NASA SETS COVERAGE FOR ASTRONAUT ANIL MENON LAUNCH TO SPACE STATION - NASA astronaut Anil Menon will launch aboard the Roscosmos Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft to the International Space Station on Tuesday, July 14, accompanied by cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina, where they will join the Expedition 74 crew advancing scientific research. Menon, Dubrov, and Kikina will lift off at 10:47 a.m. EDT (7:47 p.m. Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Live launch and docking coverage is available on NASA+, Amazon Prime, and the agency’s YouTube channel. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of online platforms, including social media.   More
(Source: NASA - Jul 11)

NASA SMALL SATELLITE COULD MAKE GLOBAL POSITIONING MORE PRECISE - A NASA satellite the size of a suitcase, which aims to merge different observing systems and lead to more accurate mapping of Earth, launched July 7 from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard SpaceX’s Transport-17 mission. This novel CubeSat, known as the Geodetic Reference Instrument Transponder for Small Satellites, or GRITSS, will demonstrate the feasibility of a new technique for connecting three independent observing systems: the Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) stations, which use radio telescopes; GPS receivers, which use navigation satellites; and Satellite Laser Ranging, which relies on lasers to measure a distance from the ground to a retroreflector in space.   More
(Source: NASA - Jul 10)

SPACEX WANTS TO LAUNCH 100,000 STARLINK SATELLITES TO ORBIT - Elon Musk's company just filed an application with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to operate a 100,000-member constellation of "Gen3" satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). This will presumably be an updated version of SpaceX's Starlink broadband network, according to astronomer and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell, who reported the news via X today (July 9).   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 10)

SPACEX LAUNCHES FALCON 9 ROCKET ON RECORD-BREAKING 36TH FLIGHT - SpaceX broke another rocket reuse record Thursday morning when it launched its most-flown Falcon 9 booster for a 36th time. It flew in support of the Starlink 10-42 mission, which added another 29 broadband internet satellites to the company’s low Earth orbit constellation. SpaceX currently has more than 10,700 Starlink satellites in orbit. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 5:25 a.m. EDT (0925 UTC). The rocket flew on a north-easterly trajectory upon leaving the pad.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 10)

A SHOEBOX-SIZED SATELLITE COULD EXPOSE HIDDEN NUCLEAR WEAPONS IN SPACE - Space is supposed to be free of nuclear weapons, but there’s no way to check. A newly proposed technique could search for illicit nuclear weapons in orbit. Since 1967, nuclear weapons in space have been prohibited by the Outer Space Treaty, which has been ratified by 118 countries, including Russia and the United States.   More
(Source: Science News - Jul 9)

FIRE DETECTORS, MILITARY TECH DEMOS, 3D PRINTERS AMONG SPACEX RIDESHARE PAYLOADS LAUNCHING ON MIDNIGHT FALCON 9 FLIGHT - A SpaceX Falcon 9, launched from California, ferried dozens of customer satellites from around the world into a Sun-synchronous Earth orbit shortly after midnight local time on Tuesday. The Transporter-17 mission, with 81 payloads aboard, is part of the company’s Smallsat Rideshare Program, which also includes the mid-inclination Bandwagon missions as well as the dawn-dusk Sun-synchronous orbit Twilight flight.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jul 8)

EVEN ASTRONAUTS IN SPACE SAW AMERICA 250 FIREWORKS ON THE FOURTH OF JULY. SEE THEIR ISS VIEW OF LOS ANGELES - The U.S. just celebrated its 250th birthday, and Americans living off the planet had a great view of some of the parties down below. "The International Space Station orbited over Los Angeles on July 4th as America marked 250 years of independence with a burst of fireworks lighting up the city below — a celebration so bright it reached all the way to space!" NASA officials said on Monday (July 6) via the agency's ISS X account.   More
(Source: Space.com - Jul 8)

KOREA TO LAUNCH 4TH NEXT-GENERATION MEDIUM-SIZED SATELLITE FROM U.S. TUESDAY - Korea plans to launch its fourth medium-sized Earth observation satellite aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Monday, the space agency said. The Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA) said the 500-kilogram (1102-pound) satellite will be launched at 00:12 a.m. on Tuesday.    More
(Source: Korea JoongAng Daily - Jul 7)

SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING TEST BED FLIES ALONGSIDE STARLINK SATELLITES ON FALCON 9 LAUNCH - Two semiconductor fabrication test beds hitched a sub-orbital ride on the first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that launched another batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral shortly after sunrise Sunday. Liftoff of the Starlink 10-50 mission from Space Launch Complex 40 happened on 6:50 a.m. EDT (1050 UTC). Space Force meteorologists predicted an 85 percent chance of favorable weather for launch.   More
(Source: - Jul 6)

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