NASA INKS DEAL WITH ROSCOSMOS TO ENSURE CONTINUOUS U.S. PRESENCE ON SPACE STATION - With lingering uncertainty about when new U.S. commercial vehicles can regularly carry crews to the space station, NASA said Tuesday it will pay the Russian space agency more than $90 million for a round-trip ticket to the International Space Station on a Soyuz spacecraft later this year. According to NASA, the deal with Roscosmos — Russia’s space agency — will ensure continuous U.S. presence on the $100 billion lab complex in case of additional delays in getting new U.S. crew capsules ready for operational missions. More (Source: SpacedFlight Now - May 13)
TRY TO DOCK WITH THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION WITH THIS SPACEX CREW DRAGON SIMULATOR - Later this month, SpaceX’s new Crew Dragon spacecraft will take its first human passengers to the International Space Station — and now you can get a firsthand view of what they’ll be seeing when they approach the orbiting lab. Today, SpaceX released a new online simulator that allows users to try their hand at manually docking with the ISS using the Crew Dragon’s controls. Spoiler alert: it’s actually pretty hard! More (Source: The Verge - May 13)
JOURNALISTS USE SATELLITE DATA TO TRACK POLLUTION, KIM JONG-UN AND MORE DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC - Journalists are using satellite imagery to discover and share visual indicators of the COVID-19 pandemic, providing timely information that can help people make better decisions about global issues. “The first folks that were asking for Planet data were the news media, who were just trying to understand [what’s happening on the ground], especially since they can’t send journalists [out on location] anymore,” said Planet CEO Will Marshall in a video interview with Bloomberg Businessweek’s Hello World. More (Source: planet.com - May 13)
DARPA SET TO LAUNCH FIRST BLACKJACK SATELLITE LATER THIS YEAR - The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency will launch its first Blackjack satellite into orbit later this year, with more to follow in 2021. With Blackjack, DARPA seeks to demonstrate the value of low earth orbit satellites for the Department of Defense. The small satellites will carry advanced technologies that will demonstrate space-based mesh networks and constellation autonomy. More (Source: C4ISRNet - May 13)
MASSIVE PIECE OF CHINESE SPACE JUNK SLAMS UNCONTROLLED INTO EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE - A 19.6-ton (17,800 kilograms) Chinese rocket slammed into our planet today (May 11). The bulky Long March 5B became the heaviest orbiting thing to fall uncontrolled to Earth in nearly three decades, according to Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astrophysicist and orbital object tracker. The last time a heavier object had an uncontrolled entry was 1991, when the 43-ton (39,000 kg) Salyut-7 Soviet space station reentered the atmosphere over Argentina, McDowell wrote on Twitter. More (Source: Livescience.com - May 12)
KUHAIZHOU-1A LAUNCHES TWO SATELLITES, ONE NAMED IN TRIBUTE TO WUHAN - A Chinese Kuhaizhou-1A (Y6) rocket has launched the first two operational satellites for the Xingyun narrowband constellation. The launch took place at 01:16 UTC on Tuesday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The two satellites Xingyun-2 (01) ‘Wuhan’ and Xingyun-2 (02) were developed by the Xingyun Satellite Co., a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), Sanjiang Group, in Wuhan. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - May 12)
CYGNUS DEPARTS SPACE STATION, BEGINNING EXTENDED EXPERIMENTAL MISSION - A Cygnus supply ship built by Northrop Grumman departed the International Space Station Monday, beginning an extended mission in orbit to deploy a pair of CubeSats and perform a NASA-sponsored fire experiment. The automated cargo carrier was released from the space station’s Canadian-built robotic arm at 12:09 p.m. EDT (1609 GMT) Monday. The Cygnus spacecraft arrived at the space station Feb. 18, three days after launching aboard an Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Virginia. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 11)
CHINA'S NEW SPACE CAPSULE LANDS SAFELY TO END 1ST UNCREWED TEST FLIGHT - China's next-generation crew capsule successfully returned to Earth today (May 8) after nearly three days in orbit. The capsule, which has not yet been named, launched on a Long March 5B rocket on May 5 on an uncrewed test flight that represents an important step toward China's goal of building a space station in orbit. More (Source: Space.com - May 11)
U.S. MILITARY TRACKING UNGUIDED RE-ENTRY OF LARGE CHINESE ROCKET - A Chinese rocket measuring around 100 feet long that launched earlier this month will likely plunge back into Earth’s atmosphere some time Monday, becoming the most massive object in decades to fall out of orbit in an uncontrolled manner. The core stage of China’s Long March 5B rocket is expected to fall back to Earth unguided after nearly a week in orbit. The Long March 5B rocket launched May 5 with a prototype for a next-generation Chinese crew capsule. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 11)
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