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TWIRL 115: SpaceX and Axiom Space to send astronauts to ISS for a week
zikalify posted a topic in Front Page News
TWIRL 115: SpaceX and Axiom Space to send astronauts to ISS for a week by Paul Hill We have a super busy week ahead of us in rocket launches. You can peruse the schedule at your own leisure below but I would recommend taking a look at the Falcon 9 launch on Sunday as it will be a manned mission to the ISS and an interesting one at that. Sunday, May 21 Kinetica 1 The first launch this week is CAS Space’s Kinetica 1 rocket. This launch was meant to happen last week but got delayed. If the launch goes ahead, it will be the second time the Kinetica 1 rocket has ever flown and will be carrying the Fucheng 1 and Luojia 2-01 satellites to orbit. The mission is set to take off at 8:40 a.m. UTC from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. It’s not expected that there will be a stream of the event but we should have footage in next week’s recap. Falcon 9 Next up, also taking place on Sunday, is the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying the Ax-2 Crew Dragon. The company is working with Axiom Space to send several astronauts to the International Space Station for a week. The crew includes Axiom astronaut Peggy Whitson, Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali AlQarni, and private astronaut John Shoffner. The mission will blast off at 9:37 p.m. UTC from Florida and will be streamed live. Monday, May 22 Falcon 9 On Monday morning at 3:25 a.m. UTC, SpaceX will launch another Falcon 9, this time carrying the Arabsat 7B communications satellite. It’s being launched for the Saudi Arabian company Arabsat, into a geostationary orbit. The satellite will be launched from Cape Canaveral and will provide communications coverage across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The launch will take place from Cape Canaveral and will be broadcast on SpaceX’s website. Electron Later on Monday, at 5:30 a.m. UTC, Rocket Lab will launch an Electron rocket carrying NASA’s TROPICS satellites. Rocket Lab orbited two other TROPICS satellites a few weeks ago, but these are additional satellites. The event should be streamed on the company’s website closer to the event. As the name suggests, these satellites will be used to measure the environmental and inner-core conditions of tropical cyclones around the world. Wednesday, May 24 Nuri The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) is up first on Wednesday with the launch of its Nuri rocket carrying eight satellites to orbit. The mission is set to launch at 9:24 a.m. UTC from the Naro Space Centre and the launch will be streamed on YouTube. The launch will orbit several satellites including NEXTSat 2 and four satellites developed by the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute codenamed SNIPE. There will also be secondary payloads, mainly CubeSats. Soyuz 2.1a The final launch on Wednesday is Roscosmos’ Soyuz 2.1a which will carry the 84th Progress cargo delivery ship to the International Space Station. This mission is set for 12:56 p.m. UTC from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It’s not clear whether there will be a live stream of the event but there should be a recap video next week. Friday, May 26 Soyuz 2.1a The final launch of the week is yet another Roscosmos Soyuz 2.1a rocket. This time it will be launching the Kondor-FKA radar Earth observation satellite for the Russian Ministry of Defence. There are also going to be several secondary payloads launched that will be managed by Glavkosmos. The Kondor-FKA satellite is a civilian radar Earth observation satellite and has an expected life expectancy of five years. Recap The first launch we got last week was a SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites to a low Earth orbit. The first stage of the rocket also landed on a droneship ready for reuse. Next up, China launched one of its Long March 3B rockets carrying a backup BeiDou-3 navigation satellite that phones around the world could connect with to find their location. On Friday, SpaceX launches set another batch of Starlink satellites atop a Falcon 9. The last mission we got was a third Falcon 9, this time carrying OneWeb and Iridium satellites to space. OneWeb satellites will be used to beam internet connectivity to the Earth. That’s all for this week, check in next time. -
NASA demos futuristic Space Cup for coffee that works without gravity
Aditya Tiwari posted a topic in Front Page News
NASA demos futuristic Space Cup for coffee that works without gravity by Aditya Tiwari Astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti drinking coffee from Space Cup |. Source: NASA Astronauts living in space have already demonstrated the bizarre ways they eat food and drink liquids. But now, NASA seems to have cracked the code for a more earth-like coffee experience with its futuristic Space Cup which it demoed recently. According to NASA, these Space Cups are specially designed mugs that use the concepts of fluid dynamics to mimic the effects of gravity in space. The demo video shows astronaut Nicole Mann pouring coffee from a pouch into a Space Cup. What we see next is that the liquid doesn't spill out of the mug even when she goes on to flip the mug upside down. Classic cappuccino, meet the space cup. ☕🤝 This demo shows the Capillary Beverage investigation which studies the process of drinking from specially designed Space Cups that use fluid dynamics to mimic the effect of gravity. https://t.co/xFGFTva2Bw pic.twitter.com/M7TQmIwlrC — ISS Research (@ISS_Research) March 2, 2023 The demo is part of NASA's Capillary Flow Experiment and the agency has been working on the futuristic space tech for more than a decade now. Its patent granted in 2011 is shared by astronaut Don Pettit with mathematicians Paul Concus and Robert Finns. The agency says its specially-designed cup "uses the combined effects of surface tension, wetting, and cup geometry" instead of relying on gravity, and allows the astronauts to drink the liquid easily. For that, all they need to do is place their mouth on the narrow top part of the Space Cup and coffee automatically gets pulled into their mouth due to capillary action. Some common examples of the anti-gravity capillary action are how the water moves upwards through tissue paper when placed on a surface of water, or how water travels upwards through plants from their roots. NASA expects these Capillary Beverage studies could make drinking easier in microgravity and also reduce the weight and size of liquid bags sent to space. Speaking of the drinks served in the space, they include water, juice, tea, coffee, cocoa, and others. And a part of the experiment is to monitor the drinking experience of these liquids. However, NASA believes the Space Cup design could also have potential applications on earth in the field of medical research and drug delivery. Via: Mashable -
TWIRL 103: SpaceX to dominate this week's schedule with Falcon 9 launches
zikalify posted a topic in Front Page News
