开云体育

SKYNET!!!!? 9PM CT - 10:30 PM CT

?

Saturday’s Topic: “Move Space Shuttle Discovery from Smithsonian to Houston?” & Constellation “Centaurus the Centaur”?

?

Net Control: Virginia NV5F

?

Afterglow Movie 10:30PM: “Welcome to Blood City” (1977)

2-Meter Repeater W5FC: 146.880MHz, PL 110.9, -

Echolink: W5FC-R, node 37247.

?

Youtube.com Search “DARC Skynet”

Facebook.com Search “DARC Skynet”

?

Direct Video Link:

?

IO Group:/g/DARCskynet/topics

Facebook Group:

Recent Astronomical Discoveries?

Discussion Topic of the Evening.

?

Texas senators: Move space shuttle Discovery from Smithsonian to Houston

?

Discovery on Display - Smithsonian?

?

Shuttle Locations Nationwide

Space Shuttle Discovery

Endeavour Moved by Land

Shuttle Enterprise Moved by Barge

Cornyn/Cruz

Space Center Houston

Waz Up

Space Exploration and Space History?

Space Exploration News

April 6-12

Blue Origin

will launch its eleventh crewed flight on April 14,

Ring Plane Crossing

Saturn is so close to the sun that most astronomers have been missing a big event. The planet's rings have vanished.?

Space-Related Birthdays

April 6-12

Donald Holmquest Apr 07, 1939 No flights

Timothy Kopra? Apr 09, 1963 STS-127/128 (Expedition 20), Soyuz TMA (Expedition 46/47

Serena Au?ón-Chancellor Apr 09, 1976 Soyuz MS-09 (Expedition 56/57)

Kenneth Cockrell Apr 09, 1950 STS-56, STS-69, STS-80, STS-98, STS-111

Piers Sellers? 1955 Apr 11, 1963 STS-112, STS-121, STS-132

Frederick Hauck Apr 11, 1941 STS-7, STS-51-A, STS-26

This Week in Space History

April 6-12

April 9, 1959: NASA introduced its very first astronaut class, known as the Mercury 7.?

April 9, 2024 Delta IV Heavy rocket launch

April 11, 1970: Launch of Apollo 13

April 11, 1960: 'Project Ozma' begins search for alien life

April 12, 1961: Yuri Gagarin, launched by the Soviet Union, became the first human to venture into space.?

Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week

Space Launches For This Week

Space Flight Now Launch Schedule

April 12/13 Falcon 9 ? Starlink 12-17

Launch time: 8:53 p.m. EDT (0053 UTC)

Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of 21 Starlink V2 Mini satellites, including 13 equipped for direct to cell phone service. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster, will land on the drone ship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’ in the Atlantic Ocean. Scrubbed April 10 and 11.

Updated: April 12

April 13/14 Falcon 9 ? Starlink 6-73

Launch time: 9:59 p.m. EDT (0159 UTC)

Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of 27 Starlink V2 Mini satellites. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster, will land on the drone ship ‘Just Read the Instructions’ in the Atlantic Ocean.

Updated: April 11

NET April 16 Minotaur 4 ? NROL-174

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-8, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A Northrop Grumman Minotaur 4 rocket will launch the NROL-174 mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). The agency said there are multiple national security payloads on board, which are “designed, built, and operated by the NRO. The U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command was responsible for launch procurement through the Orbital/Suborbital Program-3 contract.

Updated: April 11

NET April 19 Falcon 9 ? NROL-145

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of satellites supporting the National Reconnaissance Office’s (NRO) proliferated architecture constellation. The agency has the stated goal to “build and fortify the largest government constellation in history, with proliferated launches continuing through 2029.” This will be the fourth launch for this constellation this year and the tenth overall. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will target a landing on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’

Updated: April 11

NET April 21 Falcon 9 ? CRS-32

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the company’s 32nd Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-32) mission to the International Space Station. The flight will carry thousands of pounds of science investigations, technology demonstration and other consumables to the orbiting outpost to support the crew onboard. The Cargo Dragon spacecraft will remain docked to the ISS for about a month before undocking and returning to Earth for a splashdown off the coast of California. The Falcon 9 first stage booster used to launch this mission will target a landing back at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Updated: March 24

April 28 Atlas 5 ? Kuiper 1

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket will launch a batch of 27 of Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet satellites. These are the first production satellites that will make up Amazon’s satellite internet megaconstellation, which will include 3,236 satellites. ULA is flying its Atlas 5 in the 551 configuration, which features five solid rocket boosters and a medium-length payload fairing. Scrubbed April 9 due to poor weather. New date of April 28 tentative.

Updated: April 11

NET April 29 Vega-C ? Biomass

Launch time: 6:15 a.m. GFT (5:15 a.m. EDT, 0915 UTC)

Launch site: Europe's Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana

An Arianespace Vega-C rocket will launch the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Earth Explorer Biomass satellite into a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 666 km (413.8 mi). Biomass features a P-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and is designed “to collect information on the height and structure of different forest types and measure the amount of carbon stored in the world’s forests and how it changes over time. In addition, the Biomass mission will map subsurface geology in deserts, the ice structure of ice sheets and the topography of forest floors.” This mission, also referred to as VV26, will be the fourth launch of a Vega-C rocket.

Updated: March 25

NET Spring 2025 New Glenn ? EscaPADE

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 36, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket will launch a pair of identical spacecraft on NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission. The two satellites, named Blue and Gold, will make a roughly 11-month journey to Mars where they will then perform about an 11-month science mission while orbiting the Red Planet. Blue and Gold were manufactured by Rocket Lab over about 3.5 years and carry science experiments from the University of California, Berkeley. This launch of the New Glenn rocket will also feature a landing attempt on its landing barge in the Atlantic Ocean. Delayed from October 13.

Updated: March 08

NET April Alpha ? ‘Message in a Booster’

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-2, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket will launch Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 satellite bus to low Earth orbit. The sixth launch of an Alpha rocket, designated FLTA006, marks the second flight within a multi-launch agreement between Firefly Aerospace and Lockheed Martin, which may include up to 25 missions within a five-year timeframe. Delayed from March 15/16 due to range availability. Delayed from NET March.

Updated: April 03

NET May Falcon 9 ? Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4)

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. Former NASA astronaut and Axiom Space’s Director of Human Spaceflight will serve as the commander of the mission. This will be her fifth trip to space and her second time commanding a private astronaut mission. Shubhanshu Shukla, an Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot and astronaut with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be the pilot onboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon. S?awosz Uznański-Wi?niewski, a Polish member of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Astronaut Reserve Class of 2022, and Tibor Kapu, a Hungarian member of the Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) Astronaut Program, will serve as the Mission Specialists. These four astronauts will spend up to 14 days docked to the ISS after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on a Falcon 9 rocket. Following stage separation, the booster will target a touchdown at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Updated: April 02

NET Late May Falcon 9 ? GPS 3 SV-08

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the eighth Global Positioning System (GPS) 3 satellite, built by Lockheed Martin. The GPS 3 Space Vehicle 08 (SV-08) is named in honor of mathematician, Katherine Johnson, whose calculations contributed significantly to early human spaceflight. The Falcon 9 first stage booster will target a landing on a droneship positioned in the Atlantic Ocean.

Updated: April 11

TBD 2025 Vulcan Centaur ? Dream Chaser 1

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch on its second demonstration flight with Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser cargo vehicle for the International Space Station. The Dream Chaser is a lifting body resupply spacecraft that will launch on top of a rocket and land on a runway. This will be the Dream Chaser’s first flight to space. The Vulcan Centaur rocket will fly in the VC4L configuration with four GEM-63XL solid rocket boosters, a long-length payload fairing, and two RL10 engines on the Centaur upper stage. Delayed from August 2022, December 2023, January 2024,? April 2024 and September 2024.

Updated: October 17

NET June Falcon 9 ? Transporter-14

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch dozens of payloads on its latest Smallsat rideshare program, called Transporter. This mission, dubbed Transporter-14, will include a variety of customers, including the MayaSat-1 capsule from The Exploration Company and three Erminaz PocketQubes from AMSAT-DL. The Falcon 9 first stage booster will perform a return to landing site touchdown at Landing Zone 4 less than eight minutes after liftoff.

Updated: April 02

NET November 2025 Falcon 9 ? Sentinel-6B

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the second of the two-satellite Sentinel-6 series. NASA awarded SpaceX a $94 million firm fixed price contract for the launch in 2022. The Sentinel-6B “will use a radar altimeter to bounce signals off the ocean surface and deliver continuity of ocean topography measurements,” according to NASA. The missions is designed through a partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Organization for the Exploration of Meteorological Studies.

10. Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.

