CHINA LAUNCHES NEW SATELLITE GROUP - China on Friday successfully sent a new satellite group into preset orbit from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China's Shanxi Province. The Zhongzi-02 satellite group was launched by a Long March-6 carrier rocket at 7:59 p.m. (Beijing Time). Friday's launch was the 379th mission for the Long March series carrier rockets.    More
(Source: Global Times - Jul 12)

ISRO SWINGING BACK TO FULL ACTION; PLANS TO LAUNCH GEO IMAGING SATELLITE ON AUGUST 12 - The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is getting back into launch activity fully at Sriharikota spaceport with the planned orbiting of geo imaging satellite GISAT-1 on board GSLV-F10 rocket on August 12. It’s going to be only the second launch of the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency in the Covid-19-hit 2021.    More
(Source: The Tribune - Jul 12)

SPACEX CARGO CAPSULE SPLASHES DOWN IN GULF OF MEXICO - Wrapping up a 36-day mission to the International Space Station, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico Friday night with biomedical experiments, spacewalk equipment, and other hardware returning from orbit. The unpiloted spacecraft made a parachute-assisted splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico south of Tallahassee, Florida, at 11:29 p.m. EDT Friday (0329 GMT Saturday).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 12)

VIRGIN GALACTIC FOUNDER RICHARD BRANSON SUCCESSFULLY ROCKETS TO OUTER SPACE - Richard Branson became the first person to ride into space aboard a rocket he helped fund. The supersonic space plane developed by his company, Virgin Galactic, roared into the sky over New Mexico early Sunday, carrying Branson and three fellow crewmembers. Branson -— along with Virgin Galactic employees Beth Moses, Colin Bennett, and Sirisha Bandla and pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci — boarded the SpaceShipTwo, a winged plane with a single rocket motor...   More
(Source: CNN - Jul 12)

VIRGIN-FOUNDER RICHARD BRANSON HEADS FOR SPACE SUNDAY - After nearly two decades of overly optimistic forecasts, technical challenges, a tragic setback and a determined recovery, Richard Branson, the globe-trotting media mogul and founder of Virgin Galactic, plans to rocket into space Sunday, beating fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos to the punch by nine days. In a high-stakes display of confidence in Virgin’s sleek rocketplane, Branson wants to get an owner’s understanding of what his company is offering and in the process, convince potential customers that purely commercial, non-government flights to space are worth the initially astronomical cost.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 10)

SPACEX DRAGON CARGO SHIP DEPARTS SPACE STATION AFTER STORMY DELAYS - A storm-delayed SpaceX spacecraft bid farewell to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday (July 8) for the journey back to Earth. The CRS-22 Dragon cargo ship undocked from the station's Harmony module at 10:40 a.m. EDT (1440 GMT), departing for a return to Earth and an eventual arrival in the the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 9)

HOW CAN ASTRONOMERS OVERCOME THE DAMAGE BEING DONE BY SATELLITE MEGA-CONSTELLATIONS? - For countless millennia, whenever we were faced with a clear, cloudless, moonless night, all of humanity was able to witness the full beauty of a dark, pristine sky. From any location on Earth, thousands of stars could be seen at once, as well as intricate features in the Milky Way, a handful of other galaxies, and even a number of nebulae, star clusters, and other deep sky objects. With the advent of the telescope — and later, photographic techniques and equipment — those numbers exploded. Our views of the distant Universe were limited only by our technology and the investments we made in them.   More
(Source: Forbes - Jul 9)

CHINESE ASTRONAUTS COMPLETE FIRST SPACEWALK OUTSIDE NEW SPACE STATION - Two Chinese astronauts headed outside the country’s space station Saturday for the second-ever spacewalk in China’s space program, and the first staged from the new Tiangong complex in low Earth orbit. Astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo tested new-generation Chinese-built spacesuits, installed foot restraints and a work platform on the space station’s robotic arm, and mounted a panoramic camera outside the complex, according to the China Manned Space Agency.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 9)

CHINA PICKS UP THE LAUNCH PACE WITH THREE SPACE MISSIONS IN FOUR DAYS - China appears to be returning to its pre-pandemic pace of launching back-to-back space missions. Various Chinese sources indicate the country finished three successful orbital launches in four days, with the latest of the group launching from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China on Tuesday (July 6).    More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 8)

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