SpaceX Transporter-5 Rideshare Mission Heading to SSO as FAA Decision on Starship Launch from TX Nears

Soon surpassing 160 Falcon 9 launches / 120 landings in total, SpaceX is planning the Transporter 5 flight May 25 from Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral, Florida 14:35 EDT. This dedicated rideshare mission (with about 50 payloads) will be lofted to Sun-synchronous orbit, attempt 1st stage landing at Landing Zone 1 about 8 minutes after launch and fairing recovery from the Atlantic Ocean. It will carry 1,500-kg Bluewalker-3 by AST & Science for mobile communications, three 15-kg methane emission monitoring satellites for Canada-based GHGSat (C3 “Luca”, C4 “Penny” and C5 “Diako”), and Momentus Vigoride 3 tug orbital transfer vehicle, which is designed to move to different orbits and deploy payloads: FOSSA Systems, Orbit NTNU and 5 others. Also onboard are ELaNa 47 mission, Celestis Ascension flight (23rd overall mission for the company), Nanoracks Outpost Mars Demo-1, Earth observation ÑuSat from Argentina, 3 payloads from Australia, the Bulgaria / South Africa shared EnduroSat 1, and craft from Albania, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, and Spain. Already designing and building in California and Texas, launching from Florida and California, by the end of May, the FAA environmental assessment decision on SpaceX launch of Starship / Super Heavy from ‘Starbase’ Boca Chica launch site in Texas is to be made. If it passes, the SN20 orbital launch (settling into the ocean off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii) would be first up. (Image Credits: SpaceX, Exolaunch)

MONDAY

☆ May 23 — ISS, ~405-km LEO: Expedition 67 seven-member crew working with newly arrived Boeing Orbital Flight Test-2 and cargo from Cygnus NG-17, Progress 79P & 80P; vascular aging, astrobee, combustion experiments ongoing.

☆ May 23 — Tiangong Space Station, ~370-km LEO: To be fully integrated and complete before end of year, TSS planning to have continuous human occupation beginning with Shenzhou 14 NET June 5.

o = International terrestrial events in local time.

★ = Space events, and… ☆ = International space / astro events in Hawaii Standard Time unless noted. Add 10 hours to obtain UT (‘Universal Time’).

China 2022 Advances for Space Station, Sea Launch, Reusable Launch Vehicle

Shenzhou 14 three-member crew, which may include Liu Yang, is preparing to arrive at Tiangong Space Station orbiting at ~370-km altitude with Tianzhou-4 cargo ship which is fully stocked with 6,000 kg of supplies and experiments / 750 kg propellant. Set to launch June 5 via Long March 2F from Jiuquan, the yet-to-be-announced Taikonauts will be the 9th crewed spaceflight for China. They will assist with Wentian and Mengtian laboratories assembly, launching July 24 and NET October respectively, and stay aboard for ~6 months. Shenzhou 15 crew will arrive in December about 10 days before Shenzhou 14 departs beginning the TSS permanent occupation sequence. CNSA / CASC are working on reusable first stage launch options using tethered landing devices and guidance grid fins for future Shenzhou LEO launches, while larger next-gen versions will allow for crewed lunar and deep space missions. Commercial startup Deep Blue Aerospace, operating in Jiangsu, is also advancing reusability with Nebula-1 medium lift orbital rocket, as 1st stage test unit achieves 1-km vertical take-off / landing. The only operating sea launch on the blue planet, Long March 11 from East China Sea platform has 3 successes so far with infrastructure developing at Haiyang, Shandong province. As China forms new international connections aboard TSS, allowing for commercial science and private astronauts, perhaps future projects will be formalized with spacefaring ‘Himalayan Neighbor’ India, Southeast Asia, and USA, Europe, Africa, UAE, others. (Image Credits: CNSA, CASC)

● May 23-25 — SmarterShows, Maxar, Zemarc, et al, Long Beach CA: Space Tech Expo USA 2022.

o May 23-27 — European Space Agency (ESA), Bonn, Germany: Living Planet Symposium: Taking the Pulse of Our Planet From Space.

☆ May 23 — Apollo Asteroid 2022 GL1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.095 AU)

Continued From…
o Nov 4 – Jun 29 — Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Biomedical Problems, NASA Human Exploration Research Analog (HERA), Moscow, Russia: Mixed gender, international crew of 6 participating in 8-month space / lunar simulation mission SIRIUS-21 (Scientific International Research In Unique Terrestrial Station).

● Mar 26 – May 31 — AIAA LA-LV Section, Online: Women in Space Art Virtual Gallery.

TUESDAY

o May 24 – SSERVI, NASA, ASI, DLR, IRAP, Open University, VU, et al, Online / Europe: European Lunar Symposium 2022.

☆ May 24 — Moon: 3.3° SE of Neptune, 04:00; with Mars and Neptune within circle of diameter 4.82°, 07:00; 2.50° SE of Mars, 13:00; with Mars and Jupiter within circle of diameter 3.33°, 15:00; 2.92° SE of Jupiter, 18:00.

WEDNESDAY

★ May 25 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Transporter 5, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: SSO flight for NASA experiments, and secondary payloads for Celestis Ascension Flight, 14:35 EDT.

● May 25 — 61st Observation John F. Kennedy 1st Moon Speech, USA / Worldwide: NASA Artemis program to land 1st Woman and Person of Color on Moon is well underway as today is recognized for Kennedy declaring to congress “I believe that this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth” (1961).

o May 25 – Moon Village Association, Online / Vienna, Austria: Global Expert Group on Sustainable Lunar Activities (GEGSLA) 16th Meeting; 15:00 CEST.