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)

SPY SATELLITE LAUNCH ON DELTA 4-HEAVY ROCKET DELAYED TO AUGUST - The next flight of United Launch Alliance’s triple-barrel Delta 4-Heavy rocket has been delayed from June to late August, military officials said Friday. The heavy-lift rocket will carry a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload into orbit, likely targeting a geosynchronous station more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) over the equator, where the NRO operates surveillance satellites capable of eavesdropping on foreign communication signals.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 9)

SPACEX DESCRIBES EXACTLY HOW THEY'RE PLANNING TO MAKE STARLINK SATELLITES LESS VISIBLE FROM EARTH - In 2015, Elon Musk announced that his company, SpaceX, would be deploying satellites to orbit that would provide high-speed broadband internet access to the entire world. Known as Starlink, SpaceX began deploying this constellation in May of 2019 with the launch of the first 60 satellites. As of April 22, a total of 422 satellites have been added to the Starlink constellation, and the response hasn't been entirely positive.    More
(Source: Phys.org - May 9)

ARIANESPACE TO RESUME LAUNCH PREPARATIONS IN FRENCH GUIANA - Targeting a pair of satellite launches in June and July, ground teams will resume work at the Guiana Space Center in South America next week after a nearly two-month pause in Arianespace’s launch campaigns due to the coronavirus pandemic. Arianespace said engineers and technicians will start the “gradual resumption” of launch activities Monday, in line with measures introduced by the French government to allow for the loosening of a strict lockdown that halted much of the country’s business operations.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 8)

NASA WORKING WITH TOM CRUISE TO FILM MOVIE ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - NASA said Tuesday it is working with Tom Cruise to film a movie on the International Space Station, but details on the arrangements are scarce. The news that Cruise was in talks with to shoot an action-adventure film on the space station was first reported Monday by Deadline, which said the actor is working with SpaceX on the project.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 7)

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