July 4 Marks 7 Years of Juno at Jupiter, Honors Astronaut Sally Ride and Looks to First Woman on the Moon

American Independence Day to observe the 7th full year of NASA Juno spacecraft at Jupiter on July 4, after its 5-year, 1.7 billion-mile (~2.7 billion km) journey from Earth, having launched August 4, 2011. Mission continues to probe the gas giant finding answers to origin and evolution of Jupiter System, Solar System, and other similar giant planets across the cosmos. Now heading into its 53rd flyby of Jupiter, Juno collected more than three terabits (375 gigabytes) of data during its prime 35 science orbits including observations of Jupiter interior, atmosphere and weather layer. It will operate through September 2025, and conduct flybys of Galileo moons Ganymede, Callisto, Europa and Io which will aid future NASA Europa Clipper and ESA JUICE missions. This year July 4 will also honor Astronaut Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, with a statue of her likeness being installed at Reagan Presidential Library & Museum. Ride became first USA woman to fly on Space Shuttle Challenger STS-7 in June 1983 and STS-41-G in October 1984. The first American woman selected to orbit the Moon, Christina Koch, is scheduled to launch on Artemis 2 NET November 2025. A significant and worthy timetable for the first woman to touchdown on the lunar surface would be NLT July 4, 2026 when the nation plans to commemorate the 250th observation of the founding of USA. (Image Credits: NASA, Sally Ride Science, SwRI, ESA)

MONDAY 

☆ Jul 3 — International Space Station, ~415-km LEO: Expedition 69 seven-member crew working with Plant-Hab 03 botany, microbiology, Kibo Robot programming, Astrobee experiments; planned to see NG-19 cargo and Crew 7 next month.

☆ Jul 3 — Tiangong Space Station, ~390-km LEO: Shenzhou 16 three-member crew working with cargo from Tianzhou-5 and -6, and sharing high-res video from interior and exterior of station.

☾ = Moon activity

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

SpaceTide 2023 Gathers Space Entrepreneurs with Focus on Japan, Asia-Pacific, and Global Space Markets

The 7th Spacetide conference is being held at Toranomon Hills Mori Tower in Tokyo (with online hybrid participation via YouTube) July 4-6. 85+ speakers are to address 1,000+ attendees from 20+ countries over the 3-day conference under the overall theme The Rise of Space Economy. Day 1 of Spacetide will open with remarks from Spacetide Foundation CEO Masayasu Ishida and greetings from Minister of State for Economic Security of Japan Sanae Takaichi, followed by panel on Japan 10-year national space strategy with (clockwise) Astronaut Naoko Yamazaki representing Space Port Japan and JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa. CEO Takeshi Hakamada will reflect on 10 years of ispace operations and coming decade during talk Shaping the Cislunar Economy. CNES Director of Strategy Jean-Marc Astorg will deliver a keynote address. Value Creation through Collaboration between Space and New-to-Space Players and APAC Space Economy will be topic of Day 2. Panel on Growth strategies and Ecosystem Development will feature SpaceBase CEO Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom and Space Faculty Private Limited CEO Lynette Tan. ISU President Pascale Ehrenfreund and Privateer Space CEO Alex Fielding are to give Keynotes on Day 3, which will have an international / worldwide scope. Spacetide envisions a US$1 trillion+ space economy buoyed by new enterprises in which it will function as a ‘neutral hub’, connecting regional and global space initiatives. (Image Credits: Spacetide Foundation, et al)

o Jul 3-4 — STEM International Organization (STEMIO), London, United Kingdom: Astrophysics, Aerospace and Space Research Summit.

o Jul 3-7 — International Astronomical Union, The Kavli Foundation, University of Namur, Namur Institute for Complex Systems, Namur, Belgium: 2023 Kavli-IAU Symposium IAUS 382: Complex Planetary Systems II.

☆ Jul 3 — Moon: Full Buck Moon, 01:39.

☆ Jul 3 — Apollo Asteroid 2023 MT1: Near-Earth Flyby (0.007 AU).

Continued From…

● Jun 12 – Aug 12 — Institute for Scientist & Engineer Educators at University of California Observatories, University of Hawai’i, Hilo HI: Akamai Internship Program 2023.

o Jun 26 – Aug 25 — International Space University, ESA, Netherlands Space Office, Delft University of Technology, Leiden University, São José dos Campos, Brazil: 35th ISU Space Studies Program (SSP 2023).

TUESDAY 

★ Jul 4 — Juno, Jupiter Orbit: Spacecraft reaches 7th full year at Jupiter today; one-way transmission signal to Earth is 48 minutes, mission extended through September 2025.

☆ Jul 4 — Arianespace, Launch Vega C / Syracuse 4B & Heinrich Hertz, ELA-3, Kourou, French Guiana: Ariane 5 ECA rocket, designated VA260, to launch Syracuse 4B and Heinrich Hertz communications satellites.

● Jul 4 — Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum, Los Angeles CA: Unveiling of Astronaut Sally Ride Statue.

o Jul 4-6 — Spacetide Foundation, Online / Toranomon, Tokyo, Japan: SpaceTide 2023: The Rise of the Space Economy.

☆ Jul 4 — Moon: At perigee, 360,174 km, 12:31.

WEDNESDAY 

o Jul 5 — Cyprus Space Exploration Organisation, Athens, Greece: International Moon Day Preparatory Event – The significance of the UN International Moon Day.

o Jul 5-6 — UK Science and Technology Facilities Council, Cygnet Texkimp, Composites UK, ADS, et al, Leicester, United Kingdom: SpaceAM: Advanced Materials & Technology for the Space Sector.