All times are “local” (Dallas) time.

ISS

Apr 17

Apr 18

Apr 19

Apr 20

Apr 22

Tiangong

Apr 18

https://www.heavens-above.com/passdetails.aspx?lat=33.0462&lng=-96.9942&loc=Lewisville&alt=0&tz=CST&satid=48274&mjd=60784.0828619991&type=V

Apr 19

Apr 20

SKYNET!!!!? 9PM CT - 10:30 PM CT

?

Saturday’s Topic: “JWST’s Next Year of Amazing Science Revealed—As Funding Worries Loom Large” & Constellations “Sextans the Sextant” and “Hydra the Water Snake”

?

Net Control: Bill (N5BB)

?

Afterglow Movie 10:30PM:

2-Meter Repeater W5FC: 146.880MHz, PL 110.9, -

Echolink: W5FC-R, node 37247.

?

Youtube.com Search “DARC Skynet”

Facebook.com Search “DARC Skynet”

?

Direct Video Link:

?

IO Group:/g/DARCskynet/topics

Facebook Group:

Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.

?

Discussion Topic of the Evening.

Enter Topic Here

Enter NCS Name and Call Here

Recent Astronomical Discoveries?

Solar cells made of moon dust could power future space exploration

Solar Cells on the Moon

Discussion Topic of the Evening.

“JWST’s Next Year of Amazing Science Revealed—As Funding Worries Loom Large”

JWST Artist’s Concept

STScI

Cycle 3 Hours

“Small Objects”

JWST Infrared Imaging

Side-by-side Comparison - Southern Ring Nebula

Little Red Dots (LRDs)

Cold Brown Dwarf Stars

LTT 1445Ab - Planet Transit Chart

HR 8799 Gas Giants Photographed

JWST

?Waz Up

Space Exploration and Space History?

Space Exploration News

SpaceX's private Fram2 astronauts splash down on Earth, ending historic polar orbit expedition

JWST finds spiral galaxy about 5 times more massive than Milky Way — scientists call it 'Big Wheel'

Space-Related Birthdays

March 31, 2957: Patrick Forrester (STS-105, STS-117, STS-128)

April 1, 1946: William Fisher (STS-51-I)

April 3, 1926: Gus Grissom (Mercury-Redstone 4, Gemini 3, Apollo 1)

April 5, 1949: Judith Resnik (STS-41-D, STS-51-L)

April 5, 1950: Franklin Chang Diaz (STS-61-C, STS-34, STS-46, STS-60, STS-75, STS-91, STS-111)

This Week in Space History

April 1:

1960

The first experimental weather satellite launched.

April 2:

1958?

President Eisenhower proposed the creation of what is now NASA in an article of draft legislation sent to Congress.

1968?

The film 2001: A Space Odyssey premiered.?

April 3:

1966?

Luna 10 entered lunar orbit and became the first human-made object to orbit the Moon -- or any celestial body beyond Earth.

April 5:

1973

Pioneer 11 launched to study the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter and Saturn, solar winds, and cosmic rays.?

April 5:

1991:?

Launched aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis' STS-37 mission, the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory was a space telescope that made observations from Earth orbit for the next 9 years.

Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week

“Sextans the Sextant” and “Hydra the Water Snake”

Satellite Passages Over the Next Few Days

Space Flight Now Launch Schedule

TBD Alpha ? ‘Message in a Booster’

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-2, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket will launch Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 satellite bus to low Earth orbit. The sixth launch of an Alpha rocket, designated FLTA006, marks the second flight within a multi-launch agreement between Firefly Aerospace and Lockheed Martin, which may include up to 25 missions within a five-year timeframe. Delayed from March 15/16 due to range availability.?

Updated: April 01

NET April 8 Soyuz 2.1a ? Soyuz MS-27 / 73S

Launch time: 8:47 a.m. MSK (1:47 a.m. EDT, 0547 UTC)

Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Site 31

A Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket will launch a three-man crew to the International Space Station. Crew commander Sergey Ryzhikov will be joined by fellow cosmonaut Alexey Zubritsky and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim. The Soyuz is set to dock with the ISS at about 5:04 a.m. EDT (0904 UTC). The spacecraft will remain docked with the orbiting outpost until about Dec. 8, 2025. This will be the third spaceflight for Ryzhikov and the first for both Zubritsky and Kim.

Updated: February 05

April 9 Atlas 5 ? Kuiper 1

Launch time: 12 p.m. EDT (1600 UTC)

Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket will launch a batch of 27 of Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet satellites. These are the first production satellites that will make up Amazon’s satellite internet megaconstellation, which will include 3,236 satellites. ULA is flying its Atlas 5 in the 551 configuration, which features five solid rocket boosters and a medium-length payload fairing.

Updated: April 02

NET April 21 Falcon 9 ? CRS-32

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the company’s 32nd Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-32) mission to the International Space Station. The flight will carry thousands of pounds of science investigations, technology demonstration and other consumables to the orbiting outpost to support the crew onboard. The Cargo Dragon spacecraft will remain docked to the ISS for about a month before undocking and returning to Earth for a splashdown off the coast of California. The Falcon 9 first stage booster used to launch this mission will target a landing back at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Updated: March 24

NET April 29 Vega-C ? Biomass

Launch time: 6:15 a.m. GFT (5:15 a.m. EDT, 0915 UTC)

Launch site: Europe's Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana

An Arianespace Vega-C rocket will launch the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Earth Explorer Biomass satellite into a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 666 km (413.8 mi). Biomass features a P-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and is designed “to collect information on the height and structure of different forest types and measure the amount of carbon stored in the world’s forests and how it changes over time. In addition, the Biomass mission will map subsurface geology in deserts, the ice structure of ice sheets and the topography of forest floors.” This mission, also referred to as VV26, will be the fourth launch of a Vega-C rocket.

Updated: March 25

NET Spring 2025 New Glenn ? EscaPADE

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 36, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket will launch a pair of identical spacecraft on NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission. The two satellites, named Blue and Gold, will make a roughly 11-month journey to Mars where they will then perform about an 11-month science mission while orbiting the Red Planet. Blue and Gold were manufactured by Rocket Lab over about 3.5 years and carry science experiments from the University of California, Berkeley. This launch of the New Glenn rocket will also feature a landing attempt on its landing barge in the Atlantic Ocean. Delayed from October 13.

Updated: March 08

NET May Falcon 9 ? Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4)

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. Former NASA astronaut and Axiom Space’s Director of Human Spaceflight will serve as the commander of the mission. This will be her fifth trip to space and her second time commanding a private astronaut mission. Shubhanshu Shukla, an Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot and astronaut with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will be the pilot onboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon. S?awosz Uznański-Wi?niewski, a Polish member of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Astronaut Reserve Class of 2022, and Tibor Kapu, a Hungarian member of the Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) Astronaut Program, will serve as the Mission Specialists. These four astronauts will spend up to 14 days docked to the ISS after launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on a Falcon 9 rocket. Following stage separation, the booster will target a touchdown at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Updated: April 02

TBD 2025 Vulcan Centaur ? Dream Chaser 1

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch on its second demonstration flight with Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser cargo vehicle for the International Space Station. The Dream Chaser is a lifting body resupply spacecraft that will launch on top of a rocket and land on a runway. This will be the Dream Chaser’s first flight to space. The Vulcan Centaur rocket will fly in the VC4L configuration with four GEM-63XL solid rocket boosters, a long-length payload fairing, and two RL10 engines on the Centaur upper stage. Delayed from August 2022, December 2023, January 2024,? April 2024 and September 2024.

Updated: October 17

NET June Falcon 9 ? Transporter-14

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch dozens of payloads on its latest Smallsat rideshare program, called Transporter. This mission, dubbed Transporter-14, will include a variety of customers, including the MayaSat-1 capsule from The Exploration Company and three Erminaz PocketQubes from AMSAT-DL. The Falcon 9 first stage booster will perform a return to landing site touchdown at Landing Zone 4 less than eight minutes after liftoff.

Updated: April 02

NET November 2025 Falcon 9 ? Sentinel-6B

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the second of the two-satellite Sentinel-6 series. NASA awarded SpaceX a $94 million firm fixed price contract for the launch in 2022. The Sentinel-6B “will use a radar altimeter to bounce signals off the ocean surface and deliver continuity of ocean topography measurements,” according to NASA. The missions is designed through a partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Organization for the Exploration of Meteorological Studies.

Updated: February 27

Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.

You can use the website to find out what’s in orbit and

where to look during fly-overs

?

All times are “local” (Dallas) time.

NO ISS Passes

Tiangong

Apr 7

Apr 8

Apr 9

Apr 10

SKYNET!!!!? 9PM CT - 10:30 PM CT

?

