SPACEX LAUNCHES 2ND MISSION IN THREE DAYS WITH SIRIUSXM-8 - SpaceX launched its 18th mission of 2021 with the SiriusXM-8 (SXM-8) high-power broadcasting satellite. A Falcon 9 rocket lofted the SXM-8 satellite to a sub-synchronous geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) after launching from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) on Sunday, June 6 at 00:26 EDT/04:26 UTC. The 45th Weather Squadron at Space Launch Delta 45 predicted a 70% chance of favorable weather with Debris Cloud and Anvil Cloud rules as the primary concerns. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jun 6)
SPACEX TARGETING OVERNIGHT SUNDAY FALCON 9 LAUNCH WITH SIRIUSXM SATELLITE - Downrange from where SpaceX recently launched a spacecraft full of supplies to the International Space Station, the company is targeting early Sunday to send up another Falcon 9, this time with a spacecraft for satellite radio provider SiriusXM. Liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Launch Complex 40 is scheduled for some time after 12:26 a.m. Sunday during a one hour and 59-minute launch window. More (Source: WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando - Jun 5)
A HUGE PIECE OF INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION WILL BE TOSSED INTO THE SKY NEXT MONTH - Next month, a big module called Pirs will be jettisoned from the Russian half of the International Space Station and fall into Earth’s atmosphere. No need to worry about pieces of metal falling from the sky, though, as calculation suggests that the giant debris should have completely burned up before making it to the ground. Still, it will be the first ISS module to be completely decommissioned and discarded in space. On Wednesday, a pair of ISS residents, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov, went outside the orbital lab and performed a seven-hour spacewalk to prepare for Pirs’s release. More (Source: 25544 - Jun 5)
NASA CHIEF SAYS RUSSIA LEAVING ISS COULD KICK OFF A SPACE RACE - The United States has for decades enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with Russia that has often served as a powerful symbol of cooperation between the East and West in the post-Cold War era. But that cooperation could soon dissolve, and it has NASA's new chief, Bill Nelson, concerned. Russian officials are threatening to pull out of the International Space Station, the orbiting laboratory that the US and Russia have jointly operated for two decades, as soon as 2024 in favor of operating an independent space station. More (Source: CNN - Jun 5)
CHINA LAUNCHES FENGYUN-4B WEATHER SATELLITE TO ORBIT - A new Chinese weather satellite launched into orbit Wednesday (June 2) with "complete success," according to one of the participating state contractors. The Fengyun-4B soared into space aboard a Long March 3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China, at 12:17 p.m. EDT (1717 GMT, or 12:17 a.m. local time Thursday, June 3). More (Source: Space.com - Jun 4)
SPACEX CARGO SHIP LAUNCHES ON MISSION TO UPGRADE SPACE STATION ELECTRICAL GRID - Trailing a brilliant orange flame, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket thundered into orbit Thursday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a Dragon cargo ship hauling experiments and new solar arrays to enhance the International Space Station’s power generation capability. The 215-foot-tall (65-meter) rocket launched from pad 39A, the same location where Apollo moon missions took off, at 1:29:15 p.m. EDT (1729:15 GMT) Thursday, taking advantage of a break in rain showers streaming across Florida’s Space Coast. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 4)
CHINA’S NEW SPACE STATION IS POWERED BY ION THRUSTERS - China’s first module of its upcoming Tiangong space station makes use of ion drives, technology that could vastly cut down the time it takes to travel to Mars — and greatly reduce the amount of fuel needed to make that trip, as the South China Morning Post reports. The module, called Tianhe and launched in late April, is powered by four ion thrusters that use electricity to accelerate ions as a form of propulsion. More (Source: Futurism - Jun 3)
ALL-NEW FALCON 9 ROCKET AND DRAGON CARGO CRAFT SET FOR LAUNCH THURSDAY - In what’s become a rarity for SpaceX and its workhorse fleet of “flight-proven” hardware, a brand new Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule are scheduled to launch Thursday on a NASA-contracted flight to deliver more than 7,300 pounds of supplies and experiments to the International Space Station. The two-day flight to the space station is set to begin at 1:29:15 p.m. EDT (1729:15 GMT) Thursday with a launch from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 3)
D-ORBIT UNVEILS THIRD MISSION FOR ION SATELLITE CARRIER - D-Orbit plans to transport satellites into six distinct orbits in addition to hosting three payloads on a June flight of the Italian firm’s In-Orbit Now (ION) Satellite Carrier. Customers for the third ION mission, which D-Orbit calls Wild Ride, include Elecnor Deimos of Spain, Bulgaria’s EnduroSat and Kuwaiti Orbital Space. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jun 2)
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