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.
“The ‘Centaur’ of Attention”
Waz Up
Space Exploration and Space History
Space Exploration News
Skyroot Aerospace Achieves Debut Orbital Launch of Vikram-1 Rocket (July 18, 2026)
Global Commemoration of Viking 1 Mars Landing 50th Anniversary (July 20, 2026)
SpaceX Launches Historic Private Satellite Servicing Mission (July 21, 2026)
ISS Prepares for Crew Swap and Expedition 75 Command Transition (July 23, 2026)
SpaceX Starship megarocket hits key milestones in ‘Lucky 13’ test flight as big hurdles loom (July 24, 2026)
Space-Related Birthdays
| Astronaut | Birthday | Birth Year | FCC Callsign | Flights | Notes |
| Scott Tingle | July 19 | 1965 | None | Soyuz MS-07 | He flew to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz MS-07 in 2017, serving as a flight engineer for Expedition 54/55. |
| Vladimir Lyakhov | July 20 | 1941 | None | Soyuz 32, Soyuz T-9, Soyuz TM-6 | He was a Soviet cosmonaut who commanded long-duration missions to Salyut 6, Salyut 7, and Mir space stations, spending a total of 333 days in space. |
| Toyohiro Akiyama | July 22 | 1942 | None | Soyuz TM-11 | He became the first Japanese citizen and the first professional journalist to fly in space, spending over seven days aboard the Soviet Mir space station. |
| Elliot See | July 23 | 1927 | None | None | Selected as one of NASA’s Group 2 astronauts, he was designated command pilot for Gemini 9 but tragically died in a training jet crash months before launch. |
| Stephen Robinson | July 24 | 1955 | None | STS-85, STS-95, STS-114, STS-130 | Veteran of four Space Shuttle missions. During the STS-114 “Return to Flight” mission, he performed a historic spacewalk to repair the shuttle’s heat shield. |
| Paul J. Weitz | July 25 | 1932 | None | Skylab 2, STS-6 | He piloted Skylab 2, the first crewed mission to the Skylab space station, and later commanded the maiden voyage of the Space Shuttle Challenger (STS-6). |
| Daniel W. Bursch | July 25 | 1957 | KD5OPQ | STS-51, STS-68, STS-77, Expedition 4 | Veteran of four spaceflights who spent 196 days in space during ISS Expedition 4, setting a record at the time. |
| William Shepherd | July 26 | 1949 | KD5GSL | STS-27, STS-41, STS-52, Expedition 1 | He commanded Expedition 1, the historic first long-duration crewed mission to the International Space Station, establishing continuous human occupancy. |
This Week in Space History
Joe Walker’s X-15 Flight 90 (July 19, 1963)
Apollo 11 Lunar Landing (July 20, 1969)
Launch of Liberty Bell 7 (Mercury-Redstone 4) (July 21, 1961)
Venera 8 Venus Landing (July 22, 1972)
Launch of the Chandra X-ray Observatory (July 23, 1999)
Svetlana Savitskaya’s Historic Spacewalk (July 25, 1984)
Launch of Apollo 15 (July 26, 1971)
Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week
Constellation “Serpens the Snake”
Space Launches For This Week
Space Flight Now Launch Schedule
July 25 Falcon 9 • Starlink 17-51
Launch time: 8:51:55 a.m. PDT (11:51:55 a.m. EDT / 1551:55 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of 24 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to low Earth orbit. The first-stage booster, tail number B1100, launching for an eighth time, is scheduled to land on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You’, in the Pacific Ocean. Booster previously listed as B1081. Delayed from July 23 and 24.
Updated: July 25
July 27/28 Falcon 9 • Starlink 17-52
Launch time: Window opens at 7 p.m. PDT (10 p.m. EDT / 0200 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, California
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of 24 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to low Earth orbit. The first-stage booster, tail number B1081, launching for a 26th time, is scheduled to land on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You’, in the Pacific Ocean.
Updated: July 20
July 30 Falcon 9 • NROL-95
Launch time: Window opens at 2:37 a.m. EDT (0637 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office. The NROL-95 mission was awarded to SpaceX in August 2024 as part of the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 2 contract. The first stage booster, tail number B1096, launching for a seventh time, will return to a landing at Landing Zone 2 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Updated: July 24
TBD Spectrum • ‘Onward and Upward’
Launch time: Window opens at 10 p.m. CEST (4 p.m. EDT / 2000 UTC)
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 and June 15.
Updated: June 26
August 1 Falcon 9 • Starlink 17-53
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 another batch of 24 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to low Earth orbit. The first-stage booster, tail number B1063, launching for a 34th time, is scheduled to land on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You’, in the Pacific Ocean.
Updated: July 24
NET August 27 Ariane 6 • MTG-I2
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Europe’s Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana
An Arianespace Ariane 62 rocket, the two-booster variant of the Ariane 6 launcher, will launch the second Meteosat Third Generation Imager satellite (MTG-I2) to a geostationary transfer orbit. The mission is a partnership between the European Space Agency and EUMETSAT. This will be the fourth Ariane 6 rocket launch of the year and the ninth to date.
Updated: July 24
NET August 30 Falcon Heavy • Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the agency’s next great observatory. Roman carries onboard two main instruments: the 300-megapixel infrared camera called the Wide Field Instrument and a coronagraph. It will carry out a minimum five-year mission capture detailed images of the universe at a dramatically faster rate than the Hubble Space Telescope, even with a primary mirror that’s the same size as Hubble’s. Watch a preview of the mission.
Updated: July 24
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.
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
Tom can cover this one as well, otherwise follow the instructions below…
Net Control Note: Look for the highest magnitude and read those with highest point info. As an example: May 20th is the next, good pass.
All times are “local” (Dallas) time.