TWIRL 103: SpaceX to dominate this week's schedule with Falcon 9 launches by Paul Hill We’re nearing the end of February so This Week in Rocket Launches is back as promised at the end of the last edition. This week, we have several launches, all SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets. The missions involve taking people to space, orbiting more Starlink satellites, and helping OneWeb get more of its internet-beaming satellites to space. Monday, February 27 The first launch on Monday is a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew Dragon spacecraft which will head to the International Space Station (ISS). The launch is part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) and will ferry NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen, Woody Hoburg, UAE astronaut Sultan Al-Neyadi, and Russian cosmonaut Andrei Fedyaev to the ISS. This mission was brought forward from March but was delayed from February 15, 19, and 26. It’ll launch at 6:45 a.m. UTC from Florida and will be available to watch on SpaceX’s website. The second launch on Monday is due between 6:37 a.m. and 7:15 a.m. UTC from Cape Canaveral where SpaceX will launch another Falcon 9, this time carrying Starlink satellites. This batch of 20-30 Gen2 Starlink “Mini” satellites will be known as Starlink Group 6-1 and can be found on satellite tracking apps under this designation. As mentioned previously, these satellites are covered in anti-reflective paint which should make them less of a hindrance to astronomers. Use the link to SpaceX’s website above to watch this launch too. The third and final launch on Monday is yet another Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites. Included in this batch are 49 Block 1.5 Starlink satellites, rather than the “Mini” variants, however, these will also come with an anti-reflective coating. This launch will take place in California, the other side of the U.S., at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The launch will occur around 12 hours after the other two at 7:31 p.m. UTC and will be available to stream in the same place on SpaceX’s website. Wednesday, March 1 The final launch of the week takes place on Wednesday. It’ll be yet another Falcon 9 taking off from Cape Canaveral, this time at 7:44 p.m. This mission will see 40 OneWeb satellites sent into orbit and is designated OneWeb L17. The launch should be available to stream on SpaceX’s website and possibly OneWeb’s website too. Recap The first launch we had this week took place on Thursday. A Long March 3B rocket took off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province carrying the ChinaSat 26 which is described as a high-throughput satellite with a capacity of more than 100 Gbps. The second and final launch we saw took place on Friday when Russia launched a Soyuz 2.1a carrying Soyuz MS-23 to the space station. The mission was uncrewed but was transporting provisions for the astronauts aboard the ISS. Soyuz MS-23 will return to Earth later this year with Sergey Prokopyev, Dmitri Petelin, and Frank Rubio. That’s all for this week, be sure to check in next time! -
space General Space Discussion (Thread 1)
Unobscured Vision posted a topic in Science News & Discussion
Since we enjoy discussing general Space-related matters (politics, business, conjecture, etc), I thought it would be appropriate to create a dedicated thread for that very purpose. Now we can express all the hyperbole we want without fear of "getting off-topic", because it is the topic! Let's spin the turbopump, shall we? -
TWIRL 85: SpaceX set to take four astronauts to the ISS this week
zikalify posted a topic in Front Page News
TWIRL 85: SpaceX set to take four astronauts to the ISS this week by Paul Hill Following the Hurricane that passed through Florida last week, several launches that were scheduled were pushed back onto this week. These launches plus the ones that were already scheduled for this week make for a packed schedule. Possibly the most notable launch this week is a Falcon 9 taking off from Florida at 4:00 p.m. UTC carrying the Dragon 2 spacecraft housing two NASA astronauts, one JAXA astronaut, and a Russian cosmonaut. Monday, October 3 On Monday, we have a familiar Starlink satellite launch. This batch is Starlink Group 4-29 and consists of 52 satellites. SpaceX will be launching the satellites atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Once the first stage has done its job of getting the rocket off the ground, it will land back down on the surface ready for reuse. By launching more of these satellites, SpaceX is improving the coverage of its satellite-based internet connectivity. The launch will be streamed, as usual, on the SpaceX website. It’s due to take off at 11:56 p.m. UTC from California. Tuesday, October 4 Next up, we have the launch of United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Atlas V carrying the SES 20 and SES 21 communications satellites. They will be placed in a geosynchronous orbit for SES, where they will provide C-band television and data services over the United States. The mission will launch from Florida at 9:36 p.m. UTC and will be streamed on the ULA website. Wednesday, October 5 On Wednesday, we’ll have two launches. The first of those is a Falcon 9 carrying the Dragon 2 spacecraft, which will head to the International Space Station with four people aboard. NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada will be joined by JAXA’s Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos’ Anna Kikina. The mission is scheduled to take off at 4:00 p.m. UTC and will be streamed on YouTube and likely on SpaceX’s website too. The mission will launch from Florida. An hour later, Rocket Lab will launch an Electron rocket carrying the GAzelle (OTB 3) satellite and will be operating by General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems Group to perform experiments for customers. In typical Rocket Labs fashion, the mission has been given a fun name, this time it’s ‘It Argos Up From Here’. Argos is a reference to the Argos 4 Advanced Data Collection System, the largest payload on OTB 3. The Argos 4 A-DCS mission will collect data from thousands of sensors around the world. This mission will launch from New Zealand and will be viewable on the Rocket Lab website. Thursday, October 6 Like Wednesday, Thursday will deliver two rocket launches. The first of these is set to take off at 11:07 p.m. from Florida. SpaceX will launch another Falcon 9 carrying the Galaxy 33 and Galaxy 34 communication satellites for Intelsat. These two satellites were built by Northrop Grumman and will provide C-ban video and television broadcasts to the United States from a geostationary orbit. You’ll be able to tune in to the launch on SpaceX’s website. The second launch will be a Long March 2D rocket carrying the Advanced Space-based Solar Observatory (ASO-S) called Kuafu. As the name suggests, this observatory will be dedicated to solar physics. It’ll be the first time that China has launched a satellite for the study of Solar physics. The rocket will carry other payloads too including Jinzijing 3-6, Qilu 2-3, Jinzijing-Qilu, Luojia 3-01, Beiyou 1, and Tianzhi 2D. This mission will launch at 11:40 p.m. UTC, but there likely won’t be a live video feed. Friday, October 7 The final mission of the week will see Japan launch an Epsilon rocket carrying the RAISE 3 demo satellite. Secondary payloads include QPS-SAR 3 and 4 as well as several CubeSats called MAGNARO, MITSUBA, KOSEN 2, WASEDA-SAT-ZERO, and FSI-SAT. This mission will launch at 12:47 a.m. UTC. You can check this mission profile video if you want to learn more. Recap The first launch we got last week was a Long March 2D carrying three Yaogan-36 satellites from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. These will perform land surveys, monitor disasters, and assess crop yields among other things. Next, we got footage of the DART spacecraft hitting an asteroid to try and alter its course. We mentioned the launch of this mission way back in TWIRL 40, released in November 2021. Next, China launched a Long March 6 carrying more surveying satellites called Shiyan-16A, Shiyan-16B, and Shiyan-17. Similar to the Yaogan-36 satellites, these will perform Earth observation duties. As mentioned at the top of the article, Hurricane Ian passed through Florida a few days ago and the ISS caught some footage of it from space. Next, Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev and Sergey Korsakov left the ISS. Following their departure, they speedily got back down safely to Earth. Lastly, Firefly Aerospace launched its second Alpha rocket, which deployed some small satellites into orbit. That’s all we’ve got this week, be sure to check in next time. -
