SOYUZ ROCKET LAUNCHES CARGO FREIGHTER TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - Running two days later after a last-minute abort Sunday, a Russian Progress resupply and refueling freighter lifted off in a blanket of fog Tuesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome to deliver three tons of cargo, propellant and water to the International Space Station. The Progress MS-08 supply ship blasted off atop a Soyuz-2.1a rocket at 0813:33 GMT (3:13:33 a.m. EST; 2:13:33 p.m. Baikonur time) Tuesday from the historic Russian-run spaceport on the steppe of Kazakhstan.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 14)

WHO'S GOING TO BUY THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION? - For sale: orbiting space station. Room for eight. Fantastic views of Earth. Commercial opportunities for zero-g manufacturing, research lab, or floating hotel. Cost: $3 to 4 billion a year. Any takers? President Trump’s new budget request, released Monday, directs NASA to leave behind the International Space Station and explore the moon as a first step toward reaching Mars. The spending plan ends funding of the International Space Station by 2025, replacing taxpayers’ money with revenue from private firms. It proposes $150 million to help get companies to transition to this brave new industrial park.   More
(Source: WIRED - Feb 13)

CHINA ADDS TWO MORE SATELLITES TO HOME-GROWN NAVIGATION NETWORK - Two more Chinese Beidou navigation satellites successfully lifted off aboard a Long March 3B rocket Monday on China’s seventh space launch in five weeks. The Long March 3B rocket and a restartable Yuanzheng upper stage deployed the two Beidou navigation satellites — the 28th and 29th to join China’s navigation network — nearly four hours after launch from the Xichang space base in Sichuan province, according to Chinese state media reports. Propelled by 1.3 million pounds of thrust, the Long March 3B rocket lifted off from the Xichang launch base at 0503 GMT (12:03 a.m. EST) Monday.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 13)

ESA’S WIND SENSING SATELLITE ... THE ANSWER IS BLOWING IN THE WIND ... TO UNDERGO FINAL TESTS - European Space Agency’s wind sensing spacecraft, Aeolus, wind sensing satellite, has left Liège in Belgium having successfully completed an extensive thermal and functional performance test campaign under in-orbit conditions. It will now undergo final checks at InteSpace test center in Toulouse, France, before being shipped to French Guiana in the summer ready for launch on a Vega launcher. How the process works is as follows: Aladin fires a powerful ultraviolet laser pulse down through the atmosphere and collects backscattered light, using a large 1.5m diameter telescope...   More
(Source: SatNews Publishers - Feb 13)

SPACEX SET TO LAUNCH FIRST PROTOTYPE STARLINK SATELLITES FOR GLOBAL INTERNET - The first test satellites for SpaceX’s global internet constellation are being prepped for launch as early as this week — three years after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk unveiled the project in Seattle. The prototype spacecraft, known as Microsat 2a and 2b, are reportedly to be included as secondary payloads on a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, due for launch on Saturday. The primary payload is a 3,000-pound Spanish radar observation satellite called Paz.   More
(Source: GeekWire - Feb 12)

RESUPPLY LAUNCH SCRUBBED, THWARTING FAST-TRACK RENDEZVOUS WITH SPACE STATION - The launch of a Russian Progress cargo ship aboard a Soyuz rocket was aborted in the final minute of the countdown Sunday, forcing a delay of at least two days in the start of a resupply and refueling mission to the International Space Station. The two-day slip will prevent the Progress MS-08 supply ship from conducting an expedited trip to the space station. The unpiloted cargo freighter was set to fly a record-fast express rendezvous profile, with docking just three-and-a-half hours after liftoff Sunday.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 12)

ROCKET LAB COMPLETES FIT CHECK FOR NASA VCLS ELANA XIX MISSION - Early this month, Rocket Lab performed a successful fit check of the CubeSat dispensers for the NASA Venture Class Launch Service flight of the CubeSat Launch Initiative Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) XIX mission. The fit check was carried out at Rocket Lab’s Huntington Beach payload integration cleanroom. Venture Class launches aim to provide dedicated launches for CubeSats that would normally fly as secondary payloads, enabling these science missions to get exactly where they need to go on orbit.   More
(Source: Rocket Lab - Feb 11)

ELON MUSK'S SPACEX TO LAUNCH SPAIN'S FIRST MILITARY SPY SATELLITE - Named Paz [Peace], the €160 million unit will lift off from the Vandenberg Airbase in California, United States (US) aboard one of the flamboyant billionaire's Falcon 9 rockets. Built by Airbus Defence and Space, a division of aeroplane manufacturer Airbus, the satellite is owned by Madrid firm Hisdesat, although the Ministry of Defence and a number of private individuals provided most of the funding. The Spanish Armed Forces Intelligence Center, CIFAS, will receive 30 of the 100 high-resolution images captured daily by Paz, with customers for the other 70 being sought.   More
(Source: Euro Weekly News - Feb 11)

SOYUZ ROCKET POSITIONED ON LAUNCH PAD FOR STATION RESUPPLY FLIGHT - A Russian Soyuz booster and an automated Progress resupply ship reached their launch pad Friday at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, two days before firing into orbit test out a new expedited rendezvous sequence that will culminate in the Progress spacecraft’s docking with the International Space Station just three-and-a-half hours after launch. The Soyuz-2.1a rocket, a modernized version of Russia’s venerable Soyuz launcher, rolled out of its assembly hangar — known by the Russian acronym MIK — at the Baikonur Cosmodrome before sunrise Friday.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Feb 10)

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