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The Signpost: 24 December 2024

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The Signpost: 15 January 2025

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Downlink special issues notice

Hello! This is an announcement that The Downlink has been revived. Rather than simply start again, I have chosen to create two special issues recapping the past three years. The first special issue spans November 2021 to December 2023, while the second special issue spans January 2024 to December 2024.

Due to the size of these pages, as well as the fact that they are non-standard issues, I have instead had this notice sent out. The following issues of volume 3 (Jan - Dec 2025) should be significantly smaller.

Please be aware that, for a variety of reasons, the issues that I create may be published late.

Here are the issues:

Ships & Space(Edits) 02:36, 30 January 2025 (UTC)

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The Signpost: 7 February 2025

  • News and notes: Let's talk!
    The WMF executive team delivers a new update; plus, the latest EU policy report, good-bye to the German Wikipedia's Café, and other news from the Wikimedia world.
  • Community view: 24th Wikipedia Day in New York City
    Wikimedians and newbies celebrate 24 years of Wikipedia in the Brooklyn Central Library. Special guests Stephen Harrison and Clay Shirky joined in conversation.
  • Traffic report: A wild drive
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The Downlink Volume 3, Issue 1


More information The Downlink ...
The Downlink The WikiProject Spaceflight Newsletter
2025
1 – 31 January
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More information Volume 3 — Issue 1, Spaceflight articles by quality and importance ...
Volume 3 — Issue 1
Spaceflight Project • Project discussion • Members • Assessment • Open tasks • Popular pages • The Downlink
Introduction to Volume 3
Initially launched in late 2010/early 2011 for a run of four months, The Downlink was unpublished for more than nine years, after which a second volume was published from October 2020 to October 2021. This second volume was very different from the first volume, both in style and structure. A December issue was planned (for some reason, the second volume became volume 1 in April 2021), but was never finished. Like with volume 2, this volume 3 was intended to come with changes, though primarily to style.
Volume 3 will not feature any significant changes to style or structure. This both provides continuity with the previous volume and allows the contributors to construct each issue relatively easily. However, following volumes may see changes to style, format, and upload schedule. As it is still very early in the year, a discussion on this is not yet necessary, but suggestions of all kinds are always welcome at the talk page.
In the News
  • Blue Ghost Mission 1 and Hakuto-R Mission 2 were launched from Kennedy Space Center on 15 January. They are planned to land in March and April, respectively.
  • On 30 January, Sunita Williams broke Peggy Whitson's record for most time spent on spacewalks by a woman, at 62 hours and 6 minutes total.
  • ISRO successfully docked two SpaDeX satellites on 16 January, making India the fourth country (including the EU) to dock two vehicles in space.
  • Blue Origin's New Glenn launch vehicle completed its maiden flight on 16 January. The payload was successfully placed in orbit, while the first staged failed to land on the recovery ship.
Featured Content
Article of the Month
Soyuz programme
Artist's impression of the Soyuz 19 spacecraft from the Apollo–Soyuz mission

The Soyuz programme (/ˈsɔɪjuːz/ SOY-yooz, /ˈsɔː-/ SAW-; Russian: Союз [sɐˈjus], meaning "Union") is a human spaceflight programme initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s. The Soyuz spacecraft was originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon. It was the third Soviet human spaceflight programme after the Vostok (1961–1963) and Voskhod (1964–1965) programmes.

The programme consists of the Soyuz capsule and the Soyuz rocket and is now the responsibility of Roscosmos. After the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, the Soyuz was the only way for humans to get to the International Space Station (ISS) until 30 May 2020 when Crew Dragon flew to the ISS for the first time with astronauts.

 Image of the Month
Gene Cernan on the Moon

Gene Cernan was the eleventh and (as of 2025) last person to ever step foot on the moon. In addition to being an astronaut, he was an aviator in the US Navy and engineer. Apollo 17 was his second Apollo mission, as he served as Apollo 10's lunar module pilot. He died in Houston on 16 January, 2017. He was the first astronaut to be buried at Texas State Cemetery.

Members

New members:

Number of active members: 200. Total number of members: 426.

Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. For a complete list, see here: List_of_spaceflight_launches_in_January–June_2025#January.

  1. United States New Glenn — DarkSky-1 (16 Jan. at 07:03) (success)
  2. United States SpaceX Starship — 10 Starlink simulators (16 Jan. at 22:37) (launch failure)
 Article Statistics
This data reflects values from the 31 January 2025.
Spaceflight articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 7 28 14 8 57
FL 3 4 4 11
FM 123 123
A 1 2 2 5
GA 11 27 34 55 1 128
B 15 83 201 217 1 517
C 43 161 574 754 29 1,561
Start 18 146 1,022 2,558 434 4,178
Stub 9 203 2,052 243 2,507
List 10 116 108 236 1 26 497
Category 1,228 1,228
Disambig 47 47
File 223 223
Portal 55 55
Project 109 109
Redirect 1 42 131 1,238 1,412
Template 525 525
NA 5 5
Other 39 39
Assessed 105 574 2,204 6,017 3,593 734 13,227
Unassessed 19 133 152
Total 105 574 2,204 6,036 3,593 867 13,379
Monthly Changes

Since December 2024, five new high-importance, eight new mid-importance, forty new low-importance, and 1,522 new NA-importance articles have been created. Fifteen unknown-importance articles have been removed, for a total of 1,560 more articles. One article has been promoted to Good Article status. There are also three more B-class articles, eleven more C-class articles, 23 more Start-class articles, four more Stub-class articles, 4 more lists, and 34 more files.

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Newsletter contributor: Ships&Space

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:30, 18 February 2025 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 February 2025

  • Technology report: Hear that? The wikis go silent twice a year
    From patrolling new edits to uploading photos or joining a campaign, you can count on the Wikimedia platform to be up and running — in your language, anywhere in the world. That is, except for a couple of minutes during the equinoctes.
  • Opinion: Sennecaster's RfA debriefing
    User Sennecaster shares her thoughts on her recent RfA and the aspects that might have played a role in making it successful.
* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 10:29, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

Guild of Copy Editors 2024 Annual Report

Guild of Copy Editors Annual Report
Our 2024 Annual Report is now ready for review.

