Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.
Discussion Topic of the Evening.
“We Fix Anything: Saving Skylab” (Part 2)
From the NASA History Archives
Crew Skylab 2 (Left) and Skylab 1 Launch (Right)
Micrometeoroid Shield Destruction Schematic
JSC Technicians Fabricate and Test the Parasol Sunshade
Crew Portrait and Launch Photo
Video of Skylab Damage, Mission Control Watches
Mission Photos of Fly-Around Recording Skylab Damage
Parasol Sunshade Attached to Sun-Facing Scientific Airlock / Exterior Parasol Deployment
Video Snapshots of “Return to Normal” Operations
Training for Freeing the Jammed Solar Array Wing
Waz Up
Space Exploration and Space History
Space Exploration News
Astronauts Mitigate Precautions After Structural Leak Rate Speeds Up in Russian Segment (June 8, 2026)
NASA Formally Announces Artemis III Earth-Orbital Test Flight Crew (June 9, 2026)
Blue Origin Details Recovery Plan Following Major New Glenn Test Stand Explosion (Early June 2026)
NASA’s X-59 Supersonic Aircraft Achieves Major Flight Milestone (June 12, 2026)
Space-Related Birthdays
| Astronaut | Birthday | Birth Year | FCC Callsign | Flights | Notes |
| Anne McClain | June 7 | 1979 | None | Soyuz MS-11 (Expedition 57/58/59) | She launched to the International Space Station in 2018, conducting a series of scientific experiments and logging more than 203 days in orbit. During her mission, she performed two spacewalks totaling over 13 hours to perform upgrades to the station’s power systems. |
| Bruce McCandless II | June 8 | 1937 | None | STS-41-B, STS-31 | He served as a Mission Specialist on the STS-41-B shuttle mission, during which he performed the historic first untethered spacewalk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit. He later flew on the STS-31 mission, which successfully deployed the Hubble Space Telescope into Earth orbit. |
| James McDivitt | June 10 | 1929 | None | Gemini 4, Apollo 9 | He commanded the Gemini 4 mission, which featured the historic first American spacewalk conducted by Edward Higgins White II. He later commanded Apollo 9, the critical first manned flight test of the complete Apollo spacecraft and Lunar Module. |
| Frank Caldeiro | June 12 | 1958 | KE4RFI | None | He was selected as a NASA astronaut candidate in 1996 and served in various technical support roles at the Kennedy Space Center and Johnson Space Center. Although he did not fly in space, he supported Shuttle software checks and space station operations before his passing in 2009. |
This Week in Space History
June 7, 1971: Tragic Soyuz 11 Salyut-1 Docking
June 8, 1625: Birth of Giovanni Domenico Cassini
June 10, 2003: Launch of the Spirit Mars Rover
June 11, 2011: High-Definition Space Sunrise Recording
June 12, 1998: Landing of Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-91)
June 13, 1983: Pioneer 10 Crosses Neptune’s Orbit
7. Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week
Space Launches For This Week
Space Flight Now Launch Schedule
TBD Falcon 9 • Globalstar 2-R Launch 1
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch nine of its HIBLEO-4 satellites into low Earth orbit. This is the first of two launches that constitute a replenishment of its HIBLEO-4 fleet. Nearly 8.5 minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9 first stage booster, tail number B1090, launching for a 12th time, will target a landing on the drone ship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’, positioned in the Atlantic Ocean. Delayed from May 18. Delayed from May 20.
Updated: May 23
NET July Atlas 5 • Leo Atlas 08
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: SLC-41, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket will launch a batch of 29 Amazon Leo satellites into low Earth orbit. This is the ninth and final Atlas 5 rocket that the tech giant booked to launch its broadband internet satellites.
Updated: May 30
Late summer Alpha • FLTA008
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: SLC-2, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
A Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket will launch on mission for a yet unannounced customer. This will be the debut of the Block 2 iteration of the rocket, which features larger liquid oxygen tanks on both the first and second stages, increasing the overall length of the rocket by two meters.
Updated: May 05
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
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.
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.
