SEE HURRICANE IDA FROM 1 MILLION MILES AWAY IN THIS NOAA SATELLITE VIEW - When Hurricane Ida slammed into Louisiana as huge Category 4 storm on Sunday (Aug. 29), the tempest's sheer size was evident from nearly a million miles away. A new photo from NASA's Epic camera on the NOAA Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) shows Hurricane Ida as it appeared from Lagrange point 1, a a point between the sun and Earth that's about 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from our planet, just as it hit the U.S. Gulf Coast.   More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 31)

DRAGON SUPPLY FREIGHTER DOCKS AT SPACE STATION WITH 2.4 TONS OF CARGO - Closing out a 31-hour flight from a launch pad in Florida, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule autonomously docked with the International Space Station Monday, delivering experiments, supplies, and fresh food to the complex. The automated cargo freighter linked up with the forward port of the space station’s Harmony module at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT), making contact with the outpost as it sailed 264 miles (424 kilometers) over Western Australia.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 31)

SPACEX CARGO DRAGON CRS-23 LAUNCHES TO ISS - SpaceX and NASA conducted a Sunday’s launch of the CRS-23 (Commercial Resupply Services 23) mission to the International Space Station on a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center. A previous attempt on Saturday from LC-39A was scrubbed in the final minutes due to weather constraints over the Cape. Sunday’s launch occurred at 03:14:48 EDT (07:14:48 UTC), with docking set for Monday. CRS-23 marks the third SpaceX CRS mission under the CRS2 contract, and the third time a Cargo Dragon 2 spacecraft will be used for a CRS mission.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Aug 29)

ASTROSCALE'S SPACE JUNK REMOVAL SATELLITE ACES 1ST ORBITAL TEST - The ELSA-d spacecraft of Japan-based startup Astroscale has successfully captured a simulated piece of space junk, completing the first phase of a demonstration mission that could pave the way for a less cluttered future in orbit. Launched on March 22, ELSA-d (short for "End-of-Life Services by Astroscale demonstration") brought with it to orbit a 37-pound (17 kilograms) cubesat fitted with a magnetic docking plate.   More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 29)

ASTRA’S THIRD ORBITAL LAUNCH ATTEMPT SUFFERS ENGINE FAILURE AND TERMINATION - Continuing the iterative path toward reaching orbit, Astra attempted its third orbital launch on August 28. The first Rocket 3.3 vehicle, designated LV0006, lifted off on Saturday, August 28 at 15:45 PDT (22:45 UTC). Less than one second after liftoff, an engine on the first stage failed, causing a sideways ascent off the pad. LV0006 temporarily recovered and reached approximately 50 km altitude before the range commanded the remaining engines to shut down, ending the mission. This was Astra’s first launch with a payload onboard, albeit only a mass simulator.    More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Aug 29)

CHINA MAY BUILD A MASSIVE SPACE STATION THE SIZE OF A SMALL TOWN - China already has its own orbiting space station, but the country’s National Natural Science Foundation wants scientists to seriously consider what it would take to build an “ultra-large spacecraft spanning kilometers.” The South China Morning Post reports that the proposal is one of ten research projects from the foundation’s mathematical and physical sciences department. Half of the proposals will be funded to the tune of $2.3 million a piece.   More
(Source: Forbes - Aug 28)

ASTRA AIMS TO REACH ORBIT ON THIRD TRY - The private space company Astra plans its third orbital launch attempt from Alaska as soon as Friday, using a relatively compact two-stage launcher sized to haul small satellites into space. The mission’s launch window opens at 5 p.m. EDT (12 p.m. Alaska time; 2100 GMT) Friday. If the mission doesn’t launch Friday, Astra has clearance to launch the mission through Sept. 11.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 28)

AST SPACEMOBILE TO LAUNCH DEMO SATELLITE WITH SPACEX - AST SpaceMobile, the company building the first space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones, has signed an agreement with Space Exploration Technologies Corp. for the launch of its next prototype spacecraft, BlueWalker 3. BlueWalker 3 is expected to launch aboard a SpaceX mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in March 2022. The spacecraft has an aperture of 693 square feet and is designed to communicate directly with cell phones via 3GPP standard frequencies.   More
(Source: SatelliteProME.com - Aug 27)

CHINA LAUNCHES CHANG ZHENG 3B FOR SEVENTH TJSW MISSION - At 15:41 UTC on August 24, a Chang Zheng 3B (internationally known as Long March 3B) successfully lifted off from LC-3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China. It is believed the launch vehicle carried the seventh Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing (TJSW-7) satellite to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit. The nature of TJSW satellites is not fully confirmed; however, official Chinese media outlines their purpose as “satellite communications, radio and television, data transmission and other services, and … related technical test verification.”   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Aug 26)

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