NEW MILITARY WEATHER SATELLITE PASSES KEY MILESTONES - A satellite designed to rapidly provide space-based environmental monitoring for the war fighter has achieved two major milestones, passing a critical design review and receiving Milestone B certification, the U.S. Space Force announced May 19. The next-generation Weather System Follow-on—Microwave (WSF-M) program will provide essential weather data to the U.S. military and its allies.    More
(Source: C4ISRNet - May 21)

JAPAN LAUNCHES ITS LAST ‘WHITE STORK’ TO THE ISS - Lifting off from its seaside launchpad, Japan’s final H-2B rocket sent the final Kounotori cargo ship into orbit to service the International Space Station. Kounotori 9, also called HTV-9, was launched at 1:31 p.m. EDT (17:31 UTC) May 20, 2020, from Tanegashima Space Center, which is located on the Japanese island of Tanegashima, about 40 kilometers south of Kyushu, the southwesternmost of the main islands of the Japanese archipelago.    More
(Source: SpaceFlight Insider - May 20)

JAPAN’S HTV READY FOR LAUNCH WITH LAST SET OF NEW SPACE STATION SOLAR BATTERIES - A Japanese HTV cargo freighter is ready for launch Wednesday with the last set of six lithium-ion batteries to upgrade the International Space Station’s solar power truss. Japan’s ninth automated H-2 Transfer Vehicle, or HTV, is scheduled for liftoff from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan at 1731 GMT (1:31 p.m. EDT) Wednesday aboard an H-2B rocket. Launch is scheduled for 2:31 a.m. Japan Standard Time on Thursday.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 20)

NAVY’S SOLAR POWER SATELLITE HARDWARE TO BE TESTED IN ORBIT - A U.S. Naval Research Laboratory experiment to capture solar power in space for use on Earth is now in orbit and ready to be tested. The experiment flew to orbit on May 17 aboard the U.S. Air Force X-37B spaceplane. The technology aboard the plane is a “photovoltaic radio-frequency antenna module” to be tested as part of a comprehensive investigation into terrestrial use of solar energy captured in space, program manager Chris Depuma said May 18 in a news release.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - May 20)

NASA HUMAN SPACEFLIGHT CHIEF DOUG LOVERRO RESIGNS ON EVE OF HISTORIC SPACEX LAUNCH - Doug Loverro, NASA's chief of human spaceflight, resigned from his post Monday (May 18) after less than a year on the job, the agency announced today (May 19). Loverro's resignation as Associate Administrator for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate is a stunning development, as the agency counts down to the first orbital crew launch from U.S. soil in nearly a decade, which will take place on May 27.    More
(Source: Space.com - May 20)

SPACEX DELAYS NEXT STARLINK MISSION AFTER CREW LAUNCH - Citing a tropical storm in the downrange booster recovery zone, SpaceX said Monday that a launch of up to 60 more Starlink Internet satellites previously planned this week from Cape Canaveral has been delayed until after the launch of the company’s first crewed flight. A Falcon 9 rocket was scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 40 launch pad at 3:10 a.m. EDT (0710 GMT) Tuesday, but SpaceX said Monday it is standing down from the mission until after the Crew Dragon’s first launch with astronauts later this month.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 20)

CHINA FOCUS: MORE DETAILS OF CHINA'S SPACE STATION UNVEILED - After the successful maiden flight of the Long March-5B large rocket and the testing of China's new-generation manned spaceship, more details of China's space station have been unveiled. The space station, expected to be completed around 2022, will operate in the low-Earth orbit at an altitude from 340 km to 450 km for more than 10 years...   More
(Source: Xinhua - May 20)

FINAL BEIDOU SATELLITE READY TO BE LAUNCHED NEXT MONTH - China plans to launch the final satellite in the Beidou Navigation Satellite System's third-generation network next month, the China Satellite Navigation Office said. The launch will mark the completion of the domestically developed Beidou network, the country's largest space-based system and one of four global navigation networks, along with the United States' GPS, Russia's GLONASS and the European Union's Galileo.   More
(Source: China Daily - May 19)

SPACEX TO LAUNCH FIRST STARLINK SATELLITES TESTING 'VISORSAT' TO BLOCK SUN - It's been nearly a year since SpaceX launched its first batch of Starlink broadband satellites, igniting a controversy over the surprising brightness of the orbiting routers that threatens to interfere with the observations of astronomers and other scientists.    More
(Source: CNET - May 18)

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