Highlights:

  • Introduction
  • Membership news and election results
  • Summary of Drives, Blitzes and the Requests page
  • Closing words
– Your Guild coordinators
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The Downlink Volume 3, Issue 2


More information The Downlink ...
The Downlink The WikiProject Spaceflight Newsletter
2025
1 — 28 February
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More information Volume 3 — Issue 2, Spaceflight articles by quality and importance ...
Volume 3 — Issue 2
Spaceflight Project • Project discussion • Members • Assessment • Open tasks • Popular pages • The Downlink
In the News
Article of the month
The Family Portrait of the Solar System taken by Voyager 1

The Family Portrait, or sometimes Portrait of the Planets, is an image of the Solar System acquired by Voyager 1 on February 14, 1990, from a distance of approximately 6 billion km (40 AU; 3.7 billion mi) from Earth. It features individual frames of six planets and a partial background indicating their relative positions. The picture is a mosaic of 60 frames. The frames used to compose the image were the last photographs taken by either Voyager spacecraft (which continued to relay other telemetry afterward). The frames were also the source of the famous Pale Blue Dot image of the Earth. Astronomer Carl Sagan, who was part of the Voyager imaging team, campaigned for many years to have the pictures taken.[failed verification]

 Image of the month
STS-98 following liftoff

Launched on 7 February 2001, STS-98 delivered to the Destiny laboratory module of the International Space Station. Flown by Atlantis, it was the first human spaceflight mission of the 21st century. The shuttle landed at Edwards Air Force Base on 20 February after being docked with the ISS for almost seven days. The crew consisted of Kenneth Cockrell, commander, Mark L. Polansky, pilot, Robert Curbeam, mission specialist 1, Marsha Ivins, mission specialist 2 and flight engineer, and Thomas David Jones, mission specialist 3.

Members

New Members: No new members.

Number of active members: 200. Total number of members: 426.

February Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list: here.

  1. Russia Soyuz 2.1v and Volga — Kosmos-2581/-2582/-2583 (5 Feb. at 03:59) (success)
  2. China Long March 8A — 9 Hulianwang Digui (11 Feb. at 09:30) (success)
  3. United States Falcon 9 Block 5 — 23 Starlink (18 Feb. at 23:21) (success)
  4. United States Falcon 9 Block 5 — multiple (27 Feb. at 00:02) (launch success)
 Article Statistics
This data reflects values from the 28 February 2025.
Spaceflight articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 7 28 14 8 57
FL 3 4 4 11
FM 123 123
A 1 3 2 6
GA 11 27 33 55 1 127
B 15 83 200 217 1 516
C 43 162 575 760 30 1,570
Start 18 146 1,022 2,565 440 4,191
Stub 9 203 2,054 244 2,510
List 10 116 108 236 1 27 498
Category 1,262 1,262
Disambig 47 47
File 223 223
Portal 55 55
Project 109 109
Redirect 1 42 131 1,238 1,412
Template 527 527
NA 3 3
Other 1 34 35
Assessed 105 575 2,204 6,033 3,622 743 13,282
Unassessed 19 136 155
Total 105 575 2,204 6,052 3,622 879 13,437
Monthly Changes

Since January 2025, one new high-importance, sixteen new low-importance, nineteen new NA-importance, and twelve new unknown-importance articles have been created, for a total of 58 new articles. One article has been demoted from Good Article status. There are also one more A-class article, one more B-class article, nine fewer C-class articles, thirteen more Start-class articles, three more Stub-class articles, and one more list.

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Newsletter contributors: Ships&Space, Geni

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:59, 18 March 2025 (UTC)

The Signpost: 22 March 2025

  • From the editor: Hanami
    It's an ecstasy, my spring.
  • Obituary: Rest in peace
    Send not to know
    For whom the bell tolls,
    It tolls for thee.
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The Signpost: 9 April 2025

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The Downlink Volume 3, Issue 3


More information The Downlink ...
The Downlink The WikiProject Spaceflight Newsletter
2025
1 — 31 March
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More information Volume 3 — Issue 3, Spaceflight articles by quality and importance ...
Volume 3 — Issue 3
Spaceflight Project • Project discussion • Members • Assessment • Open tasks • Popular pages • The Downlink
In the News
  • Firefly Aerospace became the first commercial company to successfully achieve a soft landing on the moon on 2 March with the landing of Blue Ghost Mission 1 near Mons Latreille. It lasted the intended length of one lunar day before losing power on 16 March. It was launched with the Hakuto-R Mission 2 lander Resilience and rover Tenacious, which are planned to land in the Mare Frigoris.
  • On 6 March, the IM-2 mission's lunar lander Athena landed on Mons Mouton. Although intact, it landed sideways, preventing it from generating enough power to operate as designed. The mission was declared over the following day.
  • SpaceX Crew-9 splashed down near Tallahassee, Florida on 18 March. Initially planned to launch with a full complement, the extension of Barry Wilmore and Sunita Williams' stay on the ISS resulted in it being launched with only two crew members.
Article of the month

The Phootprint mission was conceived as a candidate for the Mars Robotic Exploration Preparation Programme 2 (MREP-2) at ESA. In 2014, ESA funded Footprint's pre-phase A feasibility study and an 8-month industrial system study.

The mission would have lasted about 3.5 years, including the cruise time to Phobos, orbit mapping, 7 days on the surface, and finally, the sample return cruise time. The spacecraft would be powered by solar arrays.

In August 2015, the ESA-Roscosmos working group, after cooperation on ExoMars, completed a joint study for a possible future Phobos Sample Return mission, and preliminary discussions were held.

 Image of the month
InSight lander testing

The InSight (Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport) lander was selected from among three options in August 2012. Initially planned to launch in March 2016, an instrument issue delayed the launch to May 2018, the next Earth-Mars launch window. It was successfully launched on 5 May, and landed on Elysium Planitia on 26 November 2018. Taking seismographic and thermographic readings, InSight operated for a total of 4 years and 19 days instead of its planned 2 year mission. The mission was declared over on 21 December, 2022 after contact was lost on 15 December. A re-analysis of some of its data indicates that there may be significant amounts of groundwater in Mars' crust.

Members

New Members:

Number of active members: 206. Total number of members: 430.

March Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list: here.

  1. France Ariane 62 — CSO-3 (6 Mar. at 16:24 UTC) (success)
  2. United States SpaceX Starship — four Starlink simulators (6 Mar. at 23:30 UTC) (launch failure)
  3. United StatesJapan Rocket Lab Electron — QPS-SAR 9/SUSANOO-1 (15 Mar. at 00:00 UTC) (success)
  4. Germany Spectrum — no payload (30 Mar. at 10:30 UTC) (launch failure)
 Article Statistics
This data reflects values from the 28 February 2025.
Spaceflight articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 7 28 14 8 57
FL 3 4 4 11
FM 123 123
A 1 3 2 6
GA 11 27 33 55 1 127
B 15 84 199 217 1 516
C 43 161 577 764 30 1,575
Start 18 145 1,021 2,569 441 4,194
Stub 9 203 2,055 245 2,512
List 10 116 108 236 1 28 499
Category 1,263 1,263
Disambig 47 47
File 223 223
Portal 55 55
Project 109 109
Redirect 2 42 129 1,241 1,414
Template 528 528
NA 3 3
Other 28 28
Assessed 105 575 2,204 6,039 3,621 746 13,290
Unassessed 19 134 153
Total 105 575 2,204 6,058 3,621 880 13,443
Monthly Changes

Since February 2025, six new low-importance and one new unknown-importance articles have been created. One NA-importance article has been removed, for a total of six new articles. There are also five more C-class articles, three more Start-class articles, two more Stub-class articles, and one more list.

