Roscosmos halts its Soyuz launches from French Guiana
Russian Space Agency Roscosmos announced on Feb. 26 that it is halting cooperation with Europe on Soyuz launches from French Guiana and withdrawing its personnel from the launch site in response to European sanctions for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “In response to EU sanctions against our enterprises, Roscosmos is suspending cooperation with European partners in […]
Russian Space Agency Declares that the ISS Maybe in Peril due to Sanctions of Russia-Ukraine Conflict
This week, as Russia unleashed a violent assault on Ukraine, the director of Russia’s space agency went on a rant. After President Joe Biden announced on Thursday new sanctions against Russia that would, among other effects, “degrade their aerospace industry, including their space program,” Dmitry Rogozin responded with a series of tweets about the International Space Station: “Do you want […]
February 24, 1997: Fire Breaks Out on Board the Russian Mir Space Station
Radio traffic during VHF in the morning of 24.02.1997 revealed that something serious had happened on board the Russian Mir space station. Somewhat earlier there was already an indication: a direct TV-link from Mir with Oberpfaffenhofen via Altair-1 for this morning did not take place. During the 3d pass for our position (orb. 62943, 1341-1348 […]
Feb. 23, 1990: Pioneer 11 heads out of the solar system
Feb. 23, 1990: Pioneer 11 heads out of the solar system On Feb. 23, 1990, NASA’s Pioneer 11 spacecraft left the solar system! This was the second spacecraft to travel beyond the planetary part of our solar system, which ends at Neptune’s orbit. An almost identical spacecraft named Pioneer 10 made it past Neptune’s orbit […]
Space Tourism Flights Poised to Continue with Virgin Galactic in 2022
Space Tourism Flights Set to Continue with Virgin Galactic in 2022 2021 was a great year for aerospace as more space flights took place in 2021 than any other year in space history. Especially with the space tourism flights in 2021, it became possible for civils to access space. Virgin Galactic was one of these […]
SpaceX is Launching 4 Dozen Starlink Satellites Today on February 21, 2022
SpaceX will launch more than four dozen Starlink satellites and land the returning rocket on Monday (Feb. 21). A two-stage Falcon 9 rocket topped with 49 of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband spacecraft is scheduled to lift off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Sunday at 9:44 a.m. EST (1444 GMT). You can watch it live […]
February 20, 1962: John Glenn is the First American to Orbit the Earth
On Feb. 20, 1962, NASA astronaut John Glenn launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral inside a tiny capsule named Friendship 7 The Mercury spacecraft circled Earth three times, ultimately splashing down near the Turks and Caicos Islands four hours and 55 minutes after liftoff. It was the United States’ first-ever crewed orbital spaceflight — a milestone […]
Astroscale to Demonstrate Orbital Space Debris Removal
Astroscale said Feb. 17 it is preparing to resume an attempt to capture a satellite acting as a piece of debris in low Earth orbit, after pausing the demonstration three weeks ago to troubleshoot undisclosed problems. The Japanese startup has started moving its 175-kilogram servicer spacecraft closer to the 17-kilogram client satellite ahead of deciding […]
New Shepard Commercial Spaceflight launches in 2022 will be Increased by Blue Origin owned by Bezos
Blue Origin expects to more than double the number of people it flies on its New Shepard suborbital system this year while adding another vehicle to its fleet. In a presentation at the 24th Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference Feb. 17, Bob Smith, chief executive of Blue Origin, said the company saw “very robust” […]
Europe hosted its Space Summit in Toulouse France
Europe hosted its Space Summit in Toulouse, France. Leaders in the space sector from across Europe gathered to discuss the state of the industry. The summit is part of the ESA Agenda 2025, which outlines the agency’s priorities—and a roadmap for greater EU space sovereignty—over the next few years.Taking the wide view, we heard a […]