CHINESE SPACE STATION SET TO PLUMMET UNCONTROLLED BACK TO EARTH - What goes up, must come down. Simply put, that's why there's so much interest in Tiangong-1, China's first space station, which was launched in 2011 and has been in decreasing orbit ever since. China admitted last year it no longer had control of the space station –– and now it’s getting close to plummeting back to Earth. Most of it will burn up on re-entry, but there’s always a chance some of it will survive and hit Earth. That said, most of our planet is covered by water so the odds are overwhelming it will splash down in an ocean someplace.    More
(Source: ABC News - Mar 26)

TWO RADIO AMATEURS NOW ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - With the addition of three new crew members, the International Space Station (ISS) now has a full complement of six. Astronauts Ricky Arnold, KE5DAU, and Drew Feustel, and cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev headed into space on March 21 aboard a Soyuz MS-08 vehicle, launched from Kazakhstan. The new ISS residents were welcomed on March 23 as part of the Expedition 55 crew by station commander Anton Shkaplerov and crew — Scott Tingle, KG5NZA, and Norishige Kanai.    More
(Source: ARRL - Mar 25)

INDIA TO LAUNCH COMMUNICATION SATELLITE GSAT-6A ON MARCH 29 - In the field of space technology, India will close this fiscal with the launch of the GSAT-6A, a high power S-band communication satellite, on March 29, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) said on Friday. According to the space agency, the satellite with a life span of around 10 years will be put into orbit by the Indian rocket, Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F08). The rocket is expected to blast off from the second launch pad at the Sriharikota rocket port in Andhra Pradesh at 4.56 p.m., on March 29.   More
(Source: The Siasat Daily - Mar 25)

‘MARCH FOR OUR LIVES’ CROWD IN DC VISIBLE FROM SPACE - A satellite camera captured photos showing the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in downtown Washington, D.C., on Saturday for the "March for our Lives" rally against gun violence. A Digital Globe satellite captured the photo over Washington, D.C., around 11 a.m. on Saturday. Organizers estimated that the rally led by student survivors of the deadly Parkland, Fla., school shooting last month drew a crowd of nearly 800,000 people throughout the day, outpacing original estimates.   More
(Source: The Hill - Mar 25)

SOYUZ SPACECRAFT WITH CREW OF THREE DOCKS WITH SPACE STATION - A Russian Soyuz ferry ship carrying a Russian commander and two NASA astronauts caught up with the International Space Station Friday and executed a flawless docking to close out a two-day rendezvous that began with launch Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. With commander Oleg Artemyev monitoring an automated approach, the Soyuz MS-08/54S spacecraft docked at the station’s upper Poisk module at 3:40 p.m. EDT (GMT-5) as the two spacecraft sailed 254 miles above Serbia in orbital darkness.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 24)

CHINA’S ROGUE SATELLITE LIKELY TO CRASH INTO EARTH OVER EASTER WEEKEND - The Big Apple is in the path of an out-of-control Chinese satellite that is expected to crash into Earth on Easter weekend, according to a report. Tiangong-1, a 9.4-ton piece of space junk known as the Heavenly Palace, will re-enter the atmosphere between March 30 and April 3, according to the European Space Agency. But exactly where the flaming projectile — which is carrying highly toxic substances — will strike remains a mystery.   More
(Source: New York Post - Mar 24)

CHINA'S TIANGONG-1 SATELLITE ISN'T THE ONLY SPACE JUNK ABOVE US - It's not just China's Tiangong-1 space station that poses a potential threat. An informal census of debris in orbit finds lots of explosive potential floating around up there. Out-of-control Chinese space station Tiangong-1 is set to fall to Earth in the next few weeks, but it's unlikely to cause much damage should it make it all the way to the surface of the planet. There are, however, a number of disturbing hazards among the thousands of pieces of space junk orbiting high over our heads that we wouldn't want falling in our direction anytime soon.   More
(Source: CNET - Mar 23)

ROCKET LAB’S DISCO BALL SATELLITE HAS PLUNGED BACK TO EARTH — AND SOME AREN’T SAD TO SEE IT GO - In January, US spaceflight startup Rocket Lab stealthily launched a small “disco ball” satellite into orbit as part of a cosmic art project aimed at inspiring people to come together and look up at the sky. But after just two months in space, the satellite — called the Humanity Star — has fallen back to Earth and burned up in the planet’s atmosphere. It brings a premature end to the probe’s life, which turned out to be more controversial than the company had hoped. No satellite in lower Earth orbit lasts forever.   More
(Source: The Verge - Mar 23)

SOYUZ TAKES OFF WITH THREE BOUND FOR SPACE STATION - A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off and shot into orbit Wednesday, carrying a Russian cosmonaut and two NASA astronauts, all veteran space fliers, on a two-day flight to the International Space Station. With Soyuz MS-08/54S commander Oleg Artemyev at the controls in the spacecraft’s center seat, flanked on the left by flight engineer Drew Feustel and on the right by Ricky Arnold, the workhorse booster’s main engines ignited with a crackling roar at 1:44 p.m. EDT (GMT-4; 11:44 p.m. local time) and quickly throttled up to full thrust.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Mar 22)

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