grok_mctanys

There are a couple of interesting New Space things happening over the next few days.

First, it looks like Blue Origin are planning a new launch. There was a recent tweet where the news was attributed to "a source" (discussion), and a few days ago they filed a NOTAM (Notice to Airmen) (discussion) closing a 17 nautical mile radius (63km diameter) circle of airspace in Texas from 14:30 to 21:30 UTC (2:30pm to 9:30pm London time) between Mon Dec 11th and Thu Dec 14th, for launching and recovering rockets. There don't appear to be any more details than that, and Blue Origin are generally pretty cagy, but the rocket in question is likely to be the 3rd New Shepard sub-orbital booster and spacecraft on their maiden flights and landings. (And maybe one or even two subsequent flights and landings if they've got the turnaround time low enough - after all the airspace will be closed for 4 days.)

It's possible, but unlikely in my opinion, that they might stream any launches and landings. More likely is that they'll film it all and, if successful, edit together something nice and post it to their YouTube channel a few days later.

Second, SpaceX are planning to launch their 13th commercial resupply service mission (CRS-13) to the International Space Station (ISS) on Tue Dec 12th at 16:46 UTC (4:46pm London time) Update: Wed Dec 13th at 16:23 UTC (4:23pm London time) Update: Fri Dec 15th at 15:23 UTC (3:23pm London time) (discussion). This will be the second flight of their 35th(?) Falcon 9 first stage, and the second flight of their 9th(?) Dragon spacecraft.

They also plan to re-land the first stage booster back at the launch site. This should occur approximately 8-10 minutes after launch, and, unlike droneship landings, should have excellent video coverage all the way down. (The video coverage of droneship landings typically cuts out a few seconds before landing, because the broadcast dish on the droneship - which is also responsible for relaying video from the descending first stage itself - is unable to maintain the stability that is needed, when the ship is being buffeted from a rocket firing directly at it!)

SpaceX typically livestream all their launches and first-stage landings whenever possible. The livestream normally starts about 20 minutes before the launch (so, 3:00pm-ish London time) and has a presenter run through any interesting details about the mission, including what's in the cargo going up to the ISS - like treats for the astronauts or scientific equipment. The livestream should be available on their website or their youtube channel.