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. The NG-16 countdown was hampered with helium and ground computer issues leading up to the final T0 mark. But teams at Northrop Grumman were able to launch at the end of the launch window at 18:01:05 EDT, or 22:01:05 UTC, with Antares performing a better-than-expected ascent to orbit for the Cygnus spacecraft.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Sep 2)

THE LAUNCH OF NASA'S NEW LANDSAT 9 SATELLITE HAS BEEN DELAYED BY A LIQUID NITROGEN SHORTAGE - The launch of NASA's next Earth-observing Landsat satellite will be delayed a week due to a shortage of liquid nitrogen, the space agency has announced. The Landsat 9 satellite, a joint endeavor by NASA and the United States Geological Survey (USGS), was originally scheduled to blast off from Space Launch Complex 3 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Sept. 16. That liftoff has been pushed back to no earlier than Sept. 23.   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 1)

NEW CRACKS FOUND ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Russian cosmonauts discovered cracks on the Zarya module of the International Space Station (ISS) and are concerned that the fissures could spread over time, a senior space official reported on Monday (Aug. 30). "Superficial fissures have been found in some places on the Zarya module," Vladimir Solovyov, chief engineer of rocket and space corporation Energia, told RIA news agency, according to Reuters. "This is bad and suggests that the fissures will begin to spread over time." The Zarya module, also called the Functional Cargo Block, was the first component of the ISS ever launched, having blasted into orbit on Nov. 20, 1998, according to NASA.   More
(Source: Livescience.com - Sep 1)

NASA SETS COVERAGE FOR TWO RUSSIAN SPACEWALKS OUTSIDE SPACE STATION - Two Russian cosmonauts will venture outside the International Space Station Friday, Sept. 3, and Thursday, Sept. 9, to conduct the first pair of up to 11 spacewalks to prepare the new Nauka multipurpose laboratory module for operations in space. NASA will provide live coverage for both spacewalks, or extravehicular activities (EVA), on NASA Television, the NASA app, and agency’s website.   More
(Source: NASA - Sep 1)

Previous Next