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Newsletter contributors: Ships&Space

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:04, 11 April 2025 (UTC)

Guild of Copy Editors April 2025 Newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors April 2025 Newsletter

Hello and welcome to the April 2025 newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since December. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below. We extend a warm welcome to all of our new members. We wish you all happy copy-editing.

Election results: In our December 2025 coordinator election, Wracking stepped down as coordinator; we thank them for their service. Incumbents Dhtwiki, Miniapolis, and Mox Eden were reelected coordinators, and IQR and WikiEditor5678910 were newly elected coordinator, to serve through 30 June. Nominations for our mid-year Election of Coordinators will open on 1 June (UTC).

Drive: 55 editors signed up for our January Backlog Elimination Drive 33 claimed at least one copy-edit and copy-edited 611,404 words in 237 articles. Barnstars awarded are here.

Blitz: 14 editors signed up for our February Copy Editing Blitz. 10 claimed at least one copy-edit and copy-edited 46,749 words in 18 articles. Barnstars awarded are here.

Drive: 47 editors signed up for our March Backlog Elimination Drive. 28 claimed at least one copy-edit and copy-edited 479,172 words in 207 articles. Barnstars awarded are here.

Blitz: Sign up for our April Copy Editing Blitz, which runs from 13 to 19 April. Barnstars will be awarded here.

Progress report: As of 9:45, 12 April 2024 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have processed 89 requests since 1 January 2024, and the backlog stands at 2,264 articles.

Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Dhtwiki, IQR, Miniapolis, Mox Eden and WikiEditor5678910.

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The Signpost: 1 May 2025

  • Traffic report: Of Wolf and Man
    Television dramas, televised sports, film, the Pope, and ... bioengineering at the top of the list?
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The Signpost: 14 May 2025

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The Downlink Volume 3, Issue 4

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The Downlink The WikiProject Spaceflight Newsletter
2025
1 — 30 April
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More information Volume 3 — Issue 4, Spaceflight articles by quality and importance ...
Volume 3 — Issue 4
Spaceflight Project • Project discussion • Members • Assessment • Open tasks • Popular pages • The Downlink
In the News
  • On 1 April, Fram2 became the first crewed mission to enter into a retrograde orbit around Earth's poles.
Article of the month

The Apollo Abort Guidance System (AGS, also known as Abort Guidance Section) was a backup computer system providing an abort capability in the event of failure of the Lunar Module's primary guidance system (Apollo PGNCS) during descent, ascent or rendezvous. As an abort system, it did not support guidance for a lunar landing.

The AGS was designed by TRW independently of the development of the Apollo Guidance Computer and PGNCS.

It was the first navigation system to use a strapdown Inertial Measurement Unit rather than a gimbaled gyrostabilized IMU (as used by PGNCS). Although not as accurate as the gimbaled IMU, it provided satisfactory accuracy with the help of the optical telescope and rendezvous radar. It was also lighter and smaller in size.

 Image of the month
Falcon 9 Full Thrust

Starting development in 2014, the Falcon 9 Full Thrust is a variant of the Falcon 9 that is the first orbital rocket to have a first stage successfully land vertically after launch. The stage shown here is from the April 2016 SpaceX CRS-8 mission, after landing on the autonomous spaceport drone ship Of Course I Still Love You.

Members

New Members:

Number of active members: 208. Total number of members: 433.

April Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list: here.

  1. United States Falcon 9 Block 5 — Fram2 (1 Apr. at 00:46 UTC) (success)
  2. China Long March 2F/G — Shenzhou 20 (24 Apr. at 09:17 UTC) (success)
  3. United States Atlas V 551 — 27 KuiperSats (28 Apr. at 23:01) (success)
  4. United States Firefly Alpha — LM-400 Demo (29 Apr. at 13:37) (launch failure)
 Article Statistics
This data reflects values from 30 April 2025.
Spaceflight articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 7 28 15 8 58
FL 3 4 4 11
FM 123 123
A 1 2 2 5
GA 11 27 33 55 1 127
B 15 84 200 221 1 521
C 45 162 581 774 31 1,593
Start 16 144 1,017 2,584 444 4,205
Stub 9 204 2,049 244 2,506
List 10 120 108 236 1 30 505
Category 1,264 1,264
Disambig 47 47
File 223 223
Portal 55 55
Project 109 109
Redirect 2 42 131 1,243 1,418
Template 528 528
NA 1 1
Other 29 29
Assessed 105 579 2,206 6,064 3,623 751 13,328
Unassessed 14 125 139
Total 105 579 2,206 6,078 3,623 876 13,467
Monthly Changes

Since March 2025, four new high-importance, two new mid-importance, twenty new low-importance, and two new NA-importance articles have been created. Four unknown-importance articles have been removed, for a total of 24 new articles. One article has been promoted to Featured Article status. There are also five more B-class articles, eighteen more C-class articles, eleven more Start-class articles, six fewer Stub-class articles, and six more lists.

Special thanks to Neopeius for significantly working on some of the Timeline of spaceflight articles (specifically 1953, 54, 55, and most recently 56). Thanks also to Sotakarhu for table work in the latter.

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Newsletter contributors: Ships&Space

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:26, 19 May 2025 (UTC)

The Downlink Volume 3, Issue 5

More information The Downlink ...
The Downlink The WikiProject Spaceflight Newsletter
2025
1 — 31 May
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More information Volume 3 — Issue 5, Spaceflight articles by quality and importance ...
Volume 3 — Issue 5
Spaceflight Project • Project discussion • Members • Assessment • Open tasks • Popular pages • The Downlink
In the News
Article of the month
Artist's impression of the Mars Odyssey spacecraft

2001 Mars Odyssey is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA, and contracted out to Lockheed Martin, with an expected cost for the entire mission of US$297 million. Its mission is to use spectrometers and a thermal imager to detect evidence of past or present water and ice, as well as study the planet's geology and radiation environment. The data Odyssey obtains is intended to help answer the question of whether life once existed on Mars and create a risk-assessment of the radiation that future astronauts on Mars might experience. It also acts as a relay for communications between the Curiosity rover, and previously the Mars Exploration Rovers and Phoenix lander, to Earth. The mission was named as a tribute to Arthur C. Clarke, evoking the name of his and Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Odyssey was launched April 7, 2001, on a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and reached Mars orbit on October 24, 2001, at 02:30 UTC (October 23, 19:30 PDT, 22:30 EDT). As of March 2025, it is still collecting data, and is estimated to have enough propellant to function until the end of 2025. It currently holds the record for the longest-surviving continually active spacecraft in orbit around a planet other than Earth, ahead of the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (served 14 years) and the Mars Express (serving over 20 years), at 24 years, 4 months and 25 days. As of October 2019 it is in a polar orbit around Mars with a semi-major axis of about 3,800 km or 2,400 miles.

