SPACEX LAUNCHED 64 SATELLITES IN RECORD-BREAKING MISSION - SpaceX delivered 64 satellites into orbit in one fell swoop for a record-setting mission. Elon Musk's company launched a rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Monday after a series of delays triggered by bad weather and last-minute inspections for the rocket. It marked one of the largest satellite ride-sharing missions ever launched and the most crowded single mission in US history, according to Spaceflight, SpaceX's customer for the launch. The mission illustrated the growing demand to launch small satellites, modern devices that some companies hope will empower an array of new businesses — from internet service to supply chain monitoring.    More
(Source: CNN - Dec 4)

SPACEX BREAKS RECORDS WITH 'SMALLSAT EXPRESS' LAUNCH - SpaceX completed an unprecedented 19th launch this year on Monday, while putting a U.S. record 64 satellites in orbit at once. Additionally, SpaceX made history as the first company to fly the same orbital-class rocket three times. This Falcon 9 rocket's large first stage, also known as the "booster," launched and landed twice before, in May and August. Reusing rockets is key to Elon Musk's space company, which hopes to make humanity "a multiplanetary species."   More
(Source: CNBC - Dec 4)

SOYUZ CREW ENJOYS PROBLEM-FREE LAUNCH, HEADS FOR SPACE STATION - A Soyuz FG rocket thundered to life and shot into orbit smoothly Monday carrying three crew members on a six-hour flight to the International Space Station. The problem-free ascent came less than two months after an Oct. 11 launch abort that forced a different crew to carry out safe-but-scary emergency landing. That mishap was triggered when one of four strap-on boosters failed to separate cleanly two minutes after liftoff. But this time around, all four rockets separated as expected from the second stage core booster and the Soyuz crew ship slipped into its planned preliminary orbit eight minutes and 45 seconds after liftoff.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 3)

S. KOREA TO LAUNCH NEW WEATHER SATELLITE CHOLLIAN-2A WEDNESDAY - South Korea will launch a stationary meteorological satellite on Wednesday at a French space center in South America. The Ministry of Science and ICT said on Sunday that the meteorological satellite Chollian-2A will be launched from the space center in French Guiana at 5:40 a.m. Wednesday.   More
(Source: KBS WORLD Radio News - Dec 3)

MICRODRAGON SATELLITE SET FOR 2019 LIFT-OFF - MicroDragon, a made-in-Việt Nam earth observation satellite, will be launched into space early next year. The Việt Nam National Space Centre (VNSC) under the Việt Nam Academy of Science and Technology said take-off had been planned for January 17 from Japan. MicroDragon and six Japanese satellites will be launched by an Epsilon-4 rocket from the Uchinoura Space Centre in Kagoshima Prefecture at 9:50:20-9:59:37 (local time). MicroDragon will be separated from the rocket at a height of 511 kilometres.   More
(Source: Viet Nam News - Dec 3)

SPACEX SMALL SATELLITE LAUNCH DELAYED ONCE AGAIN FOR ADDITIONAL INSPECTIONS - SpaceX was scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California this weekend, but the launch had to be delayed in order to conduct extra inspections of the craft. SpaceX now hopes to go ahead with the launch on Monday instead. The company announced the delay in a tweet: “Standing down from tomorrow’s launch attempt of Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express to conduct additional inspections of the second stage. Working toward a backup launch opportunity on December 3.”   More
(Source: Digital Trends - Dec 3)

ALL SYSTEMS GO AS RUSSIA'S SOYUZ AIMS TO ERASE SPACE FAILURES - oyuz launch number 138 should be as routine as it gets for space flight. The next crew are due to lift off on Monday heading for the International Space Station (ISS) from the same launch pad Yury Gagarin used in 1961 on his historic first flight into orbit. But two months ago an accident on the last Soyuz launch sent the Russian and American astronauts hurtling back to Earth. Shortly before that, the crew on the ISS had discovered a mysterious hole - located after air pressure on the Station began to drop, and successfully plugged.   More
(Source: BBC News - Dec 3)

RUSSIA JUST LAUNCHED FIVE OBJECTS INTO SPACE. ONE PROBLEM, THERE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE FOUR - he Russian military says it successfully placed three classified communications satellites into orbit today, along with the upper stage of the rocket that put them there. But according to the U.S. military's Combined Space Operations Center, or CSpOC, a fifth object, possibly another, unannounced satellite, may have hitched a ride into space on the launch. The Rokot/Briz-KM launch vehicle blasted off from Pad 3 at Site 133 at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Western Russia at just before 5:30 PM local time on Nov. 30, 2018, according to RussianSpaceWeb.com. At approximately 7:12 PM, the three Rodnik communications satellites had deployed into their assigned orbits. Russia has named the trio of satellites Kosmos-2530, Kosmos-2531, and Kosmos-2532.   More
(Source: The Drive - Dec 2)

WEEKS AFTER SCARY MISHAP, SOYUZ ROCKET TO LAUNCH SPACEFLYERS TO SPACE STATION - A pair of astronauts and a cosmonaut will launch to the International Space Station on Monday, blasting off aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket less than two months after two other spaceflyers had to abort their launch when their Soyuz rocket malfunctioned. NASA astronaut Anne McClain, Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko are set to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:31 a.m. EST on Monday. NASA will live-stream the liftoff beginning at 5:30 a.m. EST, followed by live coverage at 11:45 a.m. of the Soyuz capsule as it docks with the space station.   More
(Source: NBC News - Dec 1)

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