POOR WEATHER FORCES A SCRUB OF THE KUIPER 1 LAUNCH ON A ULA ATLAS 5 - A band of off-shore thunderstorms forced United Launch Alliance to scrub a launch attempt of the first of dozens of missions on behalf of its largest commercial customer, Amazon. Its Atlas 5 551 rocket will carry 27 Project Kuiper satellites onboard. The mission, referred to as Kuiper 1 by ULA and Kuiper Atlas 1 (KA-01) by Amazon, will send the first batch of its full production satellites into low Earth orbit. Amazon’s satellite internet constellation, called Project Kuiper, is designed to rival others, like SpaceX’s Starlink and Eutelsat’s OneWeb.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 10)

NEW CREW DOCKS TO STATION ABOARD SOYUZ SPACECRAFT - At 4:57 a.m. EDT, the Soyuz MS-27 spacecraft docked to the International Space Station’s Prichal module. NASA astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Alexey Zubritsky launched at 1:47 a.m. on April 8 (10:47 a.m. Baikonur time) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Hatch opening is scheduled for 7:20 a.m. with NASA’s live coverage resuming at 7 a.m. on NASA+. Learn how to watch NASA content through a variety of platforms.   More
(Source: NASA - Apr 10)

RUSSIA AND CHINA ARE THREATENING SPACEX'S STARLINK SATELLITE CONSTELLATION, NEW REPORT FINDS - SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation is facing threats from Russia and China because it was tapped for military use in Ukraine following Russia's invasion of the nation in 2022, according to a new report evaluating the counterspace capabilities of a dozen countries over the past year. The report, published on Thursday (April 3) by the nonpartisan policy think tank Secure World Foundation (SWF), highlights how humanity's growing reliance on space — especially for national security — has led an increasing number of countries to develop their own counterspace capabilities.   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 9)

RUSSIA TAKES AN AMERICAN ASTRONAUT TO THE SPACE STATION - A Russian spacecraft safely delivered an American astronaut Jonathan Kim and two Russian cosmonauts to the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday, a flight hailed by Moscow as an example of fruitful Russia-U.S. space cooperation. The Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying Kim and Russians Sergei Ryzhikov and Alexei Zubritsky, docking three hours later with the ISS, Russia's Roscosmos state space corporation said.   More
(Source: Reuters - Apr 8)

NOAA’S GOES-19 SATELLITE NOW OPERATIONAL, PROVIDING CRITICAL NEW DATA TO FORECASTERS - NOAA’s GOES-19 satellite, the latest and final satellite in NOAA’s GOES-R Series, officially began operations as GOES East today. This milestone comes after its June 25, 2024 launch, and subsequent post-launch testing of its instruments, systems and data. GOES-19 replaces GOES-16 as GOES East, positioned 22,236 miles above the equator at 75.2 degrees west longitude. GOES-16 will now become a backup for NOAA’s operational geostationary constellation, maintaining its operational readiness for future use, if needed.   More
(Source: NOAA - Apr 8)

SPACEX TO LAUNCH SECOND ACCELERATED GPS 3 SATELLITE MISSION IN LATE MAY - Following the successful accelerated launch of a Global Positioning System on a Falcon 9 rocket in mid-December, the U.S. Space Force, Lockheed Martin and SpaceX are preparing to launch another GPS 3 satellite on a fast tracked basis. The satellite, dubbed GPS 3 Space Vehicle 08 (SV-08), is targeted for launch from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station no earlier than late May.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 8)

U.S. SPACE FORCE AWARDS $13.7 BILLION IN NEW NATIONAL SECURITY LAUNCH CONTRACTS TO BLUE ORIGIN, SPACEX AND ULA - A long-awaited launch contract for national security missions was announced by the U.S. Space Force after close of business Friday evening. The mission spreads nearly $14 billion worth of missions between Blue Origin, SpaceX and United Launch Alliance (ULA). The contract is known as Lane 2 of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3. These are firm fixed-price, indefinite-delivery contracts that will be issued in batches of missions to the launch providers over a five-year period beginning in FY25.   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Apr 7)

VANGUARD 1 IS THE OLDEST SATELLITE ORBITING EARTH. SCIENTISTS WANT TO BRING IT HOME AFTER 67 YEARS - Decades ago during the heady space race rivalry between the former Soviet Union and the United States, the entire world experienced the Sputnik moment when the first artificial satellite orbited the Earth. Sputnik 1's liftoff on Oct. 4, 1957 sparked worries in the U.S., made all the more vexing by the embarrassing and humiliating failure later that year of America's first satellite launch when the U.S. Navy's Vanguard rocket went "kaputnik" as the booster toppled over and exploded.   More
(Source: Space.com - Apr 6)

NASA SEEKS PROPOSALS FOR TWO PRIVATE ASTRONAUT MISSIONS TO ISS - NASA’s latest call for proposals to conduct private astronaut missions to the International Space Station opens the door to having those missions commanded by someone other than a former NASA astronaut. NASA announced April 2 it issued a solicitation for the next two private astronaut missions, or PAMs, to the ISS. These will be the fifth and sixth such missions to the ISS, part of a broader low Earth orbit commercialization effort by NASA with the ultimate goal of replacing the ISS with one or more commercial stations.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Apr 6)

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