 Image of the month
International Space Station after LF1

Starting with Zarya in November 1998, the assembly of the International Space Station continued on a regular basis until the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, which resulted in a nearly three-year pause from November 2002 to July 2005. This image shows the ISS following the installation of the second External stowage platform. ESP-2 was launched on 26 July 2005 on board Discovery as part of STS-114.

Members

New Members:

Number of active members: 209. Total number of members: 434.

May Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list: here.

  1. United States Starship — 8 Starlink Simulators (27 May at 23:36:28 UTC) (partial failure)
  2. China Long March 4B — Tianwen-2 (28 May at 04:00 UTC) (success)
 Article Statistics
This data reflects values from 30 May 2025.
Spaceflight articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 7 28 15 8 58
FL 3 4 4 11
FM 123 123
A 1 2 2 5
GA 11 27 33 55 1 127
B 15 84 200 220 1 520
C 45 163 583 784 32 1,607
Start 16 143 1,017 2,591 444 4,211
Stub 9 205 2,043 245 2,502
List 10 120 108 236 1 33 508
Category 1,266 1,266
Disambig 46 46
File 223 223
Portal 55 55
Project 109 109
Redirect 2 42 132 1,244 1,420
Template 527 527
NA 1 1
Other 28 28
Assessed 105 579 2,209 6,075 3,623 756 13,347
Unassessed 12 123 135
Total 105 579 2,209 6,087 3,623 879 13,482
Monthly Changes

Since April 2025, three new mid-importance, nine new low-importance, and three new unknown-importance articles have been created, for a total of 15 new articles. There is also one less B-class article, 14 more C-class articles, six more Start-class articles, four less Stub-class articles, and three more lists.

Discuss & propose changes to The Downlink at The Downlink talk page. To unsubscribe from the newsletter remove your name from the Mailing list.
Newsletter contributors: Ships&Space

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:50, 11 June 2025 (UTC)

The Signpost: 24 June 2025

* Read this Signpost in full * Single-page * Unsubscribe * MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:29, 24 June 2025 (UTC)

Guild of Copy Editors' June 2025 Newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors June 2025 Newsletter

Hello and welcome to the June 2025 newsletter, a quarterly-ish digest of Guild activities since April. Don't forget you can unsubscribe at any time; see below.

Hall of Fame: Congratulations to Dhtwiki for their well-deserved addition to the Hall of Fame last month, and thanks to GoldRomean for the nomination.

Election news: Voting in the mid-year coordinator election ends at 23:59 on 30 June. Results will be announced at the election page.

April Blitz: 14 of the 25 editors who signed up for the April 2025 Copy Editing Blitz copy edited 92,769 words in 30 articles. Barnstars awarded are available here.

May Drive: 31 of the 54 editors who signed up for the May 2025 Backlog Elimination Drive copy edited 384,392 words in 216 articles. Barnstars awarded are here.

June Blitz: 10 of the 12 editors who signed up for the June 2025 Copy Editing Blitz copy edited 26,652 words in 13 articles. Barnstars awarded are here.

July Drive: Our July 2025 Backlog Elimination Drive will begin on 1 July and finish on 31 July. Barnstars awarded will be posted here.

Progress report: As of 02:30, 30 June 2025 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have completed 148 requests since 1 January, and the backlog stands at 2,270 articles.

Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 23:19, 30 June 2025 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 July 2025

  • Traffic report: God only knows
    Wouldn't it be nice without billionaires, scandals, deaths, and wars?
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The Downlink Volume 3, Issue 6


More information The Downlink ...
The Downlink The WikiProject Spaceflight Newsletter
2025
1 — 30 June
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More information Volume 3 — Issue 6, Spaceflight articles by quality and importance ...
Volume 3 — Issue 6
Spaceflight Project • Project discussion • Members • Assessment • Open tasks • Popular pages • The Downlink
In the News
Article of the month

Gaganyaan-1 (from Sanskrit: gagana, "celestial" and yāna, "craft, vehicle") is the first planned uncrewed test flight of the Gaganyaan programme. ISRO has officially scheduled the mission for March 2026, though a delay into the second half of 2026 has been acknowledged.

The spacecraft will carry Vyommitra, a half-humanoid robot, to simulate astronaut conditions and provide critical data on life-support and environmental systems. The mission will demonstrate the performance of the crew module and service module in low Earth orbit, serving as a precursor to future human spaceflight under the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme.

The launch was originally scheduled for December 2020, then in December 2021, but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The flight plan was finally ready by April 2022 and the launch is expected to take place in early 2025, after the TV-D1, TV-D2, TV-D3 and TV-D4. It was proposed in April 2022 that the crew module should be depressurized, something kept in the final planning.

The Gaganyaan spacecraft will be launched, with the humanoid robot Vyommitra, by a Human-rated LVM 3 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre and inserted into a 170 x 408 km orbit. The circularisation maneuver will be performed at the third orbit. The landing should follow the same pattern as the TV-D1. The mission will also validate the life-support system, crew escape mechanism, and re-entry technologies.

 Image of the month
Hybrid-Propellant Rocket Fuel

Rocket engines typically use one of two types of propellant: Solid or liquid. Hybrid-propellant rockets use a combination of these two forms of fuel, and lack some of the disadvantages of both. Their specific impulse is usually between solid-propellant and liquid-propellant rockets. The image shown here is of a 3D-printed grain, designed for a small hybrid rocket engine which would be used to demonstrate rocket combustion. On the left are two helical fuel ports, on the right a de Laval nozzle.

Members

New Members:

Number of active members: 210. Total number of members: 436.

June Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list: here.

