LIFTOFF! TRULY INTERNATIONAL CREW LAUNCHES TO SPACE STATION - A trio of space travelers from the U.S., Russia and France launched into space Thursday (Nov.17), to kick off a six-month mission to the International Space Station. The three-person Expedition 50/51 crew includes Russian cosmonaut and Soyuz commander Oleg Novitskiy, NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson and the European Space Agency's Thomas Pesquet, who will become the first French astronaut to live aboard the International Space Station. Tightly packed in a Soyuz MS-03 space capsule atop a Soyuz FG rocket, the team lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:20 p.m. EST (2020 GMT). About 9 minutes after liftoff, the Soyuz capsule arrived in low-Earth orbit.   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 18)

SPACEX JUST ASKED PERMISSION TO LAUNCH 4,425 SATELLITES — MORE THAN CURRENTLY ORBIT EARTH - SpaceX, the aerospace company founded by the Mars-hungry tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, just made a big move to enshroud the planet in high-speed internet coverage. On November 15, the company filed a lengthy application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch 4,425 satellites. (We first heard about the filing through the r/SpaceX community on Reddit.) That is a hell of a lot of satellites.    More
(Source: Business Insider - Nov 17)

NASA, RUSSIA SET FLIGHTS FOR TRIMMED-DOWN SPACE STATION CREW - With Thursday's (Nov. 17) launch of three new crewmembers, the International Space Station (ISS) will be returned to full staffing — but not for long. Beginning with the next Soyuz launch, in March 2017, Russia is cutting one cosmonaut post from the station crew and doesn't plan to restore the job until a new module is launched, in 2018. Cosmonauts typically comprise half the station's six-member crew, but "right now, we don't need it," Sergei Krikalev, a former cosmonaut who now oversees human spaceflight for the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, said in an interview at the International Astronautical Congress, which was held in late September in Guadalajara, Mexico.   More
(Source: Space.com - Nov 17)

SPACE JOURNAL: CHINESE ASTRONAUTS ACCEPT 1ST EARTH-SPACE INTERVIEW - Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong are currently on a 33-day space journey and acting as Xinhua special correspondents. On Tuesday, they talked with their copy desk on earth for the first time. Li Keyong (associate director of Xinhua All-Media Service): Hello, mission commander Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong!    More
(Source: Xinhua - Nov 17)

SOYUZ CREW LAUNCHER ROLLED OUT FOR LIFTOFF FROM KAZAKHSTAN - The Soyuz booster that will send the International Space Station’s next three residents into orbit later this week rolled out of an integration hangar early Monday and rode a railroad car to its launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The rocket will lift off at 2020 GMT (3:20 p.m. EST) Thursday from Baikonur, heading to orbit on a two-day chase of the space station, setting up for a radar-guided rendezvous and docking Saturday.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Nov 16)

EO-79/FUNCUBE-3 NOW AVAILABLE FOR AMATEUR RADIO USE - The EO-79/FUNcube-3 satellite has transitioned to Amateur Radio service, now that its primary mission has been completed. AMSAT-UK and AMSAT-NL have announced that the FUNcube U/V transponder on the 2U CubeSat QB50p1 has been activated with a regular schedule. Due to power budget constraints, the transponder cannot be operational 24/7, and an orbit-specific schedule has been developed. The transponder will commence operation 27 minutes after the spacecraft enters sunlight and remain active for 25 minutes. This schedule may be modified in the weeks ahead, as experience dictates.   More
(Source: ARRL - Nov 16)

GERMANY APPROVES STATE-OF-THE-ART NEW SPY SATELLITE … AND IT COULD BE TURNED ON BRITAIN - GERMANY is building a new state-of-the-art spy satellite — and there are fears it could turn its gaze on Britain. Berlin last week approved the funding of a swathe of new spook capabilities as part of a cybersecurity overhaul, with the new satellite forming part of its aggressive espionage network.   More
(Source: The Sun - Nov 15)

NEXT SPACE STATION CREW SET FOR LAUNCH NOV. 17, WATCH LIVE ON NASA TV - NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, KC5ZTD, Oleg Novitskiy of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, and Thomas Pesquet, KG5FYG, of ESA (European Space Agency) will launch Thursday, Nov. 17, for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station. Prelaunch activities will air through Nov. 16, and live launch coverage will begin at 2:30 p.m. EST Nov. 17, on NASA Television and the agency’s website. The crew of Expedition 50/51 will launch at 3:20 p.m. (2:20 a.m. Nov. 18, Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.    More
(Source: Southgate Amateur Radio Club - Nov 14)

CHINA LAUNCHES YUNHAI-1 METEOROLOGICAL SATELLITE - China sent into space a meteorological satellite, Yunhai-1, at 7:14 a.m. Saturday from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's gobi desert. Yunhai-1 was carried by a Long March-2D rocket, the 240th mission for the Long March rocket family.   More
(Source: Xinhua - Nov 13)

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