WATCH ISS SPACEWALK JULY 21 - On Tuesday, July 21, 2020, two NASA astronauts will perform the second in a pair of International Space Station (ISS) spacewalks, to finish a 3 1/2-year effort to upgrade the station’s power system. At completion, 24 new lithium-ion batteries and adapter plates will replace 48 aging nickel-hydrogen batteries. NASA TV’s live coverage of the spacewalk will begin on Tuesday at 10:00 UTC (6:00 a.m. EDT).   More
(Source: EarhSky - Jul 21)

SPACEX DELIVERS SOUTH KOREA’S FIRST MILITARY SATELLITE INTO ON-TARGET ORBIT - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket deployed South Korea’s first dedicated military satellite into orbit Monday a half-hour after a fiery launch from Cape Canaveral, helping fulfill an agreement between Lockheed Martin and the South Korean government in exchange for Korea’s purchase of F-35 fighter jets six years ago. South Korea’s Anasis 2 military communications satellite rocketed away from Cape Canaveral at 5:30 p.m. EDT (2130 GMT) Monday on top of a Falcon 9 launcher.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 21)

SPACEX GOING FOR ROCKET REUSE RECORD WITH SOUTH KOREAN SATELLITE LAUNCH - SpaceX aims to re-launch the Falcon 9 booster Monday that catapulted astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken toward the International Space Station in May, this time carrying a South Korean military communications satellite while pursuing a record for the quickest turnaround time between flights of an orbital-class rocket stage.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 20)

NOT A METEOR, BUT A RUSSIAN ROCKET RE-ENTERING EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE STREAKS ACROSS THE WEST TEXAS SKIES - West Texas skies lit up shortly after 2 a.m. as a strange object streaked across the sky. Initially, it appeared to be a meteor breaking up in the earth's atmosphere. But this object was moving too slow and didn't behave like a typical meteor. Upon further investigation, this object was not a space rock, but rather something built by humans.    More
(Source: NewsWest9.com - Jul 19)

SPACEX LAUNCH: HOW TO WATCH LAUNCH OF SOUTH KOREAN MILITARY SATELLITE MONDAY - SpaceX has had an unfortunate run of Falcon 9 postponements recently, with both a Starlink and Anasis-II mission launch getting delayed in the past two weeks. Anasis-II is a South Korean military satellite that was originally scheduled to launch on July 14. But SpaceX announced it was pushing back blast-off "to take a closer look at the second stage, swap hardware if needed" just a day before launch. SpaceX had also postponed its latest Starlink launch on July 8 and then again on July 11.    More
(Source: CNET - Jul 19)

SPACEX IS LAUNCHING A FLEET OF PIRATE-HUNTING SATELLITES - At the end of the year, a fleet of pirate-hunting satellites will take to the sky. A satellite intelligence company called HawkEye 360 says it’s booked a ticket on a SpaceX rideshare mission to launch a cluster of three satellites that will sail around the globe, tracking down pirates, poachers, and smugglers.   More
(Source: Futurism - Jul 18)

THIS SATELLITE TOW TRUCK COULD BE THE START OF A MULTIBILION-DOLLAR BUSINESS - On Monday, February 24, 2020, at about 9 p.m. U.S. Eastern time, a robotic spacecraft named MEV-1 is traveling some 22,000 miles above the Pacific Ocean in a geosynchronous orbit. A satellite at that location holds a fixed position over the equator because its speed matches that of Earth’s rotation. At the moment, MEV-1, which stands for Mission Extension Vehicle-1, is in pursuit of its client, a $200 million satellite called IS-901.   More
(Source: Air & Space Magazine - Jul 18)

NASA PLANS EARLY AUGUST RETURN OF CREW DRAGON FROM SPACE STATION - NASA confirmed July 17 that the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, with two astronauts on board, will return to Earth from the International Space Station in early August. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted that the agency current plans to have the Crew Dragon spacecraft, with astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on board, undock from the ISS on Aug. 1, splashing down off the Florida coast Aug. 2.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Jul 18)

FALCON 9 BOOSTER ARRIVES FOR NEXT ASTRONAUT LAUNCH FROM SPACE COAST - The SpaceX Falcon 9 booster slated for NASA’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station ahead of a launch later this summer. Crew-1 will launch three NASA astronauts and one Japanese astronaut to the International Space Station from Kennedy Space Center.   More
(Source: WMFE - Jul 17)

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