STATION CREW ENDS WEEK PREPARING FOR ECLIPSE 2017 - The Expedition 52 crew wrapped up a busy week on Friday with more science work, cargo unloading and cleanup after a Russian spacewalk on Thursday. They are also busy preparing for the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse on Monday with the chance at several unique views of the event. The crew participated in several studies including Vascular Echo Ultrasound, a Canadian Space Agency investigation that examines changes in blood vessels and the heart while the crew members are in space. More (Source: NASA - Aug 20)
ATLAS 5 ROCKET DELIVERS NASA DATA ROUTER INTO SPACE FOR ASTRONAUTS AND SATELLITES - Bulking up NASA’s constellation of tracking stations in the sky that provides critical links between orbiting spacecraft and ground control, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket successfully deployed a new communications hub in space today. NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite series, a program that revolutionized mission operations for U.S. human spaceflight and robotic craft, is now in its fourth decade and this morning orbited its 12th satellite. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 19)
PROTON LAUNCHER TAKES OFF WITH DUAL-USE RUSSIAN COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE - A high-power Russian satellite designed to deliver broadband Internet connections and relay television and videoconferencing signals fired into orbit Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Destined to serve the Russian military and civilian customers, the first Blagovest communications satellite rode a Proton rocket into space at 2207 GMT (6:07 p.m. EDT) Wednesday, according to a statement released by ISS Reshetnev, the spacecraft’s manufacturer. Liftoff occurred at 4:07 a.m. local time Thursday at Baikonur, a sprawling spaceport leased by the Russian government from Kazakhstan. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 18)
THIS NASA SATELLITE IS READY TO GO TO SPACE AFTER HAVING ITS BROKEN ANTENNA REPLACED - Tomorrow morning, a NASA communications satellite is scheduled to launch to space from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on top of an Atlas V rocket made by the United Launch Alliance. The launch was slated for earlier this month, but was delayed after some equipment on the probe was broken during launch preparations. But now, the satellite, called TDRS-M, is ready to head to orbit, where it will join a fleet of other satellites crucial to NASA’s operations in space. More (Source: The Verge - Aug 18)
STATION MANAGERS PUSH BACK NEXT CYGNUS CARGO FLIGHT TO NOVEMBER - NASA and Orbital ATK have agreed to schedule the launch of the next Cygnus supply ship for Nov. 10 from Wallops Island on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, a delay of a month from the mission’s earlier target launch date to allow the flight to carry more cargo to the International Space Station, officials said. The new launch date also will allow time for station astronauts to complete three spacewalks in late October and early November to swap out a latching end effector on the station’s Canadian-built robotic arm and complete other maintenance tasks, according to Dan Hartman, NASA’s deputy space station program manager. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 18)
SPACEX DRAGON DELIVERS SUPPLIES (AND SCIENCE) TO SPACE STATION - A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station early Wednesday (Aug. 16), delivering 3 tons of supplies, experiments and even some ice cream for the orbiting lab's crew. The uncrewed Dragon spacecraft was captured by astronauts using the station's robotic arm at 6:52 a.m. EDT (1052 GMT) as the two spacecraft were flying over the Pacific Ocean, just north of New Zealand. More (Source: Space.com - Aug 18)
RUSSIAN, INDIAN STUDENTS CREATING FRIENDSHIP SATELLITE - Students from Space Kidz India (SKI) organizaiton and Moscow Aviation Institute (MAI) have been creating a joint satellite, which will become a "friendship satellite," Space Kidz India founder Dr. Srimathy Kesan told TASS. According to her, it will be the first satellite created by students and not by official space institutions. "This is a friendship satellite, designed by collaborative method by students from two non-governmental institutions, marking the friendship between the two countries," she said. Read also Russian space corporation considering joint projects with India, China — media The Iskra-5 CubeSat 1U satellite, weighing 1.5 kilograms, will provide amateur communications, including transmission of images in SSTV format. More (Source: TASS - Aug 17)
NASA SCIENCE-ENABLING RELAY SATELLITE POISED FOR LAUNCH ATOP ATLAS 5 ROCKET - Resembling a cocooned insect with antennas and appendages tucked snuggly to its body for launch, NASA’s latest communications relay hub will be shot into space Friday to blossom in geosynchronous orbit for routing signals to and from the International Space Station, the Hubble Space Telescope and three dozen science observatories. The $408 million Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-M, or TDRS-M, will be sent aloft aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. Liftoff from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral is scheduled for 8:03 a.m. EDT (1203 GMT). More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 16)
U.S. ARMY PREPARES TO LAUNCH KESTREL EYE SATELLITE ATOP FALCON 9 - The U.S. Army is set to launch its Kestrel Eye electro-optical microsatellite Aug. 14 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, service officials said last week at the annual Space and Missile Defense Symposium. The Kestrel Eye satellite, built by Adcole Maryland Aerospace, is due to launch from Cape Canaveral as part of a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station, Lt. Gen. James Dickinson, commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command, said during the symposium. More (Source: SpaceMews - Aug 16)
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