Fact: eventually, the International Space Station will be retired and NASA wants to use commercial space stations in low Earth orbit instead. These would be commercial entities, privately operated. Want to use it? Reserve the time and book your space launch. Result: NASA has selected Axiom Space to lead the way. Axiom Space is a private space company headquartered in Houston, Texas. Fouded and run by NASA veterans, https://www.axiomspace.com/ Axiom Space CEO: Michael Suffredini, former Program Manager ISS Program (2005-2015) Axiom Space VP: Michael Lopez-Alegria, former NASA Astronaut among others... the goals are, 1) fly commercial passengers to the International Space Station, initially using the Crew Dragon spacecraft then others as they become available. The customers would be those doing commercial or government experiments, private visitors, etc. The missions will be named AX-1, AX-2, etc. 2) launch the Axiom Node One module to the ISS in 2024, then expand. AxN1 is under construction in Europe at Thales Alenia Space. This would be followed by several other modules, roughly one every year. The AX-(n) mission crews would move into these habitats. 3) in the late 2020's these modules will disconnect from the ISS, becoming a free-flying commercial Axiom Station. AX-1 mission The commercial Crew Dragon AX-1 mission to ISS is currently scheduled for January, 2022. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/26/axiom-space-unveils-ax-1-crew-for-fully-private-spacex-mission-to-iss.html Note: besides AX-1, there will be another commercial Crew Dragon flight for Space Adventures. Commander: Michael Lopez-Alegria (US, former NASA astronaut, Axiom VP) Pilot: Larry Connor (US; managing partner Connor Group) Mission Specialist 1: Mark Pathy (Canada; CEO Mavrik Inc.) Mission Specialist 2: Eytan Stibbe (Israel; businessman, former IAF pilot)
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Russia confirms it is leaving ISS to build successor to permanent space outpost Mir
Alap Naik Desai posted a topic in Front Page News
Russia confirms it is leaving ISS to build successor to permanent space outpost Mir by Alap Naik Desai Russia will sever ties with the International Space Station (ISS), confirmed the country’s new newly appointed space chief. Roscosmos administrator Yuri Borisov, however, has reaffirmed that Russia will fulfill its obligations to its partners before floating away in 2024. Reaffirming his predecessor’s statements, Borisov stated that Russia took the call to withdraw from the International Space Station after 2024. He implied the withdrawal was primarily due to the heightened tensions with the West. “The decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made” To fulfill its obligations, Russian cosmonauts will remain aboard the ISS for at least the next two and a half years. Incidentally, NASA and Roscosmos had recently signed an agreement to swap seats on flights to the ISS starting in September. Russia has confirmed it will abide by the contractual agreements. Accordingly, NASA astronauts (and cargo) will be able to travel to the ISS onboard Russia’s Soyuz flights. On the other hand, Russian cosmonauts will travel on SpaceX Crew Dragon missions. According to previous agreements between NASA and Roscosmos, at least one American and one Russian have to always be on board the ISS to ensure the orbiting outpost runs smoothly. Both the countries operate on opposite ends of the outpost, which has been continuously occupied since November 2000. Russia is no stranger to maintaining its own space station. The country had Mir, a low-orbit space station launched by USSR. The outpost operated from 1986 to 2001. Building an entirely new one is certainly a very costly endeavor. It is not clear if Russia could prioritize building a space station, especially after sinking a lot of capital to fund its invasion of Ukraine. Source: Associated Press -
TWIRL 68: SpaceX's Dragon 2 craft to take cargo to the space station
zikalify posted a topic in Front Page News
TWIRL 68: SpaceX's Dragon 2 craft to take cargo to the space station by Paul Hill We have two rocket launches in the upcoming week, both of which will be performed by SpaceX. The first launch is due on Wednesday and the second will take place on Friday. The second of these events will be the most interesting of the two as a Dragon 2 craft will be sent to the space station carrying cargo. Wednesday, June 8 The first launch of the week will be a Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket carrying the Nilesat 301 communications satellite. The satellite will be operated by the Egyptian firm Nilesat who will use it to provide internet connectivity services. The satellite was built by Thales Alenia Space and will be placed in a geostationary transfer orbit. It was delayed from April 30 and should be streamed by SpaceX on its website. Friday, June 10 The second and final launch of the week is yet another Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket but this time it will be carrying the SpaceX Dragon 2 craft which itself will be hauling cargo up to the International Space Station to resupply resources for astronauts working there. This mission is being conducted as part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract which is now in its second phase. Recap The first launch we got this week was a Long March 2C carrying the Geely Constellation Group 01 satellites. They are nine low Earth orbit remote sensing and comms satellites. Next up, while not a launch, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover sent back footage of dust devils in Jezero Crater on Mars. This fantastic footage really brings a new perspective to the planet which normally seems so dead and motionless. The second launch we saw this week was a Soyuz 2.1a carrying the Progress MS-20 spacecraft which was heading to the ISS carrying cargo. It took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Here is footage of Progress MS-20 docking with the ISS. Finally, Blue Origin carried out its Blue Origin NS-21 mission carrying several private space tourists including Evan Dick who has already been up on New Shepard before. To conclude, China could send its Shenzhou 14 mission to its space station tomorrow and we’ll be sure to update this post with footage if we get it. -
TWIRL 61: Rocket Lab set to catch the first stage of an Electron rocket with a helicopter
zikalify posted a topic in Front Page News
TWIRL 61: Rocket Lab set to catch the first stage of an Electron rocket with a helicopter by Paul Hill We have a fairly eventful week ahead of us with SpaceX planning one Starlink launch and a crewed launch to the International Space Station. The most unusual thing happening this week, though, is Rocket Lab’s attempt to catch the first stage of its Electron rocket using something called an air-catch recovery where a helicopter essentially catches the first stage of the rocket as it parachutes back down to the surface. Thursday, April 21 The first launch of the week is SpaceX’s Falcon 9 carrying 53 Starlink satellites to space. Together, the total weight of the payload will come in at 16.25 tonnes with each satellite weighing about 305kg. Once in orbit, SpaceX will be able to use these satellites to improve the coverage of its Starlink internet network. As always, the event will be available to watch live on the SpaceX website. The launch is set for 3:16 p.m. UTC from Cape Canaveral. Friday, April 22 The second launch of the week, and definitely one of the most interesting, is Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket. This mission, which is called ‘There and Back Again’, will be carrying 34 commercial payloads from various customers. The most interesting aspect of this mission, however, are the plans to recover the first stage of the rocket using an air-catch recovery with a helicopter. Unlike SpaceX’s rockets which land back on the pad using the power of their engines, Rocket Lab plans to bring down the first stage by parachute where a helicopter will use a mechanism to pick it up and fly it back to the surface. This could lead to a safer and less bumpy rocket recovery. You can see an air-catch recovery test that the firm previous carried out below: Saturday, April 23 The final mission of the week will see SpaceX launch a Falcon 9 topped with the Crew Dragon capsule. The Crew-4 Dragon mission is being carried out as part of NASA’s commercial crew program (CCP) and will see three NASA astronauts and one ESA astronaut carried up to the International Space Station. The mission is scheduled to launch at 9:26 a.m. UTC from Florida. You can watch the event via NASA’s YouTube channel on the day. Recap The first launch last week was China’s Long March-3B carrying the ZhongXing-6D satellite. It’s a comms satellite that will provide television and communications services. Next up, a Chinese Long March-4C carried the Atmospheric Environment Monitoring Satellite (AEMS) into orbit where it will do work to detect carbon dioxide using a laser. Finally, SpaceX used a Falcon 9 to carry up the National Reconnaissance Office’s NROL-85 mission. The details of the satellite are classified and during the stream, SpaceX said that the NRO had asked it not to stream the upper stage after the first stage undocked. -
