SPACEX DELAYS STARLINK SATELLITE FLEET LAUNCH DUE TO BAD WEATHER - SpaceX postponed the launch of its next batch of Starlink internet satellites late Sunday (Feb. 14) due to bad weather. A Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to launch 60 new Starlink satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 11:21 p.m. EST (0421 Feb. 15 GMT) before SpaceX made the call to stand down Sunday. The mission is now expected to launch a day later, on Monday night, SpaceX said in an update.    More
(Source: Space.com - Feb 16)

RUSSIA LAUNCHES CARGO SHIP HEADING FOR INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Russia launched an unpiloted Progress cargo freighter Sunday from Kazakhstan, on course to deliver 2.7 tons of food, fuel, water, and supplies to the International Space Station before hauling away a no-longer-needed section of the outpost later this year to clear the way for a new laboratory module. The Progress MS-16 cargo ship blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz-2.1a rocket at 11:45:06 p.m. EST Sunday (0445:06 GMT; 9:45:06 a.m. local time).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 15)

SPACEX GEARING UP FOR TWO MORE STARLINK MISSIONS WITHIN DAYS - Days after SpaceX opened preorders for Starlink internet service, two more Falcon 9 rockets are set to launch from Florida’s Space Coast as soon as Sunday night and Wednesday morning — weather permitting — to help push the network closer to commercial operations. The next two Starlink missions, expected to loft around 60 satellites each, will fly on Falcon 9 rockets from two different launch pads.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 14)

NASA SLS COMPUTER DEVELOPMENT BRANCHING TO SUPPORT FIRST FLIGHT, FUTURE UPGRADES - Integrated testing of the vehicle’s computers for overall certification follows earlier rounds of element and subsystem computer testing all the way down to the individual avionics boxes. “There’s kind of two steps to it,” Mitchell explained. “Each avionics box has its own specifications that it has to meet: electrical specifications, functional specifications, and environmental specifications.    More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Feb 14)

SPACEX JUST GOT A BIG CONTRACT TO LAUNCH TWO PIECES OF A FUTURE MOON SPACE STATION - NASA is giving SpaceX more than $330 million for a mission that will launch two key pieces of the Gateway, a space station that NASA plans to put in orbit around the moon as part of the space agency's Artemis program. The Artemis program is the American government's plan to establish a permanent human presence in deep space.   More
(Source: WDJT - Feb 12)

NASA SEEKS SEAT ON APRIL SOYUZ MISSION TO ISS - NASA announced Feb. 9 it wants to obtain a seat on the next Soyuz mission to the International Space Station, launching in just two months, to ensure a U.S. presence on the station in the event of any commercial crew delays. In a procurement synopsis posted late Feb. 9, NASA said it wanted the seat on the next Soyuz mission as it “minimizes risks associated with any interruption in U.S. crew member presence on ISS” that might be caused by problems with commercial crew vehicles.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Feb 11)

CHINA'S FIRST SPACE STATION MODULE IS READY FOR FLIGHT - The core module for China's planned orbital space station has passed a flight acceptance review and will now launch in the coming months, marking the beginning of a flurry of major missions by the country. The announcement from China Manned Space, the country's human spaceflight agency onJan. 14 comes as China gears up for the construction phase of its own, three-module space station.   More
(Source: Space.com - Feb 11)

NASA TELEVISION TO AIR SPACE STATION CARGO SHIP LAUNCH, DOCKING - NASA will provide live coverage on NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app of the launch and docking of a Russian cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station beginning at 11:15 p.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 14. The unpiloted Russian Progress 77 is scheduled to launch on a Soyuz rocket at 11:45 p.m. (10:45 a.m. Monday, Feb. 15, Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.   More
(Source: NASA - Feb 11)

TELESAT TO BUILD A $5 BILLION GLOBAL SATELLITE NETWORK TO BRING FIBER-LIKE INTERNET TO BUSINESSES - Canadian telecommunications satellite operator Telesat announced on Tuesday that French-Italian space hardware manufacturer Thales Alenia Space will build its next-generation broadband satellite network called Lightspeed. Lightspeed will focus on providing high-speed fiber-like internet to Telesat’s customers around the globe. The network, known in the industry as a constellation, will consist of 298 next-generation satellites that orbit the Earth at an altitude of about 1000 kilometers...   More
(Source: CNBC - Feb 10)

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