  1. United States Falcon 9 Block 5 — 26 Starlink (13 Jun. at 01:30) (success)
  2. Russia Angara A5 — 2 Kosmos (19 Jun. at 03:00) (success)
  3. United States Falcon 9 Block 5 — Axiom Mission 4 (25 Jun. at 06:31) (success)
  4. Japan H-IIA — GOSAT-GW (28 Jun. at 16:33:03) (success)
 Article Statistics
This data reflects values from 30 June 2025.
Spaceflight articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 7 28 15 8 58
FL 3 4 4 11
FM 123 123
A 1 2 1 4
GA 11 27 33 56 1 128
B 15 84 200 223 4 526
C 45 164 586 788 37 1,620
Start 16 144 1,015 2,600 446 4,221
Stub 8 205 2,037 245 2,495
List 10 120 109 237 1 36 513
Category 1,268 1,268
Disambig 47 47
File 222 222
Portal 55 55
Project 109 109
Redirect 2 42 134 1,248 1,426
Template 527 527
NA 1 1
Other 26 26
Assessed 105 580 2,211 6,088 3,627 769 13,380
Unassessed 9 122 131
Total 105 580 2,211 6,097 3,627 891 13,511
Monthly Changes

Since May 2025, one new high-importance, two new mid-importance, ten new low-importance, four new NA-importance, and twelve new unknown-importance articles have been created, for a total of 29 new articles. There is also one fewer A-class article, one more GA-class article, six more B-class articles, 13 more C-class articles, ten more Start-class articles, seven fewer Stub-class articles, and five more lists.

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The Downlink Volume 3, Issue 7

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The Downlink The WikiProject Spaceflight Newsletter
2025
1 — 31 July
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More information Volume 3 — Issue 7, Spaceflight articles by quality and importance ...
Volume 3 — Issue 7
Spaceflight Project • Project discussion • Members • Assessment • Open tasks • Popular pages • The Downlink
In the News
  • The first launch attempt of an Australian-made rocket, Gilmour Space Technologies' Eris-1, was made on 29/30 July. The launch vehicle crashed 14 seconds after launch due to insufficient thrust.
  • The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite launched on 30 July. The first radar imaging that uses dual frequencies, it is a joint project between NASA and ISRO, and believed to cost ~US$1.5 billion, making it one of the most expensive Earth-imaging satellites.
Featured Content
Article of the month
Artist's conception of AREE on the surface of Venus, showing the wind turbine inside the rover's frame.

Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments (AREE) is a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts project to design a rover that can operate in the environment of Venus, controlled by a wind-powered mechanical computer. Venus's atmosphere is about 90 times denser than Earth's and the surface temperature is at least 462 °C (864 °F), conditions which would prevent a standard electronic computer from operating for any significant period of time. While AREE is being designed for operation on Venus, the rover's design could be re-purposed for use on Mercury, which has a comparably high surface temperature, on Jovian moons Europa or Io, where high radiation makes use of traditional electronics difficult, or on lava flows or highly radioactive areas on Earth.

The project was first proposed in 2015, and funded by the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program with a phase-I study in 2016, and a phase-II study from 2017 to 2018.

 Image of the month
Buzz Aldrin's bootprint on the Moon

In July of 1969, Apollo 11 successfully fulfilled John F. Kennedy's goal of a person landing on, and returning from, the moon before the 1970s. Taking off on 16 July, the lunar lander, Eagle, touched down on the evening of the 20th (UTC). Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin exited the lander six hours later, becoming the first men on the moon. The pair stayed on the lunar surface for about 21 hours. This image is actually the second of a pair of images, taken by Aldrin so that the lunar surface's ability to bear weight could be measured.

Members

New Members:

Number of active members: 213. Total number of members: 439.

June Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list: here.

  1. China Long March 4C — Shiyan 28B-01 (3 Jul. at 09:35) (success)
  2. Russia Soyuz-2.1a — Progress MS-31 (3 Jul. at 19:31) (success)
  3. United StatesIsrael Falcon 9 Block 5 — Dror-1 (PR-8000) (13 Jul. at 05:04) (success)
  4. China Hyperbola-1 — Kunpeng-03 (Enshi Xidou Shanquan/HS-9) (29 Jul. at 04:10) (success)
  5. Australia Eris Block 1 — Jar of Vegemite (29 Jul. at 21:30) (launch failure)
  6. China Long March 8A — 9 Guowang (30 Jul. at 07:49) (success)
  7. IndiaUnited States GSLV Mark II — NISAR (30 Jul. at 12:10) (success)
 Article Statistics
This data reflects values from 31 July 2025.
Spaceflight articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 7 28 15 8 58
FL 3 4 4 11
FM 124 124
A 1 2 1 4
GA 11 26 33 57 2 129
B 15 85 201 224 4 529
C 45 162 588 788 40 1,623
Start 16 140 1,019 2,603 461 4,239
Stub 7 204 2,035 247 2,493
List 10 120 109 236 1 36 512
Category 1,270 1,270
Disambig 47 47
File 222 222
Portal 55 55
Project 109 109
Redirect 2 42 134 1,248 1,426
Template 528 528
NA 1 1
Other 25 25
Assessed 105 573 2,217 6,090 3,630 790 13,405
Unassessed 10 130 140
Total 105 573 2,217 6,100 3,630 920 13,545
Monthly Changes

Since June 2025, there are seven fewer high-importance, six new mid-importance, three new low-importance, three new NA-importance, and 29 new unknown-importance articles, for a total of 34 more articles. There is also one GA-class article, three more B-class articles, three more C-class articles, 18 more Start-class articles, two fewer Stub-class articles, and one fewer lists.

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The Signpost: 9 September 2025

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Guild of Copy Editors – September 2025 Newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors – September 2025 Newsletter

Hello and welcome to the September newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since June.

Election news: Project coordinators play an important role in our WikiProject. Following the mid-year Election of Coordinators, we welcomed GoldRomean to the coordinator team. Dhtwiki remains as lead coordinator, and Miniapolis and Mox Eden return as coordinators. If you'd like to help out behind the scenes, please consider taking part in our December election – watchlist our ombox for updates. Information about the role of coordinators can be found here.

June 2025 blitz: 10 of the 12 editors who signed up for the June 2025 Copy Editing Blitz copy edited a total of 26,652 words comprising 13 articles. Barnstars awarded are here.

July 2025 drive: 30 of the 54 editors who signed up for the July 2025 Backlog Elimination Drive copy edited a total of 379,557 words comprising 151 articles. Barnstars awarded are here.

August 2025 Blitz: 11 of the 17 editors who signed up for the August 2025 Copy Editing Blitz copy edited a total of 65,601 words comprising 25 articles. Barnstars awarded are here.

September 2025 Drive: Sign up here to earn barnstars in our month-long, in-progress September Backlog Elimination Drive.

Progress report: As of 06:43, 20 September 2025 (UTC), GOCE copyeditors have processed 222 requests since 1 January, and the backlog of tagged articles stands at 2,010 articles.

Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we do without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators.

