ATLAS 5 LAUNCH ADDS TO U.S. MILITARY’S SECURE COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE NETWORK - A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket fired into space Thursday from Cape Canaveral with a $1.1 billion U.S. Air Force communications satellite, delivering fresh capacity for the military’s voice, video and data relay networks. The 197-foot-tall (60-meter) Atlas 5 launcher lifted off from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 6:13 a.m. EDT (1013 GMT) Thursday.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 9)

ROCKET LAB PLANS REUSABLE BOOSTER FOR SATELLITE LAUNCHES - Small-satellite launch firm Rocket Lab announced on Tuesday a plan to recover the core booster of its Electron rocket using a helicopter, a bold cost-saving concept that, if successful, would make it the second company after Elon Musk's SpaceX to reuse an orbital-class rocket booster. "Electron is going reusable," Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck said during a presentation in Utah, showing an animation of the rocket sending a payload into a shallow orbit before speeding back through Earth's atmosphere. "Launch frequency is the absolute key here."   More
(Source: Voice of America - Aug 8)

ULA SET TO LAUNCH 5TH MILITARY SATELLITE IN A NEW CONSTELLATION FOR THE AIR FORCE ON THURSDAY - The Air Force is getting close to launching the next-to-last communications satellite in a constellation that will bring improved connectivity for troops across the globe. The fifth Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite is expected to launch Thursday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s launch complex 41 between 5:44 a.m. and 7:44 a.m.    More
(Source: Orlando Sentinel - Aug 8)

EUTELSAT CEO: QUANTUM SATELLITE DELAYED, C-BAND ALLIANCE DIVIDED ON TREASURY CONTRIBUTION - Manufacturing delays and launcher availability mean Eutelsat Communications’ “chameleon satellite” won’t launch until the second half of 2020 instead of late this year as planned. The setback means Paris-based Eutelsat, having just overcome a delay with a consumer broadband initiative in Africa, will have to defer a second growth effort, this one focused on government connectivity.    More
(Source: SpaceNews - Aug 7)

PROTON ROCKET LIFTS OFF WITH RUSSIAN MILITARY SATELLITE - A Blagovest communications spacecraft lifted off Monday aboard a Proton rocket to complete a network of four relay satellites in geostationary orbit for the Russian military. The Proton rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2156 GMT (5:56 p.m. EDT) Monday, according to Russia’s Tass news agency. The Proton rocket arrived on its launch pad at Baikonur on Friday, according to Kazakh news reports, for final pre-flight preparations.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 7)

ARIANE 5 ROCKET LAUNCHES 2 NEW COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES - Arianespace launched an Ariane 5 rocket Tuesday afternoon (Aug. 6) from Kourou, French Guiana, sending two new telecommunications satellites into orbit. The Ariane 5 rocket, designated VA249, lifted off from Ariane Launch Complex No. 3 (ELA-3) at the Guiana Space Center, at 4:30 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. EDT; 1930 GMT), carrying the Intelsat 39 and EDRS-C communications satellites for Intelsat and the European Space Agency, respectively.   More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 7)

CYGNUS SPACECRAFT DEPARTS SPACE STATION, BEGINS NEW MISSION IN ORBIT - This afternoon (Aug. 6), over three months after it arrived in orbit, the Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo spacecraft successfully undocked from the International Space Station and proceeded to drift off into the vacuum of space to begin the second part of its mission. NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Christina Koch used the space station's Canadarm2 robotic arm to undock the spacecraft and send it on its way. The Cygnus separated from Canadarm2 at 12:15 p.m. EDT (1615 GMT).   More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 7)

SPACEX SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES TWICE-FLOWN FALCON 9, CATCHES FAIRING AT SEA - SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 first-stage that had previously served two missions in July and November of 2018, today carrying its final payload, the AMOS-17 satellite for Spacecomm. SpaceX had configured the Falcon 9 in its ‘expendable mode’ for this mission, which means it made use of all available fuel on board to carry the 14,000+ lb satellite to orbit, without enough left over to come back in a controlled descent and landing.   More
(Source: Techcrunch - Aug 7)

SPACEX AIMS FOR TUESDAY LAUNCH OF ISRAELI COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE AMOS-17 - SpaceX is now targeting Tuesday (Aug. 6) for its next launch of a Falcon 9 rocket. The California-based private spaceflight company is aiming to launch the Israeli communications satellite Amos-17 no earlier than Tuesday from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Liftoff is scheduled for sometime between 6:52 p.m. EDT and 8:20 p.m. EDT(2252 to 0020 GMT), pending launch range approval.   More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 6)

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