Saturday’s Topic: “Why is Easter on April 20th?” & Constellations “Pyxis the Compass” and “Antlia the Pump”?

?

Net Control: Chaz KF5JHA

?

Afterglow Movie 10:30PM: "Idaho Transfer" (1973)

2-Meter Repeater W5FC: 146.880MHz, PL 110.9, -

Echolink: W5FC-R, node 37247.

?

Youtube.com Search “DARC Skynet”

Facebook.com Search “DARC Skynet”

?

Direct Video Link:

?

IO Group:/g/DARCskynet/topics

Facebook Group:

Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.

Recent Astronomical Discoveries?

Organic molecules of unprecedented size discovered on Mars

Molecule Life Cycle

Discussion Topic of the Evening.

“Why is Easter on April 20th?”

Waz Up

Space Exploration and Space History?

Space Exploration News

Mar 23 - Mar29

NASA’s Parker Solar Probe Team Wins 2024 Collier Trophy

Airbus wins contract for ExoMars lander platform

Space-Related Birthdays

Scott J. Horowitz Mar 24, 1957 STS-75, STS-82, STS-101, STS-105

Lodewijk van den Berg Mar 24, 1932 STS-51-B?

Kenneth S. Reightler Jr. Mar 24, 1951 STS-48, STS-60

Jim Lovell? Mar 25, 1928 (He's 96.) Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8, Apollo 13

William Oefelein? Mar 29, 1965 STS-116

Michael Foreman ? Mar 29, 1957 STS-123, STS-129

This Week in Space History

March 23, 1965 Gus Grissom and John Young launched aboard Gemini III in the first US spaceflight crewed by more than one astronaut

March 24, 1979 Columbia Unveiled?

March 27, 1968, Yuri Gagarin Dies

March 29, 1974, Mariner 10 First Flyby of Mercury

Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week

Constellations “Pyxis the Compass” and “Antlia the Pump”

Space Launches For This Week

Space Flight Now Launch Schedule

March 30 Falcon 9 ? Starlink 6-80

Launch time: Window opens at 2:16 p.m. EDT (1916 UTC)

Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will target a landing on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean

Updated: March 27

March 30/31 Falcon 9 ? Starlink 11-13

Launch time: Window opens at 5:23 p.m. PDT (8:23 p.m. EDT, 0023 UTC)

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will land on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean

Updated: March 27

NET March Alpha ? ‘Message in a Booster’

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-2, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket will launch Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 satellite bus to low Earth orbit. The sixth launch of an Alpha rocket, designated FLTA006, marks the second flight within a multi-launch agreement between Firefly Aerospace and Lockheed Martin, which may include up to 25 missions within a five-year timeframe. Delayed from March 15/16 due to range availability.

Updated: March 26

NET March 31/April 1 Falcon 9 ? Fram2

Launch time: 9:47 p.m. EDT (0147 UTC)

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch four commercial astronauts into a 90-degree inclination polar orbit to begin a three-day, free-flyer mission onboard Crew Dragon Resilience. The mission is led by Chun Wang, a cryptocurrency investor and co-founder of Bitcoin mining company, f2pool. He is joined by Norway’s Jannicke Mikkelsen, vehicle commander; Australia’s Eric Philips, vehicle pilot; and Germany’s Rabea Rogge, mission specialist. This will be the fourth launch for Dragon Resilience, which will feature the return of the cupola addition to the nosecone. It replaces the Skywalker apparatus used during the Polaris Dawn mission.

Updated: March 25

NET April 8 Soyuz 2.1a ? Soyuz MS-27 / 73S

Launch time: 8:47 a.m. MSK (1:47 a.m. EDT, 0547 UTC)

Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Site 31

A Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket will launch a three-man crew to the International Space Station. Crew commander Sergey Ryzhikov will be joined by fellow cosmonaut Alexey Zubritsky and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim. The Soyuz is set to dock with the ISS at about 5:04 a.m. EDT (0904 UTC). The spacecraft will remain docked with the orbiting outpost until about Dec. 8, 2025. This will be the third spaceflight for Ryzhikov and the first for both Zubritsky and Kim.

Updated: February 05

NET April 21 Falcon 9 ? CRS-32

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the company’s 32nd Commercial Resupply Services (CRS-32) mission to the International Space Station. The flight will carry thousands of pounds of science investigations, technology demonstration and other consumables to the orbiting outpost to support the crew onboard. The Cargo Dragon spacecraft will remain docked to the ISS for about a month before undocking and returning to Earth for a splashdown off the coast of California. The Falcon 9 first stage booster used to launch this mission will target a landing back at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Updated: March 24

NET April 29 Vega-C ? Biomass

Launch time: 6:15 a.m. GFT (5:15 a.m. EDT, 0915 UTC)

Launch site: Europe's Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana

An Arianespace Vega-C rocket will launch the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Earth Explorer Biomass satellite into a Sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 666 km (413.8 mi). Biomass features a P-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and is designed “to collect information on the height and structure of different forest types and measure the amount of carbon stored in the world’s forests and how it changes over time. In addition, the Biomass mission will map subsurface geology in deserts, the ice structure of ice sheets and the topography of forest floors.” This mission, also referred to as VV26, will be the fourth launch of a Vega-C rocket.

Updated: March 25

NET Spring 2025 New Glenn ? EscaPADE

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 36, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket will launch a pair of identical spacecraft on NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission. The two satellites, named Blue and Gold, will make a roughly 11-month journey to Mars where they will then perform about an 11-month science mission while orbiting the Red Planet. Blue and Gold were manufactured by Rocket Lab over about 3.5 years and carry science experiments from the University of California, Berkeley. This launch of the New Glenn rocket will also feature a landing attempt on its landing barge in the Atlantic Ocean. Delayed from October 13.

Updated: March 08

TBD 2025 Vulcan Centaur ? Dream Chaser 1

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch on its second demonstration flight with Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser cargo vehicle for the International Space Station. The Dream Chaser is a lifting body resupply spacecraft that will launch on top of a rocket and land on a runway. This will be the Dream Chaser’s first flight to space. The Vulcan Centaur rocket will fly in the VC4L configuration with four GEM-63XL solid rocket boosters, a long-length payload fairing, and two RL10 engines on the Centaur upper stage. Delayed from August 2022, December 2023, January 2024,? April 2024 and September 2024.

Updated: October 17

NET November 2025 Falcon 9 ? Sentinel-6B

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the second of the two-satellite Sentinel-6 series. NASA awarded SpaceX a $94 million firm fixed price contract for the launch in 2022. The Sentinel-6B “will use a radar altimeter to bounce signals off the ocean surface and deliver continuity of ocean topography measurements,” according to NASA. The mission is designed through a partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Organization for the Exploration of Meteorological Studies.

Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.

You can use the website to find out what’s in orbit and

where to look during fly-overs

??

All times are “local” (Dallas) time.

ISS

Mar 29

Mar 30

Mar 31

Apr 1

Apr 3

Tiangong

Mar 30

Mar 31

Apr 1

Apr 2

Apr 3

SKYNET!!!!? 9PM CT - 10:30 PM CT

?

Saturday’s Topic: “The Laniakea Supercluster” & “Leo, the Lion” and “Leo Minor, the Small Lion.”?

Electronic Check Ins:

?

Net Control: Billye KF5PDS

?

Afterglow Movie 10:30PM:

2-Meter Repeater W5FC: 146.880MHz, PL 110.9, -

Echolink: W5FC-R, node 37247.

?

Youtube.com Search “DARC Skynet”

Facebook.com Search “DARC Skynet”

?

Direct Video Link:

?

IO Group:/g/DARCskynet/topics

Facebook Group:

Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.

Recent Astronomical Discoveries?

Violent Supernova May Have Triggered Two Earth Extinction Events

Supernova - Cassiopeia A

?

Discussion Topic of the Evening.

The Laniakea Supercluster

Laniakea Supercluster in the Local Group

3D Map with Laniakea Highlighted

Waz Up

Space Exploration and Space History?

Space Exploration News

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 Back on Earth After Science Mission

NASA Achieves Historic First Radio Telescope Observations on the Moon

Space-Related Birthdays

Walter Cunningham March 16 1932: Apollo 7

Michael J. Bloomfield March 16, 1959: STS-86, STS-97, STS-110

James Irwin? March 17, 1930: Apollo 15

Ken Mattingly March 17, 1936: Apollo 16, STS-4, STS-51-C

Kalpana Chawla March 17, 1962: STS-87, STS-107; UTA

James Reilly March 18, 1954: STS-89, STS-104, STS-117

This Week in Space History

March 16:

1966?

