IO Group: https://groups.io/g/DARCskynet/topics
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Saturday’s DARC SkyNet is at 9PM CT.
Discussion Topic of the Evening.
Virginia Smith NV5F
News from Beneath the surface of Jupiter’s Two Favorite Moons
Europa and Hubble Space Telescope
Hydrogen and Oxygen UV Observations
Plate Techtonics – Photo Progression
Mars Application and “New” Volcano Discovery
Waz Up
Space Exploration and Space History
Space Exploration News
SpaceX Falcon 9 Upper Stage Impacts the Moon – August 5, 2026
NASA & SpaceX Unveil Tesla Cybertrucks for Crew Transport – August 4, 2026
Early August Activity Builds for the Perseids Meteor Shower – August 3–8, 2026
NASA and ESA Review Crew Operations for Artemis Test Flight – August 6, 2026
SpaceX Achieves New Starlink and Booster Reuse Milestones – August 7, 2026
Space-Related Birthdays
| Astronaut | Birthday | Birth Year | FCC Callsign | Flights | Notes |
| Valery Bykovsky | August 2 | 1934 | None | Vostok 5, Soyuz 22, Soyuz 31 | Soviet cosmonaut who set a solo spaceflight endurance record aboard Vostok 5 in 1963 that remains unbroken. |
| Bertalan Farkas | August 2 | 1949 | None | Soyuz 36 | The first Hungarian cosmonaut in space, spending over seven days conducting experiments aboard the Salyut 6 space station. |
| Joan Higginbotham | August 3 | 1964 | KE5FYE | STS-116 | Former NASA astronaut and electrical engineer who actively operated the Robotic Arm (SSRMS) during ISS assembly mission STS-116. |
| Hans Schlegel | August 3 | 1951 | DG1KIH | STS-55, STS-122 | German ESA astronaut who flew on two Space Shuttle missions and performed a key spacewalk installing the Columbus laboratory on the ISS. |
| Charles “Sam” Gemar | August 4 | 1955 | None | STS-38, STS-48, STS-62 | Veteran NASA astronaut who logged over 24 days in space across three Space Shuttle missions supporting DOD and scientific payloads. |
| Andrew M. Allen | August 4 | 1955 | None | STS-46, STS-62, STS-75 | Retired U.S. Marine Corps aviator and NASA astronaut who piloted two Shuttle flights and commanded the Tethered Satellite System re-flight on STS-75. |
| Neil Armstrong | August 5 | 1930 | None | Gemini 8, Apollo 11 | Iconic NASA astronaut, aeronautical engineer, and commander of Apollo 11, who became the first human to walk on the Moon. |
| Winston E. Scott | August 6 | 1950 | KC5RGF | STS-72, STS-87 | Former NASA astronaut and naval aviator who logged over 24 hours of spacewalks during two Space Shuttle missions. |
| Gregory Chamitoff | August 6 | 1962 | KD5PKZ | STS-124, Expedition 17/18, STS-134 | NASA astronaut and aeronautical engineer who served six months aboard the ISS as Flight Engineer and completed two spacewalks on STS-134. |
| Kent Rominger | August 7 | 1956 | None | STS-73, STS-80, STS-85, STS-96, STS-100 | Veteran of five Space Shuttle flights who commanded STS-96, the first human spaceflight mission to dock with the International Space Station. |
| José M. Hernández | August 7 | 1962 | None | STS-128 | Former NASA astronaut and engineer who served as mission specialist on STS-128, managing cargo transfer of over 18,000 lbs to the ISS. |
| Svetlana Savitskaya | August 8 | 1948 | None | Soyuz T-7, Soyuz T-12 | Soviet cosmonaut who became the second woman in space and the first woman to perform a spacewalk outside Salyut 7 in 1984. |
This Week in Space History
Historic Splashdown of SpaceX Crew Dragon Demo-2 (August 2, 2020)
Launch of NASA’s MESSENGER Mission to Mercury (August 3, 2004)
Launch of NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander (August 4, 2007)
Launch of NASA’s Juno Mission to Jupiter (August 5, 2011)
Historic Landing of NASA’s Curiosity Rover on Mars (August 6, 2012)
Apollo 15 Splashdown and Mission Conclusion (August 7, 1971)
Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-118) (August 8, 2007)
Miss Carolyn’s Constellation of the Week
Constellation “Draco the Dragon”
Space Launches For This Week
Space Flight Now Launch Schedule
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
NET August 10/11 H3 • QZS-7
Launch time: 4 p.m. JST on Aug. 11 (3 a.m. EDT / 0700 UTC on Aug. 10)
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. Delayed from Aug. 6/7 and 8/9.
Updated: August 08
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.
Updated: July 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
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: June 17
September 14/15 Vega-C • Sentinel-3C and FLEX Earth Explorer
Launch time: 10:21 p.m. Kourou time (9:21 p.m. EDT / 0121 UTC)
Launch site: Europe’s Spaceport, Kourou, French Guiana
An Avio Vega-C will launch the Sentinel-3C satellite, from the European Commission’s Copernicus program, and the FLEX (FLuorescence EXplorer) satellite, from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Earth Explorer program, to a Sun-synchronous Earth orbit at an altitude of 820 km with an inclination of 98.6 degrees. Both satellites were built by prime contractor Thales Alenia Space along with other European companies. The mission, also designated VV30, is the second Vega-C flight managed by Avio and the eighth flight of a Vega-C rocket to date.
Updated: July 30
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
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.
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.