TWIRL 59: Axiom Space's manned mission to the ISS delayed until Wednesday
zikalify posted a topic in Front Page News
TWIRL 59: Axiom Space's manned mission to the ISS delayed until Wednesday by Paul Hill Last week, we were supposed to get two manned missions. The Blue Origin mission launched successfully but the Axiom Space mission to the ISS got delayed. Instead, it will launch on Wednesday, April 6. This is the only launch penned in at the time of writing, there was going to be a Long March launching too but that has been scrubbed. Wednesday, April 6 The sole mission taking place this week is the Axiom Space manned mission to the space station. A Falcon 9 carrying the Crew Dragon spacecraft Endeavour will blast off from Florida at 4:05 p.m. UTC carrying four Axiom astronauts: Michael Lopez-Alegria, Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Eytan Stibbe. This will be the first private mission to the ISS where they will spend a week before coming back down to Earth. You should be able to watch the launch on the Axiom Space website on the day. Recap The first rocket launched in the last week was a Long March 6A, it was carrying a four-tonne payload into a Sun-synchronous orbit. Next up, a Long March 11 orbited three satellites; the Tianping 2A, 2B, and 2C. These satellites will carry out atmospheric space environment surveys and perform orbital prediction model corrections. The third flight was that of Blue Origin’s New Shepard carrying several people up to the edge of space, you can see highlights of the event below. Finally, SpaceX’s Transporter-4 mission carrying several satellites took off. -
TWIRL 58: Two private-sector manned missions are due this week
zikalify posted a topic in Front Page News
TWIRL 58: Two private-sector manned missions are due this week by Paul Hill We had many unexciting weeks in terms of rocket launches this year but things are about to change. Interestingly, we’ve got two manned missions from the private sector. The first is another Blue Origin’s New Shepard mission and the other will see Axiom Space astronauts ride SpaceX’s Crew Dragon to the space station where they will spend the week. Unfortunately, this crew won’t reach the ISS until Sunday and on Wednesday, three astronauts will be leaving the space station after a year-long mission so we won’t get to see 14 people in space all at once, the current 10 will become 11 instead. Tuesday, March 29 The first launch of the week is Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. The mission is dubbed NS-20 and will carry Marty Allen, Sharon Hagle, Marc Hagle, Jim Kitchen, George Nield, and Gary Lai. All of these passengers, apart from Gary Lai, are paying to be on the mission. Gary Lai has been working at Blue Origin since 2004 and was among the first 20 employees. He is also the chief architect of the New Shepard system. The mission is due to launch at 1:30 p.m. UTC and will be streamed on Blue Origin’s website. Friday, April 1 The second launch of the week is a Rocket Lab Electron rocket carrying two BlackSky satellites that it’ll place in orbit. The quirky mission name elected by Rocket Lab is “Without Mission A Beat”. The two satellites will join the larger BlackSky constellation which can take 1-metre resolution images of the Earth. These satellites can image in four bands and panchromatic mode while each can snap 1,000 images per day as still or as videos. The launch is scheduled for 12:35 p.m. UTC and will be streamed on the Rocket Lab website. The second launch on Friday is a Falcon 9 carrying a collection of smallsats as part of the Transporter-4 rideshare mission. The satellites will be placed in a Sun-synchronous orbit. This mission is due to launch at 4:24 p.m. UTC and should be streamable on the SpaceX website. Sunday, April 3 The final launch of the week is SpaceX’s Falcon 9 carrying the Axiom astronauts Michael Lopez-Alegria, Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Eytan Stibbe. Axiom Space was founded in 2016 with the intention of creating a commercial space station but in 2020 NASA allowed the company to have access to the forward port of the ISS’ Harmony module where Axiom Space will eventually dock its Axiom Orbital Segment and after 2024 this could grow to three modules. This week’s mission will mark the first wholly commercially-operated crewed mission to the ISS and Axiom plans to do these up to twice a year. The mission is slated for 5:13 p.m. UTC and should be streamed on the SpaceX website. -
TWIRL 57: Russian cosmonauts exit capsule wearing Ukrainian colours
zikalify posted a topic in Front Page News
TWIRL 57: Russian cosmonauts exit capsule wearing Ukrainian colours by Paul Hill We’ve got a quiet week this week for rocket launches with just Roscosmos launching a Soyuz 2.1a rocket carrying a Meridian-M communications satellite, however, what has been more interesting are a few events that have taken place recently. First, there was the James Webb Space Telescope which finally aligned its optics to snap a picture of a star. Second, Russian cosmonauts arriving at the space station exited their capsule in yellow and blue spacesuits representing the colours of Ukraine – though they didn’t say this outright. Tuesday, March 22 The first and only launch of the week pencilled in is Roscosmos’ Soyuz 2.1a which will be carrying the tenth Meridian communication satellite with a designation of Meridian-M 20L. The satellite is being deployed for the Ministry of Defense and will operate for around seven years. The mission is set for at 12 p.m. UTC launch. Russian cosmonauts in Ukrainian colours Last week, we reported that three Russian cosmonauts would be heading up to the International Space Station. In a surprising twist, Oleg Artemyev, Dennis Matveev, and Sergei Korsakov exited their capsule wearing predominantly yellow suits with blue bands and patches as well as the Russian flag on their chest. According to the cosmonauts, when asked why they were wearing those outfits, they said that they just had a lot of yellow material to use up but have been interpreted as tacit support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion. Recap The first launch of the week was Astra Space’s Rocket 3.3 carrying a hosted payload that never separates from the rocket. The S4 Crossover payload is a prototype used to test a Globalstar transmitter, Iridium transceiver, and space environmental instruments. Next, China launched a Long March-4C carrying a remote sensing satellite called Yaogan-34-02. This satellite is part of a network that monitors the Earth for things like surveying land resources and helping in disasters. Next up we got the Soyuz 2.1a launch carrying the aforementioned Russian cosmonauts. Then there was the subsequent hatch opening for that mission. Finally, SpaceX launched another raft of Starlink satellites to help beam the internet back to Earth. -
TWIRL 56: Three Russian cosmonauts prepare to go to the ISS
zikalify posted a topic in Front Page News