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The Downlink Volume 3, Issue 8

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The Downlink The WikiProject Spaceflight Newsletter
2025
1 — 31 August
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More information Volume 3 — Issue 8, Spaceflight articles by quality and importance ...
Volume 3 — Issue 8
Spaceflight Project • Project discussion • Members • Assessment • Open tasks • Popular pages • The Downlink
In the News
Article of the month

NAOS (National Advanced Optical System) is a high-resolution Earth observation satellite developed by OHB Italia for the Luxembourg Directorate of Defence as part of the Luxembourg Earth Observation System (LUXEOSys). Designed for dual-use governmental and military purposes, NAOS provides very high-resolution optical imagery for applications in defense, security, and humanitarian efforts, supporting organizations such as NATO, European Union, and the United Nations. The satellite was launched on August 26, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California.

NAOS will be operated by LUXEOPs, consortium consisting of RHEA System Luxembourg, LUXSPACE, OHB and RHEA System.

 Image of the month
Apollo 15 Lunar Module

Launched on 26 July, 1971, Apollo 15 was the fourth Apollo mission to successfully land on the moon, and the first of the longer, more science-focused J Missions. Landing at Hadley–Apennine on the 30, Commander David Scott and Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin (Irwin on left) stayed on the moon's surface until 2 August, while Command Module Pilot Alfred Worden stayed in orbit, collecting a variety of data on the moon. Apollo 15 was the first mission to use the Lunar Roving Vehicle (on right), which allowed Scott and Irwin to travel farther from the Lunar Lander (center) than previously possible.

On 4 August, the lunar orbiter departed from orbit at the end of Apollo 15's 74th lunar orbit. On the 5, Worden performed an EVA which lasted 39 minutes. This was the first of three deep-space EVAs, all performed during J Missions. The command module landed in the North Pacific Ocean on the 7, with the command module and crew being recovered by USS Okinawa. Apollo 15 was the longest Apollo mission, lasting for a total of 12 days and 7 hours, until Apollo 17, which lasted 12 days, 13 hours, and 52 minutes.

Members

New Members: No new members

Number of active members: 213. Total number of members: 439.

August Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list here.

  1. France Ariane 62 — MetOp-SG A1 (13 Aug. at 00:37) (success)
  2. United States Vulcan Centaur VC4S — NTS-3 (13 Aug. at 00:56) (success)
  3. Russia Soyuz-2.1b — Bion-M No.2 (20 Aug. at 17:13) (success)
  4. United States SpaceX Starship — 8 Starlink simulators (26 Aug. at 23:30) (success)
 Article Statistics
This data reflects values from 31 August 2025.
Spaceflight articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 7 28 15 8 58
FL 3 4 4 11
FM 124 124
A 1 2 1 4
GA 11 27 33 57 2 130
B 16 85 200 226 4 531
C 45 162 594 794 46 1,641
Start 16 140 1,017 2,615 463 4,251
Stub 6 203 2,022 246 2,477
List 10 119 109 236 1 37 512
Category 1,275 1,275
Disambig 48 48
File 260 260
Portal 55 55
Project 109 109
Redirect 2 42 140 1,246 1,430
Template 528 528
NA 1 1
Other 30 30
Assessed 106 572 2,219 6,103 3,677 798 13,475
Unassessed 10 129 139
Total 106 572 2,219 6,113 3,677 927 13,614
Monthly Changes

Since July 2025, there is one new top-importance, one fewer high-importance, two new mid-importance, 13 new low-importance, 47 new NA-importance, and seven new unknown-importance articles, for a total of 69 more articles. There is also one more GA-class article, two more B-class articles, 18 more C-class articles, 12 more Start-class articles, and 16 fewer Stub-class articles.

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The Signpost: 2 October 2025

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The Downlink Volume 3, Issue 9


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The Downlink The WikiProject Spaceflight Newsletter
2025
1 — 30 September
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More information Volume 3 — Issue 9, Spaceflight articles by quality and importance ...
Volume 3 — Issue 9
Spaceflight Project • Project discussion • Members • Assessment • Open tasks • Popular pages • The Downlink
In the News
Article of the month

Project POSTAR was the first space experiment created entirely by members of the Boy Scouts of America. On September 12, 1992, Space Shuttle Endeavour mission STS-47 carried 10 Get Away Special (GAS) canisters. Amongst these GAS cansisters was G-102 sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America's Exploring Division in cooperation with the TRW Systems Integration Group, Fairfax, Virginia. The project was named Project POSTAR. (The name was a combination of the words "Post" and "Star").

 Image of the month
Space Shuttle Enterprise

The Space Shuttle Enterprise (OV-101) was the first orbiter built in the Space Shuttle program. Designed for atmospheric test flights, it lacked both engines and a heat shield, making it unable to go to space. Rolled out on 17 September 1976, it was initially named Constitution, but was renamed following a large letter-writing campaign from Trekkies. Unlike its eponym, the USS Enterprise from the original Star Trek series, OV-101 never achieved spaceflight; originally intended to be refitted to become the second space-rated orbiter after Columbia, changes to the design of the Space Shuttle made it both simpler and cheaper to instead construct a new shuttle, Challenger, around a test article. It was later considered for refitting following the Challenger disaster, but it was instead decided to build a replacement, Endeavour, out of spare parts from the construction of Discovery and Atlantis.

Enterprise flew a total of five times, from 12 August to 26 October, 1977. It was then flown to Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, where it was placed into the Saturn V dynamic test stand for the Mated Vertical Ground Vibration Testing, in order to test the Space Shuttle's launch stack. It was then used for a variety of fit checks at Kennedy Space Center and Vandenberg Air Force Base, between which it toured Europe and North America, including a showing at the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition. It was then moved to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum on 18 November 1985. It was then moved to its present location aboard the USS Intrepid museum ship on 12 December 2011.

Members

New Members:

Number of active members: 214. Total number of members: 440.

September Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list here.

  1. United States Falcon 9 Block 5 — 28 Starlink (5 Sept. at 13:56) (success)
  2. United States Falcon 9 Block 5 — 24 Starlink (6 Sept. at 18:06) (success)
  3. United StatesIndonesia Falcon 9 Block 5 — Nusantara Lima (12 Sept. at 00:56) (success)
  4. China Long March 2D — Shiyan 30A/B (29 Sept. at 03:00) (success)
 Article Statistics
This data reflects values from 30 September 2025.
Spaceflight articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 7 28 15 8 58
FL 3 4 4 11
FM 124 124
A 1 2 1 4
GA 12 27 33 57 2 131
B 15 79 191 230 5 520
C 45 167 599 808 1 49 1,669
Start 15 135 1,035 2,658 473 4,316
Stub 5 196 1,989 245 2,435
List 11 119 109 235 1 39 514
Category 1,276 1,276
Disambig 48 48
File 261 261
Portal 55 55
Project 109 109
Redirect 2 42 141 1,245 1,430
Template 529 529
NA 1 1
Other 30 30
Assessed 106 565 2,226 6,131 3,680 813 13,521
Unassessed 10 126 136
Total 106 565 2,226 6,141 3,680 939 13,657
Monthly Changes

Since August 2025, there are seven fewer high-importance, seven more mid-importance, 28 more low-importance, three more NA-importance, and twelve more unknown-importance articles, for a total of 43 more articles. There is also one more GA-class article, 11 fewer B-class articles, 28 fewer C-class articles, 65 more Start-class articles, 42 fewer Stub-class articles, and two more lists.

