INTERNATIONAL SPACE CREW WRAPS UP NEARLY FOUR MONTHS IN ORBIT - A veteran Russian cosmonaut, a Japanese flight engineer and a NASA scientist-astronaut undocked from the International Space Station and returned to Earth Saturday, landing on the steppe of Kazakhstan to close out a 115-day mission. With Soyuz MS-01 commander Anatoly Ivanishin at the controls, flanked on the left by flight engineer Takuya Onishi and on the right by NASA’s Kate Rubins, the charred descent module settled to a jarring rocket-and-parachute-assisted touchdown east of Dzhezkazgan at 11:58 p.m. EDT (GMT-4; 9:58 a.m. Sunday local time). Russian recovery crews deployed nearby reached the capsule within minutes to help the returning station fliers out of the cramped descent module as they began re-adjusting to the unfamiliar pull of Earth’s gravity — and its weather. The crew was greeted by an overcast sky and temperatures in the low 30s Fahrenheit.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 30)

COSMIC RAYS MAY THREATEN SPACE-WEATHER SATELLITE - A US space-weather satellite that is supposed to alert Earth to incoming solar storms has temporarily dropped offline five times in the year since it became operational. Its onboard computer may be experiencing hiccups caused unexpectedly by galactic cosmic rays. The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) went out of action most recently on 11 October. In each case, it unexpectedly entered a ‘safe hold’ in which scientific data stopped flowing and engineers had to scramble to try to recover the spacecraft. In total, DSCOVR’s space-weather forecasting instruments have been offline for more than 42 hours since 28 October 2015, when the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) took the spacecraft over from NASA, which built and launched it.   More
(Source: Nature.com - Oct 29)

CHINESE SPACE STATION PROVIDES HALLOWEEN TREAT - The original Taingong-1 was described as a Space Target. It supported the testing of automated docking. The new Tiangong-2 is called a Space Laboratory. The planned Tiangong-3 is called a Space Station. Yet Tiangong-3 — to be launched in the 2020’s — will only provide 40 days of life support for a crew of three. The true long-term Chinese Space Station will be a third-generation modular space station. Combining Tiangong space lab modules with the Modular Space Station Core Module, called Tianhe, would form the basic structure. Additional modules would contain experiments and perform cargo transport.   More
(Source: Florida Today - Oct 29)

NEW SATELLITE SET TO ‘REVOLUTIONIZE’ THE US WEATHER FORECAST - A new satellite is being launched next month which will help U.S. weather forecasters make their first big technological leap forward since the 1970's. The joint venture between NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will eventually launch four new weather satellites that will cover the western hemisphere. NASA is currently preparing the launch pad at Cape Canaveral to send the first satellite, known as GOES-R, into orbit on November 16 at 4:42 p.m. ET. According to NOAA, the new weather station will contribute to more accurate weather forecasts and better predictions of severe storms.    More
(Source: CNBC - Oct 28)

CHINESE SPACE LAB DEPLOYS COMPACT SATELLITE FOR EXTERNAL SURVEYS - A companion satellite ejected from China’s orbiting Tiangong 2 research module has snapped unique views of the space lab as two astronauts inside press on with experiments and other tasks in their second week aboard the mini-space station. The cubical craft deployed from Tiangong 2 on Sunday is about the size of a printer, and it took sharp black-and-white pictures of the space lab and the Shenzhou 11 crew transport craft docked together around 235 miles (380 kilometers) above Earth.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Oct 28)

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION PASSES BY VENUS AND SATURN - Look west in the evening sky and Venus is almost impossible to miss, shining with a brilliant steady light. In fact, it is so bright it's often mistaken for a plane. On the evening of Friday October 28, Venus is going to pair up with the planet Saturn and in a rare treat, the International Space Station (ISS) will be seen gliding right past the two planets. But heads up Darwin, you'll catch a preview of the show on Thursday October 27. From Darwin on Thursday, and from Sydney and Perth on Friday, the ISS will pass just below Saturn and just above Venus.    More
(Source: Phys.Org - Oct 28)

EXPEDITION 49 CREW MEMBERS TO RETURN TO EARTH FROM SPACE STATION! - According to NASA, Expedition 49 Commander Anatoly Ivanishin of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, Flight Engineers Kate Rubins of NASA and Takuya Onishi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, will undock their Soyuz spacecraft from the space station at 8:37 p.m. EDT on Saturday and land in Kazakhstan at 11:59 p.m. (9:59 a.m. October 30, Kazakhstan time). The three astronauts have done hundreds of experiments together in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard the space station. NASA Television will air coverage the departure and landing activities of the three astronauts.   More
(Source: Zee News - Oct 27)

THOSE FACEBOOK LIVES FROM SPACE ARE FAKE AF - A Facebook Live video allegedly showing a live feed of the International Space Station (ISS) is going viral on social media though there are several doubts on its authenticity. The alleged live footage was posted by several media outlets and pages, including UNILAD, Viral USA and INTERESTINATE, gathering an insane amount of views and likes. The video on Viral USA's Facebook page has been going on for three hours and has got more than 2 million likes, 400k shares and 280k views. High figures were also recorded by UNILAD, which tagged the International Space Station in the caption.    More
(Source: Mashable - Oct 27)

PICTURE THIS: STARTUP SATELLITE FLEET WILL IMAGE PLANET DAILY - A satellite-imaging startup wants to make global change transparent, by capturing every part of the planet every day and sharing those images with the world. The company, known as Planet, is aiming to make global change visible, accessible, and actionable for everyone, Will Marshall, the startup's co-founder and CEO, said during an address to the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on Sept. 27, 2015. The company has deployed large fleets of small, inexpensive satellites designed solely to capture images of the planet.   More
(Source: Live Science - Oct 26)

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