SpaceX launch 51 Starlinks from Vandenberg AFB
SpaceX launched 51 Starlink satellites on Tuesday, 14 September at 0355 GMT from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. This was the tenth launch and landing of this Falcon 9 first stage booster (B1049). The first stage then...
Astronauts prepare the ISS for next solar upgrade
Astronauts Akihiko Hoshide of JAXA and Thomas Pesquet of ESA switched their spacesuits to battery power at 1215 GMT on 12 September to begin their spacewalk from the Quest airlock. During the mission the astronauts had to install a “mod kit” at the base of the 4A...
Arianespace conducts second Vega launch of 2021 carrying another new Pleiades Neo satellite
A Vega rocket lifted-off from the European Spaceport, French Guiana, carrying the Pleiades Neo 4 reconnaissance satellite plus four small co-payloads at 0147 GMT on 17 August. The payloads were carried to sun-synchronous low Earth orbit and were sequentially deployed...
Astra Space receives launch contracts from USSF and Spire and looks ahead to next mission
During August aspiring launch provider Astra Space has announced two new launch contracts and its next orbital attempt later in the month. On 5 August it was awarded a dual contract to conduct two launches carrying United States Space Force (USSF) technology...
ISRO loses GEO imaging sat during launch after GSLV suffers an upper stage anomaly
In what was just the second Indian launch of the year, following on from a PSLV mission in February, a GSLV 2 rocket has suffered a launch failure destroying its satellite payload. The rocket lifted-off at 0013 GMT on 12 August from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre,...
When it comes to spaceflight “wings” are not quite what they used to be
The recent decision by the FAA not to award "astronaut wings" to suborbital space tourist "passengers" of Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic commercial astronaut carrying operations has caused controversy, not least because many would-be astronauts were very attracted by...
Cygnus heads for ISS while Starliner remains grounded
Northrop Grumman launched a Cygnus resupply spacecraft on one of its Antares launch vehicles from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at the Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, on 10 August. It was the company’s 16th cargo resupply mission under NASA contract and will...
UK Gov orders LEO sat to evaluate optical communications for military purposes
The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) has contracted for an optical communications satellite to help facilitate its adoption among the UK Armed Forces. The contract was awarded on 9 August and went to UK-based In-Space Missions. The satellite is to be known as Titania, and...
Is unbelievable space adventure Moonraker the most influential James Bond adventure? Well maybe…on the rocket ignition front
An article by Tom Fordy in the Daily Telegraph declared the James Bond space-plotted movie Moonraker (1979) as the most influential of 007's adventures, both to other movie makers (yes some scenes from it have been stolen by others), but also because its deranged...
SpaceX proposes to buy CubeSat constellation builder Swarm Technologies
It appears that on 16 July SpaceX approached Swarm Technologies with a purchase offer that would see it become a "direct wholly-owned subsidiary" of SpaceX. The deal was revealed in a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filing concerning the transfer of ownership...