SPACEX LAUNCHES NASA CARGO TO SPACE STATION, STICKS ROCKET LANDING (AGAIN) - One of the company's Falcon 9 rockets lifted off from historic Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida today (Aug. 14) at 12:31 p.m. EDT (1631 GMT), sending a robotic Dragon cargo capsule on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) for NASA. Then, about 8 minutes after launch, the first stage of the two-stage Falcon 9 came back to Earth, touching down at SpaceX's "Landing Zone 1" at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, which sits next door to KSC.    More
(Source: Space.com - Aug 14)

SPACEX SET FOR SUPPLY RUN TO SPACE STATION ON MONDAY - The launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Monday to carry supplies to the International Space Station kicks off an exceptionally busy few weeks in space, with a Russian spacewalk on tap Thursday, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 flight Friday, the 40th anniversary of the Voyager program's first launch on Sunday and a coast-to-coast solar eclipse the next day.    More
(Source: CBS News - Aug 14)

SPACE STATION CREW TO GET THREE SHOTS AT SOLAR ECLIPSE - The International Space Station's crew will enjoy views of the Aug. 21 solar eclipse during three successive orbits, giving the astronauts a unique opportunity to take in the celestial show from 250 miles up as the moon's shadow races across from the Pacific Ocean and the continental United States before moving out over the Atlantic. "Because we're going around the Earth every 90 minutes, about the time it takes the sun to cross the U.S., we'll get to see it three times," Randy Bresnik said Friday during a NASA Facebook session.   More
(Source: CBS News - Aug 13)

BRITISH COMPANIES PLAN SMALL SATELLITE HOSTED PAYLOAD MISSION - A British small satellite manufacturer and a startup company are partnering on a mission to fly a series of smallsats carrying hosted payloads of varying sizes. Faraday is a joint project of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) and In-Space Missions Ltd., a company founded in 2015 by former SSTL executives that provides spacecraft services and consulting. Faraday features a spacecraft developed by SSTL, with In-Space Missions offering accommodations on the spacecraft for payloads ranging from 50 kilograms down to individual circuit boards.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Aug 13)

H-2A ROCKET GROUNDED BY PROBLEM IN PROPULSION SYSTEM - A Japanese launch crew filled an H-2A rocket with cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants in time for a planned liftoff Saturday with a geostationary navigation satellite, but a problem inside the launcher’s propulsion system prompted officials to postpone the mission. Officials announced a hold less than two hours before the 174-foot-tall (53-meter) H-2A rocket was set to blast off at 0440 GMT (12:40 a.m. EDT; 1:40 p.m. Japan Standard Time).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 13)

CHINESE SATELLITE SENDS 'HACK-PROOF' MESSAGE - China has successfully sent "hack-proof" messages from a satellite to Earth for the first time. The Micius satellite beamed messages to two mountain-top receiving stations 645 km (400 miles) and 1,200 km away. The message was protected by exploiting quantum physics, which says any attempt to eavesdrop on it would make detectable changes. Using satellites avoids some limitations that ground-based systems introduce into quantum communication.   More
(Source: BBC News - Aug 13)

SPACEX IS LAUNCHING A SUPERCOMPUTER TO THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - As it nears the end of its second decade, the International Space Station is starting to hit its stride. The large orbital laboratory offers private companies a chance to test business ideas in microgravity, serves as a testbed for astronaut health, and allows NASA to prove technologies for future missions into deep space. One of the critical technologies NASA will need if it really does send humans beyond the Earth-Moon system within the next few decades is more powerful computers capable of operating in the deep space environment.    More
(Source: Ars Technica - Aug 12)

SPACEX PERFORMS STATIC FIRE, PREPS FOR MONDAY LAUNCH FROM FLORIDA - Set to resume a brisk pace of launch activity after a nearly six-week respite, SpaceX test-fired its next Falcon 9 rocket Thursday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of a planned liftoff Monday with several tons of experiments and supplies for the International Space Station. The Falcon 9 launcher rolled out to pad 39A at the Florida space base Wednesday evening and was raised vertical overnight. SpaceX’s launch team, stationed in a control center about 13 miles (21 kilometers) to the south, initiated a computer-controlled countdown sequence Thursday morning that loaded super-chilled kerosene and liquid oxygen into the two-stage rocket.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 11)

POOR WEATHER FORECAST DELAYS LAUNCH OF JAPANESE NAVIGATION SATELLITE - The Japanese space agency said Wednesday the launch of an H-2A rocket with the country’s third navigation satellite was preemptively delayed at least 24 hours to Saturday to avoid thunderstorms with lightning in the forecast later this week. The 174-foot-tall (53-meter) rocket, currently standing inside the vertical assembly building at the Tanegashima Space Center, is now scheduled to launch some time during an unusually-long nine-hour window Saturday that opens at 0500 GMT (1 a.m. EDT; 2 p.m. Japan Standard Time).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Aug 10)

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