NORTHROP GRUMMAN TARGETING FEB. 9 FOR LAUNCH OF CYGNUS SPACECRAFT TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Northrop Grumman is targeting Sunday, Feb. 9, at 5:39 p.m., for the launch of its Cygnus spacecraft on an Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s pad 0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. This will be Northrop Grumman’s 13th commercial resupply mission for the agency to the International Space Station. More (Source: SpaceCoastDaily.com - Jan 26)
ASTRONAUTS FINISH SPACEWALK FOR FINAL FIX OF INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION DEVICE - Two astronauts aboard the International Space Station conducted their fourth and final spacewalk Saturday to finish a series of repairs aimed at extending the functioning of a cosmic ray detector attached to the spacecraft. The six-hour, 16-minute foray outside the space capsule began shortly after 7:00 a.m. ET and ended at 1:20 p.m. More (Source: NPR - Jan 26)
SPACEX DELAYS LAUNCH OF NEXT 60 STARLINK SATELLITE DUE TO BAD WEATHER - Dismal rocket landing weather has prompted SpaceX to postpone the launch of its next Starlink satellite mission by another three days, with liftoff now set for Monday, Jan. 27. The private spaceflight company had hoped to launch its next 60 Starlink internet satellites earlier this week, but delayed the mission to no earlier than Friday (Jan. 24) due to bad weather at its rocket landing site. On Thursday, SpaceX pushed the launch back again, to no earlier than Monday. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 25)
SOUNDS LIKE DIRECTV'S BIG SATELLITE IS ABOUT TO BLOW - DirecTV has asked for special permission to move a satellite it says is likely to explode in about a month, The Verge reports. The SPACEWAY-1 is part of parent company AT&T’s satellite TV fleet, launched in 2005 as part of a major satellite TV boom. In an FCC filing, DirecTV says an “anomaly” (the company doesn’t elaborate) in December burned up some of the battery packs, leaving them structurally damaged. Satellites like SPACEWAY-1 have solar panels that power them for much of the year, and battery power for the brief time during each orbit when they’re in shadow. More (Source: Popular Mechanics - Jan 25)
FOUR NEW US SPACESHIPS MAY START LAUNCHING PEOPLE INTO SPACE THIS YEAR - It looks like the United States' long human spaceflight drought is about to end, in a big way. No astronauts have launched to orbit from American soil since July 2011, when NASA's space shuttle fleet was retired. Ever since, the nation has relied on Russian Soyuz rockets and spacecraft to get crewmembers to and from the International Space Station (ISS). More (Source: Space.com - Jan 25)
PROTOTYPES FOR NEW CHINESE CREW CAPSULE AND SPACE STATION ARRIVE AT LAUNCH SITE - The next flight of China’s heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket will debut a new configuration designed to launch modules for a Chinese space station. But a demonstration launch of the Long March 5B booster scheduled as soon as April will instead carry a prototype of China’s next-generation deep space crew capsule into orbit on an unpiloted test flight. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 25)
ARISS OPENS WINDOW FOR ISS HAM RADIO CONTACT PROPOSALS ON FEBRUARY 1 - Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is once again seeking formal and informal education institutions and organizations — individually or working together — interested in hosting an amateur radio contact with an International Space Station (ISS) crew member. A window to accept proposals will open on February 1 for contacts that would be scheduled between January and June 2021. More (Source: ARRL - Jan 25)
CHINA READIES ITS NEW DEEP-SPACE CREW CAPSULE FOR 1ST TEST FLIGHT - A Chinese next-generation spacecraft for taking astronauts to low Earth orbit and beyond has arrived at a coastal spaceport in preparation for a test flight. The new spacecraft is designed boost China's capabilities in sending humans into orbit, reduce costs through partial reusability, and allow astronauts to survive the radiation environment and higher-speed reentries of deep-space missions. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 24)
THE US WILL LAUNCH ITS NEXT SPY SATELLITE FROM NEW ZEALAND - The National Reconnaissance Office’s first satellite launch of 2020 will take place in New Zealand, with the agency taking advantage of a new contract vehicle designed to leverage growing commercial small satellite launch capabilities. Rocket Lab, a Los Angeles-based company, announced Jan. 20 it had been selected by the NRO to launch the agency’s first satellite of 2020—NROL-151. More (Source: C4ISRNet - Jan 24)
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