CARGO DRAGON HEADS FOR SPLASHDOWN OFF FLORIDA’S WEST COAST - SpaceX’s first upgraded Cargo Dragon spaceship departed the International Space Station Tuesday morning with more than 4,400 pounds of research specimens and other equipment, heading for splashdown Wednesday night in the Gulf of Mexico off the west coast of Florida. Poor weather in the recovery zone prevented the Cargo Dragon from undocking and returning to Earth Monday. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 12)
SPACEX CALLS-OFF CRS-21 DRAGON RETURN DUE TO RECOVERY WEATHER OFF FLORIDA - The CRS-21 automated cargo Dragon v2, the first-of-its-kind for the v2 class designed and developed by SpaceX, was to depart the International Space Station after performing an automated undocking from the orbital laboratory today ahead of splashdown in Florida 12 hours later. After a confusing series of messages that first gave approval and clearance to undock, less than two minutes before the undocking process was to begin, NASA called up to the Station announcing a change to the decision just minutes after it was originally approved. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Jan 11)
NASA IS STREAMING THE SPACEX CARGO DRAGON LEAVING THE SPACE STATION ON MONDAY - More than 5,000 pounds of scientific experiments and cargo is scheduled to depart from the International Space Station (ISS), bound for terra firma, on Monday, January 11. SpaceX's cargo Dragon spacecraft will undock Monday morning with NASA astronaut Victor Glover, the first Black crew member on the ISS, monitoring the trek from aboard the space station. A whole lot of experiments coming back to Earth, and you can watch the departure live online through NASA Television. More (Source: Thrillist - Jan 11)
HOW CIA SATELLITES HELPED FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE - When you think of the Central Intelligence Agency, what comes to mind? It could be one of dozens of things, depending on your feelings on espionage, but one thing that probably won’t come up are efforts to address climate change and environmental catastrophes. And yet a small group of scientists within the CIA spent decades engaged in a very unexpected type of work. In an expansive article for The New York Times, William J. Broad explored the work done by Dr. Linda Zall over the course of several decades. More (Source: InsideHook - Jan 11)
SPACEX GAINS FCC PERMISSION FOR POLAR STARLINK SATELLITE LAUNCH - The FCC has agreed to allow SpaceX to launch ten Starlink satellites into a polar orbit later this month. The FCC published the order on January 8 granting permission for the ten satellites to be placed into a 560 kilometers orbit with an inclination of 97.6 degrees. The satellites will be launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 no earlier than January 14. The satellites will launch as part of the Transporter-1 mission, which is a dedicated smallsat rideshare mission. More (Source: SlashGear - Jan 11)
TURKEY SECURES ORBITAL RIGHTS AFTER SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHING 7TH SATELLITE - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from a launchpad in the U.S. state of Florida to deploy a new-generation Turkish communication satellite into orbit late Thursday. The U.S. aerospace company’s 70-meter-tall (230-foot-tall) rocket launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying the Türksat 5A satellite. “With the Türksat 5A satellite, Turkey is securing its orbital rights for the next 30 years,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Friday. More (Source: Daily Sabah - Jan 10)
CHINA GEARS UP FOR SPACE STATION, CARGO AND CREWED MISSION LAUNCHES - China is preparing to launch three major missions in the next few months to initiate the construction phase of the country’s space station project. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) is finalizing work on rockets which will launch the first space station module, a cargo and refueling craft and a crewed mission. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 9)
SPACEX LAUNCHES TURKSAT 5A COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE FOR TURKEY, LANDS ROCKET - SpaceX kicked off what is expected to be another launch-packed year by delivering a Turkish communications satellite to orbit tonight (Jan. 7). A 230-ft-tall (70 m) Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Space Launch Complex 40 here at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 9:15 p.m. EST (0215 GMT on Jan. 8), about 45 minutes into a planned four-hour window, carrying the Turksat 5A satellite into space. The brief delay was due to a downrange tracking issue, SpaceX said during its live launch broadcast. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 8)
CYGNUS CARGO SHIP LEAVES SPACE STATION TO TEST 5G TECH AND SPARK FIRES IN ORBIT - A Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship successfully left the International Space Station for a new mission Wednesday (Jan. 5) to test 5G communications technology and spark fires in orbit. The uncrewed Cygnus NG-14 spacecraft departed the space station at 10:10 a.m. EST (1510 GMT) after ground controllers released it from the Canadarm2 robotic arm. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 7)
Previous Next
