VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., April 26, 2021 (ULA PR) – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle carrying the NROL-82 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) lifted off from Space Launch Complex-6 on April 26 at 1:47 p.m. PDT. To date ULA has launched 143 times with 100 percent mission success.

The New York Times reports that Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin has challenged NASA’s decision to award a $2.9 billion contract to Elon Musk’s SpaceX to develop the Human Landing System designed to return astronauts to the moon as part of the space agency’s Artemis program. Bob Smith, chief executive of Blue Origin, said NASA’s decision was based on flawed evaluations of the bids — misjudging advantages of Blue Origin’s proposal […]

LONDON (Satellite Vu PR) — Satellite Vu has raised a £3.6m (US$5m) seed round led by Seraphim Capital to launch the world’s first satellite constellation capable of imaging the thermal footprint of any building on the planet every 1-2 hours. 

The month of April is concluding with a string of launches from Russia, the United States, China and South America. Things kicked off on Friday with SpaceX’s launch of Crew-2 to the International Space Station (ISS). On Sunday, a Russian Soyuz rocket launched 36 OneWeb satellite broadband spacecraft from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East.

One of the final United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rockets is scheduled to launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on Monday afternoon. That flight will be followed by the fifth launch of China’s Long March 6 booster. Launches by Europe’s Vega and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets are scheduled over the next two days.

China will close out the month on Thursday by launching Tianhe-1 core module for that nation’s first permanent space station aboard a Long March 5B booster.

The full schedule for the week is below.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., April 26, 2021 (CASIS PR) – Early Friday morning, NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission launched four astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39A. After a successful launch of the Falcon 9 rocket into low Earth orbit, the SpaceX Crew Dragon trailed the orbiting laboratory until Saturday morning, when the spacecraft successfully docked. On this mission, the second under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet joined the other members of the ISS Expedition 65 crew.

HOUSTON (Axiom Space PR) — Axiom Space revealed Monday that Coalition for Deep Space Exploration founder and former President/CEO Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar, known for her influential role in national policy toward human space exploration and commercial space development, has joined the Houston-based space infrastructure leader as Executive Vice President, Government Affairs.

At Axiom, which is currently constructing the world’s-first commercial low-Earth orbit (LEO) destination that will succeed the International Space Station (ISS), she will direct the company’s policy objectives and strategic advocacy with local, state, and federal government authorities.

“I am excited to be joining the team of experts I believe will accomplish the necessary next steps to ensure a permanent U.S. presence in low Earth orbit,” Dittmar said. “Axiom is leading the development of next-generation space infrastructure to meet the needs of industry, science, and the government. The opportunities it will create for a global user base are boundless.”

This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston: Tuesday, April 27 — 7 PM PST (9 PM CST; 10 PM EST): We welcome back ERIC BERGER of Ars Technica regarding his new book “Liftoff” regarding SpaceX plus more. Wednesday, April 28. Hotel Mars is pre-recorded. See upcoming show menu on the home page for program details. Thursday, April 29 — 7 PM PST (9 PM CST; 10 PM […]

• OneWeb confirms successful launch and contact with all 36 satellites, bringing total in-orbit constellation to 182 satellites
• On schedule to cover 50 degrees latitude and above by June, with service ready to start by the end of the year

LONDON, 26 April 2021 (OneWeb PR) — OneWeb, the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications company, has confirmed the successful launch of all 36 satellites by Arianespace from the Vostochny Cosmodrome. This launch brings OneWeb a step closer to its ‘Five to 50’ ambition, which enables the start of commercial service by the end of the year.

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (NASA PR) — The first core stage of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket departs Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, following completion of the Green Run series of tests of its design and systems. The stage now is in route to the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, its final stop prior to NASA’s launch of the Artemis I mission around the Moon. At Kennedy, the core stage will be integrated with the rest of the SLS rocket and the Orion spacecraft in preparation for launch. Through the Artemis program, NASA will return humans, including the first woman and first person of color, to the Moon and prepare for eventual journeys to Mars.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Well, this is interesting. And by interest, I mean what cynics had been predicting all along.

In the space of a couple of weeks, Russia’s plan for the future of the International Space Station (ISS) shifted from full withdrawal in 2025, to gradual withdrawal and the launch of a new Russian-only station beginning in 2025, to we’re fine with extending ISS to 2028 and we’ll start launching our new station then.

The craft’s April 25 flight was conducted at speeds and distances beyond what had ever been previously demonstrated, even in testing on Earth.

WRIGHT BROTHERS FIELD, Mars (NASA PR) — NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter continues to set records, flying faster and farther on Sunday, April 25, 2021 than in any tests it went through on Earth. The helicopter took off at 1:31 a.m. EDT (4:31 a.m. PDT), or 12:33 p.m. local Mars time, rising 16 feet (5 meters) – the same altitude as its second flight. Then it zipped downrange 164 feet (50 meters), almost half the length of a football field, reaching a top speed of 6.6 feet per second (2 meters per second).

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA will provide live coverage of the upcoming return activities for the agency’s SpaceX Crew-1 mission with NASA  astronauts Michael Hopkins,  Victor Glover, and Shannon Walker, and  Soichi Noguchi of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) from the International Space Station. The Crew Dragon spacecraft, named Resilience, is scheduled to undock from the space station to begin the journey home at 7:05 a.m. EDT Wednesday, April 28. NASA and SpaceX are targeting 12:40 […]