CHINA LAUNCHES SHENZHOU 21 MISSION, CARRYING 3 TAIKONAUTS - AND 4 MICE - TO REPLACE SPACE STATION CREW - China launched its Shenzhou-21 spacecraft on Friday, carrying a new three-person crew to man the country's Tiangong space station on a mission focused on scientific research. The replacement crew includes China's youngest-ever taikonaut — as China's space program calls its astronauts — and, for the first time since Beijing launched its program, it will also include live mammals.   More
(Source: CBS News - Nov 1)

CHINA REVEALS CREW FOR SHENZHOU 21 MISSION TO TIANGONG SPACE STATION, INCLUDING NATION'S YOUNGEST ASTRONAUT - China has named the three astronauts set to fly to the Tiangong space station at a pre-launch press conference one day ahead of the Oct. 31 flight of the Shenzhou 21 mission. Astronauts Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang will be aboard the Shenzhou 21 spacecraft, currently scheduled to launch on a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert at 11:44 a.m. EDT Friday (1544 GMT, or 11:44 p.m. Beijing Time).   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 31)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION MARKS 25 YEARS OF NONSTOP HUMAN PRESENCE IN ORBIT - It’s an unprecedented space streak: 25 years of people living off-planet without even a moment’s pause. The International Space Station marks a quarter-century of continuous occupancy this weekend, boasting a guest list of nearly 300 — mostly professional astronauts but also the occasional space tourist and movie director. The first full-time residents opened the hatch on Nov. 2, 2000.   More
(Source: PBS - Oct 31)

JAPAN'S 1ST HTV-X CARGO CRAFT ARRIVES AT THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Japan's new HTV-X cargo spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station for the first time ever today (Oct. 28), delivering thousands of pounds of payloads and supplies to astronauts aboard. The robotic HTV-X was captured by the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm — operated by NASA astronaut Zena Cardman and Kimiya Yui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) — today at 11:58 p.m. EDT (1558 GMT), as the station flew 260 miles ( kilometers) over the south Atlantic Ocean.   More
(Source: Space.com - Oct 30)

AI CHALLENGE ADVANCES SATELLITE-BASED DISASTER MAPPING - Four teams from different countries have been recognised for their breakthrough work in using artificial intelligence to detect earthquake damage from space, marking the conclusion of a global competition organised by the European Space Agency in collaboration with the International Charter ‘Space and Major Disasters’ – commonly referred to as ‘the Charter’.   More
(Source: European Space Agency - Oct 30)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 29 STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 ROCKET FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - SpaceX its penultimate Falcon 9 rocket launch of October, which flew from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station around lunchtime on Wednesday. The Starlink 10-37 mission carried 29 of the company’s Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into low Earth orbit. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 happened at 12:35 p.m. EDT (1635 UTC). The satellites were deployed roughly an hour into the mission.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 30)

SPACEX MARKS 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF FIRST STARLINK CUSTOMER WITH SUNDAY SATELLITE LAUNCH - SpaceX completed a Sunday morning Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, flying more of its Starlink broadband internet satellites into low Earth orbit. The mission coincided with the fifth anniversary of SpaceX acquiring its first paying customer to use the broadband internet service. The Starlink 10-21 mission was also the 230th launch of the V2 Mini variety of its Starlink satellites. The 28 satellites were added to growing constellation of more than 8,700 spacecraft in orbit, which support more than seven million customers worldwide.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 28)

SPACEX BREAKS ITS CALIFORNIA PAD TURNAROUND RECORD WITH SUNSET STARLINK LAUNCH - SpaceX continued its rapid pace of launches Monday with the flight of a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Starlink 11-21 mission added another 28 more of the V2 Mini iteration of the satellites into low Earth orbit. The flight broke the record for the fastest pad turnaround for SpaceX’s West Coast launch pad, which came two days, 18 hours, 52 minutes and 20 seconds since the Starlink 11-12 mission on Saturday.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 28)

CHINA SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES NEW SATELLITE - China on Sunday sent a new satellite into space from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in its southwestern Sichuan province. The Gaofen-14 02 satellite was launched at 11:55 am (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-3B carrier rocket and entered the planned orbit successfully.   More
(Source: China Daily - Oct 27)

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