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The Signpost: 20 October 2025

  • Traffic report: One click after another
    Serial-killer miniseries, deceased scientist, government shutdowns and Sandalwood hit "Kantara" crowd the tubes.
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The Signpost: 10 November 2025

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The Signpost: 1 December 2025

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Guild of Copy Editors – December 2025 Newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors December 2025 Newsletter

Hello, and welcome to the December newsletter, a quarterly digest of Guild activities since September. If you'd like to be notified of upcoming drives and blitzes, and other GOCE activities, the best method is to add our announcements box to your watchlist.

Election news: The Guild's coordinators play an important role in the WikiProject, making sure nearly everything runs smoothly and on time. Editors experienced in drives or blitzes and in good standing (unblocked and without sanctions) are invited to nominate themselves or another editor (with their permission, of course) to be a Guild coordinator until 23:59 on 15 December (UTC). The voting phase begins at 00:01 on 16 December and runs until 23:59 on 31 December. Questions may be asked of candidates at any stage in the process. Elected coordinators will serve a six-month term from 1 January through 30 June 2026.

September Drive: 43 of the 63 editors who signed up for the September Backlog Elimination Drive edited 693,541 words in 265 articles. Barnstars awarded are here.

October Blitz: 14 of the 15 editors who signed up for the October Copy Editing Blitz edited 75,108 words in 31 articles. Barnstars awarded are here.

November Drive: 38 of the 65 editors who signed up for the November Backlog Elimination Drive edited 590,816 words in 240 articles. Barnstars awarded are posted here.

December Blitz: The December Blitz will begin at 00:00 on 14 December (UTC) and will end on 20 December at 23:59. Sign up here. Barnstars awarded will be posted here.

Progress report: As of 01:49, 8 December 2025 (UTC), GOCE copy editors have completed 293 requests since 1 January, and the backlog of tagged articles stands at 1,730 articles.

Thank you all again for your participation; we wouldn't be able to achieve what we have without you! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators, Dhtwiki, GoldRomean, Miniapolis and Mox Eden.

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The Downlink Volume 3, Issue 10


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The Downlink The WikiProject Spaceflight Newsletter
2025
1 October — 30 November
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More information Volume 3 — Issue 10, Spaceflight articles by quality and importance ...
Volume 3 — Issue 10
Spaceflight Project • Project discussion • Members • Assessment • Open tasks • Popular pages • The Downlink
In the News
  • On 13 November, the ESCAPADE spacecraft SIMPLEx-4A (Blue) and SIMPLEx-4B (Gold) were launched on board a New Glenn rocket. They will orbit Earth at its L2 point until the Mars transfer window opens in late 2026.
  • On the second flight of New Glenn, the first stage, "Never Tell Me the Odds," landed on the drone ship Jacklyn on 13 November. This made New Glenn the first orbital-class booster capable of landing propulsively not manufactured by SpaceX.
  • As a result of damage caused by space debris, China's Shenzhou 20 was rendered unusable for returning its crew back to Earth. The crew instead returned on board the Shenzhou 21 craft on 14 November, with Shenzhou 22 being launched uncrewed on 25 November to serve as a return vessel for the crew of Shenzhou 21.
  • On 27 November, Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 31, the only launch site used by Russia to reach the ISS, was significantly damaged during the launch of Soyuz MS-28.
Featured Content
Article of the month

Zond 6 was a formal member of the Soviet Zond program, and an unpiloted version of the Soyuz 7K-L1 crewed Moon-flyby spacecraft. It was launched on a lunar flyby mission on November 10, 1968, from a parent satellite (68-101B) in Earth parking orbit. The spacecraft carried a biological payload of turtles, flies, and bacteria. It also carried scientific probes including cosmic ray, micrometeoroid detectors, and photographic equipment.

The mission was a precursor to a crewed circumlunar flight which the Soviets hoped could occur in December 1968, thus beating the American Apollo 8. However, after rounding the Moon on November 14, Zond 6 crashed on its return to Earth, due to a parachute failure when the parachute was detached from the capsule too early.

 Image of the month
Explosion on the Cygnus CRS Orb-3

On 28 October, 2014, Cygnus Orb-3 was launched at 22:22:38 UTC. 15 seconds after liftoff, one of the launch vehicle's AJ26 (modified NK-33s) ruptured, resulting in the craft falling. The mission was scrubbed eight seconds later at 22:23:01 UTC. The subsequent investigation found that the liquid oxygen turbopump exploded, severing nearby propellant lines. This resulted in a fire that damaged various engine components. The cause of the LOX turbopump's failure remains unknown.

Members

New Members:

Number of active members: 217. Total number of members: 444.

October–November Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a current list here.

  1. China Long March 8A — 9 Guowang (16 Oct. at 01:33:00) (success)
  2. JapanItalyMexicoThailandMalaysia H3-24W — HTV-X1, various cubeSats (26 Oct. at 00:00:15) (success)
  3. China Long March 2F/G — Shenzhou 21 (31 Oct. at 15:44:00) (success)
  4. India LVM3 — GSAT-7R (2 Nov. at 11:56:00) (success)
  5. United States New Glenn — ESCAPADE Blue and Gold (13 Nov. at 20:55:01) (success)
  6. United States Atlas V 551 — Viasat 3 EMEA (14 Nov. at 03:04:00) (success)
  7. Russia Soyuz-2.1a — Soyuz MS-28 (27 Nov. at 09:27:57) (successful launch; spaceport damaged)
 Article Statistics
This data reflects values from 30 November 2025.
Spaceflight articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 7 28 15 8 58
FL 3 4 4 11
FM 124 124
A 1 2 1 4
GA 12 27 33 57 2 131
B 16 77 196 234 5 528
C 45 170 606 834 1 56 1,712
Start 15 134 1,025 2,690 480 4,344
Stub 5 196 1,981 278 2,460
List 11 119 108 236 1 42 517
Category 1,280 1,280
Disambig 48 48
File 262 262
Portal 55 55
Project 109 109
Redirect 2 43 143 1,246 1,434
Template 532 532
NA 2 2
Other 1 31 32
Assessed 107 565 2,229 6,188 3,691 863 13,643
Unassessed 9 118 127
Total 107 565 2,229 6,197 3,691 981 13,770
Monthly Changes

Since September 2025, there are one more high-importance, three more mid-importance, 56 more low-importance, eleven more eight NA-importance, and 42 more unknown-importance articles, for a total of 113 more articles. There are also eight more B-class articles, 43 more C-class articles, 28 more Start-class articles, 25 more Stub-class articles, and three more lists.

