IO Group: https://groups.io/g/DARCskynet/topics
Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/306498286059167/
Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.
Discussion Topic of the Evening.
“Overview of ISDC 2026 – ‘Space For Us All’”
You can also view the National Space Society Town Hall virtual meeting held last Thursday with an overview of ISDC 2026 at:
Conference speakers shown at:
ISDC 2026 Program-At-A-Glance:
ISDC Session Topics:
ISDC Special Events:
Waz Up
Space Exploration and Space History
Space Exploration News
LATVIA AND JORDAN SIGN ARTEMIS ACCORDS (April 23, 2026)
SPACEX FALCON HEAVY DEPLOYS VIASAT-3 F3 (April 29, 2026)
ASTRONOMERS PINPOINT THE MILKY WAY’S “TRUE EDGE” (April 29, 2026)
CURIOSITY ROVER DETECTS COMPLEX ORGANIC MOLECULES (April 28, 2026)
EUROPE RESTORES HEAVY-LIFT ACCESS WITH ARIANE 6 (April 30, 2026)
Space-Related Birthdays
| Astronaut | Birthday | Birth Year | FCC Callsign | Flights | Notes |
| Ellen S. Baker | April 27 | 1953 | KB5SIX | STS-34, STS-50, STS-71 | A physician and astronaut who supported the deployment of the Galileo probe to Jupiter. She also served on the first mission to dock a Space Shuttle with the Russian Mir space station. |
| Jerome Apt | April 28 | 1949 | N5QWL | STS-37, STS-47, STS-59, STS-79 | A physicist who performed an unscheduled spacewalk to manually deploy a stuck antenna on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. He later conducted research on Earth’s environment and docked with the Mir space station. |
| Paul Lockhart | April 28 | 1956 | N/A | STS-111, STS-113 | A retired Air Force colonel who piloted two crucial missions to the International Space Station. These flights delivered the Mobile Base System and the P1 Truss segment to the orbiting laboratory. |
| Nikolai Budarin | April 29 | 1953 | RV3DX | Mir EO-19, STS-71, STS-113, Expedition 6 | A veteran Russian cosmonaut who completed three long-duration missions including a stay on the Mir station. He also served as a flight engineer on the International Space Station during Expedition 6. |
| Victor Glover | April 30 | 1976 | KI5SUI | SpaceX Crew-1 (Exp 64/65) | The first Black astronaut to serve as a long-term crew member on the International Space Station. He has been selected as the pilot for the upcoming Artemis II mission to orbit the Moon. |
| Michael J. Smith | April 30 | 1945 | N/A | STS-51-L | A decorated Navy pilot who served as the pilot for the Space Shuttle Challenger’s final mission. He is remembered for his service and bravery following the tragic loss of the vehicle and crew. |
| Scott Carpenter | May 1 | 1925 | N/A | Mercury-Atlas 7 | One of the original Mercury Seven astronauts who became the second American to orbit the Earth. During his Aurora 7 mission, he conducted important scientific observations and survived a difficult reentry. |
| Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger | May 2 | 1975 | KG5GJZ | STS-131 | A former educator who flew as a mission specialist on a resupply flight to the International Space Station. She operated the shuttle’s robotic arm and managed the transfer of over 13,000 pounds of equipment. |
This Week in Space History
Apollo 16 Splashdown April 27, 1972
Dennis Tito Becomes First Space Tourist April 28, 2001
Deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope April 30, 1990
Discovery of the Van Allen Radiation Belts May 1, 1958
Launch of Cosmos 4 April 26, 1962
Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week
Space Launches For This Week
Space Flight Now Launch Schedule
May 3 Falcon 9 • CAS500-2
Launch time: Window opens at 11:59 p.m. PDT (2:59 a.m. EDT / 0659 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a series of 46 payloads on a rideshare mission called CAS500-2, named for the primary payload, manifested by Korea Aerospace Industries. About 7.5 minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster, tail number B1071, launching for a 33rd time, will return to Vandenberg Space Force Base and touch down at Landing Zone 4. The deployment sequence will last until about 2.5 hours after liftoff.
Updated: April 26
May 5/6 Falcon 9 • Starlink 17-29
Launch time: Window opens at 7 p.m. PDT (10 p.m. EDT / 0200 UTC)
Launch site:
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a batch of 25 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into low Earth orbit. More than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster, tail number B1081, launching for a 24th time, will land on the drone ship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ positioned in the Pacific Ocean.
Updated: April 26
May 9 Falcon 9 • Starlink 17-37
Launch time: Window opens at 7 a.m. PDT (10 a.m. EDT / 1400 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a batch of 24 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into low Earth orbit. More than eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage booster, tail number B1103, launching for a second time, will land on the drone ship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You,’ positioned in the Pacific Ocean.
Updated: April 29
NET May 18/19 Vega-C • Smile
Launch time: 12:52 a.m. local time (11:52 p.m. EDT / 0352 UTC)
Launch site: ZLV pad, Europe’s Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana
An Avio Vega-C rocket will launch the Smile mission, a collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). The Smile (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer) is set to deploy from the rocket 57 minutes after liftoff and deploy its solar arrays within 10 minutes after that. It has a planned mission life of three years and will operate in a highly elliptical Earth orbit. According to ESA, “Smile will use four science instruments to study how Earth responds to the solar wind from the Sun. This will improve our understanding of solar storms, geomagnetic storms and the science of space weather.” Delayed from April 9 “due to a technical issue… on a subsystem component production line after VV29 launcher integration.”
Updated: April 23
NET Q4 2026 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. Delayed from 2025.
Updated: December 22
TBD Atlas 5 • Boeing Starliner-1
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket will launch Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to the International Space Station. Originally planned as the first post-certification flight with a four-person crew, this will instead be an uncrewed cargo flight to test changes to the vehicle made in the aftermath of the Crewed Flight Test that launched in 2024.
Updated: April 09
TBD Spectrum • ‘Onward and Upward’
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Launch Complex 1, Andøya Spaceport, Norway
A Spectrum rocket from Isar Aerospace will launch on its second test flight. The two-stage rocket is carrying five CubeSats onboard: CyBEEsat from TU Berlin, TriSat-S from the University of Maribor, Platform 6 from EnduroSat, FramSat-1 from NTNU, and SpaceTeamSat1 from TU Wien Space Team. The sixth and final announced payload is an experiment called “Let it Go” from Dcubed. Exolaunch is responsible for managing payload integration and deployment. Delayed from Jan. 21 due to a pressurization valve issue. Delayed from March 23 due to strong winds. Delayed from March 25 due to boat in the keep out zone. Delayed from April 9 due to leak in composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV).
Updated: April 10
NET July 5, 2028 Falcon Heavy • Dragonfly
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch NASA’s Dragonfly mission, which consists of a rotorcraft designed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) that will explore Saturn’s icy moon, Titan. The mission was originally selected in 2019 and went through multiple plan iterations across fiscal years 2020 through 2022. It passed its Preliminary Design Review in March 2023 and then its Critical Design Review in April 2025. The mission has a total lifecycle cost of $3.35 billion, of which, $256.6 million was awarded to SpaceX to provide launch services and other mission related costs. The 20-day launch window opens on July 5, 2028.
Updated: April 25
9. Visible satellite passages over the next couple of days.
You can use the http://www.heavens-above.com website to find out what’s in orbit and
where to look during fly-overs
All times are “local” (Dallas) time.
