2022.12.07 | Southern Launch and ATSpace to launch two Kestrel I rockets and 50th Anniversary of Apollo 17 - Part I

On The Space Show for Wednesday, 7 December 2022:

Space Show News:

* The three-person crew of Shenzhou 14 return to Earth after a six month stay aboard the China Space Station

* The Australian companies Southern Launch and ATSpace have announced they intend to launch two South Australian built Kestrel 1 rockets from the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex in South Australia.  Learn about ATSpace.

* HHAKUTO-R is a multinational commercial lunar exploration program operated by ispace. It includes ispace’s first two lunar missions: Mission 1, a soft lunar landing in 2022 — this will be the first privately-led Japanese mission to land on the lunar surface — and Mission 2, a lunar landing and deployment of a rover in 2024. For both missions, the HAKUTO-R lander will launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.

Artemis I Mission Update:

* The Orion spacecraft is on it’s way back to Earth from the far side of the Moon

* Reports on the little-known biological passengers aboard the Orion spacecraft: algae, fungi, seeds and yeast! 

The trials & tribulations of the cubesats flying rideshare on Artemis I:

* Near-Earth Asteroid Scout 

* CuSP 

* BioSentinel 

* EQUULEUS 

* OMOTENASHI 

Mission Updates:

* GeoTail

* CAPSTONE

50th anniversary of Apollo 17 - Part I:

* Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, geologist and Apollo 17 Lunar Module Pilot speaks in Melbourne about the history of the Moon 

* Eugene “Gene” Cernan, Commander of Apollo 17, in conversation with The Space Show’s Peter Aylward