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Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.
Discussion Topic of the Evening.
Link mission to save Swift Gamma Ray Space Observatory in jeopardy
Waz Up
Space Exploration and Space History
Space Exploration News
Roman Space Telescope Launch Date – July 29, 2026
SpaceX Launches Classified NROL-95 Mission – July 30, 2026
FCC Overhauls Commercial Space Bureau Licensing – July 30, 2026
Space-Related Birthdays
| Astronaut | Birthday | Birth Year | FCC Callsign | Flights | Notes |
| William S. McArthur | July 26 | 1951 | KC5ACR | STS-58, STS-74, STS-92, Expedition 12 | Retired U.S. Army colonel and NASA astronaut who flew on three Space Shuttle missions and commanded Expedition 12 on the ISS. |
| Toktar Aubakirov | July 27 | 1946 | None | Soyuz TM-13 | He was the first person from Kazakhstan to fly in space, spending over seven days aboard the Soviet Mir space station. |
| Daniel C. Burbank | July 27 | 1961 | K1DCB | STS-106, STS-115, Expedition 30 | A veteran of two Space Shuttle missions and commander of Expedition 30 on the International Space Station. |
| Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor | July 27 | 1972 | None | Soyuz TM-11 | He became the first Malaysian in space, flying to the ISS aboard Soyuz TM-11 as part of an agreement with Russia. |
| Aidyn Aimbetov | July 27 | 1972 | None | Soyuz TMA-18M | The third Kazakh cosmonaut to fly in space, spending nearly 10 days in orbit on a short-duration ISS mission. |
| Scott Parazynski | July 28 | 1961 | None | STS-66, STS-86, STS-95, STS-100, STS-120 | Veteran of five Shuttle flights who performed seven spacewalks, including a dramatic solar array repair during STS-120. |
| Aleksandr Balandin | July 30 | 1953 | None | Soyuz TM-9 | Soviet cosmonaut who spent 179 days aboard the Mir space station during Expedition 6. |
| Gregory C. Johnson | July 30 | 1954 | None | STS-125 | He piloted Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-125, the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. |
| Vladimir Dezhurov | July 30 | 1962 | UA9AD | Soyuz TM-21, STS-105 | Russian cosmonaut who commanded Mir EO-18 and flew to the ISS on STS-105/108 as part of Expedition 3. |
| Yuri Romanenko | August 1 | 1944 | None | Soyuz 26, Soyuz 38, Soyuz TM-2 | Legendary Soviet cosmonaut who commanded long-duration missions to Salyut 6 and Mir. |
| Richard Covey | August 1 | 1946 | None | STS-51-I, STS-26, STS-38, STS-61 | Piloted the post-Challenger return-to-flight mission STS-26 and commanded the historic Hubble servicing mission STS-61. |
| Koichi Wakata | August 1 | 1963 | KC5ZTA | STS-72, STS-92, STS-119, Expedition 18/19/20, Expedition 38/39, Crew-5, Expedition 68 | The first Japanese commander of the ISS, veteran of five space missions. |
This Week in Space History
Launch of Skylab 3 – July 28 (1973)
NASA Created by the National Aeronautics and Space Act – July 29 (1958)
Apollo 15 Lunar Landing – July 30 (1971)
Ranger 7 Impacts the Moon – July 31 (1964)
NASA Cancels Saturn V Production – August 1 (1968)
Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week
Constellation “Ophiuchus the Snake Wrangler”
Space Launches For This Week
Space Flight Now Launch Schedule
August 4 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. Delayed from Aug. 1, 2 and 3.
Updated: July 30
August 5 Falcon 9 • BlueBird 11-13
Launch time: 3:42 a.m. EDT (0742 UTC)
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch three Block 2 satellites for AST SpaceMobile’s in-orbit cellular service (satellites 11, 12, and 13). Each BlueBird satellite has a communications array measuring about 2,400 square feet.The Falcon 9 first stage booster will land on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’, positioned in the Atlantic Ocean.
Updated: July 28
NET August 6/7 H3 • QZS-7
Launch time: 4:30 p.m. JST on Aug. 7 (3:30 a.m. EDT / 0730 UTC on Aug. 6)
Launch site: Yoshinobu Launch Complex, JAXA Tanegashima Space Center
An H3 launch vehicle, a rocket developed through a partnership between Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency), will launch the Michibiki No. 7, Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZS-7). This will be the ninth launch of an H3 rocket. Delayed from March 2026.
Updated: July 30
August 8 Falcon 9 • Starlink 17-38
Launch time: 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 B1093, launching for a 16th time, is scheduled to land on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You’, in the Pacific Ocean. Delayed from Aug. 6 & 7.
Updated: July 30
August 10 Falcon 9 • Starlink 10-19
Launch time: TBD
Launch site: SLC-40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch another batch of 29 Starlink V2 Mini satellites to low Earth orbit. The first-stage booster, tail number B1085, launching for a 18th time, is scheduled to land on the droneship, ‘A Shortfall of Gravitas’, in the Atlantic Ocean.
Updated: July 27
August 12 Falcon 9 • Starlink 17-49
Launch time: TBD
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 B1088, launching for a 18th time, is scheduled to land on the droneship, ‘Of Course I Still Love You’, in the Pacific Ocean. Delayed from Aug. 10 & 11.
Updated: July 30
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: 7:26 a.m. EDT (1126 UTC)
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.
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