BLUE ORIGIN TESTS PASSENGER ACCOMMODATIONS ON SUBORBITAL LAUNCH - Blue Origin says it is “very, very close” to flying humans on suborbital launches to the edge of space after a successful test flight of a human-capable rocket and capsule Thursday. The company’s New Shepard rocket and crew capsule took off at 12:17 p.m. EST (11:17 a.m. CST; 1717 GMT) Thursday from Blue Origin’s private launch site north of Van Horn, Texas, east of El Paso.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 15)

METHANESAT PICKS SPACEX FOR SATELLITE LAUNCH TO TRACK METHANE LEVELS IN EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE - A SpaceX rocket will launch a new satellite to track the amount of methane in Earth's atmosphere in 2022. Called MethaneSAT, the small satellite is designed specifically to locate, quantify and track global methane emissions. SpaceX has signed on to launch the satellite into orbit aboard a Falcon 9 rocket during a launch window that opens Oct. 1, 2022.    More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 14)

FRENCH WINE, LIVE RODENTS AMONG 2 TONS OF CARGO RETURNED FROM SPACE STATION - A SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule parachuted to an on-target splashdown Wednesday night west of Tampa, returning more than two tons of experiment specimens from the International Space Station, including live rodents and a dozen bottles of space-aged French wine. The commercial supply ship, flying on autopilot, dropped out of orbit and re-entered the atmosphere over the Gulf of Mexico Wednesday night.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 14)

NASA TO UPGRADE SPACE STATION SOLAR ARRAYS - NASA will start an upgrade this year of the solar arrays of the International Space Station to ensure the station has sufficient power to continue operating at least through the end of the decade. The agency announced Jan. 11 it would fly the first pair of upgraded solar arrays to the station later this year on a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft, stored in the spacecraft’s unpressurized trunk section. Two other pairs of the arrays will fly on later Dragon cargo missions, but NASA did not disclose a schedule for them.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jan 13)

INTELSAT ORDERS TWO SATELLITES FROM AIRBUS - Intelsat has ordered two geostationary communications satellites from Airbus Defence and Space that will support the satellite operator’s aviation connectivity business. The companies announced Jan. 8 the order of two spacecraft from Airbus’ OneSat family of fully reconfigurable geostationary satellites. The companies did not disclose the terms of the deal beyond starting the satellites will be delivered in 2023.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jan 13)

DREAM CHASER SPACE PLANE'S FIRST FLIGHT SLIPS TO 2022 DUE TO PANDEMIC-RELATED DELAYS - Delays related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have pushed back the anticipated flight date of Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser space plane to 2022. Dream Chaser is one of the NASA-selected cargo vehicles that, once it begins to fly, will resupply the International Space Station (ISS), along with SpaceX's Dragon and Northrop Grumman's Cygnus capsules. But even as the space plane's launch is delayed, its parent company continues to aim towards sending humans to the moon and, eventually, Mars.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jan 13)

VIRGIN ORBIT DELAYS FLIGHT TEST TO SUNDAY - Virgin Orbit has delayed the flight test of its LauncherOne booster originally scheduled for Wednesday until Sunday, Jan. 17. Operations are expected to take place between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. PST (1800-2200 UTC). Your local time may vary; please adjust accordingly. Virgin Orbit’s modified Boeing 747 named Cosmic Girl will take off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. It will release LauncherOne over the Pacific Ocean west of San Nicolas Island. The rocket’s first stage will fire once the booster is clear of the aircraft.   More
(Source: Parabolic Arc - Jan 13)

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)

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