CHINA SUFFERS COMMERCIAL ROCKET FAILURE BUT SETS RECORD FOR ANNUAL LAUNCHES - A Chinese commercial Kinetica-1 solid rocket failed late Thursday, with the launch attempt setting a new domestic record for launches in a calendar year. The Kinetica-1 (Lijian-1) solid rocket lifted off at 8:03 p.m. Eastern Dec. 26 (0103 UTC Dec. 27) from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Area at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Rocket operator CAS Space confirmed the failure hours after liftoff.   More
(Source: SpaceNews - Dec 28)

AMAZING IMAGERY FROM THE GOES-16 SATELLITE SHOWS MAJOR WEATHER EVENTS IN 2024 - The Earth was ready for its close-up this year. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, or GOES-16 satellites, captured several spectacular weather events from hurricanes, supercell storms, wildfires and an amazing total solar eclipse.   More
(Source: USA Today - Dec 27)

SOYUZ LAUNCHES RESURS-P5 IMAGING SATELLITE - A Soyuz-2-1b rocket lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome on Dec. 25, 2024, carrying the fifth and final satellite in the Resurs-P series. It was the second launch of the dual-use observation satellite during the year and the 2000th mission of the vehicle in the R-7 family.   More
(Source: RussianSpaceWeb.com - Dec 26)

STRANDED NASA ASTRONAUTS SEND CHRISTMAS MESSAGE FROM SPACE - Astronauts stranded on the International Space Station over Christmas have sent a festive message back to Earth. Sunita Williams, Barry Wilmore, Don Pettit and Nick Hague were launched into space on 5 June on what was due to be an eight-day test flight mission. But the Boeing-made Starliner spacecraft suffered several technical issues, including helium leaks and thruster failures, and has been unable to return since.   More
(Source: Sky News - Dec 25)

COULD THAT BE SANTA'S SLEIGH? EARLY RISERS CAN SPOT THE ISS FROM THE UK THIS CHRISTMAS - Is that Santa's sleigh pulled by a magical herd of reindeer? A bright streak of light in the pre-dawn skies above the U.K. tomorrow morning (Dec. 24) could easily be mistaken for Santa Claus getting an early start to his Christmas deliveries — but the glowing trail of light actually belongs to the International Space Station (ISS) making one of its routine laps of Earth. The ISS will also be visible early on Christmas morning, coinciding with Santa's journey back to the North Pole.   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 24)

CHINESE SATELLITE BURNS UP, DROPS DEBRIS OVER US - A defunct earth-imaging satellite made in China turned into a bright fireball Saturday night as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere — and some of the remains may have made it to the ground in Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas or surrounding states. The spectacle was widely mistaken for a meteor, but scientists confirm it was actually GaoJing 1-02 (Superview 1-02), one of a constellation of four satellites launched from China to low-earth orbit in 2016.   More
(Source: Forbes - Dec 23)

SPACEX LAUNCHES 30 SATELLITES ON BANDWAGON-2 RIDESHARE MISSION - SpaceX launched 30 satellites to orbit early Saturday morning (Dec. 21). A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday at 6:34 a.m. EDT (1134 GMT; 3:34 a.m. local California time), kicking off a rideshare mission SpaceX calls Bandwagon-2.   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 23)

ROCKET LAB SUCCESSFULLY DEPLOYS SATELLITE FOR SYNSPECTIVE, CAPS OFF YEAR WITH 60% INCREASE IN LAUNCHES YOY - Mahia, New Zealand. 22 December 2024 – Rocket Lab USA, Inc., a global leader in launch services and space systems, today announced it successfully completed the Company’s 16th launch for the year, deploying a satellite for Japanese Earth-observation constellation operator Synspective. The “Owl The Way Up” mission lifted off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand on 22 December at 03:17 NZT deploying a single StriX satellite to orbit from the Electron launch vehicle.   More
(Source: Rocket lab - Dec 22)

ARISS SSTV EXPERIMENT 25 DEC 2024- 5 JAN 2025 - Just in time for the holidays and New Year, ARISS is planning an SSTV event from December 25 to January 5. Series 23 will consist in 12 pictures celebrating ARISS memories of 2024.
– starting time of transmsissions will be tentatively 25 December 2024 at 14.55 UTC;
– ending time will be tentatively 5 January 2025, 14: 20 UTC. On the ISS, will be used the Service Module radio, ISS callsign will be RS0ISS; images will be transmitted on 145.800 MHz FM, the SSTV mode will be PD120.   More
(Source: ISS Fan Club - Dec 22)

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