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[Victoria Watcher]

The Artemis just circled the moon.

[Victoria Watcher]

Sixteen days into its test flight on the Artemis I mission, the Orion spacecraft is on a trajectory back to Earth.

On Thursday, Dec. 1, at 4:53 p.m. EST, Orion conducted an engine burn to propel the spacecraft out of its distant lunar orbit, where it has been since Nov. 25. Orion is on track to complete its 25.5-day mission on Sunday, Dec. 11, when it will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

Orion’s propulsion is provided by the European Service Module, a key component of Europe’s contributions to NASA’s Artemis program. This module serves as Orion’s powerhouse, supplying the spacecraft with electricity, thermal control, and air and water for future crews, in addition to propulsive abilities that allow the spacecraft to adjust its trajectory via 33 engines of various types.

[Victoria Watcher]

Japanese billionaire unveils the 8 artists he'll fly to the moon on SpaceX's Starship dearMoon flight

 

 

A Japanese billionaire picked his crewmates for the first-ever artist-centered mission.

 

Yusaku Maezawa, who made his fortune as an online fashion retailer, announced the eight people who would be flying with him on the dearMoon mission, which aims to use a SpaceX Starship to fly around the moon as soon as next year.

 

"I hope each and every one will recognize the responsibility that comes with leaving the Earth, travelling to the moon and back," Maezawa says in the video in Japanese, with a translation provided in-video.

 

Riding along with Maezawa will be:

• Steve Aoki, D.J., producer and electronic dance music artist with several Billboard-charting studio albums;
• Tim Dodd, YouTube creator of the "Everyday Astronaut" channel (Dodd has interviewed SpaceX founder Elon Musk multiple times on camera);
• Yemi A.D., artist and choreographer known for his work with JAD Dance Company and with Ye (formerly Kanye West);
• Karim Iliya, photographer whose publications include National Geographic Magazine;
• Rhiannon Adam, a photographer who has been supported by the BBC/Royal Geographical Society and won multiple awards, according to their website(opens in new tab);
• Brendan Hall, filmmaker on projects such as the two-hour documentary "Blood Sugar Rising" about diabetes in the United States, according to the Internet Movie Database(opens in new tab);
• Dev Joshi, an "Indian television actor known for portraying the role of Baal Veer in Sony Sab's Baal Veer and Baalveer Returns," according to the Internet Movie Database(opens in new tab);
• T.O.P., a South Korean rapper known as the lead for the boy band Big Bang;
• Two backup members: dancer Miyu, and snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington.

 

https://www.space.co...spacex-starship

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 08 December 2022 - 03:08 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blasted off early Sunday from Cape Canaveral, boosting a commercially developed Japanese moon lander into space for a three-month voyage to touchdown in a 54-mile-wide crater. Also on board: A small NASA orbiter that will search for ice deposits in cold, permanently shadowed craters near the moon's poles.

Appropriately enough, the launching came on the 50th anniversary of the last Apollo moon landing in 1972 and just 10 hours before NASA's unpiloted Orion moonship was expected to splash down in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California to close out a 25-day test flight.

 

https://www.cbsnews....ce-mapper-moon/

[Victoria Watcher]

NASA's uncrewed Orion capsule hurtled through space on Sunday on the final return leg of its voyage around the moon and back, winding up the inaugural mission of the Artemis lunar program 50 years to the day after Apollo's final moon landing.

The gumdrop-shaped Orion capsule, carrying a simulated crew of three mannequins wired with sensors, was due to parachute into the Pacific at 9:39 a.m. PT (12:39 p.m. ET) near Guadalupe Island, off Mexico's Baja California peninsula.

Orion was nearing the end of its 25-day mission less than a week after passing about 127 kilometres above the moon in a lunar flyby and about two weeks after reaching its farthest point in space, nearly 434,500 kilometres from Earth.

https://www.cbc.ca/n...hdown-1.6682011

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 December 2022 - 08:55 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

SWOT launched this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is a future satellite altimeter jointly developed by NASA and CNES, the French space agency, in partnership with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and UK Space Agency (UKSA).

[Victoria Watcher]

SWOT launched this morning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission is a future satellite altimeter jointly developed by NASA and CNES, the French space agency, in partnership with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and UK Space Agency (UKSA).

 

 

 

NASA launches mission to measure Earth’s surface water – with help from Canada

 

https://www.theglobe...-surface-water/

[Victoria Watcher]

2 launches in one day. Elon.




