Ed Dwight, astronaut, returning to Earth on Blue Origin New Shepard 5/19/24. Image credit: Blue Origin

Space Highlights for the week ending Wednesday 5/22/24.

It’s been an exciting week in Space! Ed Dwight made it to space and is the oldest person to do so at 90! Both Starliner and Starship have launch windows in early June, on the same day. A space jellyfish made an appearance in the sky (the kind made out of rocket exhaust and twilight). The Psyche space probe fired up its electric ion thrusters as it whizzed past Mars. Read and watch al about it!

What launched this week?

• 5/16/24 VKS RF launched Soyuz 2.1b from Russia with a classified payload
• 5/17/24 SpaceX launched Starlink Group 6-59 on a Falcon 9 out of Florida, landing on A Shortfall of Gravitas. The sun was just right, resulting a beautiful jellyfish display for landing.
• 5/19/24 Blue Origin launched NS-25 civilian crew on New Shepard out of Texas. This suborbital commercial flight included astronaut Ed Dwight, now the oldest human to go to Space at age 90!
• 5/19/24 CASC launched Beijing 3C optical Earth observation satellites on the Long March 2D out of China.
• 5/20/24 ExPace launched Wuhan-1 satellites on Kuaizhou 11 out of China.
• 5/22/24 SpaceX launched NROL-146 reconnaissance satellites on Falcon 9 out of California, landing on Of Course I Still Love You.
• 5/23/24 SpaceX launched Starlink Group 6-62 from Florida, landing on A Shortfall of Gravitas.

What’s in the Sky?

• Humans in Space: There are currently 10 humans in space.
• Our Moon: We had a full moon this Thursday morning, the spring Flower moon.
• Stargazing: Right next to the moon is a bright star, Antares. This is a red supergiant star in our Milky Way Galaxy.

Other Fun Space Things:

• Ed Dwight, Astronaut: At 90 years young, Ed Dwight finally became an astronaut! He was the first black astronaut candidate way back in 1961, but he was never called for a mission. Ed’s flight was sponsored by Space for Humanity, a non-profit sending purpose-driven leaders to space.
• Double Header Space Test Flights: June 1st has quite the line-up of high-anticipation launches! Both the Starship Super-Heavy and the Atlas V N22 with the Starliner spacecraft are slated to launch. Starship is scheduled for 5am PDT and Atlas at 9:25am PDT. I will definitely be awake with my @EverydayAstronaut heat-changing mug. If both launch, June 1st will be a day to remember!
• Space Jellyfish: the Falcon 9 that launched on 5/17 was timed perfectly with the twilight to create a visually stunning “jellyfish” where its exhaust trail is illuminated by the sun when the sky from the ground appears dark.
• Ion Thrusters: The Psyche spacecraft has powered up its solar electric propulsion system with four Hall-effect thrusters and is speeding towards the Psyche asteroid. The spacecraft had been coasting on the power from its rocket boosters since it launched on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy Oct 13, 2023. Its solar electric propulsion system will now help it accelerate to 123,000 mph. It should reach the Psyche asteroid in 2029. These Hall-effect thrusters are also used on Starlink satellites and, according to @ScottManley, “are like being pushed by a mouse.” Slow, maybe, but they sure look cool!

Thanks for reading my highlights from space for this week. Stay tuned for upcoming launches and discoveries!

Remember to look up, and keep reaching to the stars.

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References

• YouTube Video clips: @rykllan @Space-Affairs @blueorigin, @SciNewsRo, @VideoFromSpace, @SkyNews, @scottmanley
• Starlink Map – https://www.starlinkmap.org/
• Who is in Space – live updates. (2023, April 15). Who Is in Space? – How Many Astronauts Are on the Space Station. https://whoisinspace.com/
• Rocket launch schedule. (n.d.). https://nextspaceflight.com/launches/
• NASA Image and Video Library. (n.d.). NASA Image and Video Library. https://images.nasa.gov/details/ACS3_SolarSailSunrise