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SpaceWatch.Global has been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. This is “‘Yuri Gagarin’s boomerang: the tale of the first person to return from space, and his brief encounter with Aussie culture”, originally published 11 April 2021 at The Conversation by Alice Gorman. Sixty years ago, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel in space when he completed his historic orbit of Earth on April 12, 1961.

Earth observation is an essential instrument for a variety of industries and government organizations. Accurate remote sensing can save time and money for different entities and improve people’s lives.  To enhance the quality of this experience, industry experts are focused on tools and resources that will ensure the future of use-case has the highest impact possible.

Paris, 14 April 2021. - ArianeGroup will supply ultra-light Sprint antenna reflectors to Airbus for its OneSat satellite, the group said. The first Sprint reflectors will equip Inmarsat, Optus, Intelsat, and SKY Perfect JSAT satellites produced by Airbus, ArianeGroup said. ArianeGroup developed the latest generation of ultra-light Sprint antenna reflectors “in just two years”, the company says

Paris, 14 April 2021. – Indonesia adopts Iridium’s Push-to-Talk across the widespread country, Iridium said. The Republic of Indonesia’s government has adopted Iridium Push-to-Talk (PTT) devices and will deploy 500 Iridium PTT handsets to support communication efforts across the country, Iridium said.

Many of us were made aware of an alleged near-miss between two satellites in low earth orbit, one operated by SpaceX and the other by OneWeb. With the growing number of participants in the space domain, the issues of coordination and planning of space activities, as well as the development of common space operation practices, protocols, or norms of behavior are increasingly critical. 

Paris, 13 April 2021. – The Norwegian network provider Marlink Group can close the acquisition of ITC Global, the company said. Backed by Apax Partners, Marlink obtained final regulatory approvals to acquire 100% of ITC Global from Panasonic, the group said. Marlink and ITC Global are preparing for a swift closing of the transaction in the coming weeks, the company said.

Paris, 13 April 2021. – The rideshare provider Exolaunch launched a new “environmentally responsible” space tug system, the German new space company said. The program dubbed Reliant features a new line of orbital transfer vehicles (OTV) that bring satellites into their custom orbits are that Exolaunch considers “fully sustainable” – “the first of its kind in the OTV industry.”

Paris, 13 April 2021. – Looking for another hero: Space Hero, “the World‘s first ever global casting show” for a trip to the International Space Station (ISS), signed an agreement with NASA for a feasibility study of a such a mission, Space Hero said. The agreement was signed at a significant date in human history, Space Hero said, as April 12, 2021 marks the 60th anniversary of the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin.

Join SpaceWatch.Global for an interesting and informative Space Café WebTalk featuring Professor Chris Welch, Head of Space Payloads Laboratory + Director MSc Space Studies, International Space University, Strasbourg, France. This event will take place on 27 April 2021 at 4:00 pm CEST. Although not widely known, since the start of the space age there have been a number of space art projects with works being flown on satellites.

The U.S. Government’s budget for fiscal year 2022 requests $24.7 billion for NASA, a 6.3 per cent increase compared to this year’s spending bill, the White House said. The President’s “discretionary request” includes $6.9 billion for NASA’s human exploration of Moon, Mars and beyond, an unspecified amount for its robotic exploration of the solar system