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Jonathan's Space Report
No. 779                                                           2020 May 27  Somerville, MA
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

International Space Station
---------------------------

Expedition 63 continues.

Cygnus NG-13 was deorbited over the Pacific on May 29-30.

Crew Dragon mission DM-2 (Demo-2) was launched on May 30 with capsule
C206, named `Endeavour' after launch. DM-2 flew to orbit aboard a Falcon
9 from Kennedy Space Center. The first stage landed on the OCISLY
droneship and the second stage was deorbited in the ocean near Australia
on the first orbit. DM-2 crew are NASA astronauts Doug Hurley
(spacecraft commander)  and Bob Behnken (joint operations commander).
This is the first human spaceflight launched by SpaceX.

Earlier spaceships called 'Endeavour' were the Apollo CSM 112 (for Apollo 15)
and Space Shuttle Orbiter OV-105.

Kupol      
------      

On May 22 the Russian Space Forces launched the fourth Kupol (EKS) missile
early warning satellite on a Soyuz-2-1B. The Fregat upper stage made three
burns to place the satellite in a high-perigee Molniya type orbit.


Launcher One update
---------------------

Virgin Orbit report that the first stage ignited correctly and flew stably
until 9 seconds after drop (which I think is 4s after ignition?) when the
engine prematurely shut down and the vehicle fell intact to the ocean.

Sources confirm that Starshine 4 was the inert payload on Launcher One.
An additional small payload, INTERNSAT, was intended to remain
attached to the upper stage.

OTV 6
-----

The X-37B OTV-6 released a subsatellite on around May 28. The satellite has been given the
cover name USA 300.


XJS G/H
-------

On May 29 China's CALT launched a CZ-11 from Xichang for the first time. It carried
two technology development payloads: XJS G (also known as Chuangxin 6-01), from the Shanghai
Engineering Center for Microsatellites, and XJS H, from the National University of Defense
Technology.

Gao Fen 9-02
-------------

On May 31 it was the Shanghai SAST team's turn, launching a CZ-2D from the Jiuquan space centre.
The main payload was a high resolution imaging satellite, Gao Fen 9 hao 02 xing. Some Gao Fen satellites
are civilian, but some, including the GF-9 series, are thought to be for military/intelligence use.

A small secondary payload, HEAD-4, was also aboard. HEAD-4 is owned by 
HEAD Aerospace Tech Co Ltd (Beijing) and has AIS, ADS-B, and IoT relay
communication spayloads.



Table of Recent Orbital Launches
 ----------------------------------
Date UT       Name            Launch Vehicle        Site            Mission       INTL.   Catalog  Perigee Apogee  Incl   Notes

May  5 1000   XZF-SC      )                Chang Zheng 5B     Wenchang LC101  Spaceship    27A S45599   162 x  377 x 41.1
              RCS-FC-SC   )                                                   Reentry Test 27B S45600   163 x  372 x 41.1
May 12 0116   Xingyun-2 01 )               Kuaizhou-1A        Jiuquan         Comms        28A S45602   557 x  573 x 97.6
              Xingyun-2 02 )                                                  Comms        28B S45603   557 x  573 x 97.6
May 13 2325   Lynk                                       NG-13, LEO           Comms        11D S45604   476 x  486 x 51.6
May 17 1314   OTV 6                        Atlas V 501        Canaveral SLC41 Spaceplane   29A S45606   389 x  390 x 45.0
May 20 1731   Kounotori 9                  H-IIB              Tanegashima     Cargo        30A S45607   187 x  301 x 51.7
May 22 0731   Kosmos-2546                  Soyuz-2-1B/Fregat  Plesetsk        EarlyWarn    31A S45608  1654 x35807 x 63.8
May 25 1950   Starshine 4)                 Launcher One       Mojave          Test         F04 F01554 -6362 x    9 x 67.0?
              INTERNSAT  )                                                    Test         F04 F01555 -6362 x    9 x 67.0?
May 28?       USA 300                                    OTV 6, LEO           Unknown      29B S45610   389 x  389 x 45.0
May 29 2013   XJS G )                      Chang Zheng 11     Xichang LC4     Tech         32A S45611   467 x  486 x 35.0
              XJS H )                                                         Tech         32B S45612   467 x  486 x 35.0
May 30 1922   Endeavour                    Falcon 9           Kennedy LC39A   Spaceship    33A S45623   190 x  211 x 51.6
May 31 0853   Gao Fen 9-02)                Chang Zheng 2D     Jiuquan         Imaging      34A S45624   485 x  502 x 97.3
              HEAD-4      )                                                   Comms        34B S45625   487 x  503 x 97.3

Table of Recent Suborbital Launches
-----------------------------------
Date UT       Payload/Flt Name Launch Vehicle      Site                  Mission    Apogee/km    Target

Apr 15 1500?  Nudol' dummy KV?  Nudol'               Plesetsk            Test          500?      Laptev Sea


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|  Jonathan McDowell                 |                                    |
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