ANTARES ROCKET LAUNCHES NASA CARGO TO SPACE STATION IN DAZZLING PREDAWN LIFTOFF - An Orbital ATK Antares rocket pierced the clouds in the predawn sky over Virginia this morning (May 21) with a dazzling predawn launch to deliver more than 3 tons of vital supplies to the International Space Station. The Antares rocket launched an uncrewed Cygnus cargo ship at 4:44 a.m. EDT (0844 GMT) from Pad-0A of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility here, and successfully reached orbit 9 minutes later. The Cygnus, also built by Orbital ATK, is expected to arrive at the space station on Thursday (May 24). More (Source: Space.com - May 22)
ORBITAL ATK READIES CARGO SHIP FOR LAUNCH TO SPACE STATION - Orbital ATK readied an upgraded Antares rocket for launch Monday from Wallops Island, Va., to deliver more than 3 tons of crew supplies, science gear, spare parts and three small satellites to the International Space Station to test miniaturized, low-cost technologies for Earth observation applications. The experiments headed for orbit include a quantum physics study that will attempt to cool atoms to a billionth of a degree above absolute zero, another to test a novel technique for separating liquids and one devoted to learning more about how concrete sets up in the absence of gravity. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 21)
QUEQIAO RELAY SATELLITE LAUNCHED AHEAD OF CHANG’E-4 LUNAR MISSION - A Chinese Long March 4C has launched the Queqiao spacecraft – a relay satellite for the upcoming Chang’e-4 lunar mission. Launch occurred from the LC-3 pad at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre (XSLC) at 21:25 UTC. This latest launch is part of China’s growing ambitions for lunar exploration, which has already achieved numerous successes. Chang’e-1 was launched in 2007 and and Chang’e-2 in 2010. The previous mission involved the Chang’e-3 probe and Yutu lunar rover. Chang’e is the name of the Chinese moon goddess. More (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com - May 21)
CHINA’S FIRST PRIVATE ROCKET LAUNCH KICKS OFF THE COUNTRY’S COMMERCIAL SPACE RACE - China celebrated the country’s first rocket launch by a private spaceflight company this week. OneSpace Technologies, based out of Beijing, launched its OS-X rocket from an undisclosed location on a suborbital trajectory on Wednesday, reaching a reported altitude of 25 miles and traveling about 170 miles before falling back to Earth. It’s the first demonstration of what the company says will become a scalable business built around sending small satellites into space. More (Source: The Verge - May 20)
ANTARES ROCKET ROLLS TO VIRGINIA LAUNCH PAD, LIFTOFF DELAYED TO MONDAY - Orbital ATK transferred an Antares rocket and Cygnus supply ship to their launch pad on Virginia’s Eastern Shore late Thursday for a liftoff now targeted for Monday with more than 7,200 pounds of cargo heading for the International Space Station. Riding a self-propelled transporter, the two-stage booster rolled out of Orbital ATK’s Horizontal Integration Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, after nightfall Thursday for the mile-long journey south to pad 0A, where crews planned to hoist the 139-foot-tall (42.5-meter) launcher vertical for final preflight checkouts. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - May 20)
SPACEX LAUNCH OF NASA AND IRIDIUM SATELLITES DELAYED UNTIL MAY 22 - Two NASA Earth-observation satellites will have to wait a bit longer to get off the ground. NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On (GRACE-FO) mission and five Iridium Next commercial communications satellites were scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Saturday (May 19) from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California. But the seven-satellite liftoff has now been delayed to next Tuesday (May 22). More (Source: Space.com - May 19)
RUSSIA TO LAUNCH UNMANNED SPACECRAFT TO SPACE STATION FOR FIRST TIME IN AUGUST 2019 - The launch of a Soyuz MS unmanned spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) is planned for August 2019, Russia’s Energia Rocket and Space Corporation, the spaceship’s developer, said on Friday. This will be the first launch of an unmanned spacecraft to the ISS: previously all Soyuz space vehicles were manned and were used to deliver the crews of new expeditions to the world’s sole orbiter. Read also Limescale behind yellow water surfacing on International Space Station "The launch of the Soyuz MS resupply ship aboard a Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket is planned for August 2019. More (Source: TASS - May 19)
STUDY OFFERS PESSIMISTIC OUTLOOK FOR COMMERCIAL SPACE STATIONS - As NASA formally requests proposals for studies on the commercialization of low Earth orbit, another study presented at a congressional hearing May 17 concludes commercial space stations are unlikely to be financially viable in the mid-2020s. In testimony at a House Science Committee hearing on America’s future in low Earth orbit, Bhavya Lal of the Institute for Defense Analysis’ Science and Technology Policy Institute said a study performed by her organization found it unlikely that a commercial space station could generate a profit in 2025, the year NASA plans to end federal funding of the International Space Station. More (Source: SpaceNews - May 19)
HERE'S THE WEIRD SCIENCE LAUNCHING TO THE SPACE STATION ON MONDAY - On Monday, a cargo delivery to the International Space Station will carry old-fashioned sextants, E. colibacteria and lasers that will create a temperature 10 billion times colder than the vacuum of space. These unusual science experiments are scheduled to launch Monday morning (May 21) at 4:39 a.m. EDT (0839 GMT) from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia. They will launch on the commercial spaceflight company Orbital ATK's Antares rocket, packed in the company's Cygnus spacecraft as part of 7,385 lbs. (3,350 kilograms) of scientific equipment, food, clothing and other supplies for the Expedition 55 space station crew. More (Source: Space.com - May 19)
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