SOYUZ CREW WELCOMED ABOARD INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and two cosmonauts blasted off from Kazakhstan Friday and docked with the International Space Station after a two-orbit chase, the first step in a record crew rotation requiring two launches and two landings with four different spacecraft in just three weeks. The launching came three days before the 60th anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight on April 12, 1961, to become the first man in space. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 10)
NASA ASTRONAUT, TWO COSMONAUTS SET FOR LAUNCH TO SPACE STATION - NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei and two Russian cosmonauts will ride a Soyuz ferry ship to the International Space Station early Friday, the first step in a record crew rotation requiring two launches and two landings with four different spacecraft in just three weeks. The launching comes just three days before the 60th anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight on April 12, 1961, to become the first man in space. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 9)
SPACEX LAUNCHES STARLINK V1.0 L23 MISSION - SpaceX has launched another batch of 60 Starlink satellites on the Starlink v1.0 L23 mission. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station occurred on time on April 7 at 12:34 PM EDT (16:34 UTC). This was the third time a Falcon 9 first stage flew a seventh mission, the tenth Falcon 9 flight of the year, and the first in April. This flight is likely be the last SpaceX mission prior to the Crew-2 launch later this month. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Apr 8)
SPACEX SET FOR LUNCHTIME STARLINK LAUNCH FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - After a spate of late-night and early morning Florida launches, the Space Coast is finally scheduled to see a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lift off at a reasonable time on Wednesday. The 230-foot rocket will take the company's 24th batch of Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during an instantaneous window that opens at 12:34 p.m. Launch Complex 40 will host the attempt. More (Source: Florida Today - Apr 7)
L3HARRIS TO DEVELOP NEXT-GENERATION WEATHER SATELLITE CONCEPT - Aerospace and defence technology manufacturer L3Harris Technologies has won a contract to develop a next-generation geostationary weather imagers concept. Under this contract awarded by Nasa, L3Harris will design the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Geostationary and Extended Orbits (GEO-XO) satellite system imager. The GEO-XO imager will be equipped with additional spectral bands, advanced spatial resolution, and enhanced data compression algorithms. More (Source: Aerospace Technology - Apr 7)
WATCH NEXT SPACE STATION CREW LAUNCH LIVE ON NASA TV, NASA APP - Three space travelers, including NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, are poised to launch Friday, April 9, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to the International Space Station. NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app will provide comprehensive prelaunch and launch-to-docking coverage. More (Source: NASA - Apr 6)
SPACEX’S CREW DRAGON CAPSULE SWAPS DOCKING PORTS ON SPACE STATION - In the home stretch of nearly a half-year on the International Space Station, four astronauts suited up and rode their SpaceX-owned Crew Dragon “Resilience” spaceship to a new docking port outside the orbiting research lab Monday, a first-of-its kind maneuver for the new generation of commercial crew spaceships. The maneuver clears the way for arrival of the next SpaceX Crew Dragon mission at the space station later this month, and sets up for the docking of a Dragon cargo freighter in June carrying a new pair of solar arrays to upgrade the outpost’s power system. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 6)
PARAGUAY’S FIRST SATELLITE DEPLOYED FROM SPACE STATION – WILL HELP TRACK A TINY, LIFE-THREATENING PARASITE - On March 14, the Paraguayan Space Agency (AEP) deployed a satellite from the International Space Station to help track a tiny parasite that causes Chagas disease. The satellite, Guaranisat-1, is the first developed and put into orbit by Paraguay. An estimated 8 million people in Mexico, Central America, and South America have Chagas disease, which if untreated can be life-threatening. Large-scale population movements from rural to urban areas of Latin America and other parts of the world have increased the geographic distribution of the disease. More (Source: SciTechDaily - Apr 5)
ONEWEB, A NEW SATELLITE COMPANY FROM THE UK, IS GOING HEAD-TO-HEAD WITH SPACEX'S STARLINK TO PROVIDE A GLOBAL SPACE BROADBAND SERVICE - Space internet provider OneWeb recently blasted 36 satellites into orbit, steadily expanding its constellation in the face of Elon Musk's Starlink. The British-owned satellite broadband operator, which was rescued from bankruptcy by the UK government in November, wants to beam internet down to households and businesses across the world from satellites in orbit. More (Source: Yahoo News - Apr 4)
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