2021.10.06 | A Russian cosmonaut, a film director and an actress fly to space

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 6 October 2021:

• Rocket Lab signs a dedicated launch contract with Astroscale Japan for the ADRAS-J (Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan) satellite 
• Rocket Lab awarded US$24.35 million contract with the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command for development of the upper stage of the company’s new Neutron launch vehicle
• Soyuz MS-19 launches a Russian cosmonaut, a feature film director and an actress into orbit bound for a film shoot, on location, aboard the International Space Station
• A tale about Klim Shipenko, Salyut 7 / “Salyut 7”, Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Soyuz MS-19 
• Matthias Maurer, German ESA astronaut and Josef Aschbacher, the Director General of the European Space Agency comment on space tourism
• The European Space Agency embarks on an astronaut selection process including, for the first time, for those individuals with disability 
• The worst kept secret in the space world was confirmed on Monday, October 4 (Australian time) when Blue Origin announced that the third and fourth seats on its New Shepard NS-18 flight next week will be taken by actor William Shatner (best known for his role as Captain James T. Kirk in the Star Trek television series and movie franchise) and Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s Vice President of Mission & Flight Operations. They will join crew mates Chris Boshuizen – an Australian as featured on last week’s episode of The Space Show – and Glen de Vries. The flight is scheduled to lift off from Blue Origin's Launch Site One in West Texas at 12:30 am on Wednesday, October 13 AEDT. If the just over 10 minute suborbital flight is successful, Shatner will become – at the age of 90 – the oldest person to go to space, no matter how briefly, eclipsing 82-year-old female aviator Wally Funk who was aboard the first crewed New Shepard flight in July with Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos.
• Chris Boshuizen: while working at the NASA Ames Research Centre, talks about why you would want to go to space and what it takes to get there cheaply
• Planet Earth - Episode 22: Landsat 9 mission science briefing (cont’d) and the next chapter in The Landsat Legacy