SSI News
Roscosmos “hijacks” German eRosita instrument on Spektr-RG astronomy satellite then Rogozin demands far worse
Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency and conglomerate, has taken what is thought to be the illegal step of unilaterally ordering the switching on of a spacecraft instrument it does not own. The German Max Planck Institute ordered its eRosita instrument on Russia’s Spektr...
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) suffers main mirror segment damage after micrometeoroid strike
NASA has reported that a micrometeoroid strike has caused some damage to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The largest of five meteoroid strikes since its December 2021 launch occurred between 23 and 25 May, causing damage to one segment (segment C3) of its 6 m...
SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Nilesat 301 into super-synchronous transfer orbit
SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 from Cape Canaveral, USA at 2104 GMT on 8 June 2022. The launch vehicle carried Nilesat 301, an Egyptian telecommunication satellite on its way to its geostationary operational orbit. To save fuel for its later...
Russian cargo freighter launched on Soyuz rocket docks with International Space Station
A Russian cargo freighter was successfully launched on a Soyuz 2.1a launch vehicle from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan at 0932 GMT on 3 June. The freighter, called Progress MS-20, was put on a fast-track, two-orbit rendezvous path with the International Space Station...
Movie Review – Top Gun: Maverick’s “633 Squadron” plan is very good but whatever happened to “Charlie”?
For those of us who were teenage boys when it was released, Tony Scott’s Top Gun (1986) was an inspirational movie that made us all, briefly, want to be fighter pilots. It told the story of a rebellious, slightly childish, young US Navy aviator, in the form of Tom...
Blue Origin completes fifth human “crewed” suborbital mission
Blue Origin successfully launched its suborbital vehicle New Shepard NS-21 from Texas, USA at 1325 GMT on 4 June 2022. The crewed vehicle carried six people - actually participants rather than a crew - on its autonomous mission to suborbital space and back. The paying...
China launches three more “Taikonauts” to its space station on Shenzhou 14
The Chinese successfully launched a Long March 2F/G (CZ-2F/G) launch vehicle from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre, China at 0244 GMT on 5 June 2022. The vehicle was carrying Shenzhou 14, a crewed spaceflight to the Tiangong space station. Three astronauts (dubbed...
China launches nine GeeSAT satellites on Long March 2C rocket
Under the auspices of China Great Wall Industry Corp (CGWIC), the commercial launch provider and turnkey services arm of China Aerospace Science & Technology Corporation (CASC), a commercial flight of the Long March 2C (3) (CZ-2C (3)) rocket lifted off from the...
Fundraising continues internationally for newspace companies
Astrocast/Hiber Swiss satellite-IoT provider Astrocast SA revealed plans on 30 May to purchase European compatriot and fellow IoT services provider Hiber Global, of the Netherlands. Astrocast is currently working towards a second IPO, on the Euronext Growth Paris...
USSF allocates eight “national security” launches from previous multi-launch contracts to ULA and SpaceX
The USSF (United States Space Force) Space Systems Command has formally allocated the eight launches from the previous National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 2 launch service agreement signed in August 2020 with United Launch Alliance (ULA) and SpaceX. The...
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