NASA LAUNCHING NEW SPACE TOILET AND MORE TO SPACE STATION THIS WEEK - A private cargo spacecraft will lift off from Virginia on Tuesday (Sept. 29), carrying tons of fresh supplies to the International Space Station, including scientific experiments, skincare from Estée Lauder and a brand-new space toilet. The mission, known as Cygnus NG-14, will be deliver 7,624 lbs (3,458 kilograms) of cargo on the14th flight for Northrop Grumman's robotic Cygnus spacecraft and the resupply craft's 13th mission to the International Space Station.   More
(Source: Space.com - Sep 28)

SECRETIVE CHINESE LAUNCH SENDS TWO REMOTE SENSING SATELLITES INTO ORBIT - China added to its Earth observation capabilities with the clandestine launch of two satellites from Taiyuan late Saturday. The unexpected launch of a Long March 4B rocket carrying satellites HJ-2A (Huanjing-2A) and HJ-2B took place at 11:23 p.m. Eastern Saturday. While Chinese launches are rarely publicly announced ahead of time, the publishing of airspace closures usually provides a few days of notice. No notices were apparently issued ahead of the launch.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Sep 28)

ULA DELAYS LAUNCH OF SPY SATELLITE FOR 3RD TIME; 2 MORE LAUNCHES PLANNED - United Launch Alliance (ULA) has delayed the launch of its Delta IV Heavy NROL-44 mission for the third time in two days. The space company said that while the rocket is ready for launch, they are taking extra precautions to ensure that all issues are resolved with the swing arm retraction system.    More
(Source: FOX 35 Orlando - Sep 28)

LIVE COVERAGE: SPACEX READIES FALCON 9 ROCKET FOR LAUNCH MONDAY - After an 11-day delay, SpaceX plans to deploy 60 more Starlink broadband satellites with a Falcon 9 rocket launch scheduled for 10:22 a.m. EDT (1422 GMT) Monday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The 229-foot-tall (70-meter) Falcon 9 rocket was originally supposed to launch from pad 39A at Kennedy on Sept. 17, but SpaceX scrubbed the countdown due to unfavorable conditions in the Atlantic Ocean, where the company's booster recovery vessel "Just Read the Instructions" was unable to maintain position for landing of the Falcon 9's first stage.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 28)

THE PANDEMIC IS SPEEDING UP THE SPACE INTERNET RACE - In vast swaths of the United States and the world, there are millions of people who don’t have reliable internet access. These unconnected people aren’t just in far-flung places like rural America or New Zealand or sub-Saharan Africa, either. There are plenty of people living in dense city centers who struggle to access affordable broadband. The pandemic has brought new urgency to the problem, and while companies like Google and Facebook have floated far-out ideas for solving this problem, the internet technology that’s most promising is also the one that’s already proven: satellite broadband.   More
(Source: Vox - Sep 27)

U.K. TO REVISE STRATEGY FOR SATELLITE NAVIGATION SYSTEM - The British government, seeking a replacement for the Galileo satellite navigation system, said it will consider alternatives to an original plan to develop its own satellite constellation. In a Sept. 24 statement, the British government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said an ongoing study to examine the feasibility of a U.K. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) will shift to one that will look at “new and alternative ways” of providing those services.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Sep 26)

NEW SENTINEL-6 SEA LEVEL SATELLITE ARRIVES AT CALIFORNIA LAUNCH SITE - The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich spacecraft will launch from the U.S. West Coast aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in November. The world’s latest ocean-monitoring satellite has arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Central California to be prepared for its November 10 launch. The product of a historic U.S.-European partnership, the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich spacecraft touched down at Vandenberg in an Antonov 124 aircraft at around 10:40 a.m. PDT (1:40 p.m. EDT) on September 24 after a two-day journey from an IABG engineering facility near Munich, Germany.   More
(Source: SciTechDaily - Sep 26)

DELTA 4-HEAVY LAUNCH DELAYED BY GROUND SYSTEM ISSUE - United Launch Alliance said Friday that the next launch attempt for its Delta 4-Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral with a top secret U.S. government spy satellite will be delayed to early Sunday to address a problem with the launch pad’s swing arm retraction system. The mission was previously set for liftoff early Saturday. The launch time Sunday is set for 12:10 a.m. EDT (0410 GMT).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Sep 26)

MORE LEAK CHECKS AS CREW SPENDS WEEKEND IN RUSSIAN SEGMENT - As part of ongoing work to isolate the source of a slight increase above the standard cabin air leak rate, the Expedition 63 crew will once again spend the weekend inside the station’s Russian segment. All the space station hatches will be closed this weekend so mission controllers can again monitor the air pressure in each module with the goal of localizing the source of the increased rate. The test presents no safety concern for the crew. Commander Chris Cassidy and his crewmates Ivan Vagner and Anatoly Ivanishin will stay in the Zvezda service module from Friday night into Monday morning.   More
(Source: NASA - Sep 26)

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