Top Stories

Orion Splashes Down April 10, Ending First Crewed Lunar Mission Since Apollo 17

The Orion capsule carrying the Artemis 2 crew splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on April 10, completing the first human mission beyond Earth orbit since December 1972. The four-person crew — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen — flew a free-return trajectory around the Moon before returning to Earth.

The mission sets the operational baseline for Artemis 3, which is planned to include an actual lunar landing. No crew vehicle had carried humans to lunar distance in over half a century, making this mission a direct data point for life support, navigation, and reentry system performance at that range.

Read the full story: SpaceNews

Falcon 9 Delivers Cygnus CRS NG-24 to ISS on April 11

Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus CRS NG-24 cargo spacecraft launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 on April 11, bound for the International Space Station. Northrop Grumman has no active expendable rocket of its own capable of this mission after retiring Antares — making SpaceX its launch provider for ISS resupply.

This continues a situation where Northrop Grumman, a primary ISS cargo contractor, relies entirely on a competitor for access to orbit. Cygnus is a resupply spacecraft that berthed via the ISS robotic arm rather than autonomous docking.

Read the full story: NASASpaceFlight

Artemis 2 Crew Reflects on Mission After Return to Earth

The Artemis 2 astronauts have begun post-mission debriefs and public engagements following splashdown. The crew described the lunar flyby as a deeply disorienting experience of scale — seeing Earth as a small object against deep space for the first time from crewed distance.

From a mission architecture standpoint, the crew’s firsthand accounts will feed directly into crew training refinements and human factors data for Artemis 3 planning.

Read the full story: Space.com

NASA Outlines Artemis 3 and Subsequent Lunar Mission Plans

With Artemis 2 complete, NASA has laid out its forward schedule. Artemis 3 is planned to land crew near the lunar south pole using a SpaceX Human Landing System derived from Starship. Subsequent missions are expected to deploy Gateway lunar orbit infrastructure and expand surface stay durations.

The south pole target zone is driven by suspected water ice in permanently shadowed craters — a resource with direct implications for long-duration surface operations and propellant production.

Read the full story: Space.com

Moog Systems Supported Crew Safety Across Artemis 2 Mission

Moog Inc. supplied precision fluid and motion control hardware used in Orion’s launch abort system and other safety-critical subsystems during Artemis 2. The East Aurora, NY-based company builds components that activate under abort scenarios and during reentry events — hardware that never needs to work until it absolutely has to.

Read the full story: SpaceNews

CRS NG-24 Launch Detail: Cygnus Follows NG-23 Reentry by Weeks

Northrop Grumman’s previous Cygnus, the S.S. William McCool on CRS NG-23, completed its ISS mission shortly before NG-24’s April 11 launch. Cygnus vehicles are expendable — they reenter destructively after departure from the ISS rather than returning cargo to the surface.

Tracking the NG-24 Cygnus during its approach and berthing phase is possible via KeepTrack using its current NORAD catalog entry once orbital elements are published post-launch.

Read the full story: NASASpaceFlight

Satellite of the Day

YAOGAN-31 02C

The YAOGAN-31 02C is a Chinese Earth observation satellite launched on January 29, 2021, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center aboard a Chang Zheng 4C rocket. Part of China’s Yaogan (Remote Sensing) program, this satellite is operated by ZLZB and manufactured by DFHZ. At 500 kilograms, it’s a compact imaging platform equipped with the Jianbing-8 payload, designed to collect high-resolution Earth observation data for civilian and military applications. The satellite features a straightforward box-and-panel design with two deployable solar arrays for power generation.

Operating in a sun-synchronous-like orbit inclined at 63.4°, YAOGAN-31 02C provides persistent imaging capabilities over mid-latitude regions. The Yaogan program has become central to China’s space domain awareness and resource monitoring initiatives, with this particular satellite joining a constellation of similar platforms. Its relatively compact design and mid-inclination orbit make it well-suited for regional monitoring tasks, from disaster assessment to infrastructure mapping.

Track this satellite in real-time: Track YAOGAN-31 02C

Upcoming Space Launches

April 14

• CAS Space Kinetica 1:

  • Unknown Payload from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People’s Republic of China (03:54 UTC) Details to be determined. Kinetica 1 (also known as Lijian-1) is a Chinese solid-propellant light launch vehicle developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, capable of placing approximately 2 tonnes into low Earth orbit.

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5:

  • Starlink Group 10-24 from Space Launch Complex 40, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, FL, USA (06:13 UTC) A batch of 25 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into low Earth orbit. Watch Live Launch Preview

April 15

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5:
  • Starlink Group 17-27 from Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, USA (02:00 UTC) A batch of 25 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into low Earth orbit. Watch Live Launch Preview

April 16

• Blue Origin New Glenn:
  • BlueBird Block 2 #2 from Launch Complex 36A, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, FL, USA (10:45 UTC) New Glenn will deliver AST SpaceMobile’s second next-generation BlueBird satellite into low Earth orbit, supporting space-based cellular broadband for commercial and government customers. This will be the third flight of the New Glenn rocket, a 7-meter-diameter, two-stage heavy-lift vehicle capable of carrying up to 45,000 kg to low Earth orbit. Booster recovery has not been confirmed for this mission.

April 17

• China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Long March 2D:
  • Unknown Payload from Launch Area 94 (SLS-2 / 603), Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People’s Republic of China (04:02 UTC) Details to be determined. The Long March 2D is a two-stage Chinese orbital carrier rocket primarily used for low Earth orbit and sun-synchronous orbit missions.

April 18

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5:
  • Starlink Group 17-22 from Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, USA (14:00 UTC) A batch of 25 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into low Earth orbit. Watch Live

April 22

• SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5:

  • Starlink Group 17-14 from Space Launch Complex 4E, Vandenberg Space Force Base, CA, USA (02:00 UTC) A batch of 25 Starlink V2 Mini Optimized satellites into low Earth orbit. Watch Live

• Agency for Defense Development South Korean ADD Solid-Fuel SLV:

  • Demo Flight from Agency for Defense Development Offshore Launch Platform, Sea Launch (05:00 UTC) The first orbital full-configuration launch of South Korea’s military small satellite launch vehicle, following two sub-orbital stage tests in 2022 and one orbital test flight (without the second stage) in December 2023. The rocket is capable of placing approximately 500 kg into low Earth orbit. Launch vehicle name is provisional.

April 23

• Rocket Lab Electron:
  • Kakushin Rising (JAXA Rideshare) from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand (Time To Be Determined) A Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency-manifested rideshare mission carrying eight spacecraft, including educational small satellites, an ocean monitoring satellite, a multispectral camera demonstrator, and OrigamiSat-2 — a deployable antenna that uses origami folding techniques to unfurl to 25 times its stowed size. The satellites were originally planned to fly on a Japanese Epsilon-S rocket but were transferred to Electron following Epsilon-S test firing failures. Electron is a small-lift vehicle capable of carrying up to 300 kg to orbit, powered by electric-pump-fed Rutherford engines.

Schedule Changes

• New Addition: The Agency for Defense Development’s South Korean ADD Solid-Fuel SLV Demo Flight has been added to the manifest, with a tentative window opening on April 22 at 05:00 UTC (status: To Be Confirmed).
• Launch Successful: SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 carrying Cygnus CRS-2 NG-24 (S.S. Steven R. Nagel) has launched successfully and has been removed from the upcoming launches calendar.
• Launch Successful: The Smart Dragon 3 carrying the SatNet test satellite has launched successfully and has been removed from the upcoming launches calendar.

Note: Launch dates and times are subject to change due to technical or weather considerations.