April 19-25, 2021 / Vol 40, No 16 / Hawai`i Island, USA

NASA and SpaceX Primed for Crew-2 Mission to ISS Set for April 22

4 crew members of ISS Expedition 65 are to arrive at humanity’s outpost in LEO via SpaceX Dragon Endeavour (C206), refurbished for 3rd crewed mission (2nd long duration) of the Commercial Crew Program which reestablished USA access to space after a nearly decade-long gap. Launching from Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Crew-2 will consist of NASA astronauts Megan McArthur and Shane Kimbrough, JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet (who combined have some 521 days of space experience), joining NASA Astronaut Mark Vande Hei and Roscosmos Cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy & Pyotr Dubrov already on station. Expedition 65 will briefly overlap the stay of expedition 64 / SpaceX Crew-1 members Michael Hopkins, Victor Glover, Soichi Noguchi and Commander Shannon Walker – the first Houston native to command ISS – temporarily bringing total station occupancy to 11 before Crew-1 Earth return on Apr 28 via Atlantic splashdown in Resilience. Total ISS occupancy is now 247 over its 20+ years of continuous operation. Expedition 65 is to continue scientific inquires into human health, data transmission, agronomy, microbiology and all manner of zero-gravity experimentation while also spreading STEM awareness, international ‘space diplomacy’, and transformational outreach on overview effect. (Image Credits: NASA, SpaceX)

MONDAY

April 24 Conjunction: PR China ‘Middle Country’ (Zhongguo) and Kansas ‘Midway USA’ Ad Astra Commemorations

Celebrating the National Day of Space Flight in China on April 24 in honor of the nation’s first satellite Dongfanghong-1 launch in 1970, Chinese Society of Astronautics (CSA), Chinese Astronomical Society and Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) are hosting the multiple-day Chinese Space Conference 2021. In-person participation at Nanjing, China will take place for locals and international guests will join online. The Moon: Exploration & Astronomical Observation Symposium on Apr 23 will feature a UAE speaker on “Small Lunar Rover with Big Science Goals”, a senior expert of CSA on “Lunar Base / Village”, International Lunar Observatory Association on “Global Placement of Telescopes and Observatories on the Moon” and colleagues from PMO. Apr 24 conjunction also marks the Hubble Space Telescope reaching its 31st full year / starting 32nd year in space. Hubble is expected to continue its astounding astronomical near-infrared, visible and ultraviolet observations from ~540-km altitude, with 2.4-m Ritchey–Chrétien reflector into the 2030s and possibly 2040s. Apr 24 Ad Astra Kansas Day, initiated in 2003 by AAK Foundation, is chosen for Kansas Astronaut Steve Hawley for releasing Hubble from Space Shuttle STS-31 Discovery. The mid-way USA / Ad Astra Per Aspera State upward-looking spirit is highlighted by the Capitol and the Ad Astra statue atop the dome, world class Cosmosphere housing >13K spaceflight artifacts, Wichita, 7 Observatories, manufacturing / engineering capabilities and its history of aero- and astronautics with Mercury & Apollo. (Image Credits: CNSA, CSA, Xinhua, NASA, Schrunk, Sharpe, Cooper, Thangavelu)

Apr 19 —

Apr 19-22 — European Space Resources Innovation Center, ESA, Luxembourg Space Agency, Online / Luxembourg: Space Resources Week 2021.

Apr 19-30 — UNOOSA, Vienna, Austria: 58th Session of the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.

Apr 19 — Moon: 6.8° S of Castor, 04:00; 3.2° S of Pollux, 09:00; at first quarter, 20:59.

Apr 19 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 GM3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.005 AU)

Apr 19 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 GL3: Near-Earth Flyby (0.021 AU)

Continued From…
NET Early 2021 — ISRO, Launch SSLV / Demonstration Launch, Satish Dhawan Space Center, Sriharikota, India: New Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) to launch on first orbital test flight.

NET Mar — International Astronautical Federation, Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), Online: IAC 2021 Press Conference; providing updates for 72nd IAC being held Oct 25-29.

NET Apr — Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), Guizhou, China: International applications for international scientific community participation in FAST to be reviewed starting this month, becoming effective in August 2021.

TUESDAY

Apr 20-23 — ESA, ESOC, Online / Darmstadt, Germany: 8th European Conference on Space Debris.

Apr 20 — Moon: 3.0° NNE of Beehive Cluster, 11:00.

Apr 20 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 GX7: Near-Earth Flyby (0.017 AU)

Apr 20 — Aten Asteroid 2019 HQ: Near-Earth Flyby (0.038 AU)