March 2019 – Spaceflight Now

China launches tracking and data relay satellite

March 31, 2019 Stephen Clark

A Chinese Long March 3B rocket delivered a new-generation tracking and data relay satellite to orbit Sunday to provide communications support for the country’s future human spaceflight missions and space station.

India’s PSLV poised for launch with 29 satellites

March 31, 2019 Stephen Clark

An Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle is scheduled for liftoff Sunday night with an intelligence-gathering electronic surveillance satellite and 28 secondary payloads, including 20 Earth-imaging Dove nanosatellites for Planet, the U.S. company which criticized India’s anti-satellite test for generating space debris last week.

Live view of Falcon Heavy launch pad (members only)

March 31, 2019 Spaceflight Now

As SpaceX prepares to launch its second Falcon Heavy rocket, watch live views of launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.

Hague, Koch complete another spacewalk to connect new batteries

March 29, 2019 William Harwood

With plans for the first all-female spacewalk derailed by suit sizing issues, astronauts Christina Koch and Nick Hague floated outside the International Space Station Friday for a revised excursion to help fix a solar array battery problem and to connect a second set of replacement batteries as originally planned.

Rocket Lab launches DARPA research satellite

March 29, 2019 Stephen Clark

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket climbed into orbit from New Zealand Thursday (U.S. time) with an experimental payload for a U.S. military research and development agency to demonstrate the performance of a compact, deployable antenna that could expand the communications capabilities of future small satellites.

Chinese startup OneSpace fails in first orbital launch attempt

March 27, 2019 Stephen Clark

A solid-fueled rocket launched Wednesday by the Chinese startup OneSpace flew off course shortly after liftoff, the second time in five months one of China’s new space companies failed in a bid to become the country’s first private firm to place a spacecraft into orbit.

U.S. military sensors track debris from Indian anti-satellite test

March 27, 2019 Stephen Clark

The U.S. Air Force was tracking at least 270 debris fragments created by an Indian anti-satellite missile test, but the debris field posed no immediate threat to the International Space Station or most other satellites in low Earth orbit, a senior U.S. military official said Wednesday in a congressional hearing.

Pence calls for NASA to land astronauts on the moon within five years

March 26, 2019 Stephen Clark

Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday that NASA should land astronauts near the south pole of the moon within five years “by any means necessary,” calling for “new urgency” in the U.S. space program and sounding a warning for entrenched aerospace contractors to better meet schedule and cost commitments, or else lose work to other companies.

First all-female spacewalk foiled by spacesuit sizing issue

March 26, 2019 Stephen Clark

NASA astronaut Nick Hague will take the place of Anne McClain on a spacewalk Friday outside the International Space Station, teaming up with crewmate Christina Koch to continue a series of battery upgrades on an excursion that would have been the first all-female spacewalk in history.

Chinese startup plans first orbital launch attempt this week

March 25, 2019 Stephen Clark

A Chinese startup named OneSpace could test its first full-scale launcher as soon as Wednesday in a bid to become China’s first privately-funded rocket company to place a satellite in orbit around the Earth.