LAUNCH SENDS UGA’S FIRST RESEARCH SATELLITE INTO SPACE - A student-led effort to get the University of Georgia’s first research satellite into space is finally a success. It took a few delays, but the small satellite SPOC, short for Spectral Ocean Color, had liftoff aboard an Antares rocket from the Wallops Facility in Virginia on Friday night, Oct. 2. It is now on its way to the International Space Station to deploy in a few weeks. More (Source: University of Georgia - Oct 4)
AIR LEAK AT INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION LOCALIZED TO RUSSIA’S ZVEZDA MODULE - Cosmonauts localized an air leak at the International Space Station to Russia’s Zvezda service module, Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, told TASS Tuesday. "After conducting an analysis and a search for the location of the air leak from the ISS atmosphere it had been determined that it is in the Zvezda service module, where scientific equipment is stored," the agency said. More (Source: TASS - Oct 3)
CHINA SELECTS 18 NEW ASTRONAUTS AHEAD OF SPACE STATION CONSTRUCTION - China’s human spaceflight agency has selected a group of 18 new astronauts to participate in the country’s upcoming space station project. The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced the results Thursday (Chinese), a few days after the final decisions. The 18 new Chinese astronauts consist of seven pilots, seven spaceflight engineers and four payload specialists. The final selection includes just one woman. More (Source: SpaceNews - Oct 3)
A NEW CHINESE BROADBAND SATELLITE CONSTELLATION - Can we afford the wasted capacity and idle investment of SpaceX satellites remaining dormant while flying above China and GW satellites remaining dormant while flying above the US? In an earlier post, I described three Chinese low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations that seemed to be oriented toward broadband communication. More (Source: CircleID - Oct 3)
SPACEX ABORTS LIFTOFF OF GPS SATELLITE, CONTINUING STREAK OF LAUNCH SCRUBS - For the fourth time this week, a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral was stopped with seconds remaining in the countdown Friday night, when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket automatically aborted its liftoff with a new GPS navigation satellite during the engine startup sequence. The Falcon 9 rocket was just two seconds from launching the U.S. Space Force’s next GPS satellite at 9:43 p.m. EDT Friday (0143 GMT Saturday) when an automated abort halted the countdown. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 3)
ANTARES ROCKET LAUNCHES NEW ASTRONAUT TOILET AND MORE TO SPACE STATION FOR NASA - A robotic Cygnus spacecraft successfully blasted off from Virginia late Friday (Oct. 2) carrying nearly 4 tons of gear, including a new space toilet, to the International Space Station. A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket lit up the night sky alongside a nearly full moon at 9:16 p.m. EDT (0116 GMT on Oct. 3) as it launched the Cygnus NG-14 mission to the space station from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. More (Source: Space.com - Oct 3)
ASTRONAUTS HOME IN ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION AIR LEAK - Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have successfully narrowed down the source of a small air leak that had been growing in size. Kenny Todd, deputy manager of the space station, said the leak was first detected more than a year ago but had increased in the past couple of months. A fresh round of testing overnight Monday revealed the leak was in a service module in the Russian segment, Todd said during a NASA briefing Tuesday. More (Source: CNN - Oct 2)
NORTHROP GRUMMAN ABORTS LAUNCH OF ANTARES ROCKET CARRYING NASA CARGO MINUTES BEFORE LIFTOFF - A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket carrying nearly 4 tons of NASA supplies for the International Space Station suffered a launch abort just minutes before liftoff late Thursday (Oct. 1). The rocket was less than three minutes from liftoff when it experienced the automatic abort while sitting atop Pad 0A of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. The launch was targeted for 9:43 p.m. EDT (0143 GMT on Oct. 2). More (Source: Space.com - Oct 2)
SPACEX ABORTS THIRD ATTEMPT OF STARLINK V1.0 LAUNCH 12 - The Starlink v1.0 Launch 12 mission aborted at T-18 seconds due to a ground sensor issue on Thursday morning from LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. This was the third attempt to get the mission off the ground. During the previous launch attempt on September 28th, the Falcon 9 was fueled and the countdown proceeded to T- 31 seconds, when a scrub was called due to weather. The mission then had to wait for the range to become available again as the NROL-44 mission had priority. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Oct 1)
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