A TRIUMPHANT YEAR FOR SPACEX - The year 2017 has turned out to be a good one for rocket science in the United States. American companies made 29 successful rocket launches into orbit, the highest figure since 1999, which saw 31 launches, according to a comprehensive database maintained by Gunter Krebs, a spaceflight historian in Germany. The final launch of the year, by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying a cache of commercial communications satellites, took place Friday night at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.   More
(Source: The Atlantic - Dec 27)

ANGOLA’S FIRST COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE READY FOR LAUNCH TUESDAY - A Ukrainian-built Zenit booster and a Russian-made Fregat upper stage are set to launch an Angolan communications satellite Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to an orbital perch more than 22,000 miles above Earth. A nearly 20-story-tall Zenit rocket is set for liftoff with the Angosat 1 spacecraft at 1900 GMT (2 p.m. EST) Tuesday from Site 45 at the historic spaceport in Kazakhstan, where launch is scheduled for 1 a.m. Wednesday local time. Russia’s space agency plans to webcast the launch live.   More
(Source: - Dec 26)

N. KOREA PREPARING TO LAUNCH SATELLITE: REPORT - North Korea is preparing to launch a satellite, a Seoul newspaper said Tuesday, as outside observers warn that the nuclear-armed regime's space programme is a fig leaf for weapons tests. Pyongyang is under multiple UN sanctions over its nuclear and missile tests and is prohibited from carrying out any launch using ballistic missile technology including satellites. "Through various channels, we've recently learned that the North has completed a new satellite and named it Kwangmyongsong-5", the Joongang Ilbo daily reported, quoting a South Korean government source.   More
(Source: Yahoo Singapore News - Dec 26)

CHRISTMAS AT THE SPACE STATION: ASTRONAUTS CELEBRATE WITH NEW TREE, GIFTS FROM EARTH - As millions of people on Earth celebrate Christmas with their families and friends today (Dec. 25), exchanging gifts and sharing elaborate meals, astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) will do much of the same — while floating weightlessly some 250 miles (400 kilometers) above the Earth. The three NASA astronauts currently aboard the ISS (Joe Acaba, Mark Vande Hei and Scott Tingle) will have the day off this Christmas, NASA spokesman Dan Huot told Space.com.    More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 26)

SPACE STATION ASTRONAUTS WATCHED 'THE LAST JEDI' FROM ORBIT 240 MILES ABOVE EARTH - Astronauts aboard the International Space Station watched Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi while in orbit about 240 miles above Earth on Saturday. A picture posted to Twitter from NASA astronaut Mar. T. Vande Hei shows five of the six current occupants of the station gathered around a screen, watching what appears to be a scene from the latest addition to the Star Wars franchise. Although Vande Hei doesn't specify that the movie is The Last Jedi, space.com pointed out that the image on the screen appears to show X-wing pilot Poe Dameron, played by the actor Oscar Isaac. Isaac played the same role in The Force Awakens, but we're pretty sure this is a scene from the newest film.    More
(Source: Mashable - Dec 25)

CHINA LAUNCHES LAND EXPLORATION SATELLITE - China launched a land exploration satellite into a preset orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi desert at 12:14 p.m. Saturday Beijing Time. The satellite is mainly used for remote sensing exploration of land resources.   More
(Source: Xinhua - Dec 24)

JAPANESE ROCKET LAUNCHES TWO SATELLITES INTO ORBIT - A JAXA H-2A rocket launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan carrying the Global Change Observation Mission-Climate (GCOM-C) satellite and the Super Low Altitude Test Satellite (SLATS). Liftoff occurred at 8:26 p.m. EST (0126 GMT) on Friday, though the local time was 10:26 a.m. Saturday Japan Standard Time. The GCOM-C satellite, nicknamed Shikisai (which means "Color" in Japanese), is an Earth-observing satellite designed to be the first in a pair to monitor Earth's climate from space over 15 years. It carries instruments to study Earth's carbon cycle, clouds, aerosols, ocean color, vegetation, and snow and ice, according to a JAXA mission description.    More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 24)

USED SPACEX ROCKET LAUNCHES 10 COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITES ONCE AGAIN - SpaceX capped a historic year with yet another successful launch by a pre-flown rocket. A two-stage Falcon 9 booster lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California tonight (Dec. 22) at 11:27 p.m. EST (8:27 p.m. local California time, 0427 on Dec. 23 GMT), lofting 10 communications satellites for the commercial Iridium Next constellation. The launch lit up the evening sky over Southern California, providing a spectacular sight shortly after sunset for observers. The Falcon 9's first stage also launched 10 Iridium Next satellites back in June, making Iridium the first SpaceX customer ever to launch twice atop the same rocket.   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 23)

ESA'S NEXT SATELLITE PROPELLED BY BUTANE - ESA's next miniature satellite will be its first able to change orbit. Thanks to a compact thruster resembling a butane cigarette lighter, the cereal box-sized satellite will fly around its near-twin to test their radio communications. Ready to be launched with its counterpart from China on 2 February, GomX-4B is built from six standard 10 cm CubeSat units.    More
(Source: Phys.Org - Dec 22)

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