PEGASUS ROCKET SUCCESSFUL IN RESPONSIVE LAUNCH DEMONSTRATION - A Northrop Grumman Pegasus rocket dropped from the belly of a carrier jet over the Pacific Ocean early Sunday and streaked into orbit with a small U.S. military space surveillance satellite named Odyssey, completing a successful rapid launch exercise in partnership with a secretive new Space Force special projects unit. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 14)
ENCAPSULATION OF GPS III SV05 COMPLETED @ CAPE CANAVERAL SPACE FORCE STATION FOR A JUNE 17 LAUNCH - The U.S. Space Force’s (USSF) Space and Missile Systems Center’s (SMC) Lockheed Martin-built GPS III Space Vehicle 05 satellite was encapsulated within a SpaceX payload fairing at Astrotech Space Operations Florida facility on June 9 in preparation for its upcoming launch scheduled for June 17, 2021 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The 15-minute launch window opens 12:09 p.m., EDT. More (Source: SatNews Publishers - Jun 13)
RUSSIA PREPARING TO GIVE IRAN ADVANCED SATELLITE SYSTEM: REPORT - Russia is set to deliver an advanced satellite system to Iran that will vastly improve its spying capabilities, according to a US media report. Moscow is preparing to give Iran a Kanopus-V satellite with a high-resolution camera, the Washington Post reported Thursday. It will allow the Islamic republic to monitor facilities of its adversaries across the Middle East, the paper said, citing current and former US and Middle Eastern officials. More (Source: The Defense Post - Jun 13)
HUSH-HUSH MILITARY SATELLITE READY TO RIDE PEGASUS ROCKET INTO ORBIT - A small U.S. military satellite named Odyssey, designed and built in less than a year by a secretive new Space Force special projects unit, is set to launch early Sunday from an aircraft off the coast of California aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus rocket. The mission’s goal is to demonstrate how the military can develop and launch satellites on faster timescales. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 13)
LOOK AT THE AMBITIOUS PLANS FOR VOYAGER STATION, A HOTEL IN OUTER SPACE - Plans are underway for a luxury getaway that is out of this world. Literally. Orbital Assembly Corporation, billed as the world’s first large-scale space construction company and run by former pilot John Blincow, aims to open Voyager Station in 2027. The company recently opened a new production facility in Fontana, Calif. More (Source: Boston.com - Jun 12)
CHINESE CHANG ZHENG 2D LAUNCHES COMMERCIAL EARTH OBSERVATION SATELLITE AND SECONDARY PAYLOADS - A Chinese Chang Zheng 2D rocket has successfully lofted four satellites into Low Earth Orbit. The primary spacecraft on board was Beijing-3, a commercially developed and operated Earth observation satellite. The Chang Zheng, known outside of China as the Long March 2D, lifted off from Launch Complex 9 at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, located in Shanxi province in Northern China, at 03:03 UTC on June 11 (11:03 PM local time). More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jun 12)
SOLAR ECLIPSE FROM SPACE! SEE SATELLITE VIEW OF MOON CASTING ITS SHADOW ON EARTH - A satellite captured the moon casting its shadow on Earth during the annular solar eclipse early Thursday (June 10) morning. Just as the sun began to rise onThursday morning, skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere were treated to a spectacular sight: an annular solar eclipse, also known as a "ring of fire" eclipse. More (Source: Space.com - Jun 11)
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION TO BE IN CROSS-BAND REPEATER MODE FOR FIELD DAY - The Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) cross-band repeater will be available for ARRL Field Day, June 26 – 27. Contacts will count toward Field Day bonus points as satellite contacts and Field Day contacts. Field Day rules limit stations to one contact on any single-channel FM satellite. Note that contacts made during Field Day by ISS crew would only count for contact credit, but not for satellite bonus points. More (Source: ARRL - Jun 10)
LONG MARCH 2F ROCKET ROLLS OUT TO LAUNCH PAD FOR CHINA’S NEXT HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT - The Long March 2F rocket and Shenzhou 12 spaceship set to ferry three Chinese astronauts to the country’s new space station later this month rolled out to a launch pad Wednesday at a remote military-operated spaceport in northwestern China. The launcher and crew capsule emerged from an assembly building at the Jiuquan space base in the Gobi Desert, riding a mobile platform along rail tracks to cover the one-mile (1.6-kilometer) distance to the launch pad. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 10)
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