First successful space docking

March 18:1965

The Soviet Union's Voskhod 2 launched carrying two crew members: Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov.

March 19:

2008?

A gamma ray burst that occurred 7.5 billion light years away from Earth (halfway across the visible universe) was detected by NASA’s Swift satellite.

March 20:

1962

Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev responded to President John F. Kennedy’s March 7th letter suggesting teamwork in space exploration.

March 21:

1965?

NASA launched the Ranger 9 lunar probe.

March 22:

1997?

Comet Hale-Bopp made its closest approach to the Earth.

2010?

After five successful years of operating on Mars, the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit sent its last transmission to Earth.

Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week

Constellations “Leo, the Lion” and “Leo Minor, the Small Lion.”

Space Launches For This Week

Space Flight Now Launch Schedule

March 24 Spectrum ? ‘Going Full Spectrum’

Launch time: 12:30 p.m. CET (7:30 a.m. EDT, 1130 UTC)

Launch site: Launch Complex 1, And?ya Spaceport, Norway

Isar Aerospace will launch its first Spectrum rocket on a test flight dubbed ‘Going Full Spectrum.’ The 28-meter-tall (92 ft) rocket is set to lift off from the And?ya Spaceport in Norway. The mission will not carry any customer payloads, but rather is a test of the fully integrated rocket, which will attempt to reach orbit. Delayed from March 20.

Updated: March 21

NET March 24 Falcon 9 ? NROL-69

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the NROL-69 mission on behalf of the National Reconnaissance Office. The first stage booster will target a landing back at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station about eight minutes after liftoff.

Updated: March 18

NET March Alpha ? ‘Message in a Booster’

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-2, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket will launch Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 satellite bus to low Earth orbit. The sixth launch of an Alpha rocket, designated FLTA006, marks the second flight within a multi-launch agreement between Firefly Aerospace and Lockheed Martin, which may include up to 25 missions within a five-year timeframe. Delayed from March 15/16 due to range availability.

Updated: March 20

March 26/27 Electron ? ‘Finding Hot Wildfires Near You’

Launch time: 4:30 a.m. NZT on March 27 (11:30 a.m. EDT, 1530 UTC on March 26)

Launch site: Launch Complex 1, Pad B, Mahia, New Zealand

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket will launch eight satellites for phase one of German-based OroraTech’s wildfire detection constellation. The satellites will head into a 550 km circular Earth orbit at an inclination of 97 degrees. Rocket Lab will not attempt to recover the first stage booster.

Updated: March 20

March 26 Falcon 9 ? Starlink 11-7

Launch time: Window opens at 3 p.m. PDT (6 p.m. EDT, 2200 UTC)

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will target a landing on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You.’

Updated: March 21

NET March 31/April 1 Falcon 9 ? Fram2

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch four commercial astronauts into a 90-degree inclination polar orbit to begin a three-day, free-flyer mission onboard Crew Dragon Resilience. The mission is led by Chun Wang, a cryptocurrency investor and co-founder of Bitcoin mining company, f2pool. He is joined by Norway’s Jannicke Mikkelsen, vehicle commander; Australia’s Eric Philips, vehicle pilot; and Germany’s Rabea Rogge, mission specialist. This will be the fourth launch for Dragon Resilience, which will feature the return of the cupola addition to the nose cone. It replaces the Skywalker apparatus used during the Polaris Dawn mission.

We currently have the following people checked in via w5fc.org…? You can check-in via the club website by clicking on the hotlink provided.??

(Read check ins so far)

I’ll now take check-ins or comments

At this point we should be reaching our 90 minute cut-off point, so NCS can decide whether to cut any of these topics due to lack of time.

??

Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.

You can use the website to find out what’s in orbit and

where to look during fly-overs

??

All times are “local” (Dallas) time.

ISS

Mar 27

Mar 28

Mar 29

Mar 30

Tiangong

Mar 22

Mar 30

SKYNET!!!!? 9PM CT - 10:30 PM CT

?

Saturday’s Topic: “Why Some Physicists Think We Are Living Inside A Black Hole” & Constellations “Lynx, the Wild Cat and Cancer, the Crab”?

?

Net Control: Tom KE5ICX

?

Afterglow Movie 10:30PM: “” (1959)

2-Meter Repeater W5FC: 146.880MHz, PL 110.9, -

Echolink: W5FC-R, node 37247.

?

Youtube.com Search “DARC Skynet”

Facebook.com Search “DARC Skynet”

?

Direct Video Link:

?

IO Group:/g/DARCskynet/topics

Facebook Group:

Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.

?

?Recent Astronomical Discoveries?

4 rocky exoplanets found around Barnard's Star, one of the sun's nearest neighbors

Discussion Topic of the Evening.

Why Some Physicists Think We Are Living Inside A Black Hole

?Waz Up

Space Exploration and Space History?

Space Exploration News

3-14

Rocket Lab launches Japanese SAR satellite

3-14

NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 Launches to International Space Station

3-15

SpaceX launches Transporter-13 rideshare mission

Space-Related Birthdays

3-9 thru 3-15

Laurel Clark? 10-Mar-1961 STS-107

Curtis Brown? 11-Mar-1956 STS-47, STS-66, STS-77, STS-85, STS-95, STS-103

Patricia Robertson 12-Mar-1963 No flights (died in a plane crash)

Wally Schirra 12-Mar-1923 Mercury-Atlas 8, Gemini 6A, Apollo 7

Gene Cernan 14-Mar-1934 Gemini 9A, Apollo 10, Apollo 17

Frank Borman 14-Mar-1928 Gemini 7, Apollo 8

Michael Fincke 14-Mar-1967 Soyuz TMA-4 (Expedition 9), Soyuz TMA-13 (Expedition 18), STS-134, Boeing Starliner-1

William B. Lenoir 14-Mar-1939 STS-5

Alan Bean 15-Mar-1932 Apollo 12, Skylab 3

This Week in Space History

March 9:

2011:

Space shuttle Discovery completed her final mission

March 10:

2006?

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) entered orbit around Mars.?

March 11:

1960:?

Pioneer 5 was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to begin research on the space between Earth and Venus.?

March 12:

2015:?

NASA's four identical Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral.?

1969

March 13:

Apollo 9 splashed down 55 years ago after completing one of the program's most underrated test mission.:?

1966

March 16:

1966 First successful space docking

1958

March 17:

Launch of Vanguard 1 Satellite

1965?

March 18

Launch of Voskhod 2?

2016?

Launch of Soyuz TMA-20M

March 19

2008

Death of Arthur C Clarke

Clarke died in Sri Lanka on 19 March 2008 after suffering from respiratory failure.

Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week

Space Launches For This Week

Space Flight Now Launch Schedule

??

Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.

You can use the website to find out what’s in orbit and

where to look during fly-overs

?

All times are “local” (Dallas) time.

ISS

Mar 16

Tiangong

Mar 18

Mar 19

Mar 20

Mar 21

Mar 22

SKYNET!!!!? 9PM CT - 10:30 PM CT

?

Saturday’s Topic: “End-run Around Radiation – The Saga and Surprise Vulnerabilities of Europa Clipper” & Constellation “Puppis, the Poop Deck”

?

Net Control: Virginia NV5F

?

Afterglow Movie 10:30PM:

2-Meter Repeater W5FC: 146.880MHz, PL 110.9, -

Echolink: W5FC-R, node 37247.

?

Youtube.com Search “DARC Skynet”

Facebook.com Search “DARC Skynet”

?

Direct Video Link:

?

IO Group:/g/DARCskynet/topics

Facebook Group:

Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.

Recent Astronomical Discoveries?

Small and large planets have significantly different upbringings

How Planets Are Born

Discussion Topic of the Evening.

End-run around radiation – The saga and surprise vulnerabilities of Europa Clipper

Europa Clipper

Artist’s Conception - Europa Clipper Flyby

Europa Clipper Modules Assembly

MOSFET Construction

Europa Electronics Call-out

Europa Clipper Integration - Kennedy Space Center

Radiation Hazard Schematic?

Typical MOSFET

?

Mission Concept PP

?Waz Up

Space Exploration and Space History?

Space Exploration News

Space X Starship Explodes in Flight

NASA Seeking Designs for Zero Gravity Indicator

Space-Related Birthdays

James Adamson March 3, 1946: STS-28, STS-43

Bonnie Dunbar March 3, 1949: STS-61-A, STS-32, STS-50, STS-71, STS-89

James Voss March 3, 1949: STS-44, STS-53, STS-69, STS-101, STS-102/STS-105 part of Exp 2

Robert Curbeam March 5, 1962: STS-85, STS-98, STS-116

Gordon Cooper March 6, 1927: Mercury-Atlas 9, Gemini 5

Loren Acton March 7, 1936: STS-51-F

This Week in Space History

March 3:

1915:?

