SPACEX'S STARSHIP MAY HELP CLEAN UP SPACE JUNK - SpaceX's next-generation Starship system may help clean up Earth orbit when it's not taking people to the moon and Mars. Starship is at the heart of SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk's longtime Mars-colonization goal, and he has said that he envisions the rocket-spaceship duo eventually shouldering the company's entire spaceflight load. More (Source: Space.com - Nov 3)
ROCKET LAB’S NEXT LAUNCH WILL DELIVER 30 SATELLITES TO ORBIT — AND A 3D-PRINTED GNOME FROM GABE NEWELL - Rocket Lab’s next mission will put dozens of satellites into orbit using the launch company’s Kick Stage “space tug,” as well as a 3D-printed garden gnome from Valve Software’s Gabe Newell. The latter is a test of a new manufacturing technique, but also a philanthropic endeavor from the gaming industry legend. Scheduled for no earlier than November 15 (or 16 at the New Zealand launch site), the as-yet-unnamed launch — Rocket Lab gives all of their missions cheeky names — will be the company’s “most diverse ever,” it said in a press release. More (Source: TechCrunch - Nov 3)
NASA ASTRONAUT KATE RUBINS CASTS HER VOTE FROM SPACE - NASA astronaut Kate Rubins points to the International Space Station’s “voting booth” where she cast her vote from space this month. This is actually Rubins’ second time to vote from low-Earth orbit, having cast her first vote from space in 2016 when she was an Expedition 48-49 crew member. More (Source: SciTechDaily - Nov 2)
WEATHER LOOKS GOOD FOR ULA'S ELECTION DAY ROCKET LAUNCH FROM CAPE CANAVERAL - Excellent weather conditions are expected for the liftoff of a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on Tuesday, a mission that will boost one of three secretive national security satellites currently waiting for their rides to orbit. The Space Force on Saturday said it expects 90% "go" conditions for the rocket's 5:58 p.m. liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The window at Launch Complex 41 will remain open until 8:10 p.m. More (Source: Florida Today - Nov 1)
THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION'S 1ST CREW RECALLS A HALLOWEEN LAUNCH 20 YEARS AGO - Next week, the International Space Station will hit a major milestone: 20 years of continuous crewed operations — two decades in which there have always been humans in space. That legacy began on Halloween in 2000, when the first crew lifted off. On Oct. 31, 2000 to be exact, three men boarded a Soyuz spacecraft at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for Expedition 1. More (Source: Space.com - Nov 1)
ROSCOSMOS SAYS PREMATURE TO BLAME EXTERNAL IMPACT FOR CRACK ABOARD SPACE STATION - Specialists continue studying the fracture found in Russia’s Zvezda module of the International Space Station (ISS) but it is premature to blame a possible external impact for its emergence, the federal space agency Roscosmos told TASS on Friday. "Specialists are currently considering various versions of the fracture’s origin and that is why it is premature to make conclusions about its causes, including an external impact on the module," Roscosmos said. More (Source: TASS - Oct 31)
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION MARKS 20 YEARS OF HUMANS ON BOARD - The 20th anniversary Saturday of humans living aboard the International Space Station spotlights the global cooperation and scientific discoveries that benefit all people, according to astronauts and others involved in missions there. NASA and space agencies around the world are using the milestone to underscore achievements in space since the end of deep-space crewed missions in the 1970s and the space shuttle program in 2011. More (Source: UPI.com - Oct 31)
ELECTION DAY SPY SATELLITE LAUNCH HAS INEXPLICABLE LORD OF THE RINGS THEME - A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket is being prepped for a mission that will send a National Reconnaissance Office spy satellite into orbit from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station this Tuesday, which is Election Day in the United States. While information about NRO launches is always a little scarce for obvious reasons, this one looks to be relatively routine except for the baffling mission artwork that includes a phrase in ... Elvish? More (Source: CNET - Oct 31)
KACIFIC TO LAUNCH SECOND COMMS SATELLITE, KACIFIC2 - Kacific, a a next-generation broadband satellite operator based in Singapore and catering to the Asia-Pacific market, has announced it is in the design and planning stage of a second satellite, Kacific2. Kacific2 will complement Kacific1, launched in December 2019 via SpaceX. Kacific2 will add capacity to Kacific’s largest markets – Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea – as well as expand its reach wider into South East Asia and further into Central and Western Asia, and potentially Eastern Africa. More (Source: KABC-TV - Oct 31)
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