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Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.
Discussion Topic of the Evening.
“Starship’s Next Mission – March 14?”
By Bill Robinson-Smith, “Spaceflight Now”
Wet Dress Rehearsal
https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/20240304_Starship_WDR_small.jpg
Starship Docking System Testing
https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/20240229_Starship_Orion_docking_test_small.jpg
Infographic Flight Path
https://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/20240306_Starship_OFT-3_flight_path.jpg
Starship 2 Liftoff
“X” Post on Starship 2
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F9Pv2XfaMAA1wMt?format=jpg&name=900×900
Waz Up
Space Exploration and Space History
Astronaut Birthdays
- March 3, 1946: James Adamson (STS-28, STS-43)
- March 3, 1949: Bonnie Dunbar (STS-61-A, STS-32, STS-50, STS-71, STS-89)
- March 3, 1949: James Voss (STS-44, STS-53, STS-69, STS-101, STS-102/STS-105 part of Exp 2)
- March 5, 1962: Robert Curbeam (STS-85, STS-98, STS-116)
- March 6, 1927: Gordon Cooper (Mercury-Atlas 9, Gemini 5)
- March 7, 1936: Loren Acton (STS-51-F)
Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week
Constellation “Puppis, the Poop Deck
Space Launches For This Week
Space Flight Now Launch Schedule
March 10/11 Falcon 9 • Starlink 6-43
Launch time: Approx. 7:03-11:34 p.m. EDT 2303-0334 UTC
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of second-generation Starlink V2 Mini internet satellites. The Falcon 9’s first stage booster will on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean.
Updated: March 08
March 12/13 Electron • ‘Owl Night Long’
Launch time: 3:00 am NZDT (10:00 a.m. EDT, 14:00 UTC 9 March)
Launch site: Pad B, Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket will launch a dedicated mission for Japan Earth-imaging satellite company, Synspective. The launch of the StriX-3 satellite is the fourth launch in a multi-launch agreement following ‘The Owls’ Night Begins’ in December 2020, ‘The Owl’s Night Continues’ in February 2022 and ‘The Owl Spreads its Wings’ in September 2022. This will be Rocket Lab’s third Electron launch of 2024 and its 45th to date. Delayed from March 10.
Updated: March 08
March 20 Electron • NROL-123
Launch time: Window 2:15-6:30 a.m. EDT (0515-1130 UTC)
Launch site: Launch Complex 2, Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket will launch its first mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) from Launch Complex 2 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The NROL-123 mission, also known as ‘Live and Let Fly,’ was booked as part of the NRO’s Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR) contract. It will launch a classified payload to orbit.
Updated: March 07
March 21 Soyuz • Soyuz MS-25
Launch time: 4:21 p.m. MSK (9:21 a.m. EDT, 1321 UTC)
Launch site: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
A Russian government Soyuz rocket will the crewed Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft to the International Space Station. The mission will carry Russian commander Oleg Novitsky, Belarusian flight engineer Marina Vasilevskaya, and NASA astronaut Tracy Dyson into orbit for a long-duration flight on the space station. The rocket will fly in the Soyuz-2.1a configuration. The Soyuz will dock at the Prichal module about three hours after liftoff. On its return trip, it will bring back Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub.
Updated: February 05
NET April 22 Atlas 5 • CST-100 Starliner Crew Flight Test
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, designated AV-085, will launch Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft on its first mission with astronauts, known as the Crew Test Flight, to the International Space Station. The capsule will dock with the space station, then return to Earth to landing in the Western United States. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams will fly on the mission. The rocket will fly in a vehicle configuration with two solid rocket boosters and a dual-engine Centaur upper stage. Delayed from August and 1st Quarter of 2020. Delayed from mid-2020 after Boeing decision to refly the Orbital Flight Test. Delayed from early 2021, June 2021, and late 2021. Delayed from late 2022 to implement fixes on the Starliner spacecraft after OFT-2. Delayed from April 2023 and July 21, 2023.
Updated: February 21
NET April 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 and January 2024.
Updated: December 13
NET April 30 Falcon Heavy • GOES U
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: LC-39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy will launch the fourth and final satellite of the next-generation series of geostationary weather satellites for NASA and NOAA. GOES-U will orbit 22,300 miles above the equator to monitor weather conditions across the United States. The satellite will be renamed GOES-19 once it reaches its operational orbit.
Updated: February 08
Recent Astronomical Discoveries
Finding new physics in debris from colliding neutron stars
Neutron Star Collision
https://th.bing.com/th?id=OIP.yobzLppx9gzZc02NwxKs3wHaEW&w=200&h=117&rs=1&qlt=80&o=6&pid=3.1
Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.
All times are “local” (Dallas) time.
Mar 13
Tiangong
Mar 10
Mar 11