The sky sure looks beautiful today
🚀 Rocket enjoyer, especially of the orbital variety
🛰 Can often be found chasing satellite passes overhead
| https://twitter.com/EnergiaRocket |
NOAA-15 1800UTC pass
One of the last days of NOAA APT transmissions, as NOAA-15 will be decommissioned this week 😢
That good ol' satellite has been transmitting for all my life, though, so I suppose it has earned its rest.
December finally seemed to end the year relatively calmly, but that's just because this year was already filled to the brim.
🇺🇸🛰️ - OTV-7 launched on FH to GTO.
🇨🇳🚀 - Return of Long March 5.
🇺🇸💔 - B1058 destroyed in rough seas.
Let's hope for just as many epic events in 2024!
Seriously though, November had some bangers as well.
🇺🇸🚀 - Starship IFT-2 (aka IFT-1 but slighly less kerbal).
🇺🇸🌌 - Lucy flew past Dinkinesh, thereby discovering Dinkimoon.
🇪🇺🔥 - Ariane 6 performed a 7-minute hotfire.
November was my personal favorite.
🇺🇸🛰️ - Starlink 6-26, 1st launch witnessed IRL by yours truly.
🇺🇸🛰️ - Starlink 6-27, 2nd launch witnessed by yours truly.
🇺🇸🛰️ - CRS-29, 3rd launch & landing witnessed by yours truly.
🇺🇸🛰️ - O3b mPower 5&6, 4th launch witnessed by yours truly.
October added to the already impressive tally of 2023.
🇮🇳🧑🚀- Gaganyaan IFA test on India's goofiest rocket!
🇺🇸🌌 - NASA's Psyche launched on FH!
🇪🇺🚀 - PLD Space successfully launched Miura 1 suborbital demonstrator.
🇺🇸🛰️ - First Kuiper sats launched on a comically slow Atlas V.
September had something interesting for everyone.
🇺🇸🪂 - OSIRIS-REx sample capsule landed back on Earth!
🇯🇵🌌 - JAXA launched XRISM X-ray telescope and SLIM lunar lander.
🇮🇳☀️ - ISRO launched the Aditya-L1 solar observatory.
🇺🇸🐇 - Stoke Space performed a successful hop test.
August was the peak of this year's Moon Season.
🇮🇳🌖 - Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the Moon!!!
🇷🇺🌖 - Luna-25 launched, but was less successful at the landing part.
🇺🇸🚀 - Final launch of Antares 230+.
July was an emotional rollercoaster.
🇪🇺🌌 - ESA's Euclid telescope launched!
🇪🇺🚀 - The last Ariane 5. 😭
🇨🇳🚀 - Zhuque-2 first methane rocket to reach orbit!
🇮🇳🛰️ - ISRO's Chandrayaan-3 launched.
June was mostly just waiting for Epic July, but the rocket industry was still hard at work:
🇺🇸🔥 - Vulcan Flight Readiness Firing.
🇳🇿🚀 - Rocket Lab HASTE hypersonic test.
🇺🇸🚀 - The penultimate Delta IV Heavy.
🇪🇺💥 - Vega-C Zefiro-40 test failure causes even more Vega delays.
We could calm down a bit in May, but not by much...
🇰🇷🚀 - Nuri's first operational launch.
🇰🇵🚀 - Chollima-1 failed maiden flight.
🇺🇸🚀 - SpaceShipTwo return-to-flight.
🇺🇸🌖 - Blue Moon 2.0 chosen by NASA as the second lunar lander.