Congress authorized the creation of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to "supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight."

March 5:

1998:?

Scientists announced that the Lunar Prospector spacecraft had found evidence of hydrogen at both poles of the Moon, suggesting the existence of water ice.

March 6:

2015:?

Dawn spacecraft went into orbit around Ceres, a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt.

Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week

Constellation “Puppis, the Poop Deck”

Space Launches For This Week

Space Flight Now Launch Schedule

March 8 Falcon 9 ? Starlink 12-21

Launch time: 11:10 p.m. EST (0410 UTC)

Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will target a landing on the drone ship ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’.

Updated: March 06

NET March 12 Falcon 9 ? Crew-10

Launch time: 7:48 p.m. EDT (2348 UTC)

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch three astronauts and a cosmonaut to the International Space Station. The quartet will fly onboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft named ‘Endurance.’ Originally, the crew was to fly on the C213 Crew Dragon (yet unnamed), but swapped the vehicle to compensate for the fact that C213 still needs additional work before it can fly. The mission will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers along with Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. This will be the second spaceflight for both McClain and Onishi and the first for both Ayers and Peskov.

Updated: February 11

NET Spring 2025 New Glenn ? EscaPADE

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 36, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket will launch a pair of identical spacecraft on NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission. The two satellites, named Blue and Gold, will make a roughly 11-month journey to Mars where they will then perform about an 11-month science mission while orbiting the Red Planet. Blue and Gold were manufactured by Rocket Lab over about 3.5 years and carry science experiments from the University of California, Berkeley. This launch of the New Glenn rocket will also feature a landing attempt on its landing barge in the Atlantic Ocean. Delayed from October 13.

Updated: September 11

NET March 15/16 Alpha ? ‘Message in a Booster’

Launch time: 6:25 p.m. PDT (9:25 p.m. EDT, 0125 UTC)

Launch site: SLC-2, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket will launch Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 satellite bus to low Earth orbit. The sixth launch of an Alpha rocket, designated FLTA006, marks the second flight within a multi-launch agreement between Firefly Aerospace and Lockheed Martin, which may include up to 25 missions within a five-year timeframe.

Updated: March 06

NET March Falcon 9 ? Transporter-13

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch dozens of satellites on the company’s 13th smallsat rideshare mission to a sun-synchronous orbit. Among those satellites are a trio of CubeSats for NASA’s Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) mission; Arvaker 1, the first microsatellie for Kongsberg NanoAvionics’ N3X constellation; and the Botsat-1 satellite from Botswana. Less than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will return for a touchdown at a landing pad near the launch site.

Updated: February 27

Spring 2025 Alpha ? ‘Message in a Booster’

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-2, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket will launch Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 Technology Demonstrator, a mid-sized satellite bus, to low Earth orbit. This is the second flight as part of a multi-launch agreement with Lockheed Martin for up to 25 missions across a five-year timespan.

Updated: February 27

NET April 8 Soyuz 2.1a ? Soyuz MS-27 / 73S

Launch time: 8:47 a.m. MSK (1:47 a.m. EDT, 0547 UTC)

Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Site 31

A Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket will launch a three-man crew to the International Space Station. Crew commander Sergey Ryzhikov will be joined by fellow cosmonaut Alexey Zubritsky and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim. The Soyuz is set to dock with the ISS at about 5:04 a.m. EDT (0904 UTC). The spacecraft will remain docked with the orbiting outpost until about Dec. 8, 2025. This will be the third spaceflight for Ryzhikov and the first for both Zubritsky and Kim.

Updated: February 05

TBD 2025 Vulcan Centaur ? Dream Chaser 1

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch on its second demonstration flight with Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser cargo vehicle for the International Space Station. The Dream Chaser is a lifting body resupply spacecraft that will launch on top of a rocket and land on a runway. This will be the Dream Chaser’s first flight to space. The Vulcan Centaur rocket will fly in the VC4L configuration with four GEM-63XL solid rocket boosters, a long-length payload fairing, and two RL10 engines on the Centaur upper stage. Delayed from August 2022, December 2023, January 2024,? April 2024 and September 2024.

Updated: October 17

NET November 2025 Falcon 9 ? Sentinel-6B

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the second of the two-satellite Sentinel-6 series. NASA awarded SpaceX a $94 million firm fixed price contract for the launch in 2022. The Sentinel-6B “will use a radar altimeter to bounce signals off the ocean surface and deliver continuity of ocean topography measurements,” according to NASA. The mission is designed through a partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Organization for the Exploration of Meteorological Studies.??

Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.

You can use the website to find out what’s in orbit and

where to look during fly-overs

?

All times are “local” (Dallas) time.

ISS

Mar 10

Mar 11

Mar 12

Mar 13

Mar 14

Tiangong

NO PASSES

SKYNET!!!!? 9PM CT - 10:30 PM CT

?

Saturday’s Topic: “Space Launches on Feb 26th” & Constellation “Gemini, the Twins”?

?

Net Control: Bill N5BB

?

Afterglow Movie 10:30PM:

2-Meter Repeater W5FC: 146.880MHz, PL 110.9, -

Echolink: W5FC-R, node 37247.

?

Youtube.com Search “DARC Skynet”

Facebook.com Search “DARC Skynet”

?

Direct Video Link:

?

IO Group:/g/DARCskynet/topics

Facebook Group:

Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.

Recent Astronomical Discoveries?

Adsorptive regolith on Mars soaks up water, researchers reveal

Mars Absorption Process

Discussion Topic of the Evening.

Space Launches on Feb 26: Lunar lander, lunar orbiter, geostationary transfer spacecraft, asteroid mining research spacecraft

Nova-C Lander

Lunar Trailblazer

Chimera Geo 1

Odin

?Waz Up

Space Exploration and Space History?

Space Exploration News

Blue Ghost Targets Landing on Sunday

Rocket Lab Neutron Rocket Launch Update

Space-Related Birthdays

Clayton Anderson Feb 23, 1959 STS-117, Exp 15/16, STS-120, STS-131

Susan Helms Feb 26, 1958 STS-54, STS-64, STS-78, STS-101, Expedition 2 (STS-102/STS-105)

?

Anatoly Filipchenko (RKA) Feb 26, 1928, Russia - Soyuz 7 and 16

?

Susan J. Helms, Feb 26, 1958 STS-54, STS-64, STS-78, STS-101, Expedition 2 (STS-102 / STS-105)

?

Jack Lousma Feb 29, 1936 Skylab-3, STS-3

?

1924 Deke Slayton, Mar 1, 1924 - Apollo–Soyuz Test Project

?

This Week in Space History

February 23:

1987

Astronomers first spotted the supernova they would go on to call Supernova 1987A.

February 24:

1969

Mariner 6 launched to Mars?

2011

Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on her final mission

February 28:

?

1990

Launch of STS-35 for Astronomy Mission

?

February 29:

1959

Launch of Discoverer 1 into Polar Orbit

1966

First Saturn 1B launch

February 25

1969

Launch of Mariner 6 to Mars

Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week

Constellation “Gemini, the Twins”

Space Launches For This Week

Space Flight Now Launch Schedule

March 1/2 Falcon 9 ? Starlink 12-20

Launch time: Window opens at (8:57 p.m. EST, 0157 UTC)

Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. There will likely be around 13 satellites that have Direct to Cell capabilities. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will attempt a landing on a droneship positioned in the Atlantic Ocean. Delayed from Feb. 27/28.

Updated: February 27

NET March 2/3 Falcon 9 ? SPHEREx and PUNCH

Launch time: 7:09 p.m. PST (10:09 p.m. EST, 0309 UTC)

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch two co-manifested missions on behalf of NASA. The primary payload is the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) observatory, which is designed to map the entire sky in infrared light. The total mission cost for SPHEREx, including launch is about $488 million. Sharing the Falcon 9 rocket is the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH), which consists of four suitcase-sized satellites designed to map a region around the Sun where the corona transitions to solar wind. Both missions will launch to a polar orbit and will be deployed about 11 minutes apart. A little less than eight minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9 first stage booster will target a touchdown at Landing Zone 4 back at VSFB. Delayed from Feb. 27/28. Delayed from Feb. 28/Mar. 1.

Updated: February 27

NET March 3 Ariane 6 ? CSO-3

Launch time: 1:24 p.m. local time (11:24 a.m. EST, 1624 UTC)

Launch site: Europe's Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana

An Ariane 6 rocket managed by Arianespace will launch the Composite Spatiale Optique-3 (CSO-3) satellite on the second flight in the Ariane 6 program. This will be an Ariane 62 configuration, meaning there will be two solid rocket motors on the vehicle. It will send the CSO-3 satellite into a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of about 800 km (497.1 mi). The CSO-3 is a military Earth imaging satellite for the French defense procurement agency, DGA., and is expected to operate for at least 10 years. Delayed from Feb. 26.

