5: Dragon docks with the International Space Station

*Dragon docks with the International Space Station  A dragon cargo ship loaded with fresh supplies has successfully docked with the International Space Station two days after launching aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida. The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off into clear blue skies with the first stage returning to the launch facility following MECO main engine cut out and stage separation. See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdF5d0UwSJJunRcRVzP1uDg 

*Blue Origin test flight  Blue Origin has conducted a successful test flight of its new reusable New Shepard launch system. The flight saw the spacecraft blast off from the company’s West Texas launch pad on a ballistic sub orbital trajectory 

*Arianespace launches four new Galileo satellites  An Ariane 5 rocket has successfully carried four European Galileo navigation system satellites in to Orbit. See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iThcAxOaU6g   

*China launches new spy satellite Beijing has successfully launched another LKW or Yaogan Weixing-32 series Earth observation reconnaissance satellite for the Chinese Military.  

*SpaceX Iridium launch Space X capped off a busy 2017 with the launch of ten more Iridium-NEXT communications satellites. The mission gave SpaceX a record 17 launches for the year – more than half of all 29 flights carried out by the United States in 2017. See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lZvUjKhvBw 

*Japan launches new climate change satellite Japan has launched an H-IIA rocket carrying a spacecraft designed to monitor the planet’s worsening problem of global warming. See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOtQ_k3aSmI 

*Oops another Russian satellite suddenly goes silent! The Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos says it’s re-established contact with a telecommunications satellite that suddenly went quiet a day after launch. However, ground stations lost all communications with the satellite shortly after its deployment from the launch vehicle. 

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