TWIRL 56: Three Russian cosmonauts prepare to go to the ISS by Paul Hill This week, we have three rocket launches scheduled, including one from Roscosmos which will see three Russian cosmonauts head up to the International Space Station. The other two launches will come from Astra Space and SpaceX, both of these are unmanned and carry various payloads including Starlink satellites. Monday, March 14 The first launch of the week is Astra Space’s Rocket 3.3 carrying S4 Crossover, a hosted payload that will not separate from the rocket. S4 Crossover is a prototype payload host platform that will include various equipment such as a Globalstar transmitter, Iridium transceiver, and space environmental instruments for testing. The mission is due to launch between 3:22 p.m. and 4:22 p.m. UTC from Alaska and will be viewable as a live stream from Astra’s website. Friday, March 18 The next launch will be conducted by Roscosmos from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 3:55 p.m. UTC on Friday. A Soyuz 2.1a will launch a crew to the International Space Station. The mission is called Soyuz MS-21 / ISS 67S and will be carrying three Russian cosmonauts: Oleg Artemyev, Dennis Matveev, and Sergei Korsakov. Interestingly, this is the first mission to the ISS with three Roscosmos astronauts aboard as NASA decided not to buy a seat this time. Saturday, March 19 The final launch of the week is SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carrying 46 Starlink satellites. These satellites will further bolster the Starlink constellation which is used to beam internet back down to the planet. Starlink satellites have been criticised for polluting space but they’ve also been helpful in crises such as the tsunami in Tonga and the war in Ukraine. You’ll be able to tune into the launch at 1:30 a.m. UTC via the SpaceX website. Recap The first launch we got last week was an Iranian Qased rocket carrying the Noor 2 satellite for the Iranian military. The satellite is a CubeSat but it’s not exactly clear what the mission of the satellite is. Finally, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday carrying 48 Starlink satellites, you can see footage of the launch below. -
TWIRL 52: Busy launch week for this series' first birthday
zikalify posted a topic in Front Page News
TWIRL 52: Busy launch week for this series' first birthday by Paul Hill We’ve had a slow start to the year for rocket launches so far but for the end of TWIRL’s first year, the schedule is cram-packed. Russia, India, SpaceX, and two other private companies all have launches this week with Russia’s launch being the most interesting as it’ll be sending cargo up to the International Space Station. Monday, February 14 The first launch of the week will take off from India. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will carry the EOS 4 radar Earth observation satellite for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The mission is called PSLV-C52 and is due for launch at 12:29 a.m. UTC from Sriharikota. ISRO will be streaming the event on YouTube. Tuesday, February 15 The second launch will be Russia’s Soyuz 2.1a carrying a Progress cargo ship to the International Space Station (ISS). Once docked, the crew on the ISS will be able to get the resources off the cargo ship. The compartment will stay attached to the ISS for up to 370 days. The rocket is due for launch at 4:25 a.m. UTC. Saturday, February 19 Next up, Northop Grumman will launch an Antares rocket from Wallops Island in the U.S. It will be carrying a cargo freighter to the ISS for NASA. The mission is known as NG-17 and will launch at 5:39 p.m. UTC. The mission will most likely be streamed on NASA’s YouTube channel on the day but if not be sure to check out next week’s recap. Sunday, February 20 There will be two launches within half-hour of each other on Sunday. The first launch will be Astra Space’s Rocket 3.3. Unusually, it will be carrying a payload that won’t disconnect from the rocket. The S4 Crossover payload will obtain flight heritage testing for a prototype payload host platform. You’ll be able to watch the event from Astra Space’s livestream page at 2:30 p.m. UTC when the rocket launches. The second launch on Sunday, and the last one for the week, will be performed by SpaceX. A Falcon 9 rocket will be used to launch 49 Starlink satellites into a polar low Earth orbit where they will beam internet connectivity back to Earth. These new satellites will help the company make up for the 40 satellites it lost recently due to a geomagnetic storm that hit them just a day after launch. This launch will be available on SpaceX’s website and YouTube channel from 3:00 p.m. UTC. Recap The first launch we have from last week took place on Thursday. Arianespace orbited 34 OneWeb satellites which beam internet back to Earth. Also launching on Thursday was Astra Space’s Rocket 3.3 carrying NASA’s ElaNa 41 mission which consists of several CubeSats. Finally, here’s a 5-minute summary version of a presentation delivered by SpaceX about the current state of Starship. -
TWIRL 42: Russia set to send two space tourists to the space station
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TWIRL 42: Russia set to send two space tourists to the space station by Paul Hill We’ve got a fairly busy week in space launches next week. Just months after Russia sent an actress and film director to space, it has said it will be delivering one cosmonaut and two space tourists to the International Space Station (ISS). We’ve also got a manned launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard which will carry four paying customers and two honorary members Tuesday, December 7 The first launch of the week takes place in New Zealand at 12:40 a.m. UTC. Rocket Lab will launch one of its Electron rockets carrying two BlackSky satellites into orbit. As always, the firm gave the mission a fun title, this time, it’s “A Data with Destiny”. We’ve covered BlackSky’s satellite constellation a number of times on TWIRL but essentially it’s an imaging constellation capable of snapping images of 1-metre resolution. Each satellite has a lifespan of three years if nothing goes wrong and in total, the company plans to operate 60 satellites at once. Wednesday, December 8 The second launch of the week will take off from Kazakhstan at 7:38 a.m. UTC. A Roscosmos Soyuz 2.1a rocket will carry Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and two space tourists, Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano, to the International Space Station. The mission has been organised by Space Adventures, a private firm that has sent a number of people to space over the years including the man behind Ubuntu, Mark Shuttleworth. This mission will not be delivering any crew members for an ISS Expedition, instead, the crew will return to Earth after 12 days on December 20. Of course, space travel sometimes leads to delays so they could be stuck up on the ISS a little longer if things don’t pan out as planned and they could miss Christmas. Thursday, December 9 Next up, SpaceX will launch a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida between 6:00 – 7:30 a.m. UTC carrying NASA’s Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). The satellite will be placed in Earth orbit where it will study exotic astronomical objects and map the magnetic fields of black holes, neutron stars, pulsars, supernova remnants, magnetars, quasars, and active galactic nuclei. Using the X-ray radiation from the environments surrounding these objects, NASA hopes to learn more about their physics. IXPE is expected to have a mission life of about two or three years. Also lifting off on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. UTC is Blue Origin’s New Shepard for its 19th mission. It will have a crew of six people including two honorary members. The honorary members are Good Morning America co-anchor Michael Strahan and Laura Shepard Churchley, the eldest daughter of Alan Shepard, the first American to fly to space. Among the paying customers are industry executive and philanthropist Dylan Taylor, investor Evan Dick, Bess Ventures founder Lane Bess, and his son Cameron Bess (who also streams on Twitch under the username MeepsKitten). Similar to previous Blue Origin missions, the crew will spend a short amount of time in a low-gravity altitude so that the crew can experience weightlessness, it will then plunge back to Earth until the parachutes open up to and gently bring it to the ground. Sunday, December 12 The final launch of the week will also set off from Kazakhstan. Roscosmos will launch a Proton M rocket at 12:09 p.m. UTC carrying the Ekspress AMU3 and Ekspress AMU7 communications satellites for the Russian Satellite Communication Company. The orbits will be placed in a geostationary transfer orbit where they will provide advanced communications, television, and radio broadcasting services. Recap The first launch we got in the last week took place on Thursday. SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying 48 Starlink satellites a two BlackSky satellites into orbit. While not a launch, Rocket Lab gave us a development update for its next rocket known as Neutron. If you’d like to see what the firm is up to, check out the video below. -
