Orbital Gazette

03/18/2023

On this day in 1965, Alexey Leonov aboard the Voskhod 2 mission, was the first human to conduct a spacewalk. This spacewalk lasted for 12 minutes and 9 seconds. Leonov was the commander of the Soyuz-Apollo mission in 1975 and also selected to be the Soviets first man on the moon, but that was later cancelled. Leonov was an would lead a very impressive career and be very accomplished cosmonaut. Unfortunately, Leonov would pass away in 2011 after fighting with a long term illness.

03/14/2023

24 Hrs until launch

03/11/2023

We are standing down from today's launch attempt at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility due to strong upper level winds. We have back up opportunities over the next week and we'll share a new target launch date soon.

03/08/2023

Terran 1 has been scrubbed for today

03/08/2023

At 1:00pm today and almost entirely 3D printed rocket Terran 1 from Relativity will be launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Center, Florida.
https://www.youtube.com/live/_YAlOGZM32U?feature=share

Relativity is scheduled for its first launch of Terran 1, called "GLHF" (Good Luck, Have Fun), from Launch Complex 16 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Our launch ...

03/07/2023

Rocket Lab's next launch from Wallops is scheduled for this Saturday, March 11, with a window of 6-8 p.m. EST.

Our Wallops Visitor Center will not be open for this mission, but there are plenty of other local viewing locations to check out. The launch, weather permitting, may be visible those along the East Coast.

Learn more: https://www.nasa.gov/wallops/2023/feature/rocket-lab-announces-march-launch

03/07/2023

There appears to be an issue with the H3 vehicle with trajectory no longer nominal

03/07/2023

Liftoff!!!

03/07/2023

10 minutes until launch of H3

03/06/2023

The first flight of Launch Vehicle H3 is set to take place later today after a failed launch attempt almost a month ago.

03/03/2023

Deployment of 51 Starlink satellites confirmed

03/03/2023

It's Launch Day! We are just hours away from the reschedule SpaceX launch of Falcon 9.

https://www.youtube.com/live/BAkApUbevaA

03/01/2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZfB8Ny2Tkw

03/01/2023

https://www.youtube.com/live/BAkApUbevaA?feature=share

02/27/2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe4S-q_gQaU&feature=youtu.be

02/27/2023

Crew 6 will be launching at 01:45am est (06:45 UTC) from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39
https://www.youtube.com/live/5Lu344WNUM4?feature=share

02/26/2023

MS-23 has successfully docked to the ISS.

02/26/2023

Just a friendly reminder, at 8:00pm (est) the MS-23 module will be docking with the ISS. This module is planned to be the module that will bring the Russians home after the previous module was damaged by debris.
https://www.youtube.com/live/21X5lGlDOfg?feature=share

02/23/2023

UPDATE: SpaceX is now targeting Sunday, Feb. 26 for the launch of Starlink 6-1. The launch window opens at 13:12 EST (18:12 UTC).

02/22/2023

02/22/2023

SpaceX, NASA delay Crew-6 astronaut launch to Feb. 27

02/19/2023

Progress 82 cargo craft fired its deorbit engine at 10:15pm ET today sending it towards Earth's atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean. Once entered progress will burn up in the atmosphere.

02/18/2023

Happy Pluto Day !!!!

On this day in 1930, are favorite planetary controversy was discovered in our backyard by Clyde Tombaugh.

02/18/2023

Launch Time
Sun Feb 26, 2023 2:07 AM EST (19:07 UTC)
LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, USA

SpaceX will attempt to launch Crew-6 onboard of Falcon 9 (C206 Endeavour). This is the sixth operational crewed rotation mission of a Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. The crew will consist of commander Stephen Bowen (NASA), pilot Warren Hoburg (NASA), and mission specialists Andrey Fediaev (Roscosmos) and Sultan Al Neyadi (MBRSC). Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship will attempt the recovery of B1078. This will be B1078's Maiden flight.

02/18/2023

Launch Time
Thu Feb 23, 2023 7:34 PM EST (00:34 UTC)
Site 31/6, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Soyuz MS-23 will be launched without crew, and will automatically dock to the ISS to replace the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft that suffered a thermal control system depressurization/leak on the ISS on December 15, 2022.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 7,050 kg
Low Earth Orbit

Launch vehicle:
Roscosmos
Status: Active
Price: $17.42 million
Liftoff Thrust: 4,550 kN
Payload to LEO: 7,500 kg
Payload to GTO: 0 kg
Stages: 3
Strap-ons: 4
Rocket Height: 51.38 m
Fairing Diameter: 4.11 m
Fairing Height: 15.59 m

02/18/2023

Launch Time:
Thu Feb 23, 2023 1:37 PM EST (18:37 UTC)
Starlink Group 6-1
SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA
SpaceX will attempt to launch Starlink group 6-1. This will be the first launch of the V2 Starlink satellites. These are the "downsized" versions of the V2 satellites that are intended to launch on Starship. This mission will carry 22 Starlink V2 minis to their new home in the Low Earth Orbit internet satellite constellation. The Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship will attempt to recover B1076 for its third flight after a 45 day turnaround.

Launch vehicle:
Falcon 9 Block 5
SpaceX
Status: Active
Price: $67.0 million
Liftoff Thrust: 7,607 kN
Payload to LEO: 22,800 kg
Payload to GTO: 8,300 kg
Stages: 2
Strap-ons: 0
Rocket Height: 70.0 m
Fairing Diameter: 5.2 m
Fairing Height: 13.0 m

02/18/2023

What a beautiful view of Inmarsat's deployment!