May 22-28, 2023 / Vol 42, No 21 / Hawai`i Island, USA

Activity Increases at ISS and China Space Station with Human Arrivals

SpaceX Dragon Axiom-2 is set to rendezvous and dock at International Space Station (ISS) May 22 with USA Astronauts Peggy Whitson and John Shoffner, and members of inaugural Saudi Astronaut Program Ali AlQarni and Rayyanah Barnawi. Barnawi will be first Arab Muslim female astronaut in space. The crew, under the command of Whitson, is to conduct science, outreach, and commercial activities, and will bring number of Expedition 69 Astronauts on ISS to 11. Axiom-2 mission will last 10 days. This month also saw the observation of 50th anniversary of Skylab, USA’s first Space Station. On May 24, Roscosmos will launch Soyuz-2.1a, 84th Progress cargo delivery ship to ISS about 3 hours later. It will carry 2,560 kg of cargo including fuel, compressed gases, equipment, food, water, and additional items to support work and life of the crew. China National Science Association will launch Long March 2 / Shenzhou 16 on May 29, with three crew members to the Tianhe core module, first module of Tiangong Space Station, with a payload to LEO: 8,600 kg. Shenzhou 16 crew will overlap with Shenzhou 15 crew for about six days and remain in space for ~6 months. June 5 will mark the 1st full year / start the 2nd year of continuous human occupation of TSS, and this November will be 23 full years of continuous human occupation at ISS. (Image Credits: Axiom Space, NASA, CASC, China Manned Space Engineering Office, SpaceX)

MONDAY

☆ May 22 — International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 69 set to welcome 4 additional members this week and ~2,500 kg of cargo from Progress 84P; working with JEM airlock, experiments involving cellular immune functions, sleep monitoring.

☆ May 22 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 15 three-member crew working with 7,400 kg of cargo (including experiments at 74 kg total) from Tianzhou-6  cargo which will supply Shenzhou-16 and Shenzhou-17 crews.

☾ = Moon activity

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

IAF Global Conference on Climate Change 2023 (GLOC 2023) Convenes in Norway

GLOC 2023, part of International Astronautical Federation Global Conferences series, is bringing stakeholders in industry, government, and other communities together to consider space-related aspects of the Earth environment under theme ‘Fire and Ice – Planetary Extremes in a Changing Climate’ May 23-25 in Oslo. Held in a different country annually, IAF Global Conferences have been a staple of space thought advancement since GLUC 2010 in Beijing, China.  A full 3-day roster of plenary lectures, panel discussions and technical presentations, selected from over 380 abstracts from 61 countries by International Program Committee (IPC) co-chairs Barbara Ryan (World Geospatial Industry Council), Ole Morten Olsen (Norwegian Space Agency), and James Graf (NASA JPL) along with 75 IPC members, are to be held / delivered. KSAT, Absolut Sensing, European Space Imaging, Eidsvoll Electronics, OHB SE, ESA, DLR, CNES and UK Space Agency are among exhibitors booked for GLOC 2023. Notable speakers include (L-R) Norwegian Space Agency director Christian Hauglie-Hanssen, UAE Minister of State for Public Education and Advanced Technology Sarah Al Amiri, Director of Indian Institute of Remote Sensing Prakash Chauhan, Polish Space Agency President Grzegorz Wrochna, Institute for Earth and Space Exploration at University of Western Ontario Director Sarah Gallagher, JAXA VP Koji Terada and Sahba El Shawa, SGAC Ethics & Human Rights & Space for Climate Action Lead. (Image Credits: IAF, ESA)

☆ May 22 — Rocket Lab, Launch Electron / TROPICS 5 & 6, Launch Complex 1B, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand: Rocket Lab Electron rocket to launch second pair of Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) for NASA.

● May 22 — NASA, Online: Moon to Mars Architecture; how commercial industry, academic communities, and others can contribute to NASA Moon to Mars architecture approach, 08:00 EDT.

● May 22-24 — NASA Glenn Research Center, Dayton Development Coalition, JobsOhio, Northeastern Ohio Community, Cleveland OH: Ohio Space Forum: Enabling Life and Operations in Space.

o May 22-25 — International Association for the Advancement of Space Safety (IAASS), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Osaka, Japan: 12th IAASS International Space Safety Conference: Making Space Travel Safer.

☆ May 22 — Apollo Asteroid 2023 JZ1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.027 AU).

☆ May 22 — Apollo Asteroid 2021 JK7: Near-Earth Flyby (0.042 AU).

☆ May 22 — Apollo Asteroid 2023 GY2: Near-Earth Flyby (0.046 AU).

Continued From…

● Oct 15 – Jun 15, 2023 — International Space Elevator Consortium, Online: Space Elevator Academic Challenge: Improving Humanity’s Future; for students 17-25.

o Feb 24 – May 24 — National Museum of China, Beijing, China: Exhibit Featuring China’s Human, Lunar and Space Program.

● May 18-22 — NASA, La Jolla CA: Astrobiology Graduate Conference (AbGradCon2023); at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

● May 21-25 — Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA), New Orleans LA: 93rd Annual Scientific Meeting, Aerospace and the Next Generation.

TUESDAY

★ May 23 — SpaceX, Launch Falcon 9 / Badr 8, SLC-40, Cape Canaveral SFS FL: Falcon 9 to launch communications satellite for Arabsat based in Saudi Arabia with first stage to land on drone ship in Atlantic Ocean; 11:25 EDT.

● May 23 — AIAA San Francisco Section, Mountain View CA: Tech Talk: Interstellar Travel; with physicist and USAF Experimental Test Pilot Ryan Weed; at Hacker Dojo, 18:00.

o May 23-24 — Euroconsult Summits, ARSAT, Government of Argentina, Buenos Aires, Argentina: LATSAT 2023.