January 2021 – Spaceflight Now

Live coverage: Rocket Lab counting down to launch from New Zealand

January 16, 2021

Rocket Lab’s first mission of 2021 will deploy a small clandestine satellite for OHB, a German aerospace company. The company’s light-class Electron rocket is set for launch from New Zealand at 2:44 a.m. EST (0744 GMT) Saturday.

Rocket Lab set to launch super-secret satellite for German company

January 15, 2021

A small communications satellite built by the German company OHB — a payload so secret that no one has officially disclosed its name or end user — is set to ride a Rocket Lab Electron launcher into orbit Saturday from New Zealand.

Officials forecast than 50 launches from Florida’s Space Coast this year

January 15, 2021

Military officials in charge of the Eastern Range at Cape Canaveral project more than 50 launches from Florida’s Space Coast this year, with SpaceX responsible for most of the launch activity, the vice commander of the 45th Space Wing said this week.

Blue Origin tests passenger accommodations on suborbital launch

January 14, 2021

Blue Origin says it is “very, very close” to flying humans on suborbital launches to the edge of space after a successful test flight of a human-capable rocket and capsule Thursday.

French wine, live rodents among 2 tons of cargo returned from space station

January 14, 2021

A SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule parachuted to an on-target splashdown Wednesday night west of Tampa, returning more than two tons of experiment specimens from the International Space Station, including live rodents and a dozen bottles of space-aged French wine.

Boeing says assembly complete on first set of new space station solar arrays

January 13, 2021

Engineers from Boeing and a team of subcontractors have finished building the first pair of six new solar arrays to bolster the International Space Station’s aging electrical system ahead of their launch to the orbiting outpost as soon as May aboard SpaceX’s next Cargo Dragon mission.

Cargo Dragon heads for splashdown off Florida’s west coast

January 12, 2021

SpaceX’s first upgraded Cargo Dragon spaceship departed the International Space Station Tuesday morning with more than 4,400 pounds of research specimens and other equipment, heading for splashdown Wednesday night in the Gulf of Mexico off the west coast of Florida.

James Webb, OneWeb highlight Arianespace’s 2021 launch schedule

January 11, 2021

The planned Halloween launch of the James Webb Space Telescope — one of eight Ariane 5 launches left before the rocket’s retirement — and a series of flights to build out OneWeb’s satellite internet network highlight Arianespace’s schedule this year.

NASA mission extension enables first flybys of Jupiter’s moons in 20 years

January 11, 2021

In a pair of mission extensions, NASA has cleared the way for more seismic observations on Mars with the robotic InSight lander and approved plans for the Juno spacecraft to alter its orbit and perform close flybys of Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, Ganymede, and the volcanic moon Io.

Cargo Dragon return delayed by poor weather

January 11, 2021

Poor weather in the offshore recovery zone east of Florida forced SpaceX and NASA to delay the departure of an upgraded Cargo Dragon spaceship from International Space Station Monday. The capsule is bringing home several tons of research equipment, specimens, and other equipment.