Updated: February 26

NET March 3 Starship ? Flight 8

Launch time: 5:30 p.m. CST (6:30 p.m. EST / 2330 UTC)

Launch site: OLP-A, Starbase, Boca Chica Beach, Texas

SpaceX will launch its eighth, suborbital flight test of its fully integrated Starship rocket, a combination of the Ship upper stage (S34) and the Super Heavy booster (B15). SpaceX will attempt to catch the Super Heavy booster using the chopsticks on the launch tower. The Ship upper stage will perform a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Delayed from Feb. 28.

Updated: February 27

NET March 12 Falcon 9 ? Crew-10

Launch time: 7:48 p.m. EDT (2348 UTC)

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch three astronauts and a cosmonaut to the International Space Station. The quartet will fly onboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft named ‘Endurance.’ Originally, the crew was to fly on the C213 Crew Dragon (yet unnamed), but swapped the vehicle to compensate for the fact that C213 still needs additional work before it can fly. The mission will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers along with Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. This will be the second spaceflight for both McClain and Onishi and the first for both Ayers and Peskov.

Updated: February 11

NET Spring 2025 New Glenn ? EscaPADE

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 36, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket will launch a pair of identical spacecraft on NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission. The two satellites, named Blue and Gold, will make a roughly 11-month journey to Mars where they will then perform about an 11-month science mission while orbiting the Red Planet. Blue and Gold were manufactured by Rocket Lab over about 3.5 years and carry science experiments from the University of California, Berkeley. This launch of the New Glenn rocket will also feature a landing attempt on its landing barge in the Atlantic Ocean. Delayed from October 13.

Updated: September 11

NET March Falcon 9 ? Transporter-13

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a dozens of satellites on the company’s 13th smallsat rideshare mission to a sun-synchronous orbit. Among those satellites are a trio of CubeSats for NASA’s Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) mission; Arvaker 1, the first microsatellie for Kongsberg NanoAvionics’ N3X constellation; and the Botsat-1 satellite from Botswana. Less than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will return for a touchdown at a landing pad near the launch site.

Updated: February 27

Spring 2025 Alpha ? ‘Message in a Booster’

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-2, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket will launch Lockheed Martin’s LM 400 Technology Demonstrator, a mid-sized satellite bus, to low Earth orbit. This is the second flight as part of a multi-launch agreement with Lockheed Martin for up to 25 missions across a five-year timespan.

Updated: February 27

NET April 8 Soyuz 2.1a ? Soyuz MS-27 / 73S

Launch time: 8:47 a.m. MSK (1:47 a.m. EDT, 0547 UTC)

Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Site 31

A Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket will launch a three-man crew to the International Space Station. Crew commander Sergey Ryzhikov will be joined by fellow cosmonaut Alexey Zubritsky and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim. The Soyuz is set to dock with the ISS at about 5:04 a.m. EDT (0904 UTC). The spacecraft will remain docked with the orbiting outpost until about Dec. 8, 2025. This will be the third spaceflight for Ryzhikov and the first for both Zubritsky and Kim.

Updated: February 05

TBD 2025 Vulcan Centaur ? Dream Chaser 1

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch on its second demonstration flight with Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser cargo vehicle for the International Space Station. The Dream Chaser is a lifting body resupply spacecraft that will launch on top of a rocket and land on a runway. This will be the Dream Chaser’s first flight to space. The Vulcan Centaur rocket will fly in the VC4L configuration with four GEM-63XL solid rocket boosters, a long-length payload fairing, and two RL10 engines on the Centaur upper stage. Delayed from August 2022, December 2023, January 2024,? April 2024 and September 2024.

Updated: October 17

NET November 2025 Falcon 9 ? Sentinel-6B

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the second of the two-satellite Sentinel-6 series. NASA awarded SpaceX a $94 million firm fixed price contract for the launch in 2022. The Sentinel-6B “will use a radar altimeter to bounce signals off the ocean surface and deliver continuity of ocean topography measurements,” according to NASA. The missions is designed through a partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the European Organization for the Exploration of Meteorological Studies.??

Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.?

All times are “local” (Dallas) time.

ISS

Mar. 4

Mar. 5

Mar. 6

Mar. 7

Mar. 8

Tiangong

Mar. 3

SKYNET!!!!? 9PM CT - 10:30 PM CT

?

Saturday’s Topic: “TON 618 - Tons of Fun!” & Constellations “Canis Minor, the Little Dog, and Monoceros, the Unicorn”?

?

Net Control: Billye KF5PDS

?

Afterglow Movie 10:30PM: “King Dinosaur” (1955)

2-Meter Repeater W5FC: 146.880MHz, PL 110.9, -

Echolink: W5FC-R, node 37247.

?

Youtube.com Search “DARC Skynet”

Facebook.com Search “DARC Skynet”

?

Direct Video Link:

?

IO Group:/g/DARCskynet/topics

Facebook Group:

Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.

?

Recent Astronomical Discoveries?

Flickers and flares: Milky Way's central black hole constantly bubbles with light

Artist’s Concept - Black Hole

Discussion Topic of the Evening.

TON 618 of Fun! The Universe's Largest Black Hole

Ton 618 Compared with Earth’s Orbit

TON 618 Compared With Our Solar System?

Sky and Telescope

NASA.gov

Wikipedia TON 618

Waz Up

Space Exploration and Space History?

Space Exploration News

Water ice has officially been found on Mars.

Earth is now surrounded by a radiation belt that has never been observed before!

Space-Related Birthdays

February 16, 1953: Michael Ray Mantz (Scheduled for STS-62A but mission cancelled)

February 19, 1932: Joseph Kerwin (Skylab 2)

February 19, 1948: Byron Lichtenberg (STS-9, STS-45)

February 19, 1956: G. David Low (STS-32, STS-43, STS-57)

February 20, 1921: Joseph Walker (X-15 Flights 77, 90 and 91)

February 21, 1964: Mark Kelly (STS-108, STS-121, STS-124, STS-134)

February 21, 1964: Scott Kelly (STS-103, STS-118, Exp. 25/26, Exp 43/44/45/46)

February 22, 1952: James P. Bagian (STS-29, STS-40)

February 23, 1959: Clayton Anderson (STS-117, Exp 15/16, STS-120, STS-131)

This Week in Space History

1959 February 17

Vanguard 2 Launched

1965 February 17

Ranger 8 Launched

Ranger 8 Spacecraft Impacts the Moon

1973 February 17.

MSC Renamed Lyndon B Johnson Space Center

1930 February 18:

American astronomer Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto.?

1473 February 19:

Revolutionary astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus was born. Copernicus, in formulating a heliocentric model of the universe, provided the ignition for one of the most significant scientific revolutions in history—the aptly named Copernican Revolution.?

1962 February 20:

At 9:47 am EST, astronaut John Glenn launched in Friendship 7 on Mercury-Atlas 6.?

2006 February 22:

The Hubble Space Telescope discovery of 2 new moons of Pluto was confirmed.?

Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week

Canis Minor, the Little Dog, and Monoceros, the Unicorn

Space Launches For This Week

Space Flight Now Launch Schedule

NET February 26 Falcon 9 ? IM-2

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch Intuitive Machines’ second robotic mission to the Moon. Onboard will be a Nova-C class lander named Athena or Attie, for short. It will fly several commercial payloads along with three NASA science payloads as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. NASA also has its Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft launching as a rideshare payload, which will be deployed separately. The Lunar Trailblazer was selected as part of NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program in 2019.

Updated: February 19

February 26 Ariane 6 ? CSO-3

Launch time: 1:24 p.m. local time (11:24 a.m. EST, 1624 UTC)

Launch site: Europe's Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana

An Ariane 6 rocket managed by Arianespace will launch the Composite Spatiale Optique-3 (CSO-3) satellite on the second flight in the Ariane 6 program. This will be an Ariane 62 configuration, meaning there will be two solid rocket motors on the vehicle. It will send the CSO-3 satellite into a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of about 800 km (497.1 mi). The CSO-3 is a military Earth imaging satellite for the French defense procurement agency, DGA., and is expected to operate for at least 10 years.

Updated: February 12

February 27/28 Soyuz 2.1a ? Progress MS-30 / 91P

Launch time: 10:24 p.m. MSK on Feb. 28 (4:24 p.m. EST, 1924 UTC on Feb. 27)

Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

An uncrewed Progress cargo ship will launch atop a Russian Soyuz rocket to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. It is expected to dock with the station at 6:03 p.m. EST (2303 UTC) on March 1.

