Blue Origin’s New Shepard rubs Virgin Galactic’s nose in it by achieving Karman line spaceflight yet again
On its twelfth flight and eighth spaceflight, the Blue Origin New Shepard suborbital rocket ship blasted off Earth from near Van Horn, West Texas, at 1753 GMT, on 11 December 2019, to achieve an altitude of 104.5 km (65 miles). In doing so it again breached the...
India launches four booster -QL version of PSLV rocket with 10 sats aboard
India successfully launched a PSLV QL at 0955 on 11 December 2019, from its Sriharikota launch site. The launch was carrying 10 spacecraft. The main satellite payload was the 628 kg RISAT 2BR1 radar imaging satellite for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). ...
Russia launches Glonass M59 navsat
Russia launched the Glonass M59 satellite navigation satellitle into medium Earth orbit on a Soyuz 2-1B Fregat M launch vehicle at 0854 GMT on 11 December 2019 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Northern Russia. The satellite will be placed into plane 1 slot 4 of the...
Comment: Elon Musk has a lucky Twitter escape
SpaceX and Tesla Billionaire Elon Musk pulled off a surprising victory in after being sued in a court case involving the alleged defamation of veteran British diving expert Vernon Unsworth after Musk called Unsworth as a "Pedo guy" on Twitter. This was during a spat...
On a sadder note: “The Few” get fewer as Battle of Britain veteran Maurice Mounsdon passes away at 101
Flight Lieutenant Maurice Moundson has passed away at the age 101. As an RAF fighter pilot flying a multi-machine gun armed Hawker Hurricane in the World War II "Battle of Britain" in 1940, he had a probable "kill" when he destroyed a Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber....
Rocket Lab completes tenth Electron launch carrying several small satellites to orbit
Lifting-off at 0818 GMT, 6 December 2019, the tenth Electron rocket from Rocket Lab has carried seven satellites in to orbit. The mission took place from the Rocket Lab facility in the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, on its way to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This is the...
China’s “private” launch industry has bit between its teeth as it launches two Kuaizhou 1A rockets in one day
China's launch industry had a filip this month when it successfully launched two Kuaizhou 1A (KZ-1A) (aka Feitian 1) launch vehicles on "commercial" launches from the same launch site in a single day. The "commercial" Exspace company (a subsidiary of CASIC) operated...
SpaceX launches Dragon CRS-19 mission to the ISS with CubeSats inside
Launching from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 1729 GMT, 5 December 2019, a Falcon 9 rocket has carried the Dragon CRS-19 (CRS1-19) mission to the ISS. This mission was part of the Commercial ReSupply 1 (CRS1) contract between SpaceX and NASA. The Dragon capsule was...
After court case is settled, the Inmarsat takeover and delisting takes place
The UK-based mobile communications satellite operator Inmarsat has formally delisted on the London Stock Exchange after a US$3.3 billion buy-out which had been delayed by a court case. In the end, the acquisition by the Connect Bidco consortium involving Apax,...
Soyuz launches Progress MS-13 cargo vessel on way to ISS but it has to wait for Dragon CRS-19
Russia successfully launched the Progress MS-13 unmanned cargo spacecraft on a Soyuz 2-1A at 0934 GMT on 6 December from the Baikonur Space Centre near Tyuratam in Kazakhstan. The Progress MS-13 is a resupply mission will be taking supplies to the International Space...