TWIRL 38: If at first you don't succeed… Crew-3 Dragon set for another launch attempt
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TWIRL 38: If at first you don't succeed… Crew-3 Dragon set for another launch attempt by Paul Hill For the last two weeks, we’ve been reporting that the Crew-3 Dragon has been attempting to launch several astronauts to the International Space Station but on both occasions the mission failed to launch due to the bad weather. The mission is now slated to launch on Wednesday evening (local time) and hopefully it will go ahead without a hitch. Tuesday, November 9 The first mission of the week has been covered in previous editions of TWIRL. Japan is planning to launch an Epsilon rocket carrying the RAISE 2 and DRUMS satellites. RAISE 2 is the principal part of the mission and will demonstrate six new technologies in orbit while DRUMS will demonstrate technologies to remove space junk from orbit. The mission is scheduled to launch at 00:48 UTC and will be streamed through the JAXA YouTube channel. Thursday, November 11 The second mission to take off will be Crew-3 Dragon from SpaceX. This mission actually launches on Wednesday local time but sticking with UTC, the mission is scheduled for a launch at 02:03 UTC. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Crew-3 Dragon to the International Space Station. It will be carrying NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, and Kayla Barron, as well as ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer. The event will be streamed via SpaceX. Friday, November 12 The final launch of the week is also from SpaceX. The company will launch a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral in Florida carrying more Starlink satellites. These types of launches are super common in TWIRL and for good reason; Elon Musk, head of SpaceX, wants to build a huge constellation of Starlink satellites to beam internet back down to Earth, helping to connect remote areas. Eventually, the constellation could grow to more than 30,000 satellites. Recap The first launch last week was a Long March-2C carrying the second group of Yaogan-32 remote sensing satellites from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. You can see the launch below: The second launch, also from China, was a Long March-6 which carried the SDGSAT-1 satellite into orbit. As part of the satellites mission, it will look at how humans impact the environment. Finally, China launched a Long March-2D rocket carrying the first three Yaogan-35 satellites into orbit. The satellites will be used for experiments, land and resource surveys, agricultural production estimates as well as disaster mitigation and prevention. -
TWIRL 37: Crew-3 Dragon to ISS rescheduled to this week by Paul Hill If you read TWIRL 36 last week, you’ll have seen that the main story was that SpaceX was launching its Crew-3 Dragon mission to the International Space Station. The mission was due to launch on Halloween (Oct. 31) but CBS News reports that it has been delayed due to bad weather. The mission is now scheduled for take off on Wednesday. Wednesday, November 3 The first launch of the week is a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Crew-3 Dragon to the International Space Station. It will be carrying NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron as well as ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer. The launch will take place in Florida at 5:10 a.m. UTC and will be broadcast live on YouTube. The second launch, also occurring on Wednesday, will take place at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. A Long March CZ-2C rocket will carry two satellites called Yaogan 32 Group 2. The satellites will apparently be used for signals intelligence. This launch is scheduled for 7:45 a.m. UTC. Sunday, November 7 The final launch of the week will take off from Japan. An Epsilon rocket will carry RApid Innovative payload demonstration SatellitE 2 (RAISE 2) and the Debris Removal Unprecedented Micro-Satellite (DRUMS) into orbit along with several MicroSats. RAISE 2 is the principal part of the mission and will demonstrate six new technologies in orbit while DRUMS will demonstrate technologies to remove space junk from orbit. Recap Not technically from the last week, but the week before (but not covered in TWIRL 36) we have an Ariane 6 rocket carrying the SES-17 and SYRACUSE 4A into orbit. As the launch was performed at night, the lift off looks quite impressive. The second launch came from China. A Long March-3B rocket carried the Shijian-21 satellite into orbit where it will test and verify space debris mitigation technologies. On Tuesday, Japan launched the Quasi-Zenith Satellite-1R which will be part of the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) which provides positioning signals in mountainous and urban regions in Japan. On Wednesday, ExPace launched a Kuaizhou-1A rocket carrying a Jilin-1 Gaofen satellite which will perform optical remote sensing. Finally, on Thursday, Russia launched a Soyuz-2.1a rocket to the International Space Station. The mission was called Progress 79 and was taking supplies to the ISS.
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TWIRL 36: Crew-3 Dragon set to take astronauts to ISS by Paul Hill Background image via NASA Kennedy In the upcoming week, we are due to see two launches to the International Space Station, which is a tiny bit unusual. The first mission to the ISS will come from Russia and this will just be a cargo mission but the second and more interesting launch will come from SpaceX which is launching Crew-3 Dragon with several astronauts aboard. Monday, October 25 The first launch of the week is ExPace’s Kuaizhou KZ-1A rocket which is launching the Jilin Gaofen 2F satellite. This launch was mentioned in the last edition of TWIRL but the October 22 launch was scrubbed and rescheduled for October 25. The new satellite will join the Jilin 1 Earth observation constellation and snap full-colour resolution images better than 0.76 metres over an area of 40 km. Tuesday, October 26 The second launch of the week will be a Japanese H-IIA (H-2A) rocket with the designation F44. It will be carrying a navigation satellite called QZS 1R into a geosynchronous orbit for the Japanese space agency, JAXA. The mission is due for launch around 2:00 a.m. UTC and will be livestreamed on YouTube for those who want to watch. Thursday, October 28 At midnight UTC on October 28, the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, will launch a Soyuz 2.1a rocket to the International Space Station carrying the 79th Progress cargo delivery. The cargo aboard will include propellant and pressurised gases, food, water and other equipment. All this cargo will weigh 2,550 kg. The event should be streamed on YouTube, but if not, check out next week’s TWIRL recap for footage. Sunday, October 31 The final launch and most exciting launch of the week is from SpaceX. A Falcon 9 rocket will carry the Crew-3 Dragon capsule up to space where it will head to the International Space Station. This mission will be carrying NASA’s Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron as well as ESA’s Matthias Maurer. The launch is scheduled for 6:21 a.m. UTC and should be available on SpaceX’s YouTube channel. Recap In the last week, actress Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko returned to Earth. In the video below you can see them saying goodbye to those aboard the ISS. Below you can see their craft land back on Earth and their exit onto land. South Korea’s Nuri test flight also took place on Thursday, you can see footage of that below. Two more launches are scheduled for Sunday, October 24. This post will be updated when footage of those become available.
