NASA ASTRONAUT SUNITA WILLIAMS SAYS "WE DON'T FEEL ABANDONED" OR "STUCK" AS SPACE MISSION STRETCHES ON - Contrary to a recent social media post from President Trump, Starliner astronaut Sunita Williams says she and crewmate Barry "Butch" Wilmore have not been "virtually abandoned" in space, despite a mission that's been extended from a little more than one week to more than nine months. "I don't think I'm abandoned. I don't think we're stuck up here," she told CBS Evening News co-anchor John Dickerson during an in-flight interview airing Friday night. "We've got food. We've got clothes. We have a ride home in case anything really bad does happen to the International Space Station. More (Source: CBS News - Feb 8)
NASA INSPECTOR ISSUES WARNING ABOUT CRACKS AND LEAKS IN SPACE STATION - According to a new report by NASA's inspector general, the space agency is growing significantly concerned over leaks in a tunnel connecting the International Space Station's Russian segment to a docking port. Worse yet, officials are still not entirely sure what is causing them. "On-going cracks and air leaks in the Service Module Transfer Tunnel are a top safety risk," the report reads. More (Source: MSN - Feb 8)
JAPAN PUTS NEW US SPACE FORCE CAPABILITY INTO ORBIT - A Japanese navigation satellite launched from one of Japan’s southernmost islands earlier this week, carrying into space a U.S. Space Force space domain awareness payload. The successful Feb. 2 launch aboard a Japanese H3 rocket is a milestone in the U.S.-Japan alliance and in the Space Force’s push to deepen its international partnerships. It marks just the third USSF payload to be hosted on a foreign-owned satellite. More (Source: Air & Space Forces Magazine - Feb 7)
NASA SATELLITES CATCH EARTH'S MAGNETIC FIELD MAKING MUSIC - Earth's magnetic field occasionally bursts into song — but these compositions are written with electromagnetic radiation, not sound waves. When converted to audio signals, though, these strange bursts sound like a rising chorus of chirping vocals similar to morning birdsong, which is why physicists call these short, intense bursts of radiation "chorus waves." Each burst of radiation lasts just a few tenths of a second, but the signals can repeat for hours. And, as pretty as they sound, chorus waves can be extremely dangerous to satellites in orbit. More (Source: Space.com - Feb 7)
VAST BEGINS HAVEN-1 TESTING AND RESCHEDULES ITS LAUNCH - Vast has started testing a qualification model of its first commercial space station but has pushed back the launch of that station into 2026. Vast announced Feb. 6 that it started testing the primary structure qualification article for its Haven-1 station at a facility in Mojave, California. That included a proof test where the module was pressurized to 1.8 times its normal pressure as well as a leak test. More (Source: SpaceNews - Feb 7)
BUSY DAY OF RESEARCH, LAB UPKEEP, AND CARGO OPS ON STATION - The Expedition 72 crew focused on space biology, physics research, and cargo operations throughout the International Space Station on Thursday. The orbital residents also performed maintenance and documentation activities ensuring the microgravity research laboratory remains in tip-top shape. NASA Flight Engineers Nick Hague and Don Pettit took turns during their shifts examining and videotaping the layout of racks inside the modules that comprise the U.S. segment of the space station. More (Source: NASA - Feb 7)
JAPAN LAUNCHES NEW SATELLITE TO IMPROVE NAVIGATION SYSTEM - Japan's space agency says it successfully launched a navigation satellite on its new H3 rocket. The latest launch on February 2 took place as the country aims to develop a more precise positioning system. The H3 rocket carrying the Michibiki 6 satellite lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center on a southwestern Japanese island. More (Source: VOA - Feb 6)
NASA'S LAUNCHING A NEW SUN MISSION THIS MONTH: 'PUNCH IS GOING TO SEE A TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE' - The sun, for all its glitz, tends to hide behind a veil of mystery. For instance, its outer atmosphere, the corona, appears to be hotter than its surface — like, way hotter — and scientists aren't sure why. There's also a big puzzle concerning how the solar wind, which is a stream of charged particles emanating from the sun, gets accelerated while zooming through space. What exactly drives those particles? And soon, NASA intends to tackle yet another solar conundrum that has to do with both the corona and the solar wind. More (Source: Space.com - Feb 6)
CHINA TO LAUNCH 2 NEW SPACE STATION CARGO SPACECRAFT ON COMMERCIAL ROCKETS IN 2025 - China will launch a pair of low-cost space station resupply spacecraft this year on new commercial launch vehicles, highlighting advances for the country’s space ecosystem. The missions aim to provide flexible options and redundancy for supplying the Tiangong space station, while also illustrating the expansion and progress made by Chinese commercial space actors and other non-traditional space entities. More (Source: SpaceNews - Feb 5)
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