Re-Entry: IGS 3A
The Japanese IGS 3A Optical Reconnaissance Satellite re-entered the atmosphere on October 29, 2016 after a decade in orbit collecting intelligence in the form of images at a one-meter ground resolution.
Read more
Month: October 2016
Flawless Sunday Morning Landing caps 115-Day International Space Station Mission
Temperatures were barely above freezing Sunday morning when a Soyuz space capsule parachuted to a safe landing in South Central Kazakhstan, returning with a crew from Russia, Japan and the U.S. after circling the Earth 1,840 times in a busy mission to the International Space Station.
Read more
Photos: Soyuz Crew Back on Earth after four Months in Orbit
Temperatures were barely above freezing Sunday morning when a Soyuz space capsule parachuted to a safe landing in South Central Kazakhstan, returning with a crew from Russia, Japan and the U.S. after circling the Earth 1,840 times in a busy mission to the International Space Station.
Read more
Video: Sunday Morning Landing of Soyuz MS-01 with three ISS Crew Members
Temperatures were barely above freezing Sunday morning when a Soyuz space capsule parachuted to a safe landing in South Central Kazakhstan, returning with a crew from Russia, Japan and the U.S. after circling the Earth 1,840 times in a busy mission to the International Space Station.
Read more
Soyuz Crew begins Overnight Return to Earth with on-time ISS Departure
It was a short and intense handover for the Expedition 49 crew with three crew members now on their way back to Earth and the other half now at the helm for Expedition 50 with ISS in their hands for the next two and a half weeks until the next crew launches from Kazakhstan.
Read more
Video: Soyuz Spacecraft Undocks from ISS, completes Manual Flying Exercise
The Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft departed the International Space Station at 0:35 UTC on October 30, 2016 to begin the overnight homecoming of Expedition 49 crew members Anatoli Ivanishin, Takuya Onishi and Kate Rubins.
Read more
SpaceX progresses toward Root Cause of Falcon 9 Explosion, focus on Helium Loading Procedure
SpaceX continued to zero-in on the cause of the explosion of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket on September 1st atop a Cape Canaveral launch pad.
Read more
International Crew Trio to Return to Earth Saturday Night aboard Soyuz Craft
An international crew trio from Russia, Japan and the U.S. is ready to undock from the International Space Station aboard their Soyuz MS-01 spacecraft to put an end to a 115-day space flight with a parachute-and-rocket-assisted landing in South-Central Kazakhstan Sunday morning.
Read more
Video: ISS Expedition 49 Change of Command Ceremony
International Space Station Expedition 49 Commander Anatoli Ivanishin hands command of the orbiting outpost to NASA Astronaut Shane Kimbrough who will lead the 50th Expedition to ISS for the next four months.
Read more
China’s new Heavy-Lift Rocket rolls to Hainan Island Launch Pad for Shakedown Mission
China’s Long March 5 rocket was rolled out to a Launch Pad on Hainan Island on Friday for the heavy-lifter’s inaugural flight next week, marking the last in a series of new rockets to be introduced by the Chinese.
Read more
Faulty Software becomes prime Suspect in botched Schiaparelli Mars Landing
A navigation software miscommunication appears to have played a central role in last week’s Schiaparelli crash landing on the surface of Mars, initial analysis of data recorded during the lander’s descent reveals.
Read more
Re-Entry: VesselSat-2
The VesselSat-2 ship-tracking spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere on October 27, 2016 after more than four and a half years in orbit.
Read more
Juno Spacecraft Recovers from Safe Mode, adjusts Orbit for next Jupiter Pass
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has been recovered from an unplanned Safe Mode and is entering preparations for a December 11 flyby of Jupiter while teams continue studying a pair of technical issues on the spacecraft while it continues orbiting the Gas Giant in a highly elongated orbit.
Read more
Launch Date firmed up for long-delayed Atlas V Launch from California
The launch of the WorldView-4 Earth-Imaging Satellite out of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California finally received a firm launch date of November 6 after being delayed seven weeks by a large wildfire and its aftermath.
Read more
Re-Entry: Soyuz FG Rocket Stage from ISS Crew Launch
The third stage of the Soyuz Rocket that helped boost the Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft into orbit re-entered the atmosphere this weekend, four days after launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome
Read more
U.S. Navy Satellite arrives in Geosynchronous Orbit after extended Maneuvering Campaign
The U.S. Navy’s MUOS 5 mobile communications satellite is closing in on its operational orbit after an extended orbit-raising campaign following a failure within the satellite’s main propulsion system that required an alternate orbit-raising scenario to be worked out for the $340 million satellite.
Read more
Companion Satellite released from Tiangong-2 Space Lab for Orbital Photo Shoot
China’s Tiangong-2 space laboratory released a small companion satellite Saturday night for an out-of-this-world photo shoot and formation flying exercise.
Read more