Hello and welcome back to Max Q. Will every October issue have a Halloween\/autumn pun as its title? I\u2019LL NEVER TELL. In this issue:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Blast off for Crew-5<\/li>\n
- Russia\u2019s rethinking on the ISS<\/li>\n
- News from Firefly, TK and more<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
By the way<\/em>\u2026We are a little over ONE WEEK away from Disrupt<\/strong>, which is returning live and in-person to San Francisco on October 18-20. Use this link to receive 15% off passes (excluding online and expo).<\/p>\n
SpaceX continues to set the industry standard for launch cadence, successfully completing three separate missions in the span of five days. The first was Crew-5 on Wednesday (more on that below), followed by a Starlink mission a scant eight hours later. To cap it all off, it launched two satellites for Intelsat on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
Crew-5 was a milestone for a few different reasons. The mission (so named because it\u2019s SpaceX\u2019s fifth crewed mission with NASA\u2019s Commercial Crew Program) took off from launch pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center. The crew of four \u2014 which includes American astronauts Nicole Mann, mission commander, and Josh Cassada, mission pilot; JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata, mission specialist; and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina, mission specialist \u2014 are traveling to the station in a Crew Dragon dubbed \u201cEndurance.\u201d It separated from the Falcon 9 rocket shortly after launch and arrived at the station on Thursday.<\/p>\n
SpaceX has now delivered 30 humans to space across eight human spaceflight missions. It also marks the first time that a cosmonaut has flown on a SpaceX Crew Dragon and the first time a cosmonaut has flown on an American spacecraft since 2002. Cosmonaut Kikina\u2019s spot on the spacecraft is part of a recent astronaut transportation deal between the U.S. and Russia. American astronaut Francisco Rubio flew to the ISS on a Russian Soyuz last month as part of the deal.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead, SpaceX\u2019s next CCP mission, Crew-6, will launch in February of next year. The Ax-2 mission, Axiom Space\u2019s second private mission to the ISS, will follow in May.<\/p>\n
Russia is having internal discussions over continuing its participation in the International Space Station (ISS) beyond 2024, despite statements made earlier this summer that the country will pull out of the station program by the middle of the decade.<\/p>\n
Sergei Krikalev, head of human space programs at Roscosmos, said Monday that the Russian space agency is in discussions to extend its \u201cparticipation in [the] ISS program with our government and hope to have permission to continue next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
The about-face comes just a few months after Roscosmos head Yuri Borisov announced Russia\u2019s plans to\u00a0leave the station after 2024, and instead construct its own orbiting station. The ISS is operated in partnership between the space agencies of U.S., Russia, Canada, Japan and Europe. America has committed to operate the station through 2030.<\/p>\n
However, Krikalev admitted that a new Russian station may not be ready by 2025. \u201cWe know that it\u2019s not going to happen very [quickly], so probably we will keep flying [on the ISS] until we have any new infrastructure that will allow us to do continuous human presence on low Earth orbit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
![\"satellit](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/gp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/0201587-large.jpg\")
<\/p>\nImage Credits:<\/strong> NASA<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
More news from TC and beyond<\/h2>\n
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- ArianeGroup\u00a0<\/strong>conducted a successful hot fire test of the Ariane 6 second stage, a key milestone in stage qualification testing. The European Space Agency is hoping to launch the Ariane 6 rocket sometime next year.<\/li>\n
- CAPSTONE<\/strong>, NASA\u2019s orbit-charting satellite, has regained three-axis attitude control and remains on track to enter its target orbit around the moon on November 13.<\/li>\n
- Firefly Aerospace\u00a0<\/strong>can now count itself amongst a small number of space companies to have reached orbit. The company launched its Alpha rocket from Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 2 on October 1 and declared the mission \u201c100% successful\u201d<\/a> in achieving its primary objectives.<\/li>\n
- Inmarsat\u00a0<\/strong>is collaborating with U.K. company Livewire Digital to create a \u201cnetwork of networks\u201d for connectivity across Inmarsat\u2019s geosynchronous satellites, terrestrial 5G and a new constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit.<\/li>\n
- Jared<\/strong> Isaacman<\/strong>, the billionaire who bankrolled and flew on the Inspiration4 mission last year, outlined his ambitious plans for the Polaris Dawn series of private human spaceflight missions. The first is expected to launch in partnership with SpaceX in March next year.<\/li>\n
- Redwire\u00a0<\/strong>is buying QinetiQ Space, a Belgium-based supplier of small satellites and other space infrastructure, for \u20ac32 million ($31.1 million).<\/li>\n
- Rocket Lab\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0punnily-named \u201cIt Argos Up From Here\u201d mission blasted off from the company\u2019s New Zealand launch site on Friday. The dedicated launch carried a General Atomics satellite bus carrying an environmental monitoring payload named Argos-4.<\/li>\n
- Skyrora\u2019s<\/b> head of government affairs, Alan Thompson, expressed concern over the ongoing vacancy of a key science minister position in the British government. \u201cThe new Tory administration has yet to recognize and prioritise the massive opportunities held within the UK Space sector, a truth echoed in 80 days of absence despite the previous incumbent\u2019s commitment and readiness to champion UK Space and Science,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/li>\n
- Space billboards\u00a0<\/strong>could turn a profit despite costing up to $65 million, according to a new study from Russian researchers at the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.<\/li>\n
- SpaceX\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0Falcon Heavy will see its first launch in over three years. The mission, scheduled for October 28, will deploy two satellites to GEO for the U.S. Space Force.<\/li>\n
- SpinLaunch\u00a0<\/strong>completed its tenth successful flight test using its suborbital accelerator. Unlike other tests, this one carried test customer payloads from NASA, Outpost and others. SpinLaunch said the test \u201cdemonstrated that SpinLaunch partners\u2019 standard satellite components are inherently compatible\u201d with the company\u2019s unique kinetic launch system.<\/li>\n
- United Launch Alliance\u00a0<\/strong>launched two SES satellites aboard its Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The mission is part of SES\u2019 effort to collect almost $4 billion in government payouts to clear the C-band.<\/li>\n
- Virgin Orbit\u00a0<\/strong>has completed a full launch rehearsal for its next flight from Spaceport Cornwall. It will be the first orbital space launch to ever take place from the United Kingdom.<\/li>\n
- York Space Systems\u00a0<\/strong>is selling a 51% majority stake to AEI (Firefly\u2019s owner) in a deal that values the company at $1.125 billion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/gp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/1665441528_664_rocket-lab-argos-1.jpg\")
<\/p>\nRocket Lab\u2019s \u201cIt Argos Up From Here\u201d takes off at night from LC1 in New Zealand. Image Credits:<\/strong> Rocket Lab<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Max Q is brought to you by me, Aria Alamalhodaei<\/a>. If you enjoy reading Max Q, consider forwarding it to a friend.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
- CAPSTONE<\/strong>, NASA\u2019s orbit-charting satellite, has regained three-axis attitude control and remains on track to enter its target orbit around the moon on November 13.<\/li>\n
- ArianeGroup\u00a0<\/strong>conducted a successful hot fire test of the Ariane 6 second stage, a key milestone in stage qualification testing. The European Space Agency is hoping to launch the Ariane 6 rocket sometime next year.<\/li>\n