Deep Space Extra

Here is a list of news that were published in our Newsletter the week of May 27, 2024:

Human Space Exploration:

• United Launch Alliance rolls Atlas V and Starliner capsule to launch pad
  Coalition Member in the News – Boeing;
• As SpaceX completes second Starship WDR, FAA conducts safety investigation into flight 3;
• Boeing Starliner astronauts arrive at launch site for 1st flight test on June 1
  Coalition Member in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing;
• MDA Space joins Starlab Space commercial space station venture
  Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman;
• Russia’s Soyuz 2.1a rocket with Progress MS-27 resupply ship launches to orbital outpost;
• Robotic Russian cargo ship leaves the ISS, burns up in Earth’s atmosphere
  Coalition Members in the News – Boeing, Northrop Grumman;
• Chinese astronauts perform record-breaking spacewalk outside Tiangong space station;
• MDA Space joins Starlab Space commercial space station venture
  Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman;
• NASA, Boeing, ULA decide to proceed with Starliner CFT on June 1;

Space Science

• Why scientists say we need to send clocks to the Moon and soon;
• James Webb Space Telescope spots the 2 earliest galaxies ever seen;
• Our only mission at Venus may have just gone dark;
• How NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX asteroid probe survived its 1st close encounter with the Sun;
• Chang’e-6 set for weekend landing attempt as sun rises over Apollo crater;
• That giant sunspot that supercharged auroras on Earth? It’s back and may amp up the northern lights with June solar storms;
• Japan’s Moon lander stops responding in the dark;
• SpaceX has launched the EarthCARE climate research satellite for ESA and JAXA;
• Electron launches first NASA PREFIRE Earth science cubesat;
• Venus might be as volcanically active as Earth;
• Return of an historic sunspot;
• Spitzer gives scientists insights into black hole eating habits;

Opinion

• Why planetary protection matters to the future of space explorationThe Space Review (5/28): Dylan Thomas, CEO and Founder of Venture Space and private astronaut, makes the case for “planetary protection,” a commitment to not infecting the Moon and the planets humans explore with hints of terrestrial biology. “We are moving outward to study worlds beyond our own. As such, it behooves us to do our best to not alter the very thing that we have gone out to study if studying these places is why we go there in the first place, which it is,” Thomas writes.

Other News

• Artemis Accords gain two more signatories;
• Ursa Major completes ground tests of new hypersonic rocket engine;
• Europe seeks to emulate NASA’s revolutionary commercial cargo program
  Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space, Northrop Grumman;
• Sea-based launch startup scores $2.5 million Pentagon contract;
• Air Force reservists can soon apply to join the Space Force;
• U.S. economy to benefit from NASA investment in 3-D printable superalloy;
• Chinese firm files plans for 10,000-satellite constellation;
• North Korean military satellite launch fails;
• South Korea launches its own NASA;
• China’s secretive spaceplane releases object into orbit;

Major Space Related Activities for the Week

• NASA, Boeing and ULA are looking to Saturday at 12:25 p.m. EDT for the launch of the Boeing CST-100 Starliner CFT mission. NASA will provide live coverage over NASA TV and streaming at www.nasa.gov/nasalive starting at 8:15 a.m. EDT. With a successful lift-off, the Starliner’s docking with the ISS will follow on Sunday at 1:50 p.m. EDT.
• In the interim, Russia’s Progress MS-27 cargo mission is scheduled to launch to the ISS on Thursday at 5:43 a.m. EDT with a docking on Saturday at 7:47 a.m. EDT.
• On Wednesday, NASA and NOAA will have a joint briefing on the upcoming launch of the GOES-U meteorological satellite, scheduled for June 25 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. .
• The House and Senate are in recess this week except for pro forma sessions..

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