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TWIRL 33: Russian film director and actress set for a week in space to make a movie
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TWIRL 33: Russian film director and actress set for a week in space to make a movie by Paul Hill The near-empty launch schedule this week is set to be compensated for with the launch of a film director and an actress into space. Russian cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov will fly film director Klim Shipenko and actress Yulia Peresild to the International Space Station where the latter two will spend a week to film a movie in space, which is the first time this has been done. The Russian title for the film will be Вызов (Vyzov) if you want to look out for it when it's released – that title translates to English as The Challenge. Those involved with the feature-length film will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Tuesday, October 5 at 9:55 a.m. UTC aboard Soyuz MS-19. They are set to return to Earth a little over a week later on October 17 aboard Soyuz MS-18. Commander Oleg Novitsky will lead their ride back to Earth while Pyotr Dubrov and Mark Vande Hei will stay aboard the ISS for a while longer and eventually return back to Earth with Shkaplerov. The film’s director Klim Shipenko is no stranger to making films set in space. In 2017, a film he directed called Salyut 7 was released. The film is a dramatisation of events that took place during the Soyuz T-13 mission to repair the Salyut 7 space station which had essentially died due to an issue with its solar array. The mission to restore power to Salyut 7 was a success. Recap The first launch of the week lifted off on Monday morning (UTC) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. A Kuaizhou-1A rocket launched a Gaofen satellite for the Jilin-1 constellation which will perform remote sensing work that should benefit agriculture, forestry and more. Also on Monday, the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket carrying the Landsat 9 satellite took off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Landsat 9 is part of the Landsat programme which has been operating since the 1970s. The satellite will perform Earth observation work. Next, we've got the SpaceX CRS-23 Dragon undocked from the ISS on Thursday. It was not carrying any crew members back to Earth and had not taken any people to the space station. The mission has brought cargo up to the ISS for those aboard. While not a rocket launch, the BepiColombo satellite sent back its first pictures of Mercury. Hopefully, in the coming days and weeks, we will be able to see even greater shots of the Sun’s nearest planetary body. -
TWIRL 29: China set to dominate launch schedule this week
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TWIRL 29: China set to dominate launch schedule this week by Paul Hill The upcoming week won’t see any really exciting launches, just run-of-the-mill satellite launches. Interestingly, all the launches with a definite launch window will be launching from China. Launch sites seeing action this week include the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, and the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Monday, September 6 The first launch of the week will see a Long March CZ-4C rocket carry the Gaofen 5-02 hyperspectral Earth-imaging satellite into orbit where it will make up part of the CHEOS constellation. The satellite will be carrying a number of scientific instruments that will allow it to perform atmospheric sensing to measure things like greenhouse gas emissions, trace gases and other atmospheric properties. This mission will launch from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. Thursday, September 9 The second launch of the week will take place at 11 a.m. UTC from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. A Long March CZ-3B/E rocket will carry the Zhongxing 9B satellite into orbit. The satellite will provide various services such as TV and radio in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. The lifespan of the satellite is 15 years and it’ll support or replace the Zhongxing 9A satellite which used too much fuel trying to correct its position. Sunday, September 12 The final launch of the week is due to take place from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. A Long March CZ-2C rocket will be carrying two Yaogan satellites for the military. It’s unclear what the purpose of these satellites is. Recap Last Sunday, SpaceX’s CRS-23 mission managed to lift off following an earlier aborted launch. Not long after launch, the CRS-23 Dragon docked with the space station. It was carrying operational cargo for those aboard the ISS. The other rocket launch this week was Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket which was performing its maiden flight. Unfortunately, the craft exploded not long after launch, destroying the numerous payloads that were aboard. The launch failure was put down to ‘an anomaly’. -
TWIRL 25: SpaceX getting closer to Starship orbital mission
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TWIRL 25: SpaceX getting closer to Starship orbital mission by Paul Hill Before we get onto next weeks launches, it's worth mentioning that SpaceX just took another big step with its Starship rocket yesterday. While no launches were performed as we’ve seen in the last couple of months, the company did finally stack the upper stage, called Starship, to the lower stage dubbed Super Heavy. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted images of the rocket at various stages throughout the stacking process and none of them really allow you to appreciate just how tall the rocket stands. Once stacked, Starship stands at around 120 metres which is taller than the 111 metre Saturn V rocket which NASA used to send men to the Moon decades ago. Starship Fully Stacked pic.twitter.com/Fs88RNsmfH — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2021 Tuesday, August 10 This week, there are just two launches. The first takes place on Tuesday at 9:56 p.m. UTC from Wallops Island, Virginia. A Northrop Grumman Antares 230+ will launch a Cygnus spacecraft, once in space, Cygnus, which will be carrying operational cargo, will make its way to the International Space Station. The launch should be available on NASA’s YouTube livestream. Thursday, August 12 The second and final launch of the week is the GSLV Mk.II rocket carrying Earth Observation Satellite 3 (EOS 3) into orbit. We have mentioned this mission several times in the past but it has suffered several delays. The satellites will be in geostationary orbit over the Indian subcontinent and will monitor natural hazards and disasters that will be able to assist government responses to incidents. You can learn more about the mission over on the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) website. Recap Last week were expecting United Launch Alliance to send up the Starliner spacecraft but this launch was delayed even though the rocket was put in place on the launchpad. A Long March 6 rocket delivering two KL microsats into orbit for the Shanghai Engineering Center was also launched. These geostationary satellites will help test laser communications, electric thruster technology, and new interference suppression technology for Ka-band mobile communication satellites. A Long March 3B successfully launched the Zhongxing 2E satellite which will be used for military communications. Finally, NASA performed another test of the Space Launch System’s RS-25 engine. -
TWIRL 24: United Launch Alliance to send CST-100 Starliner to the ISS