SpaceX has launched the first of a pair of Falcon 9 missions approximately 23 hours apart from the company’s two Florida launch pads. The first mission carried the first two satellites for a new constellation known as O3b mPOWER to orbit on Friday, Dec. 16, with liftoff coming at the very end of an 87-minute launch window at 5:48 PM EST (22:48 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SCL-40) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS).


https://www.nasaspac...-starlink-4-37/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 16 December 2022 - 05:33 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

[Victoria Watcher]

SpaceX launched the first batch of a new generation of Starlink satellites into orbit early Wednesday (Dec. 28) and nailed a rocket landing at sea to mark a record 60th flight of the year.

 

A Falcon 9 rocket topped with 54 upgraded Starlink internet satellites — the first generation 2 (Gen2) versions of the SpaceX fleet — lit up the predawn sky with a smooth launch at 4:34 a.m. EST (0934 GMT) from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

 

"Under our new license, we are now able to deploy satellites to new orbits that will add even more capacity to the network," Jesse Anderson, a SpaceX production and engineering manager, said during live launch commentary. "Ultimately, this enables us to add more customers and provide faster service, particularly in areas that are currently oversubscribed." 

 

____________________

 

On Dec. 1, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted approval for SpaceX to deploy 7,500 Gen2 satellites. That was just a partial approval, however, as SpaceX applied to the FCC for permission to send nearly 30,000 of these satellites to low Earth orbit.

 

Besides being able to handle more traffic, Gen2 satellites can beam service directly to smartphones, SpaceX founder Elon Musk has said. While this crop is going into space aboard a Falcon 9, SpaceX eventually plans to use its massive Starship rocket, which is in development and has been awaiting approval to fly to space for 18 months.

 

 

 

https://www.space.co...-1-group-launch

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 28 December 2022 - 05:11 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

Updated--A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in western Santa Barbara County Thursday night.

     The launch was at 11:38 PM.

     The payload was an Israeli earth observation satellite known as EROS C-3, the latest of several such satellites built by an Israeli company.

 

 

https://kvta.com/new...rom-vandenberg/

[Victoria Watcher]

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carried the Israeli Earth-imaging satellite EROS C-3 into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The launch occurred at 11:38 Thursday night. Less than ten minutes later, the Falcon 9 booster successfully landed back at the base.

It was the 61st SpaceX launch of 2022, the most in one year in the company's history.

https://www.kclu.org...coast?_amp=true

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 December 2022 - 03:50 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

That’s launch #61 this year for Spacex.

[Victoria Watcher]

UVic's ORCASat satellite launches into orbit

 

ORCASat, which was launched from the International Space Station on Thursday, will serve as a reference light source in orbit that can be viewed by telescopes on Earth.

 

 

 

https://www.timescol...o-orbit-6310227

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 December 2022 - 04:41 AM.

[Mike K.]

They launched it from the ISS?

[Victoria Watcher]

They launched it from the ISS?

 

Yes.  It's only the size of a 2L milk carton.

 

So they likely just tossed it out an open window.  The same as they throw away their empty milk cartons.  

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 30 December 2022 - 06:20 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

After a slight break in launch activity over the holidays, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is set to host Florida's first launch and landing of the new year. A SpaceX Falcon 9 liftoff is planned for 9:56 a.m. ET Tuesday from Pad 40.

https://www.floridat...rn/69770335007/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 January 2023 - 09:25 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

NASA Considers SpaceX as Emergency Return Option for ISS Crew

NASA and Roscosmos are working out how to get two cosmonauts and an astronaut back home after their spacecraft sprung a leak.

https://www.cnet.com...n-for-iss-crew/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 January 2023 - 09:26 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

SpaceX Valued at $137 Billion in Latest Funding Round, CNBC Says

https://www.bloomber...round-cnbc-says

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 January 2023 - 09:27 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

SpaceX is targeting no earlier than January 12th for the fifth launch of Falcon Heavy, the largest and most powerful commercial rocket in the world.

As was the case for the rocket’s third and fourth launches, the main customer behind its fifth launch is the US military. Deemed USSF-67, the mission is also expected to be very similar to Falcon Heavy’s most recent launch, USSF-44. That mission saw the massive SpaceX rocket complete its first direct launch to a geosynchronous orbit ~36,000 kilometers (~22,250 mi) above Earth’s surface, where it deployed a pair of spacecraft carrying several rideshare payloads and satellites. Save for the possibility that the US Space Force included secret payloads on USSF-44, the mission appeared to be more of a rocket test and loose collection of experiments than a major military launch.


https://www.teslarat...unch-plans/amp/

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 05 January 2023 - 07:18 AM.