BLUE ORIGIN AND SIERRA SPACE ANNOUNCE PLANS FOR COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION - An industry group led by Blue Origin and Sierra Space, and including several other companies and organizations, announced plans Oct. 25 to cooperate on the development of a commercial space station. In a presentation associated with the 72nd International Astronautical Congress here, the industry consortium announced its intent to develop Orbital Reef, a modular space station that would be ready to host crews and payloads in the latter half of the 2020s, allowing for a transition from the International Space Station before its projected retirement at the end of the decade.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 25)

ARIANESPACE BREAKS PAYLOAD MASS RECORD ON FINAL ARIANE 5 LAUNCH BEFORE WEBB - A European Ariane 5 rocket fired into space Saturday night from French Guiana with a commercial broadband satellite for SES and a French military telecom craft, setting a new payload mass record for geostationary transfer orbit on the final Ariane 5 flight before launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in December. Running a day late after a ground system issue forced a 24-hour delay from Friday, teams pumped cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen into the Ariane 5 launcher’s main stage and upper stage Saturday afternoon on the ELA-3 launch pad at the Guiana Space Center in South America.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 25)

ARIANE 5 LAUNCH DELAYED FOR MORE GROUND SYSTEMS CHECKS - Arianespace delayed the launch from French Guiana of a European Ariane 5 rocket with two geostationary communications satellites Friday to conduct more checks of ground support equipment at the spaceport. The mission, set to loft payloads for SES and the French military, is the final Ariane 5 flight before a mission in December with the James Webb Space Telescope.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 23)

PROGRESS MS-17 COMPLETES 24 HOUR LONG RELOCATION AT SPACE STATION - Progress MS-17 has successfully relocated its docking position to the station’s newest module, MLM Nauka. Relocation began at 23:42 UTC (7:42 PM EDT) on Wednesday when the Russian resupply spacecraft autonomously undocked from the Russian Poisk module and backed away from the station to a distance of approximately 180-190 kilometers. Progress perform station-keeping maneuvers in order to remain in the correct proximity to the space station and hold position for over 24 hours.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Oct 23)

SOUTH KOREAN ROCKET FAILS TO REACH ORBIT ON INAUGURAL TEST FLIGHT - South Korea’s first domestically produced satellite launcher failed to reach orbit on its inaugural test flight Thursday. A preliminary review of data indicated the rocket’s third stage shut down early, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute said. The Nuri rocket lifted off from the Naro Space Center, built on an island nearly 300 miles (500 kilometers) south of Seoul at 4 a.m. EDT (0800 GMT). Managers delayed the launch an hour to evaluate valves in the rocket, Korean officials said.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 23)

SOYUZ MS-18 TOUCHDOWN IN KAZAKHSTAN - Cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and spaceflight participants Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko have returned to Earth with a landing in Kazakhstan on Sunday, completing the Soyuz MS-18 mission. The three-person landing crew undocked from the nadir port on the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) at 01:13 UTC. Landing occurred at around 04:36 UTC.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Oct 18)

CHINA LAUNCHES ORBITING SOLAR OBSERVATORY - China successfully launched a half-ton scientific research satellite Oct. 14 to study the violent and sudden physical processes behind solar flares, joining 10 other small payloads on a Long March 2D rocket that also tested grid fins to help guide the expendable booster away from populated areas during its fall back to Earth. The Long March 2D rocket blasted off from the Taiyuan launch base in Shanxi province, located in northern China, at 6:51 a.m. EDT (1251 GMT) on Oct. 14, according to China’s space agency.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 18)

SOYUZ MS-18 SET FOR UNDOCKING AND LANDING - Cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and spaceflight participants Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko will return to Earth with a landing in Kazakhstan on Sunday, completing the Soyuz MS-18 mission. The three-person landing crew is scheduled to undock from the nadir port on the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) at 01:13 UTC. Landing is scheduled for 04:36 UTC.   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Oct 16)

SUCCESSFUL SOYUZ LAUNCH THRUSTS ONEWEB PAST HALFWAY MARK IN FLEET DEPLOYMENT - Another batch of 36 satellites for OneWeb’s internet network rode a Russian Soyuz launcher into orbit Thursday, giving the company more than half of the 648-spacecraft fleet it aims to deploy by the end of next year. The satellites, each about the size of a mini-refrigerator, blasted off at 5:40:10 a.m. EDT (0940:10 GMT) Thursday from the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia’s newest spaceport in the far eastern Amur region near the Chinese border.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 16)

Previous Next