SSI News
Close but no cigar (again): like its predecessor Starship SN9 test flight goes well until explosive crash landing fires up FAA controversy further
Just as the Starship SN8 test launch ended in an explosive landing failure in December – after all the hard bits of the flight – so the same has happened to its successor, Starship SN9. After a few days’ delay due to a flight safety waiver dispute with the Federal...
Russian Soyuz rocket launches Lotus-S ELINT satelllite
In snowy conditions, a Russian Soyuz 2-1b has launched the Lotos-S 5 electronic intelligence satellite into low Earth orbit at 2045 GMT on 2 February from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia. The satellite, which has now been given the military codename Cosmos...
Businessman offers up US$100 million to part fund charity spaceflight on SpaceX Crew Dragon/Falcon 9 combo
The businessman/entrepreneur Jared Isaacman, 37, who is founder and CEO of Shift4 Payments, has chartered a SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to low-Earth orbit for a human flight in aid of charity. The US$300 million mission, which will take place in late 2021, will carry...
Another day another EVA…this time to change out a battery plus some cameras
Two spacewalking astronauts took part in "extra vehicular activity" EVA-70 from the International Space Station (ISS) on 1 February 2021. The astronauts Mike Hopkins and Victor Glover had the main role of replacing a battery and installing three cameras. Astronauts...
Iran makes suborbital test flight of its new Zoljanah-1 launch vehicle
Iranian media has announced the first launch of a new Iranian launch vehicle called Zoljanah-1. Although the exact date has not been disclosed, the launch occurred during January. The 25.5m-long three-stage launch vehicle was apparently launched on a suborbital test...
Upgraded Hyperbola-1 rocket goes out of control during first-stage firing (Updated)
Following a successful maiden flight, the Hyperbola-1 (aka SQX-1 – Shian Quxian-1) launch vehicle suffered a launch failure on its second flight from Jiuquan in China. It lifted off successfully at 0815 GMT on 1 February 2021. However, the four-stage solid rocket went...
China launches suspected naval intelligence satellite triplet
China conducted a Long March 4C launch at 0447 GMT, 29 January from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Northern China. This mission placed the second YAOGAN 31 satellite triplet into LEO. These satellites are officially for carrying out "electromagnetic environment...
ISS spacewalkers attached a new Ka-band antenna but there were connector problems
On 27 January 2021, two NASA spacewalkers conducted an extra vehicular activity to made some significant modifications to the International Space Station (ISS). Astronauts Victor Hopkins and Mike Glover began their spacewalk with the Quest air lock hatch being opened...
SXM-7 payload failure is a bad start to the year for space insurance market
Sirius-XM Radio announced on 27 January that its SXM-7 satellite, which was launched by a Falcon 9 rocket on 13 December 2021, had suffered a major failure on its payload. Seradata understands that a failure during in-orbit testing resulted in the loss one of the...
Dutch military CubeSat to fly with Virgin Orbit on upcoming mission
The Royal Netherlands Air Force has - through its satellite manufacturer ISISpace - secured a slot on a March 2021 mission of the Virgin Orbit LauncherOne rocket. The contract was signed on 25 January and will see the 6U-CubeSat - known as BRIK-II - included in the...
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