Categories
Crewed Spaceflight Shenzhou Tiangong

Shenzhou 11

Shenzhou 11 at Tiangong-1China’s Shenzhou 11 mission is launched, the country’s sixth crewed flight, with a two-man crew consisting of Jing Haipeng (veteran of the Shenzhou 7 and Shenzhou 9 missions) and rookie taikonaut Chen Dong. The vehicle’s destination is the recently-launched Tiangong-2 space station, where it berths for nearly a month, giving the crew more room to perform experiments and Earth observations. Shenzhou 11 returns to Earth in November after a full month in orbit.

Categories
Crewed Spaceflight International Space Station Soyuz

Soyuz MS-02

SoyuzThe second uprated Soyuz MS vehicle is launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome. The crew of Soyuz MS-02 are International Space Station Expedition 49 crew members Sergey Ryzhikov, Andrei Borisenko, and Shane Kimbrough; these three will become the Expedition 50 crew in November, and will return to Earth in February 2017 aboard the same vehicle.

Categories
Uncrewed Spaceflight

ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter & Schiaparelli arrive

ExoMarsThe European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter and accompanying Schiaparelli Entry Demonstration Lander arrive at the red planet, with the orbiter successfully completing a lengthy engine burn to put it into orbit around Mars; it is the second ESA orbiter to reach Mars, with Mars Express still operating in an elliptical polar orbit. The lander, however, is not so lucky in reaching its goal: its signal, monitored both by the Trace Gas Orbiter and by Mars Express, abruptly ends near the surface; later analysis, and a Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter sighting of debris on Mars, lead ESA engineers to conclude that the lander’s parachute was jettisoned too soon, leaving it to plummet to the ground. This is but the first wave of an expected ExoMars program, a joint venture between ESA and the Russian space program.

Categories
Juno Uncrewed Spaceflight

Juno: close, but no science

JunoNASA’s Juno space probe makes a third close swing past Jupiter, but engineering problems make it a blind pass: concerns over stuck valves in the engine leads ground controllers to cancel a planned engine burn to shorten the length of Juno’s orbit, and then mere hours before its latest close pass, Juno goes into a safe mode which shuts down all instruments and cameras pending intervention from Earth. Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton assures that Juno could, theoretically, complete its mission with longer, unadjusted orbits if need be; Juno’s next close pass by Jupiter is expected to happen in December, impacting all future events in the mission plan.

Categories
Television

Black Mirror: Season 3

Black MirrorThe third season of Charlie Brooker’s anthology series Black Mirror premieres internationally on streaming service Netflix. Guest stars include Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World), Hannah John-Kamen (Killjoys, Ready Player One, Game Of Thrones), Gugu Mbatha-Raw (Doctor Who), Mackenzie Davis (The Martian, Halt and Catch Fire, Blade Runner 2049), Malachi Kirby (Doctor Who, Roots), Faye Marsay (Game Of Thrones), and Benedict Wong (The Martian, Doctor Strange). The season consists of six episodes.

More about Black Mirror in the LogBook

Categories
Arrowverse (DC) Television

Arrow: Human Target

ArrowThe 97th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Chad L. Coleman (The Orville, The Expanse) and Wil Travel (Jessica Jones) guest star.

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.

Categories
Arrowverse (DC) Television

Arrow: So It Begins

ArrowThe 98th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Dolph Lundgren (Rocky IV, Masters Of The Universe, Universal Soldier) guest stars.

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.

Categories
Television

Mars: Novo Mundo

MarsNational Geographic Channel premieres the first episode of Mars, a hybrid drama/documentary about a fictional human mission to Mars in 2033, contrasted against efforts to prepare for such a mission in the present day. The series is produced by Ron Howard (Apollo 13). This is the show’s broadcast/cable premiere, having premiered on the channel’s streaming service a week earlier.

More about Mars in the LogBook

Categories
Arrowverse (DC) Television

Arrow: Vigilante

ArrowThe 99th episode of Arrow, a modern-day reboot of DC Comics’ Green Arrow superhero starring Stephen Amell, airs on the CW. Dolph Lundgren (Rocky IV, Masters Of The Universe, Universal Soldier) guest stars.

This series is not yet chronicled in the LogBook. You could help change that.