BOEING STARLINER ORBITAL FLIGHT TEST 2: LIVE UPDATES - Boeing and NASA are getting ready to make a second attempt at launching its Starliner astronaut taxi to the International Space Station. The uncrewed CST-100 Starliner space capsule is scheduled to launch to the space station on July 30 at 2:53 p.m. EDT (1853 GMT), lifting off from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. More (Source: Space.com - Jul 28)
SPACEX IS ABOUT TO BEGIN LAUNCHING THE NEXT SERIES OF STARLINK SATELLITES - fter going through the month of July with no launches, SpaceX is scheduled to resume missions in August with Falcon 9 rocket flights from California and Florida to begin deploying Starlink internet satellites into new orbits. SpaceX is gearing up for at least two Starlink launches next month, beginning with a Falcon 9 mission departing from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, no earlier than Aug. 10, multiple sources said. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 28)
ASTRONAUT WATCHES RUSSIAN SPACE STATION MODULE FALL FROM SPACE IN FIERY DEMISE - On Monday (July 26), astronauts said goodbye to a cornerstone of the International Space Station and captured stunning images of the compartment burning up in Earth's atmosphere. A Russian Progress cargo vehicle towed the module, called Pirs, away from the space station and down through Earth's atmosphere to ensure the module burned up completely and reduce the odds of any large chunks making it to Earth's surface. More (Source: Space.com - Jul 28)
RUSSIA’S PIRS MODULE DISCARDED AFTER 20 YEARS OF SERVICE AT SPACE STATION - Wrapping up nearly 20 years of service as a docking port and airlock, Russia’s Pirs module departed the International Space Station Monday under tow from a Progress supply ship and headed for a destructive re-entry in Earth’s atmosphere, clearing the way for arrival of a larger science lab later this week. Russia’s Progress MS-16 cargo freighter undocked from the space station at 6:55 a.m. EDT (1055 GMT) Monday as the outpost soared 260 miles (418 kilometers) over northern China. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 27)
FAREWELL, PIRS; ISS MODULE DECOMMISSIONED, SET FOR DESTRUCTIVE REENTRY - After nearly 20 years in orbit serving as a docking port and airlock for the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS), the Pirs module — also called Stykovochny Otsek 1, or Docking Compartment 1 (DC-1) — will become the first habitable element of the station to be decommissioned and permanently removed from the orbital complex. Under the plan, Pirs will be undocked from the nadir port of the Zvezda service module at 06:56 EDT / 10:56 UTC on Monday, July 26 ahead of a fiery destruction in Earth’s atmosphere at 10:51 EDT / 14:51 UTC later that day. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jul 26)
BOEING STARLINER ISS LAUNCH: HOW TO WATCH DO-OVER TEST FLIGHT LIVE - If at first you don't succeed, try, try again to send your spacecraft back into orbit to dock with the International Space Station. On July 30, Boeing is set to relaunch its Starliner crew capsule (minus any humans on board) for a second attempt at reaching the ISS, after its first try in late 2019 failed to reach the station. Software defects and a communications link problem led to a premature end to the original test flight, though the CST-100 Starliner capsule landed safely back on Earth. More (Source: CNET - Jul 26)
SKYWATCHER SPOTS RUSSIA'S NAUKA SCIENCE MODULE HEADED TO SPACE STATION (PHOTO) - A British astrophotographer captured a stunning view of Russia's largest addition to the International Space Station yet, the Nauka science module, just hours after its launch into orbit on Wednesday (July 21). Martin Lewis, who posts his images on the website Skyinspector.co.uk, took the photo shortly after 21:00 UTC (5 pm EDT) on Wednesday (July 21) from his back garden in St. Albans, some 20 miles (35 kilometers) north of London, using his home-built 222mm Dobsonian telescope. More (Source: Space.com - Jul 25)
SOLAR FLARES OFF LARGE SOLAR ARRAYS AND ISS ROLL-OUT SOLAR ARRAYS (IROSA) - On July 16, 2021, Philip Smith, an enthusiast astrophotographer in Manorville NY, has recorded through his telescope the International Space Station passing over his house.
Here is the story:
"I recorded and imaged a "SOLAR FLARE" on one of the ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA) on the port 6 (P6) truss on 07-16-21 at 4:05am EST. The ISS max pass was 64° from N/W to S/E. The imaging all took place from my backyard observatory in Manorville NY, USA. After looking over my recorded ISS video, I was very happy to see I just imaged a part of ISS history that is now part of the new solar panel system."
"The ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA) are lightweight, flexible. This new type of solar array provides much more energy than traditional solar arrays at much less mass. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough and French astronaut Thomas Pesquet with the European Space Agency (ESA) completed a six-hour and 45-minute spacewalk on Friday (June 25), during which they install the second of six new International Space Station (ISS) Roll-Out Solar Arrays (iROSA). My imaging configuration was an Edge HD 14" telescope with an Baader Red 610 nm Longpass Filter 1.25" on a ZWO ASI174MM (mono) camera at full sensorI 1936 x 1216 and Baader Planetarium Carl Zeiss 1-1/4" 2x Barlow Lens."
You can see more of Philip's images on his FaceBook page. More (Source: - Jul 24)
CHINA’S SPACE STATION IS PREPARING TO HOST 1,000 SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENTS - China launched the core of its space station in April, and sent three astronauts up in June. But although it probably won’t be complete until late 2022, there is already a long queue of experiments from across the world waiting to go up. Scientists in China told Nature that the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) has tentatively approved more than 1,000 experiments, several of which have already been launched. More (Source: Nature - Jul 24)
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