Updated: February 05

NET February 27/28 Falcon 9 ? SPHEREx and PUNCH

Launch time: 7:10 p.m. PST (10:10 p.m. EST, 0310 UTC)

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch two co-manifested missions on behalf of NASA. The primary payload is the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) observatory, which is designed to map the entire sky in infrared light. The total mission cost for SPHEREx, including launch is about $488 million. Sharing the Falcon 9 rocket is the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH), which consists of four suitcase-sized satellites designed to map a region around the Sun where the corona transitions to solar wind. Both missions will launch to a polar orbit and will be deployed about 11 minutes apart. A little less than eight minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9 first stage booster will target a touchdown at Landing Zone 4 back at VSFB.

Updated: February 01

NET March Falcon 9 ? Transporter-13

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a dozens of satellites on the company’s 13th smallsat rideshare mission to a sun-synchronous orbit. Among those satellites are a trio of CubeSats for NASA’s Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) mission; Arvaker 1, the first microsatellie for Kongsberg NanoAvionics’ N3X constellation; and the Botsat-1 satellite from Botswana. Less than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will return for a touchdown at a landing pad near the launch site.

Updated: January 31

NET March 12 Falcon 9 ? Crew-10

Launch time: 7:48 p.m. EDT (2348 UTC)

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch three astronauts and a cosmonaut to the International Space Station. The quartet will fly onboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft named ‘Endurance.’ Originally, the crew was to fly on the C213 Crew Dragon (yet unnamed), but swapped the vehicle to compensate for the fact that C213 still needs additional work before it can fly. The mission will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers along with Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. This will be the second spaceflight for both McClain and Onishi and the first for both Ayers and Peskov.

Updated: February 11

NET Spring 2025 New Glenn ? EscaPADE

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 36, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket will launch a pair of identical spacecraft on NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission. The two satellites, named Blue and Gold, will make a roughly 11-month journey to Mars where they will then perform about an 11-month science mission while orbiting the Red Planet. Blue and Gold were manufactured by Rocket Lab over about 3.5 years and carry science experiments from the University of California, Berkeley. This launch of the New Glenn rocket will also feature a landing attempt on its landing barge in the Atlantic Ocean. Delayed from October 13.

Updated: September 11

NET April 8 Soyuz 2.1a ? Soyuz MS-27 / 73S

Launch time: 8:47 a.m. MSK (1:47 a.m. EDT, 0547 UTC)

Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Site 31

A Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket will launch a three-man crew to the International Space Station. Crew commander Sergey Ryzhikov will be joined by fellow cosmonaut Alexey Zubritsky and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim. The Soyuz is set to dock with the ISS at about 5:04 a.m. EDT (0904 UTC). The spacecraft will remain docked with the orbiting outpost until about Dec. 8, 2025. This will be the third spaceflight for Ryzhikov and the first for both Zubritsky and Kim.

Updated: February 05

TBD 2025 Vulcan Centaur ? Dream Chaser 1

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch on its second demonstration flight with Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser cargo vehicle for the International Space Station. The Dream Chaser is a lifting body resupply spacecraft that will launch on top of a rocket and land on a runway. This will be the Dream Chaser’s first flight to space. The Vulcan Centaur rocket will fly in the VC4L configuration with four GEM-63XL solid rocket boosters, a long-length payload fairing, and two RL10 engines on the Centaur upper stage. Delayed from August 2022, December 2023, January 2024,? April 2024 and September 2024.

Updated: October 17??

Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.?

All times are “local” (Dallas) time.

ISS

NO PASSES

Tiangong

Feb. 27

Mar. 1

?

SKYNET!!!!? 9PM CT - 10:30 PM CT

?

Saturday’s Topic: “The Dragonfly Mission to Titan” & Constellation “Canis Major, the Big Dog”?

?

Net Control: Brenda WB5OZL

?

Afterglow Movie 10:30PM: “The Hole” (2009)

2-Meter Repeater W5FC: 146.880MHz, PL 110.9, -

Echolink: W5FC-R, node 37247.

?

Youtube.com Search “DARC Skynet”

Facebook.com Search “DARC Skynet”

?

Direct Video Link:

?

IO Group:/g/DARCskynet/topics

Facebook Group:

Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.

?

Recent Astronomical Discoveries?

Euclid discovers a stunning Einstein ring

Discussion Topic of the Evening?

The Dragonfly Mission to Titan

Dragonfly (Artist’s Depiction)

TSSM Montgolfier balloon with a boat-lander gondola.

2021 render of Dragonfly

Titan

Rain on Titan

Dragonfly Descent and Landing?

Landing site

Selk Impact Crater

Waz Up

Space Exploration and Space History?

Space Exploration News

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore return date confirmed by NASA

Saturn’s Rings Are “Disappearing”

Space-Related Birthdays

February 9, 1960: Peggy Whitson (STS-111/STS-113 (Exp 5), Exp 16, Exp 50/51/52; Axiom Mission 2)

February 10, 1968: Garrett Reisman (STS-123/124 (Exp 16/17), STS-132)

February 11, 1960: Richard Mastracchio (STS-106, STS-118, STS-131, Exp 38/39)

This Week in Space History

Feb 11:

1997?

STS-82 Launches for Hubble Space Servicing Mission

2000?

STRM Spacecraft Launched from Space Shuttle (STS-99)?

Feb. 12

1961

Venera 1 Becomes First Spacecraft to Flyby Venus

2001

.NEAR Lands on Asteroid Eros

Feb. 14

1972

Luna 20 Soft Lands on the Moon

Feb. 15

2005?

Cassini Flyby of Titan

Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week

Canis Major, the Big Dog.?

Space Launches For This Week

Space Flight Now Launch Schedule

February 18 Falcon 9 ? Starlink 10-12

Launch time: 6 p.m. EST (2300 UTC)

Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will land on the SpaceX droneship, ‘Just Read the Instructions,’ stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. This will be the first booster to land off the coast of The Bahamas. Delayed from Feb. 17.

Updated: February 11

NET February 18/19 Electron ? ‘Fasten Your Seatbelts’

Launch time: 12:15 p.m. NZDT on Feb. 19 (6:15 p.m. EST, 2315 UTC on Feb. 18)

Launch site: Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket will launch the first Gen-3, 35cm high-resolution, Earth observation satellites for BlackSky, which will head into a mid-inclination, circular orbit at 470 km. The satellite will launch from Electron, deploying through Rocket Lab’s Motorized Lightband This will be Rocket Lab’s ninth launch with BlackSky as a customer and its 60th Electron launch to date. The company hasn’t said if the booster will be recovered following stage separation.

Updated: February 10

NET February 26 Falcon 9 ? IM-2

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch Intuitive Machines’ second robotic mission to the Moon. Onboard will be a Nova-C class lander named Athena or Attie, for short. It will fly several commercial payloads along with three NASA science payloads as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. NASA also has its Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft launching as a rideshare payload, which will be deployed separately. The Lunar Trailblazer was selected as part of NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program in 2019. Following stage separation, the Falcon 9 first stage booster will target a touchdown at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Updated: January 31

February 26 Ariane 6 ? CSO-3

Launch time: 1:24 p.m. local time (11:24 a.m. EST, 1624 UTC)

Launch site: Europe's Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana

An Ariane 6 rocket managed by Arianespace will launch the Composite Spatiale Optique-3 (CSO-3) satellite on the second flight in the Ariane 6 program. This will be an Ariane 62 configuration, meaning there will be two solid rocket motors on the vehicle. It will send the CSO-3 satellite into a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of about 800 km (497.1 mi). The CSO-3 is a military Earth imaging satellite for the French defense procurement agency, DGA., and is expected to operate for at least 10 years.

Updated: February 12

February 27/28 Soyuz 2.1a ? Progress MS-30 / 91P

Launch time: 10:24 p.m. MSK on Feb. 28 (4:24 p.m. EST, 1924 UTC on Feb. 27)

Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

An uncrewed Progress cargo ship will launch atop a Russian Soyuz rocket to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. It is expected to dock with the station at 6:03 p.m. EST (2303 UTC) on March 1.

Updated: February 05

NET February 27/28 Falcon 9 ? SPHEREx and PUNCH

Launch time: 7:10 p.m. PST (10:10 p.m. EST, 0310 UTC)

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch two co-manifested missions on behalf of NASA. The primary payload is the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) observatory, which is designed to map the entire sky in infrared light. The total mission cost for SPHEREx, including launch is about $488 million. Sharing the Falcon 9 rocket is the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH), which consists of four suitcase-sized satellites designed to map a region around the Sun where the corona transitions to solar wind. Both missions will launch to a polar orbit and will be deployed about 11 minutes apart. A little less than eight minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9 first stage booster will target a touchdown at Landing Zone 4 back at VSFB.

