WEATHER A CONCERN FOR SPACEX LAUNCH TO SEND SUPPLIES TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - A SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule is set to be launched into orbit early Friday morning, atop a Falcon 9 rocket. That is, if Mother Nature permits. SpaceX is continuing to target 3:11 a.m. EDT Friday, for a launch of its 17th Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-17) Mission from Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station; however, a disturbance in the tropics is delivering rain across the Florida Peninsula.    More
(Source: Fox 35 Orlando - May 30)

COSMONAUTS COMPLETE TASKS OUTSIDE SPACE STATION, HONOR SPACEWALK PIONEER - Two Russian cosmonauts stepped outside the International Space Station Wednesday, sent birthday greetings to former cosmonaut Alexey Leonov, the first man to walk in space, and then carried out a full slate of maintenance work. Expedition 59 commander Oleg Kononenko, making his fifth spacewalk, and crewmate Alexey Ovchinin, making his first, opened the hatch of the Pirs airlock compartment at 11:42 a.m. EDT to officially kick off what turned out to be a six-hour one-minute excursion, the year’s fourth spacewalk and the first by the Russians.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 30)

ASI TO LAUNCH CUBESAT DEMO THAT COULD LEAD TO QUICKER ACCESS TO SATELLITE DATA - Analytical Space Inc. (ASI) is launching a technology demonstration spacecraft intended to pave the way for users on the ground to gain faster access to satellite data. The spacecraft features a patented MITRE antenna that could help enable that application, as well as government missions including tactical communications and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.   More
(Source: Yahoo Finance - May 29)

NEW SATELLITE RADAR CONSTELLATIONS ARE COMING - Private companies have been launching constellations of Earth-observing satellites for years, but they've been focused on beaming back images taken using visible light. That's starting to change, however, as new firms enter what's currently a niche market: synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Details: SAR allows for data-gathering regardless of weather conditions, making it especially useful for monitoring the planet's disappearing ice sheets that are cloaked in darkness for half the year.   More
(Source: Axios - May 29)

SPACEX, NASA FINISH CLEANING UP SITE OF CREW DRAGON SPACECRAFT EXPLOSION - The investigation into the destruction of SpaceX's astronaut taxi last month is proceeding apace. On April 20, a Crew Dragon capsule exploded during a routine "static fire" test of the craft's emergency-escape thrusters at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Nobody was hurt, but the spacecraft — which in March successfully flew an uncrewed test mission to the International Space Station (ISS) called Demo-1 — was lost. SpaceX and NASA have managed to clean up the accident site and are now focusing on what caused the mishap, agency officials announced today (May 28).   More
(Source: Space.com - May 29)

SOYUZ PERSEVERES THROUGH LIGHTNING STRIKE WITH GLONASS SATELLITE - A Russian Soyuz rocket carrying a Glonass navigation satellite withstood a lightning strike seconds after liftoff Monday, and still delivered its payload to orbit. The Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in far northern Russia at 0623 GMT (2:23 a.m. EDT; 9:23 a.m. Moscow time) Monday, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. Seconds later, a bolt of lightning struck the kerosene-fueled launcher as it climbed away from Plesetsk, located in Russia’s Arkhangelsk region around 500 miles (800 kilometers) north of Moscow.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 29)

SPACEX'S STARLINK COULD CHANGE THE NIGHT SKY FOREVER, AND ASTRONOMERS ARE NOT HAPPY - On Thursday, May 23, Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully launched its first 60 Starlink satellites, a planned mega constellation of satellites designed to beam internet from space to the world. But since footage emerged of the train of satellites in the night sky, astronomers have been up in arms at the impact Starlink could have on our views of the cosmos. Starlink is designed to eventually consist of 12,000 satellites, orbiting at altitudes of about 550 kilometers and 1,200 kilometers. SpaceX is one of nine companies known to be working on global space internet, and already concerns have been raised about space junk. Now astronomers too are worried about what the future may hold.   More
(Source: Forbes - May 28)

MEMORIAL DAY 2019 IS NO TIME TO REST FOR BUSY ASTRONAUTS - As Americans around the world gear up for ceremonies and cookouts to celebrate Memorial Day today (May 26), astronauts in space are hard at work. But they still took time to honor the men and women of the U.S. military this holiday. "...and some gave all. For them, and for their families who continue to give every day, we remember," NASA astronaut Anne McClain, a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, wrote on Twitter to mark the holiday from the International Space Station.    More
(Source: Space.com - May 28)

FREGAT BOOSTER DELIVERS GLONASS-M NAVIGATION SATELLITE INTO ORBIT - A Fregat booster has successfully delivered a Glonass-M navigation satellite into orbit after detaching from the third stage of a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on Monday. "The Soyuz-2.1b medium-class carrier rocket that blasted off at 09:23 Moscow time from the Plesetsk state testing spaceport (the Arkhangelsk Region) on Monday, May 27, has successfully delivered the Russian Glonass-M navigation satellite into the designated orbit within the required time," the statement says.    More
(Source: TASS - May 28)

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