CHINESE KUAIZHOU-1A ROCKET LAUNCHES 4TH MISSION IN 18 DAYS - China sent a classified experimental satellite into orbit last week with yet another launch of the Kuaizhou-1A solid rocket. A Kuaizhou-1A lifted off from a transport erector launcher at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on Jan. 10 at 10:52 p.m. EST (0352 GMT and 11:52 a.m. Beijing time on Jan. 11). The rocket's operator, Expace, confirmed launch success within the hour, announcing the payload to be a satellite called Tianxing-1 (02). More (Source: Space.com - Jan 18)
SPACEX ORDERS 24-HOUR DELAY FOR COMMERCIAL SPACE STATION FLIGHT - SpaceX called off launch of its third commercial crew flight to the International Space Station Wednesday to allow more time for pre-flight data reviews. The flight, chartered by Houston-based Axiom Space, was reset for Thursday pending final analysis. The delay was announced as the flight’s four-man crew — retired astronaut Michael López-Alegría, Italian Walter Villadei, Swedish flier Marcus Wandt and Turkey’s Alper Gezeravci — were getting prepared for launch on a two-week research mission aboard the orbital outpost. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 17)
AIRBUS AND VOYAGER FINALIZE STARLAB JOINT VENTURE - Voyager Space and Airbus Defence and Space have finalized a partnership to develop the Starlab commercial space station, seeking to win customers for it from both sides of the Atlantic. The companies announced Jan. 9 that they completed the formation of Starlab Space LLC, the joint venture responsible for the design, construction and operation of the station. The companies announced plans to create the joint venture in August. “This joint venture solidifies our unwavering commitment to reimagining the future of commercial space alongside Voyager, anchoring Starlab to European and American ambitions and pioneering the future of humanity in space,” said Jean-Marc Nasr, head of space systems at Airbus, in a statement. More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 17)
SPACEX READIES FALCON 9 FOR COMMERCIAL FLIGHT TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION - An international four-man crew strapped into a SpaceX capsule atop a Falcon 9 rocket at the Kennedy Space Center Tuesday for a dress-rehearsal countdown that sets the stage for launch Wednesday on a privately-funded research mission to the International Space Station. Retired NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría, Italian co-pilot Walter Villadei, European Space Agency astronaut Marcus Wandt of Sweden, and Turkey's Alper Gezeravci, spent the afternoon rehearsing launch-day procedures aboard their Crew Dragon spacecraft before departing the pad to clear the way for an engine test firing. More (Source: CBS News - Jan 17)
SHUTTING DOWN THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: NASA'S BOLD PLANS TO LAND OUTPOST IN OCEAN - The International Space Station has been continuously occupied by spacefarers from countries around the world for the last two decades, but it's time among the cosmos won't last forever. Even now, NASA is laying the groundwork for plans to safely deorbit and land the low-Earth orbit space station, the largest of its kind ever built. Private companies have until Feb. 12 to submit design proposals for "a new or modified spacecraft using a large amount of propellant" that in the years ahead, will be tasked with docking with the space station and safely crashing it into an ocean. More (Source: USA Today - Jan 17)
SDA TO ACQUIRE SATELLITES WITH CUSTOM PAYLOADS TO ENABLE FASTER TARGETING ON BATTLEFIELDS - The Space Development Agency is gearing up for its next procurement of satellites for a military communications network known as the Transport Layer Tranche 2. SDA, an agency under the U.S. Space Force, plans to acquire 20 satellites carrying a new type of payload to transmit targeting information. SDA documents describe the payload, dubbed Warlock, as a communications node “specifically designed to close future kill chains.” More (Source: SpaceNews - Jan 16)
STARLINK CLOSE ENCOUNTERS DECREASE DESPITE EVER-GROWING NUMBER OF SATELLITES - SpaceX has reported that the number of close encounters between its satellites and other orbital objects has not increased in the past six months despite the constellation's growth. Space sustainability experts say the development is good news but warn the decrease in avoidance maneuvers is likely just a deviation from what has been a longer-term upward trend. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 16)
MEET THE 4 ASTRONAUTS OF SPACEX'S AX-3 LAUNCH FOR AXIOM SPACE - Houston-based Axiom Space is poised for the company's third private astronaut launch to space. Ax-3 will carry a four-person, all-European crew on a roughly two-week mission to conduct research aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The quartet includes Ax-3 mission commander and former NASA astronaut Michael "LA" López-Alegría, mission specialist Walter Villadei, who also flew aboard Virgin Galactic's Galactic 01 suborbital spaceflight as VIRTUTE 1 mission commander last summer, Turkey's soon-to-be first astronaut, Alper Gezeravcı and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut reserve member Marcus Wandt. More (Source: Space.com - Jan 16)
SPACEX LAUNCHES FALCON 9 LAUNCH FOLLOWING SATURDAY NIGHT SCRUB - The second time will be the charm for SpaceX as it was able to launch its Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Sunday evening among the clouds. It launched at 8:52 p.m. EST (0152 UTC) on Sunday, Jan. 14, from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station following a Saturday night scrub. The company was launching at a rate of about every four days or so from the Cape towards the end of 2023. However, the launch cadence on the East Coast has slowed somewhat with one of the two Florida-based droneships, ‘Just Read the Instructions,’ still on the sidelines after it was damaged during a booster recovery in late December. More (Source: SpaceFlight Now - Jan 15)
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