In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA names a new chief astronaut. French astronaut Thomas Pesquet reflects on life aboard the International Space Station.


Human Space Exploration

NASA names new chief astronaut: Patrick Forrester to lead growing corps

Collectspace.com via Space.com (6/5): NASA has a new chief astronaut. Patrick Forrester, a retired U.S. Army aviator, succeeds Chris Cassidy, who returns to active astronaut status, eligible for future flight assignments, after nearly two years in management. Forrester is a veteran of three shuttle flights.

Astronaut Thomas Pesquet ponders humanity’s place in the cosmos (video)

Space.com (6/4): Last Friday, European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet touched the Earth for the first time since November 17. In the days before his descent, Pesquet reflected on his time in space in a space station video, New Eyes.

 

Space Science

Citizen scientists uncover a cold new world near Sun

Science Magazine (6/2): A new citizen-science tool released earlier this year to help astronomers pinpoint new worlds lurking in the outer reaches of our solar system has already led to a discovery: a brown dwarf, a little more than 100 light years away from the Sun. Just six days after the launch of the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 website in February, four different users alerted the science team to the curious object, whose presence has since been confirmed via an infrared telescope. Details were recently published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

A coming communications crunch at Mars

The Space Review (6/5): A growing international focus on the exploration of Mars threatens to coincide with a restricted and aging communications infrastructure, writes Cody Knipfer, a George Washington University Space Policy Institute grad student. NASA and others could pursue an international or perhaps a commercial solution, he suggests.

 

ISS and Low Earth Orbit

CRS-11 Dragon arrives at International Space Station

Spaceflightinsider.com (6/5): SpaceX’s 11th NASA contracted resupply mission Dragon capsule reached the International Space Station on Monday, where it was grappled by U.S. astronauts Jack Fischer and Peggy Whitson using the Station’s Canadian robot arm. The capsule’s components were largely reassembled from a 2014 Dragon spacecraft, a first for a commercial space company.

1st private space station will become an off-Earth manufacturing hub

Coalition Member in the News

Space.com (6/5): Houston-based Axiom Space’s vision for the first commercial space station includes a manufacturing capability that would bring in revenues surpassing those from government agencies, research and tourism by the end of the next decade, according to Amir Blachman, vice president for strategic development. 3-D printing could become a key part of the objective.

 

International Developments

India’s launcher fleet gets an upgrade with successful test flight

Spaceflightnow.com (6/5): India launched its heaviest rocket ever, the upgraded Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, from the Satish Dhawan Space Center with a communications satellite. The lift capability is “just shy of the lift capability of United Launch Alliance’s basic Atlas 5 rocket configuration without strap-on boosters, but well short of the capacity of the Atlas 5’s more powerful versions, the French Ariane 5, and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket,” Spaceflightnow.com reports.

China willing to cooperate in peaceful space exploration: Xi

Xinhuanet of China (6/6): In Beijing, President Xi Jinping expresses a desire to cooperate internationally in the exploration of space at the opening of the Global Space Exploration Conference on Tuesday.

Russia to launch new-generation navigation satellite next year

TASS of Russia (6/5): Russia plans to begin launching a new generation of global navigation satellite, the Glonass-K2, next year, according to satellite manufacturer, the Reshetnev Information Satellite Systems Company. The spacecraft are to introduce more navigation accuracy and a longer life.

 

Other News

Intelsat-OneWeb satellite merger falls apart due to doubts about debt swap

GeekWire.com (6/5): OneWeb has terminated merger efforts with Intelsat. OneWeb, however, will continue plans to roll-out a global internet service comprised of a low Earth orbit satellite constellation.