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TWIRL 24: United Launch Alliance to send CST-100 Starliner to the ISS by Paul Hill Following several weeks of billionaires launching themselves into space, we have a quieter week with just two confirmed launches. The first launch comes from the United Launch Alliance which will send its CST-100 Starliner on an uncrewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and the launch of a communications satellite called Zhongxing 2E from China. Tuesday, August 3 The first launch of the week comes from the United Launch Alliance (ULA) where an Atlas V rocket will launch the second CST-100 Starliner on a second uncrewed Orbital Flight Test (OFT-2) to the ISS as part of NASA’s commercial crew program. While the craft won’t be delivering humans to the ISS, it will be carrying 345kg of cargo for the astronauts already aboard. The CST-100 Starliner is expected to stay in space for five to 10 days before making its way back to Earth where it’s due to land in the Western United States. ULA did attempt this launch last Friday but it seems to have been delayed, the live stream link for the event remains the same as last week. The launch is expected at 5:20 p.m. UTC. Friday, August 6 One of China’s Long March CZ-3B/E is set to launch the Zhongxing 2E communications satellite into orbit on Friday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The technical details of this satellite are not known but its relation to other satellites suggests that it will be able to deliver secure voice and data communications to ground terminals. It could also feature advanced multiple steerable spot beam antenna technology so that ground users can communicate while they’re on the go. A stream for this launch isn’t likely. Its launch is slated for 3:00 p.m. UTC. Recap We were treated to several launches last week, the first was a Long March 2D carrying the Tianhui 1D satellite for the Hangtian Dongfanghond Weixing Corporation and the Chinese Academy of Space Technology for performing remote image sensing. The second launch was a Rocket Lab Electron rocket carrying the Monolith satellite for the United States Space Force (USSF) Space Test Program (STP). The mission was called ‘It’s a Little Chile Up Here’. The final launch was an Ariane 5 ECA+ carrying the Star One D2 and Eutelsat Quantum communications into orbit. The Star One D2 satellite is owned by Embratel Star One, a Brazilian telecoms firm. The satellite will deliver telecommunications, direct-to-home television services, and fast broadband across parts of the Americas. -
TWIRL 19: SpaceX set to launch Transporter-2 satellite mission
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TWIRL 19: SpaceX set to launch Transporter-2 satellite mission by Paul Hill In the upcoming week, SpaceX is expected to launch its Transporter-2 mission carrying several satellites as part of a rideshare. Roscosmos plans to launch the Progress MS-17 mission which will deliver cargo to the International Space Station, and a Starsem Soyuz rocket will try to orbit 36 OneWeb internet satellites Tuesday, June 29 The first mission of the week will come from SpaceX with its Transporter-2 rideshare mission. A Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket will launch several payloads to Sun-synchronous orbit. Aboard will be the Kleos Polar Vigilance Mission consisting of four satellites, at least four NuSats for Satellogic, YAM 3, Mars Demo 1, and a Vigoride CubeSate carrier with Skycraft, TROPICS Pathfinder, Sen EarthTV, and IRIS-A. This mission was also mentioned in last week’s TWIRL installment with the launch date set at June 25 but it looks like that slipped. Wednesday, June 30 Roscosmos will be launching its trusty Soyuz 2.1a rocket in the early hours (local time) on Wednesday carrying the Progress MS-17 mission. This is the 78th Progress cargo delivery ship heading for the International Space Station. It will remain connected to the space station acting as an expansion of the Russian Orbital Segment for around 179 days before being undocked. Following the launch, Progress MS-17 will spend 3 hours and 20 minutes getting to the space station before it automatically docks. Thursday, July 1 On Thursday, the private company, Starsem, will launch a Soyuz 2.1b rocket carrying 36 OneWeb internet satellites. Similarly to SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, the OneWeb constellation can beam internet connectivity back down to the planet. One instance where OneWeb’s satellites will be used will be on airplanes following a deal the firm made with SatixFy. The Canadian military will also benefit from the satellites following a deal OneWeb made with ROCK Networks which serves the Canadian military. Recap It’s was a bit quiet last week in terms of actual rocket launches but the Pion-NKS 1 satellite managed to launch successfully. -
NASA Crew-1 Dragon set to return to Earth with Saturday splashdown
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NASA Crew-1 Dragon set to return to Earth with Saturday splashdown by Paul Hill The American space agency NASA has announced that it will be live streaming the return to Earth for the NASA SpaceX Crew-1 mission from the International Space Station. NASA astronauts Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Shannon Walker, and JAXA’s Soichi Noguchi are set to splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico at 11:36 a.m. EDT on Saturday, May 1. The Crew Dragon spacecraft which will be returning the astronauts is dubbed Resilience and will undock from the ISS at 5:55 p.m. following the hatch closure at 3:50 p.m. NASA TV will stream the hatch closure from 3:30 p.m. and the undocking from 5:30 p.m. It will then provide continuous coverage until the following morning when the craft finally lands back in the gulf. Following the return, NASA will hold a news conference from the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston at 1:30 p.m. You can find the NASA TV stream on the agency’s website. According to NASA, the undocking and splashdown were originally slated for Wednesday, April 28, but due to weather conditions expected in the splashdown zones, the return has been delayed. The agency and its commercial partner SpaceX will continue to monitor the weather forecasts to ensure that the return can still go ahead on Friday night. There are currently 11 people on the space station which is several more than we usually see up there at any one time. This is because the SpaceX vehicles take four astronauts up at a time rather than the three that Soyuz vehicles are able to carry and the arrival of two crews in quick succession. The latest crew arrived at the ISS on April 21 aboard the Crew-2 Dragon. -
NASA has delayed the Crew-2 Dragon mission to the ISS by Paul Hill Over the weekend when This Week in Rocket Launches #9 was published, it was planned that the Crew-2 Dragon mission carrying astronauts to the International Space Station would take place on Thursday, April 22. Due to unfavourable weather conditions along the flight path, NASA is now looking to launch the mission at 5:49 a.m. EDT on Friday, April 23. According to the new schedule, the crew is scheduled to dock at the space station just under 24 hours after launch at 5:10 a.m. on Saturday, April 24. The mission will be carrying four astronauts, namely NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, JAXA’s Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA’s Thomas Pesquet. Once they arrive, the ISS will be host to a large crew of 11 people. On Friday at 1:30 a.m. EDT, NASA Television will begin live launch coverage. This will be followed up at 7:30 a.m. with a press conference hosted by NASA’s Steve Jurczyk and Kathy Lueders, JAXA’s Hiroshi Sasaki, ESA’s Frank de Winne, and an unnamed representative from SpaceX. The docking, hatch opening, and welcoming ceremony will also be streamed live on Saturday at 5:10 a.m., 7:15 a.m., and 7:45 a.m. respectively. To prepare for the stream, be sure to head over to the NASA TV website and save it as a bookmark ready for the launch.
