ROCKET LAB LAUNCHING 7 SATELLITES EARLY FRIDAY MORNING: WATCH LIVE - Spaceflight startup Rocket Lab will launch seven small satellites to orbit early Friday morning (June 28), and you can watch the action live. A Rocket Lab Electron booster is scheduled to lift off from the company's New Zealand launch site Friday, during a two-hour window that opens at 12:30 a.m. EDT (0430 GMT; 4:30 p.m. local New Zealand time). You can follow the liftoff live here at Space.com, courtesy of Rocket Lab, or directly via the company. Coverage will start 20 minutes before launch. More (Source: Space.com - Jun 27)
SATELLITE BUILT BY MICHIGAN TECH STUDENTS LAUNCHES INTO SPACE ABOARD FALCON HEAVY ROCKET - A satellite built by students at Michigan Technological University was one of 24 to launch into space aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket Tuesday, June 25. The school reports in a news release that the student-built nanosatellite Oculus-ASR will assist the federal government “in more efficient and accurate monitoring of the myriad of objects circling the globe.” More (Source: MLive.com - Jun 27)
TAIWAN’S NEXT-GENERATION FORMOSAT 7 SATELLITE BLASTS OFF FROM KENNEDY SPACE CENTRE - Taiwan’s US$210 million next-generation satellite constellation, Formosat 7, lifted off from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida on Tuesday. The project, a joint venture with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, will help advance both the island’s space programme and collect reconnaissance and weather data. More (Source: South China Morning Post - Jun 26)
SOYUZ LANDS IN KAZAKHSTAN WITH INTERNATIONAL CREW - A Russian cosmonaut, his Canadian co-pilot and a NASA flight engineer boarded their Soyuz spacecraft, undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth Monday evening, landing on the balmy steppe of Kazakhstan to close out an action-packed 204-day mission. With commander Oleg Kononenko at the controls, flanked on the left by Canadian David Saint-Jacques and on the right by veteran Army helicopter pilot Anne McClain, the Soyuz MS-11/57S spacecraft separated from the station’s upper Poisk module at 7:25 p.m. EDT Monday, setting up landing three hours and 22 minutes later. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 26)
SPACEX FALCON HEAVY: ELON MUSK'S ROCKET COMPANY LAUNCHES ITS 'MOST DIFFICULT' MISSION TO DATE - A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful launch vehicle in the world, roared into the sky overnight for what CEO Elon Musk called the "most difficult launch" his rocket company has ever attempted. Lift off occurred at 2:30 am ET Tuesday from a launch pad in Florida. The rocket carried an eclectic batch of 24 experimental satellites into space. Getting the devices to their intended orbits was expected to take hours and require some complicated maneuvering. More (Source: CNN - Jun 25)
CHINA LAUNCHES LATEST BEIDOU SATELLITE FOR GLOBAL NAVIGATION SYSTEM - A Long March 3B lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China at 2:09 p.m. Eastern Monday, sending a Beidou satellite toward an inclined geosynchronous orbit. The launch occurred within a window indicated by the issuance of an airspace closure notice days earlier. Spectator footage provided the first indication of liftoff, with mission success announced by a media arm of the People’s Liberation Army just over an hour after launch. The mission involved the 21st satellite of the Beidou-3 rollout and the second to be placed in an inclined geosynchronous orbit. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jun 25)
NEW SATELLITE SYSTEM AIMS TO IMPROVE HURRICANE FORECASTING - A system of new weather satellites is due to launch into space as early as late Monday night, and if all goes to plan, it should lead to even greater reliability when it comes to predicting hurricanes and other potentially deadly storms. COSMIC 2 (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate) is a system of six satellites that’s part of a joint program between NOAA, the U.S. Air Force, and Taiwan. More (Source: WTOP - Jun 24)
NASA'S ASTROBEE CUBE ROBOT FLIES IN SPACE FOR THE FIRST TIME - NASA's Astrobee cube robots are finally earning their space wings... in a manner of speaking. The agency has confirmed that one of the bots, Bumble, flew on its own for the first time aboard the International Space Station on June 14th. While the trip involved only basic movements like flying forward and rotating, it was proof machine could work in its intended microgravity environment. More (Source: Engadget - Jun 24)
NEXT ATLAS 5 LAUNCH DELAYED BY BATTERY FAILURE - The next launch of United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket with the U.S. Air Force’s fifth Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications satellite, previously scheduled for Thursday, has been delayed to no earlier than July 9 to replace a failed battery on the vehicle. In a statement Sunday, ULA said the launch was delayed “due to a vehicle battery failure discovered during final processing.” More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jun 24)
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