Plus: China's last launch and the supplies on the latest Dragon
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| | | A SpaceNews daily newsletter | | 04/21/2025 | | | | | The National Reconnaissance Office has now placed more than 200 satellites into orbit in two years following a launch Sunday. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 8:29 a.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, deploying an unspecified number of satellites in the tenth launch for the NRO's proliferated architecture. The NRO said in a statement after the launch it has now placed more than 200 satellites into orbit in the last two years, creating the "largest and most capable government constellation on orbit." Sunday's launch was the first mission awarded by the U.S. Space Force under the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program, under a task order awarded in October. [SpaceNews]
China launched six experimental satellites late Friday. A Long March 6A rocket lifted off at 6:51 p.m. Eastern from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center and placed the Shiyan-27 01-06 satellites into polar orbits. China provided no information about the satellites other than that they will be used for space environment detection and related technical tests. This general description is typical of the Shiyan series, which is considered by some Western analysts to be used for piloting new technologies. [SpaceNews]
A Dragon cargo spacecraft, with more crew supplies and fewer science payloads than usual, is on its away to the International Space Station. A Falcon 9 lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center at 4:15 a.m. Eastern this morning, putting the SpX-32 Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Dragon is carrying more crew supplies like food, and less science, than previous Dragon missions because of the cancellation of a Cygnus cargo mission that was set to launch in June after that spacecraft was damaged in transit to the launch site. More than a dozen science investigations that were to launch on SpX-32 were bumped from the flight. NASA said at a prelaunch briefing Friday that the mission ensures there will be sufficient supplies on the station and noted several other cargo missions will be launched to the ISS in the late summer and fall. [SpaceNews]
A Soyuz spacecraft returned a NASA astronaut and two Roscosmos astronauts from the ISS Saturday night. The Soyuz MS-26 spacecraft undocked from the ISS at 5:57 p.m. Eastern and landed in Kazakhstan at 9:20 p.m. Eastern, returning NASA's Don Pettit and Roscosmos' Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner. Pettit did not appear well when removed from the Soyuz, but NASA said he was in good health and "in the range of what is expected for him following return to Earth." The three spent 220 days in space and Pettit, who turned 70 years old on Sunday, has racked up 590 days in space over his career. [CBS]
| | | | | Chinese startup InfinAstro has secured early funding for its plans to develop orbital transfer vehicles. InfinAstro, officially Beijing Infinity Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd., has raised tens of millions of yuan (approximately $3 million to $13 million) in angel round financing. The funding will support research and development of the company's "space bus" series of orbital transfer vehicles and accelerate China's commercialization of on-orbit services. [SpaceNews]
States are jockeying to host NASA's headquarters, but the prize may be smaller than they envision. Members of the Texas congressional delegation sent a letter to President Trump last week, asking him to move NASA Headquarters to the Johnson Space Center. That follows efforts by Florida and Ohio to lure the headquarters to their states. NASA currently has about 2,500 people at the agency's headquarters in Washington, in a building whose lease expires in 2028. The agency is working on a reorganization plan that could move some functions to several other field centers. Acting Administrator Janet Petro said earlier this month that even if the headquarters moved, the agency would retain a presence in Washington, including the office of the administrator. [SpaceNews]
India's SpaDeX mission has completed a second docking in orbit. Government minister Jitendra Singh said Monday that the two spacecraft successfully docked in orbit, but neither he nor the Indian space agency ISRO released details about the docking, including the exact time. SpaDeX, or Space Docking Experiment, launched last December and completed a successful docking in mid-January, undocking about two months later. The mission is testing key technology needed for India's human spaceflight program and its Chandrayaan-4 lunar sample return mission. [The Times of India]
A joint NASA-ISRO Earth science mission is now scheduled to launch in June. ISRO said that the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, or NISAR, mission is now expected to launch on a GSLV rocket in June. NISAR, which features L- and S-band radars for global mapping of land and ice, was to launch last year but its large deployable antenna had to be shipped back to the United States for modifications. The antenna was returned last fall and project officials said late last year they expected NISAR to launch in March. ISRO did not disclose what caused the slip to June. [Indian Express]
| The Week Ahead | |
Monday: -
Online: Steve Isakowitz, president and CEO of the Aerospace Corporation, speaks on "The Most Important Time for SpaceโฆEver!" at a University of Washington event at 7 p.m. Eastern. -
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 on the Bandwagon-3 dedicated rideshare mission at 8:48 p.m. Eastern. Monday-Thursday: Monday-Sunday: Tuesday: Tuesday-Thursday: Wednesday: Thursday: -
Jiuquan, China: Anticipated launch of the Shenzhou-20 mission to the Tiangong space station on a Long March 2F at 5:17 a.m. Eastern. -
Online: NASA's International Space Station Advisory Committee meets to discuss the safety and operational readiness of the station at 10 a.m. Eastern. -
Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 9:32 p.m. Eastern. Friday: -
Online: The Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Secure World Foundation host "A Discussion on Global Counterspace Trends" at 2 p.m. Eastern. -
Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif.: Scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 carrying Starlink satellites at 5:40 p.m. Eastern. | | | | | | | What's New With SpaceNews? |  | | Check out the latest episode of our new podcast, Space Minds. Join David Ariosto, Mike Gruss and journalists from the SpaceNews team for compelling interviews with scientists, founders and experts who love to talk about space, and their takes on the week's biggest news.
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