This video provides a comprehensive recap of recent spaceflight news from late September to early October 2024. Scott Manley covers a wide array of topics, including a high frequency of Starlink launches, various Chinese Long March missions, and a failed Iranian rocket launch. Key mission updates include the launch of NASA's IMAP heliosphere mapper, Amazon's Kuiper satellites, and progress on the International Space Station with the arrival of a Cygnus spacecraft and a successful Dragon reboost. The video also highlights significant announcements such as NASA's new majority-female astronaut class, an accelerated timeline for Artemis 2, and the revival of the Viper moon rover mission. Other notable events discussed are Blue Origin's suborbital flight featuring a deployable camera, the downgrading of Dream Chaser's inaugural mission, an upcoming Starship test flight, a Firefly booster explosion, and the impact of the US government shutdown on NASA.
Recent Spaceflight News and Mission Updates
0:00:24 Recent Rocket Launches: The past few weeks saw a high launch cadence, including seven Starlink missions from both coasts, a Chinese Long March 2C (0:00:48), a failed Iranian Zuljana solid-fuel rocket (0:01:14), and a SpaceX Star Shield launch for the NRO (0:01:56).
0:02:25 Falcon 9 Science Mission to L1: On September 24th, a Falcon 9 launched three satellites to the L1 Lagrange point: IMAP (to study the heliosphere), the Kurther's Geocorona Observatory (studying Earth's hydrogen corona), and SWFO-L1 (a space weather early warning satellite).
0:03:59 Amazon's Kuiper Constellation: An Atlas V 551 successfully launched 27 Kuiper satellites on September 25th into a 630 km orbit, which is slightly higher than Starlink's operational altitude.
0:06:05 Key Suborbital Flights: Blue Origin's NS-25 flight on September 18th featured a new, free-flying 360-degree camera deployed at stage separation (0:06:56). On September 30th, Rocket Lab launched its fifth "Haste" suborbital vehicle from Wallops (0:07:44).
0:08:12 International Space Station Operations: A Cygnus cargo craft arrived at the ISS after delays caused by thruster issues. It delivered experiments like TransAstra's inflatable "capture bag" for debris or asteroids (0:08:35). A docked Dragon spacecraft also performed a 15-minute orbit reboost for the station after an initial attempt was cut short (0:09:16).
0:10:51 NASA Announces New Astronaut Class: NASA selected its first new astronaut class in several years. It is historically significant for being the first class with more women (6) than men (4). The class notably includes Anna Menon (0:11:56), a former SpaceX engineer and commercial astronaut from the Polaris Dawn mission.
0:13:43 Artemis 2 Mission Moved Up: The Artemis 2 mission, which will be the first crewed lunar flyby since Apollo, has seen its schedule moved forward, with a potential launch date as early as February 2026.
0:14:41 New Glenn's Second Flight Nears: Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket is preparing for its second flight at the end of October, carrying the Escapade mission to Mars. The reusable booster for this flight is named "Never Tell Me the Odds" (0:15:00).
0:15:47 Dream Chaser's First Mission Downgraded: The long-awaited inaugural flight of Sierra Space's Dream Chaser spaceplane has been changed from an ISS docking mission to a free-flyer demonstration, marking a significant change in plans for the program.
0:17:07 Starship and Firefly Updates: SpaceX has scheduled Starship's Flight 11 for October 13th (0:17:10). In contrast, Firefly Aerospace suffered a major setback when the booster for its Flight 7 exploded during a ground test firing (0:17:46).
0:18:32 Government Shutdown Impacts NASA: The US government shutdown has furloughed most NASA employees, disrupting operations. This occurred during the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), where agency leadership was presenting future plans.
0:21:51 Viper Moon Rover Mission Revived: NASA has officially revived the Viper rover mission, which was previously canceled due to the escalating cost of its delivery lander. Blue Origin is now contracted to transport the completed rover to the Moon's surface.