SPACEX SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHED AND LANDED ITS FALCON 9 ROCKET ON THE CALIFORNIA COAST THIS MORNING - Update June 12th, 11:20AM ET: Despite heavy fog obscuring the view of the launchpad, SpaceX successfully launched and deployed all three RADARSAT spacecraft into orbit this morning. After takeoff, the company also landed the Falcon 9 on the California coast amid the heavy fog. Original story: This morning, SpaceX is set to launch its sixth Falcon 9 mission of 2019 out of southern California, sending three identical Canadian satellites into orbit. After takeoff, SpaceX will attempt to land its rocket on a landing pad next to the vehicle’s launch site. If successful, it will be the second time SpaceX has landed its vehicle on the California coast.   More
(Source: The Verge - Jun 13)

NASA'S SET MISSION TO STUDY SATELLITE PROTECTION IS READY FOR LAUNCH - NASA's Space Environment Testbeds, or SET, will launch in June 2019 on its mission to study how to better protect satellites in space. SET will get a ride to space on a U.S. Air Force Research Lab spacecraft aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SET studies the very nature of space itself—which isn't completely empty, but brimming with radiation—and how it affects spacecraft and electronics in orbit.    More
(Source: Phys.org - Jun 12)

NASA HAS ‘SPACE GRAVEYARD’ HIDDEN UNDER THE SEA WHERE HUNDREDS OF DEAD SPACECRAFT ARE BURIED - Deep in the South Pacific Ocean lies a graveyard of hundreds of fallen spacecraft. Point Nemo, Latin for "no one", is around 4,000 metres deep and further from land than any point on Earth, making it the ideal spot to crash defunct rockets and satellites. At least 260 spacecraft – mostly Russian – have been laid to rest there by Nasa and other space agencies since it was first used in 1971.   More
(Source: The Sun - Jun 12)

USED SPACEX ROCKET LAUNCHING 3 SATELLITES WEDNESDAY: HOW TO WATCH LIVE - SpaceX will launch three next-generation Earth-observing satellites for the Canadian Space Agency Wednesday (June 12), and you can watch the liftoff live. A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket with a preflown first stage is scheduled to launch the three-spacecraft Radarsat Constellation Mission (RCM) tomorrow from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The 13-minute launch window opens at 10:17 a.m. EDT (1417 GMT; 7:17 a.m. local California time).   More
(Source: Space.com - Jun 12)

EUROPEAN ASTRONAUT TO PERFORM FIRST DJ SET IN SPACE - What's it like to spin records in outer space? One astronaut with the European Space Agency, Luca Parmitano, is about to find out. He'll be playing a live DJ set – the first ever according to the organizers – onboard the International Space Station (ISS) this summer in partnership with BigCityBeats, which will livestream the event via satellite for more than 3,000 partygoers onboard a luxury cruise ship.   More
(Source: Fox News - Jun 12)

THE TRUE PRICE OF PRIVATIZING SPACE TRAVEL - On New Year’s Day 2001, the first crew of the International Space Station spent a quiet day in orbit. The commander, U.S. Navy Captain William Shepherd, decided to honor a naval New Year’s tradition, in which the person at the helm recites a poem. Shepherd had written something for the occasion, which included the following, recorded in the ship’s log: Though star trackers mark Altair and Vega / Same as mariners eyed long ago / We are still as wayfinders of knowledge / Seeking new things that mankind shall know.    More
(Source: The Atlantic - Jun 12)

NOAA EXPERTS PREVIEW COSMIC-2 SATELLITE MISSION - The mission of six satellites that will orbit the planet near the equator, is scheduled to lift off at 11:30 p.m. EDT on Sat., June 22. Experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will be hosting a media teleconference to highlight the upcoming COSMIC-2 satellite mission.   More
(Source: SatelliteProME.com - Jun 11)

NEWLY-LAUNCHED RUSSIAN TELECOM SATELLITE RELYING ON BACKUP THRUSTERS - A French-built communications satellite for Russia’s Gazprom Space Systems launched May 30 is maneuvering toward its final operating location in geostationary orbit using a set of backup thrusters after the spacecraft encountered a problem with its main engine. Ground controllers planned a series of burns using the Yamal 601 satellite’s main engine to send the craft into geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) above the equator...   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 11)

FIRST FALCON HEAVY NIGHT LAUNCH SLIPS TO JUNE 24 - The first nighttime launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, and the first Falcon Heavy flight for the U.S. military, is set for no earlier than June 24 from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Air Force officials said Friday. The four-hour launch window opens at 11:30 p.m. EDT on June 24 (0330 GMT on June 25). The new target launch date is two days later than previously planned. The Falcon Heavy will launch 24 satellites into three distinct orbits around Earth, using up most of the heavy-lift rocket’s lift capacity with a series of four upper stage engine burns, the most ever by a SpaceX launch vehicle.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 10)

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