CHINA'S TIANGONG SPACE STATION: WHAT IT IS, WHAT IT'S FOR, AND HOW TO SEE IT - China's space program is making impressive progress. The country only launched its first crewed flight in 2003, more than 40 years after the Soviet Union's Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. China's first successful Mars mission launched in 2020, half a century after the U.S. Mariner 9 probe flew past the Red Planet. But the rising Asian superpower is catching up fast: flying missions to the moon and Mars, launching heavy-lift rockets, building a new space telescope set to fly in 2024, and, most recently, putting the first piece of the Tiangong space station (the name means "Heavenly Palace") into orbit. More (Source: Space.com - Jun 24)
NASA TO AIR LAUNCH, DOCKING OF ROSCOSMOS CARGO SHIP TO SPACE STATION - Live coverage of Russia’s Progress 78 cargo spacecraft’s launch and docking to the International Space Station will begin at 7 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 29, on NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app. The uncrewed spacecraft is scheduled to launch on a Soyuz 2.1a rocket at 7:27 p.m. (4:27 a.m. Wednesday, June 30, Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. More (Source: NASA - Jun 24)
NASA EXTENDS CYCLONE GLOBAL NAVIGATION SATELLITE SYSTEM MISSION - NASA has awarded a contract to the University of Michigan for the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) for mission operations and closeout. A constellation of eight microsatellites, the system can view storms more frequently and in a way traditional satellites are unable to, increasing scientists’ ability to understand and predict hurricanes. The total value of the contract is approximately $39 million. The CYGNSS Science Operations Center is located at the University of Michigan. More (Source: NASA - Jun 24)
AIR FORCE’S EXPERIMENTAL FOOTBALL FIELD-SIZED SATELLITE ENDS OPERATIONS - With booms spreading almost the length of a football field, the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Demonstration and Science Experiments spacecraft is the largest self-supporting satellite ever placed on orbit. Last month, nearly two years after it launched and a year after its mission was expected to end, AFRL decommissioned the satellite. Although the DSX satellite launched in 2019, work on the experiment actually began in 2003. More (Source: DefenseNews.com - Jun 24)
STARLINER CAPSULE FUELED FOR UNPILOTED TEST FLIGHT TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Boeing finished loading hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide maneuvering propellants over the weekend into the company’s second space-rated Starliner capsule at the Kennedy Space Center, days after stacking of its Atlas 5 launcher began a few miles away at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The capsule is scheduled to launch July 30 at 2:53 p.m. EDT (1853 GMT) on a test flight to the space station. If all goes according to plan, it will clear the way for Boeing to carry astronauts to the station, possibly before the end of this year. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 23)
RUSSIA WANTS TO SEND COSMONAUTS TO CHINA SPACE STATION - Roscosmos is looking at ways to send its cosmonauts to the Chinese space station, launching from sites in either Russia or French Guiana. During a press conference at the recently concluded Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX) in St. Petersburg, Russia, on June 15, Dmitry Rogozin, director general of Roscosmos, revealed that Russia is in discussions with China about crewed flights to the Chinese space station. More (Source: Space.com - Jun 23)
PENTAGON TRACKED FAILED IRANIAN SATELLITE LAUNCH AND NEW IMAGES REVEAL TEHRAN IS SET TO TRY AGAIN - The Pentagon was watching as Iran attempted, and failed, to launch yet another satellite into orbit earlier this month, multiple defense officials tell CNN. But while that previous effort, which took place in mid-June, was unsuccessful, Iran appears to be preparing for another attempt in the near future, as satellite imagery captured by commercial firms Planet and Maxar shows increased activity at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in recent days, according to experts at the Middlebury Institute of International Affairs at Monterey who analyzed the photos. More (Source: CNN - Jun 23)
US-CHINA RIVALRY IS EXTENDING FROM EARTH INTO SPACE. THAT POSES A CHALLENGE TO AMERICAN DOMINANCE - When it comes to the intensifying rivalry between the United States and China, the sky is by no means the limit. As the two countries jockey for economic, technological, geopolitical and even ideological superiority on Earth, space has become a natural extension -- and crucial frontier -- in their great power competition. And due to the inherent dual-use nature of space technologies, what's at stake extends far beyond mere scientific prestige and global standing. More (Source: CNN - Jun 22)
MIR-SAT1 CUBESAT EXPECTED TO DEPLOY FROM THE ISS ON JUNE 22 - MIR-SAT1 (Mauritius Imagery and Radiotelecommunication Satellite 1), the first amateur radio CubeSat from the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius, is expected to be deployed from the International Space Station (ISS) on June 22. MIR-SAT1 will carry an amateur radio V/U digipeater (a downlink of 436.925 MHz has been coordinated). MIR-SAT1 will collect images of the Republic of Mauritius and its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) using an onboard camera. More (Source: ARRL - Jun 21)
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