THE RACE TO SPACE: EXPERTS SAY 2018 WILL BE THE YEAR SPACE TOURISM TAKES OFF - Space. The final frontier, and quite possibly your family's next March Break vacation. Experts say 2018 will be the year space tourism takes off. But while great leaps are being made at what seems like warp speed, it's a venture that's still fraught with issues that go far beyond its out-of-this-world price tag. Cost of launch, of course, remains a major barrier, and one way to bring it down from seven figures to six, or even five, is to build rockets that don't end up as space junk after one launch.   More
(Source: CBC.ca - May 1)

SPACEX LAUNCH SCRUBBED IN FINAL MINUTE OF COUNTDOWN - SpaceX scrubbed an attempt to launch a commercial Falcon 9 rocket Sunday less than a minute before liftoff, blaming a sensor issue on the vehicle’s first stage and pushing back the company’s first national security mission for the U.S. government at least 24 hours. The Falcon 9 launch director called a hold at T-minus 52 seconds as the countdown ticked toward a planned blastoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:15 a.m. EDT (1115 GMT) Sunday, immediately ordering the launch team to ready for another try Monday.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 30)

BEAUTIFUL BERING STRAIT IMAGE CAPTURED BY COPERNICUS SENTINEL-3A SATELLITE - NASA's Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite snapped a stunning photo of the Bering Strait during a recent trip across the narrow strip of water separating Alaska and Siberia. The image was captured on March 26 and shared online on April 28. The Sentinel-3A is an Earth observation satellite launched as part of the Copernicus mission by the European Space Agency. The satellite was carried into orbit on January 16, 2016, and is dedicated to the study of oceanography. In the bottom half of the image, clouds can be seen swirling across the strait. At the top of the image, sea ice extends southward.   More
(Source: UPI - Apr 29)

CHINA TO BEGIN CONSTRUCTION OF MANNED SPACE STATION IN 2019 - China will begin construction of a permanent manned space station in 2019 after carrying out a successful in-orbit refueling from its Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft, officials leading the project said on Friday. The Tianzhou-1, China's first cargo spacecraft, launched on April 20 and completed the first of three planned docking attempts with the orbiting Tiangong-2 spacelab two days later, state media reported. The successful five-day refueling, directed from technicians on Earth and completed on Thursday, is a key milestone toward China's plans to begin sending crews to a permanent space station by 2022.    More
(Source: U.S. News & World Report - Apr 29)

WEATHER LOOKS GOOD FOR FALCON 9 LAUNCH SUNDAY, BUT PAYLOAD STILL A MYSTERY - An official weather outlook issued by U.S. Air Force meteorologists Thursday calls for partly cloudy skies on Florida’s Space Coast for liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket just after sunrise Sunday with a clandestine payload for the U.S. government’s intelligence agencies. Forecasters predict the only concerns at launch time Sunday will be liftoff winds and cumulus clouds associated with isolated rain showers around launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. There is an 80 percent chance of acceptable conditions.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 28)

TIANZHOU-1 COMPLETES FIRST TIANGONG-2 REFUELLING, CLEARING WAY TO SPACE STATION - China's first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-1, has successfully completed its first refuelling of the Tiangong-2 space lab in orbit, marking a huge step forward in the country's plans for a large, modular space station. The transfer of propellant in microgravity to Tiangong-2 was the primary objective for the Tianzhou-1 mission, with the first steps of the refuelling initiated on Sunday. Success of the 29-step, five-day process was declared by Zhang Youxia, commander-in-chief of China's manned space programme, shortly after 7 pm in Beijing on Thursday.   More
(Source: gbtimes - Apr 28)

THE FIRST SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM FLIGHT WILL PROBABLY BE DELAYED - It's looking likely that the first flight of NASA's new heavy lift rocket, the Space Launch System, will slip beyond its November 2018 launch date. The space agency has yet to announce any official schedule changes. But a recent report by NASA's Office of Inspector General, along with dates provided by internal sources, an agency-wide schedule review currently in progress, and welding challenges involving the core stage liquid oxygen tank, all point to a probable delay.   More
(Source: The Planetary Society - Apr 27)

CHINA'S CARGO CRAFT DOCKS WITH SPACE LAB - China's Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft performed an automated docking with the country's orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab Saturday (April 22), according to the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center. The robotic Tianzhou-1 was lofted atop a Long March-7 Y2 rocket Thursday evening (April 20) from Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan province.   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 26)

TRUMP CONGRATULATES RECORD-BREAKING ASTRONAUT ON INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - President Donald Trump called the International Space Station on Monday to congratulate astronaut Peggy Whitson for staying in space longer than any other American. Whitson, who has been at the ISS for 534 days and counting, is scheduled to stay there for at least another five months. Her record surpasses that of fellow American astronaut Jeff Williams. "That is an incredible record to break, and on behalf of our nation," Trump said during a call to the ISS on Monday morning, "and frankly on behalf of the world, I would like to congratulate you."   More
(Source: CNBC - Apr 25)

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