CHINESE ASTRONAUTS COMPLETE SECOND SPACEWALK OUTSIDE SPACE STATION - Chinese astronauts Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming accomplished a nearly six-hour spacewalk Friday outside the core module of the country’s new space station, installing a coolant pump and lifting a panoramic camera on the exterior of the complex. Nie and Liu exited the airlock of the Tianhe core module at 8:38 p.m. EDT Thursday (0038 GMT Friday), according to the China Manned Space Agency. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 24)
ASTRONAUTS AND SATELLITES WATCH HURRICANE HENRI FROM SPACE AS US NORTHEAST BRACES FOR STORM - As parts of the U.S. northeast brace for Hurricane Henri to make landfall in New York today (Aug. 22), astronauts and satellites are tracking the historic storm from space. Henri, which reached category 1 hurricane status on Saturday, is forecast to make landfall on Long Island, New York by midday today, dropping torrents of rain on Connecticut and Rhode Island, according to the National Hurricane Center's morning update. Astronauts on the International Space Station spotted Henri from orbit on Saturday. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 23)
EUROPE, RUSSIA LAUNCH 9TH ONEWEB MISSION - In collaboration with Starsem and Roscosmos, Arianespace launched 34 new internet communication satellites aboard a Soyuz 2.1b for the OneWeb 9 mission. The flight marks the 8th operational launch of OneWeb satellites and brings the total number in orbit to 288: 48% of the 600 satellites required for global coverage with an additional 48 on-orbit spares for a total phase one constellation size of up to 648 satellites. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Aug 22)
PENTAGON POISED TO UNVEIL, DEMONSTRATE CLASSIFIED SPACE WEAPON - For months, top officials at the Defense Department have been working toward declassifying the existence of a secret space weapon program and providing a real-world demonstration of its capabilities, Breaking Defense has learned. The effort — which sources say is being championed by Gen. John Hyten, the vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff — is close enough to completion that there was a belief the anti-satellite technology might have been revealed at this year’s National Space Symposium, which kicks off next week. More (Source: BreakingDefense.com - Aug 20)
CHINA LAUNCHES TWO RADAR MAPPING SATELLITES - China launched a Long March 4B rocket Wednesday carrying two Tianhui radar mapping satellites into orbit more than 300 miles in altitude. The two satellites will join a similar pair of spacecraft launched in April 2019, working in tandem to bounce radar beams off Earth’s surface to generate detailed three-dimensional global maps. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 20)
NASA SPACEWALK BRIEFING TO HIGHLIGHT NEW SOLAR ARRAY INSTALLATION - Two astronauts will venture outside the International Space Station Tuesday, Aug. 24, for a spacewalk to install a support bracket in preparation for future installation of the orbiting laboratory’s third new solar array. NASA will discuss the upcoming spacewalk during a news conference at 2 p.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 23. Live coverage of the news conference and spacewalk will air on NASA Television, the agency’s website, and the NASA app. More (Source: NASA - Aug 20)
SPACEX'S GIANT SUPER HEAVY ROCKET SPOTTED FROM SPACE IN SATELLITE PHOTO - SpaceX's Super Heavy rocket looks big, even from space. On Aug. 9, Maxar Technologies' WorldView-3 satellite snapped a great shot of SpaceX's "Starbase" facility in South Texas, where the company is building and testing its Starship deep-space transportation system. SpaceX is developing Starship to take people and cargo to the moon, Mars and other distant destinations. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 20)
STARSEM, ROSCOSMOS, & ARIANESPACE SCRUBS 9TH ONEWEB MISSION - In collaboration with Starsem and Roscosmos, Arianespace is aiming to launch 34 internet communication satellites aboard a Soyuz 2.1b for the OneWeb 9 mission. The flight marks the 8th operational launch of OneWeb satellites and will bring the total number in orbit to 288: 48% of the 600 satellites required for global coverage with an additional 48 on-orbit spares for a total phase one constellation size of up to 648 satellites. The launch was scheduled for Thursday, August 19 at 22:23 UTC (18:23 EDT) from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. However, a scrub was called after a late hold in the countdown. Another attempt will be made on Friday. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Aug 20)
SPACEX STARLINK SATELLITES RESPONSIBLE FOR OVER HALF OF CLOSE ENCOUNTERS IN ORBIT, SCIENTIST SAYS - Operators of satellite constellations are constantly forced to move their satellites because of encounters with other spacecraft and pieces of space junk. And, thanks to SpaceX's Starlink satellites, the number of such dangerous approaches will continue to grow, according to estimates based on available data. SpaceX's Starlink satellites alone are involved in about 1,600 close encounters between two spacecraft every week, according to Hugh Lewis, the head of the Astronautics Research Group at the University of Southampton, U.K. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 19)
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