AIR FORCE X-37B SECRET SPACEPLANE LANDS AFTER 780 DAYS IN ORBIT - The U.S. Air Force X-37B spaceplane successfully landed at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility Oct. 27 at 3:51 AM EST, the Air Force announced. This was the fifth mission of the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. It flew for 780 days during this mission, breaking its own record by being in orbit for more than two years. As of today, the total number of days spent on-orbit for the entire test vehicle program is 2,865 days, the Air Force said. The spaceplane originally was designed to fly for just 270 days.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 27)

SPACEX'S NEXT CREW DRAGON TEST COULD HAPPEN NEXT WEEK - SpaceX is reportedly gearing up for the next test of its Crew Dragon capsule. A static fire test (a simulated launch with a rocket engine secured to the ground) is set to take place at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida November 2nd, according to CNBC. Engadget has contacted SpaceX for comment. An "anomaly" that occurred during another static fire test in April caused an uncrewed capsule to explode. Earlier this month, SpaceX suggested the problem was due to a leak somewhere between the launch abort and orbital maneuvering systems. It has redesigned that part of the capsule.   More
(Source: Engadget - Oct 27)

NASA LIKELY TO BUY SOYUZ SEATS, DEFER JAPANESE ASTRONAUT FLIGHT - With lingering uncertainly about when new commercial crew spaceships will be ready to launch humans, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Thursday the space agency will replace a Japanese astronaut with a U.S. space flier on the next Russian Soyuz launch to the International Space Station. He added that it remains in NASA’s interests to pay Russia for one or more additional Soyuz seats next year to ensure the station remains continuously staffed with at least one American.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 26)

NASA TELEVISION COVERAGE SET FOR CYGNUS RESUPPLY MISSION TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - NASA commercial cargo provider Northrop Grumman is scheduled to launch its next resupply mission to the International Space Station at 9:59 a.m. EDT Saturday, Nov. 2. NASA's prelaunch coverage will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website beginning Friday, Nov. 1. Loaded with around 8,200 pounds of research, crew supplies, and hardware, Northrop Grumman's 12th commercial resupply mission for the space station will launch on the company's Cygnus cargo spacecraft on an Antares rocket from Virginia Space's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.   More
(Source: PRNewswire - Oct 26)

ITTY-BITTY SATELLITES TAKE ON BIG-TIME SCIENCE MISSIONS - Tiny satellites are taking on a big-time role in space exploration. CubeSats are small, only about twice the size of a Rubik's Cube. As the name suggests, they're cube-shaped, 4 inches on each side, and weigh in at about 3 pounds. But with the miniaturization of electronics, it's become possible to pack a sophisticated mission into a tiny package.   More
(Source: NPR - Oct 24)

EPIC SPACE TIME-LAPSE CAPTURED FROM INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - A stunning time-lapse captured by the International Space Station shows the Earth, stars and even events like thunderstorms and wildfires. The time-lapse was created from a total of 400 photographs over the course of 11 minutes as the ISS traveled from Namibia toward the Red Sea, according to NASA. NASA astronaut Christina Koch, who tweets about her experiences on the International Space Station and recently partook in the first all-women spacewalk, captured the images.   More
(Source: Fox News - Oct 23)

ROCKET LAB AIMS TO DELIVER SMALL SATELLITES TO THE MOON AND BEYOND - Rocket Lab kicked off the International Astronautical Congress with the news that it’ll begin offering small satellite delivery service to orbits beyond low Earth orbit, where it currently operates — including delivering payloads all the way to the Moon. The longer-range service will be provided via its Photon spacecraft, which it’ll pair with a new additional stage to add range to the vehicle. The company expects to be able to begin serving customers with this new combined, longer range spacecraft possibly as early as Q4 2020.   More
(Source: TechCrunch - Oct 23)

AIR FORCE REVIEWING BOEING’S BID FOR WGS-11, PROJECTS SATELLITE COULD BE READY IN FIVE YEARS - The U.S. Air Force and Boeing are still negotiating the terms of a $605 million deal the company was awarded in April for the production of the 11th satellite of the Wideband Global Satellite Communication (WGS) constellation. The Air Force estimates the satellite could be ready for launch in about five years if an agreement is reached soon. One of the sticking points is the use of WGS-11 as a platform for hosted payloads.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Oct 21)

LONG MARCH 3B LAUNCHES TJSW-4 - China launched another secretive Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing (TJSW -4) satellite on October 17. The launch took place at 15:21 UTC using the Long March-3B/G2 (Y57) ‘Chang Zheng-3B/G2’ launch vehicle from the LC3 launch complex. As with the previous launch of Communications Engineering Test Satellites, there is not much information regarding the satellite. When TJSW-1 was launched on September 12, 2015, Chinese authorities said then that the new satellite was a geostationary communications technology test satellite to be mainly used to conduct a test on Ka-band in broadband communication (frequencies between 27 and 40 GHz).   More
(Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - Oct 20)

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