Updated: February 01

NET March Falcon 9 ? Transporter-13

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a dozens of satellites on the company’s 13th smallsat rideshare mission to a sun-synchronous orbit. Among those satellites are a trio of CubeSats for NASA’s Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) mission; Arvaker 1, the first microsatellie for Kongsberg NanoAvionics’ N3X constellation; and the Botsat-1 satellite from Botswana. Less than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will return for a touchdown at a landing pad near the launch site.

Updated: January 31

NET March 12 Falcon 9 ? Crew-10

Launch time: 7:48 p.m. EDT (2348 UTC)

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch three astronauts and a cosmonaut to the International Space Station. The quartet will fly onboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft named ‘Endurance.’ Originally, the crew was to fly on the C213 Crew Dragon (yet unnamed), but swapped the vehicle to compensate for the fact that C213 still needs additional work before it can fly. The mission will carry NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers along with Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov. This will be the second spaceflight for both McClain and Onishi and the first for both Ayers and Peskov.

Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.

You can use the website to find out what’s in orbit and

where to look during fly-overs

?

All times are “local” (Dallas) time.

ISS

Feb. 15

Feb. 16

Feb. 18

Tiangong

Feb. 16

Feb. 17

Feb. 20

Feb. 21

Feb. 24

??

SKYNET!!!!? 9PM CT - 10:30 PM CT

?

Saturday’s Topic: “What Brand of Golf Ball Did Alan Shepard Use on the Moon?” & Constellation “Auriga, the Charioteer”?

?

Net Control: Virginia NV5F

?

Afterglow Movie 10:30PM: “Limitless” (2017)

2-Meter Repeater W5FC: 146.880MHz, PL 110.9, -

Echolink: W5FC-R, node 37247.

?

Youtube.com Search “DARC Skynet”

Facebook.com Search “DARC Skynet”

?

Direct Video Link:

?

IO Group:/g/DARCskynet/topics

Facebook Group:

Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.

Recent Astronomical Discoveries?

Brenda WB5OZL

?Discussion Topic of the Evening.

This weekend we celebrate the anniversary of a different kind of “Moon Shot”!

What brand of golf ball did astronaut Alan Shepard hit off the moon?

Carlos Villagomez behind his bar in Webster, TX

Signed Shepard Golf Ball

Shepard and Villagomez Family

Shepard’s Makeshift Club?

Spalding Promotional Ad

Daisy Airgun Museum

Fra Mauro Highland

?

Shepard’s Golf Ball Lies

Waz Up

Space Exploration and Space History?

Space Exploration News

NASA CubeSat Finds New Radiation Belts After May 2024 Solar Storm

More Than 400 Lives Saved with NASA’s Search and Rescue Tech in 2024

Space-Related Birthdays

Joe F. Edwards Jr. 03-Feb-1958 STS-89

Mary Cleave, 05-Feb-1947 STS-61-B, STS-30

Andrew Morgan, 05-Feb-1976 Exp. 60/61/62

Jonny Kim, 05-Feb-1984 None – short list for Artemis

Alfred Worden, 07-Feb-1932 Apollo 15

Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper, 7-Feb-1963 STS-115, STS-126

This Week in Space History

February 4:

February 4, was the 58th anniversary of the launch of Lunar Orbiter 3. The Lunar Orbiter program was a series of five uncrewed missions launched from 1966 through 1967.?

1906:?

Clyde Tombaugh was born.?

February 5:

1971:?

The Apollo 14 Lunar Module "Antares" touched down on the Moon.?

February 6:

1995:?

The Shuttle Discovery approached the Russian space station Mir and completed a flyaround, thus marking the first shuttle rendezvous with Mir as a part of the Shuttle-Mir Program.?

February 7:

1984:?

Astronaut Bruce McCandless performed the first untethered spacewalk.?

1999:?

NASA's Stardust mission launched.?

February 8:

1974:?

Skylab 4 crew returned from the third and final mission to the first US space station.?

1992:??

The Ulysses probe arrived at Jupiter to perform a swing-by maneuver in order to establish an orbit around the Sun.?

2013:?

The Curiosity Rover drilled into a portion of Martian bedrock, collecting the first sample ever obtained from the interior of another planet.?

Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week

Auriga, the charioteer or shepherd.

Space Launches For This Week

Space Flight Now Launch Schedule

TBD Falcon 9 ? Starlink 10-12

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. A little more than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will land on a SpaceX droneship stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Updated: January 24

NET February 26 Falcon 9 ? IM-2

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch Intuitive Machines’ second robotic mission to the Moon. Onboard will be a Nova-C class lander named Athena or Attie, for short. It will fly several commercial payloads along with three NASA science payloads as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. NASA also has its Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft launching as a rideshare payload, which will be deployed separately. The Lunar Trailblazer was selected as part of NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program in 2019. Following stage separation, the Falcon 9 first stage booster will target a touchdown at Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Updated: January 31

February 27/28 Soyuz 2.1a ? Progress MS-30 / 91P

Launch time: 10:24 p.m. MSK on Feb. 28 (4:24 p.m. EST, 1924 UTC on Feb. 27)

Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

An uncrewed Progress cargo ship will launch atop a Russian Soyuz rocket to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. It is expected to dock with the station at 6:03 p.m. EST (2303 UTC) on March 1.

Updated: February 05

NET February 27/28 Falcon 9 ? SPHEREx and PUNCH

Launch time: 7:10 p.m. PST (10:10 p.m. EST, 0310 UTC)

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch two co-manifested missions on behalf of NASA. The primary payload is the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer (SPHEREx) observatory, which is designed to map the entire sky in infrared light. The total mission cost for SPHEREx, including launch is about $488 million. Sharing the Falcon 9 rocket is the Polarimeter to Unify the Corona and Heliosphere (PUNCH), which consists of four suitcase-sized satellites designed to map a region around the Sun where the corona transitions to solar wind. Both missions will launch to a polar orbit and will be deployed about 11 minutes apart. A little less than eight minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9 first stage booster will target a touchdown at Landing Zone 4 back at VSFB.

Updated: February 01

NET March Falcon 9 ? Transporter-13

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a dozens of satellites on the company’s 13th smallsat rideshare mission to a sun-synchronous orbit. Among those satellites are a trio of CubeSats for NASA’s Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) mission; Arvaker 1, the first microsatellie for Kongsberg NanoAvionics’ N3X constellation; and the Botsat-1 satellite from Botswana. Less than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster will return for a touchdown at a landing pad near the launch site.

Updated: January 31

NET Spring 2025 New Glenn ? EscaPADE

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: Launch Complex 36, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station

A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket will launch a pair of identical spacecraft on NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission. The two satellites, named Blue and Gold, will make a roughly 11-month journey to Mars where they will then perform about an 11-month science mission while orbiting the Red Planet. Blue and Gold were manufactured by Rocket Lab over about 3.5 years and carry science experiments from the University of California, Berkeley. This launch of the New Glenn rocket will also feature a landing attempt on its landing barge in the Atlantic Ocean. Delayed from October 13.

Updated: September 11

NET April 8 Soyuz 2.1a ? Soyuz MS-27 / 73S

Launch time: 8:47 a.m. MSK (1:47 a.m. EDT, 0547 UTC)

Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Site 31

A Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket will launch a three-man crew to the International Space Station. Crew commander Sergey Ryzhikov will be joined by fellow cosmonaut Alexey Zubritsky and NASA astronaut Jonny Kim. The Soyuz is set to dock with the ISS at about 5:04 a.m. EDT (0904 UTC). The spacecraft will remain docked with the orbiting outpost until about Dec. 8, 2025. This will be the third spaceflight for Ryzhikov and the first for both Zubritsky and Kim.

Updated: February 05

TBD 2025 Vulcan Centaur ? Dream Chaser 1

Launch time: TBD

Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida

A United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket will launch on its second demonstration flight with Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser cargo vehicle for the International Space Station. The Dream Chaser is a lifting body resupply spacecraft that will launch on top of a rocket and land on a runway. This will be the Dream Chaser’s first flight to space. The Vulcan Centaur rocket will fly in the VC4L configuration with four GEM-63XL solid rocket boosters, a long-length payload fairing, and two RL10 engines on the Centaur upper stage. Delayed from August 2022, December 2023, January 2024,? April 2024 and September 2024.

Updated: October 17

Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.?

All times are “local” (Dallas) time.

ISS

Feb. 11

Feb. 12

Feb. 13

Feb. 14

Feb. 15

Tiangong

Feb. 9

? ?