MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — On May 13, 2021, the State Commission completed the candidate selection for participating in the spaceflight to film the motion picture tentatively called ‘Challenge’. As a result of medical and creative selection, the State Commission recommended to nominate Yulia Peresild and Klim Shipenko as the prime crew and Alena Mordovina and Alexey Dudin as the backup crew. The filming will take place at the International Space Station. The expedition is planned to launch on October 5, 2021 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft. 

VIENNA, Va., May 13, 2021 (Space Adventures PR) — Space Adventures, Inc., the world’s leading space experiences company, announced that Yusaku Maezawa has begun preparations for a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by successfully passing the required medical examinations. He and his production assistant, Yozo Hirano, are planning to launch on the Russian Soyuz MS-20 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 8, 2021.

The duration of the spaceflight will be 12 days and will be commanded by Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. Mr. Maezawa and his crew will begin approximately three months of spaceflight training in June at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.

By Katherine Schauer
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

GREENBELT, Md. — Launching this summer, NASA’s Laser Communications Relay Demonstration  (LCRD) will showcase the dynamic powers of laser communications technologies. With NASA’s ever-increasing human and robotic presence in space, missions can benefit from a new way of “talking” with Earth.

PRAGUE (EUSPA PR) — The European Union Agency for the Space Programme, EUSPA, is launched today marking the start of a new era for EU Space. Building on the legacy of the European GNSS Agency, EUSPA will take on more responsibilities to create even more opportunities from Space for EU citizens and its economy.

The adoption of the Regulation establishing the new EU Space Programme on April 27 marks a new beginning for the EU Space Programme and for the European GNSS Agency (GSA), which has now officially evolved into EUSPA, with an expanded mandate and new responsibilities.

REDMOND, Wash. (Xplore PR) — Xplore Inc., a commercial space company providing Space as a Service® today announced they are opening a satellite manufacturing facility in Redmond, Washington. Their new, state-of-the-art campus is a key step in the company’s mission to expand mass manufacturing of the XCraft® the company’s highly-capable, ESPA-class satellite, and the LightCraft™, Xplore’s highly-maneuverable spacecraft for deep space missions. The company will move into its new headquarters in June 2021.

Angela Birney, Mayor of the City of Redmond, said, “We are delighted that Xplore is establishing its headquarters in Redmond and employing Washington space professionals to grow the space economy.” She continued, “Redmond is a magnet for vision, technology, and talent. Xplore joins our community of thriving aerospace, high tech, and biotech companies, and thousands of small businesses where over 85,000 people are employed. Thank you for choosing Redmond.”

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (Vandenberg AFB PR) — Vandenberg Air Force Base is renaming the base and redesignating the 30th Space Wing during a ceremony, Friday, May 14, 2 p.m. on the Parade Field. This ceremony will rename Vandenberg Air Force Base to Vandenberg Space Force Base, and the 30th Space Wing will redesignate to Space Launch Delta 30, under Space Operations Command, United States Space Force. Redesignating Air Force […]

The premier space training company reveals 2021 course dates and details

SEATTLE, May 12, 2021 (Orbite PR) – Orbite, the premier space training company for ultimate adventurers, announced its first signature space training program: Astronaut Orientation, a 3-day, 4-night experience designed to prepare the mind, body and soul to maximize enjoyment and safety for a once-in-a-lifetime space journey. The company will offer four courses in the fall of 2021, with three located in the U.S. and one in France. Each Astronaut Orientation will be limited to 10 guests to ensure personalized service.

Astronaut Orientation is the first training offering of several planned from Orbite. This program focuses on putting guests through a series of activities that enlighten them about the different suborbital and orbital spaceflight offerings. Astronaut Orientation will expose trainees to different mission profiles through microgravity and high-G flight training, up-close tours of space facilities, and immersive virtual reality experiences of actual commercial space missions. Attendees will also have access to exclusive experiences, including a memorable ‘Michelin star’ space food lab tasting.

NASA’s newest Mars rover is beginning to study the floor of an ancient crater that once held a lake.

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — NASA’s Perseverance rover has been busy serving as a communications base station for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter and documenting the rotorcraft’s historic flights. But the rover has also been busy focusing its science instruments on rocks that lay on the floor of Jezero Crater.

PARIS (ESA PR) — A new international project office that will support climate modelling activities and help to boost global understanding of the changing environment is to be hosted by ESA.

Due to open this autumn, the office will be based at the agency’s European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT) in the UK, which already hosts ESA’s Climate Office.

HERNDON, Va. (BlackSky PR) — BlackSky, a leading provider of real-time geospatial intelligence and global monitoring services that recently announced a planned business combination with Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: SFTW), today revealed it expects to launch two satellites on Rocket Lab’s twentieth mission, “Running Out of Toes.” The launch, which is scheduled to take place no earlier than May 15, 2021, will deploy BlackSky’s eighth and ninth Earth observation satellites.

“BlackSky is expanding and scaling through a regular cadence of launches so we can consistently increase capacity to deliver first-to-know insights for our customers,” said Brian E. O’Toole, CEO of BlackSky. “Our established practice of rapid deployments and advanced commissioning process ensures customers can trust and rely on our network for access to real-time global intelligence.”

HOUSTON (SpaceFund PR) — SpaceFund Inc., announced it has fully deployed investments from its first “LaunchPad” fund today. The venture capital firm placed investor funds in 14 companies, including both some well-known NewSpace stars, as well as seeding rising stars it believes capable of helping lead humanity into the frontier of space.

“We’re right on track in our plan to seed and support the growth of these amazing companies,” said SpaceFund founder Rick Tumlinson. “Our formula is working. First we find brilliant frontier tech startups in need of early funding, then we bring in funds from visionary investors, and after significant diligence, we place those funds in just the right places to power the space revolution.”

PARIS (ESA PR) — Space is getting crowded. Old satellites, rocket bodies and fragments of both are leaving little space for new satellites to reside in that is free from debris.

The risk of collision with debris and even functioning satellites is increasing, especially in low-Earth orbit, putting many of Earth’s climate, ocean and land monitoring missions in harm’s way.