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Newsletter contributors: Ships&Space

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The Signpost: 15 January 2026

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The Downlink Volume 3, Issue 11

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The Downlink The WikiProject Spaceflight Newsletter
2025
1 — 31 December
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More information Volume 3 — Issue 11, Spaceflight articles by quality and importance ...
Volume 3 — Issue 11
Spaceflight Project • Project discussion • Members • Assessment • Open tasks • Popular pages • The Downlink
In the News
  • The International Space Station's eight compartments were fully occupied for the first time on 1 December, with the rebirthing of Cygnus NG-23 to Unity.
  • On 3 December, China's Zhuque-3 made the first non-American attempt at landing a booster. The booster failed to land following a landing-burn anomaly. A second attempt on the 23rd, this time using the new Long March 2A launch vehicle, also failed.
  • On 6 December, contact with NASA's MAVEN Mars orbiter was lost. The last received telemetry was from the 4th, with the fragmented transmission of the 6th suggesting that the craft was rotating in an unintended way, and possibly having changed orbit. As of 16 January 2026, the mission has not yet been officially ended, although reestablishing communications with MAVEN is considered highly improbable.
Featured Content
Article of the month

PROCYON (Proximate Object Close flyby with Optical Navigation) was an asteroid flyby space probe that was launched together with Hayabusa2 on 3 December 2014 13:22:04 (JST). It was developed by University of Tokyo and JAXA. It was a small (70 kg, approx. 60 cm cube), low cost (¥500 million) spacecraft.

It was intended to flyby the asteroid (185851) 2000 DP107 in 2016, but the plan was abandoned due to the malfunction of the ion thruster.

 Image of the month
STS-116 spacewalk

STS-116 was the 33rd mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery. Launched in the late evening of 6 December, the main aims of the mission were the installation of one of the International Space Station's Integrated Truss Structure segments, rewiring of the power system, and personnel exchange. Also known as ISS-12A.1, STS-116 was the first mission to include a Swedish astronaut, Christer Fuglesang. It returned to Earth in the evening of 22 December.

This image, of the first of three EVA sessions, was taken on the fourth day of the mission. Flight engineer Robert Curbeam is on the left, opposite mission specialist 3 Christer Fuglesang. The image was taken over New Zealand; the South Island is visible on the left, while the southern portion of the North Island, mostly consisting of the Wairarapa region, is visible in the top-right.

Members

New Members: none

Number of active members: 218. Total number of members: 445.

December Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See the complete list here.

  1. China Zhuque-3 — no payload (3 Dec. at 04:00) (success)
  2. South KoreaBrazilIndia HANBIT-NANO — various (22 Dec. at 12:45) (launch failure)
  3. China Long March 12A — mass simulator (23 Dec. at 02:00:00) (success)
  4. IndiaUnited States LVM3 — BlueBird-6 (24 Dec. at 03:25:30) (success)
  5. RussiaIranMontenegroKuwaitBelarus Soyuz-2.1b (1st stage), Fregat-M (2nd stage) — various (28 Dec. at 13:18:05) (success)
 Article Statistics
This data reflects values from 31 December 2025.
Spaceflight articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 7 29 15 8 59
FL 3 4 4 11
FM 124 124
A 1 2 1 4
GA 12 26 33 57 2 130
B 16 78 195 234 5 528
C 45 169 609 847 1 57 1,728
Start 15 134 1,024 2,698 493 4,364
Stub 5 196 1,988 282 2,471
List 11 119 109 238 1 43 521
Category 1,281 1,281
Disambig 48 48
File 262 262
Portal 55 55
Project 109 109
Redirect 2 43 141 1,246 1,432
Template 532 532
NA 2 2
Other 32 32
Assessed 107 565 2,230 6,216 3,693 882 13,693
Unassessed 10 119 129
Total 107 565 2,230 6,226 3,693 1,001 13,822
Monthly Changes

Since November 2025, there are one more mid-importance, 29 more low-importance, two more NA-importance, and 20 more unknown-importance class articles, for a total of 52 more articles. There are also one more FA-class articles, one less GA-class articles, ten more C-class articles, 20 more Start-class articles, eleven more Stub-class articles, and four more lists.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:27, 17 January 2026 (UTC)

The Signpost: 29 January 2026

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The Signpost: 17 February 2026

  • Disinformation report: Epstein's obsessions
    The sex offender's attempts to whitewash Wikipedia run deeper than we first thought.
  • Crossword: Pop quiz
    Sharpen your pencil. How well do you really know Wikipedia?
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The Downlink Volume 4, Issue 1

More information The Downlink ...
The Downlink The WikiProject Spaceflight Newsletter
2026
1 — 31 January
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More information Volume 4 — Issue 1, Spaceflight articles by quality and importance ...
Volume 4 — Issue 1
Spaceflight Project • Project discussion • Members • Assessment • Open tasks • Popular pages • The Downlink
In the News
  • NASA called off a planned spacewalk of SpaceX Crew-11 on 8 January, and later cancelled the mission outright, after one of the crewmembers, Mike Fincke, was reported to have a medical complication. This was the first time that this occurred in US history.
  • On 11 January, the Pandora spacecraft was successfully launched. Pandora is designed to study the atmospheres of transiting exoplanets, with the intention of identifying targets for future observation.
Article of the month

Exoplanetary Circumstellar Environments and Disk Explorer (EXCEDE) is a proposed space telescope for NASA's Explorer program to observe circumstellar protoplanetary and debris discs and study planet formation around nearby (within 100 parsecs) stars of spectral classes M to B. Had it been selected for development, it was proposed to launch in 2019.

The spacecraft concept proposed to use a 70 centimeter diameter telescope-mounted coronagraph called PIAA (Phase Induced Amplitude Apodized Coronagraph) to suppress starlight in order to be able to detect fainter radiation of circumstellar dust. Characterizing constitution of such disks would provide clues for planetary formation (mostly in habitable zones), while already existing exoplanets can be detected through their interaction with dust disk. The project's Principal Investigator is Glenn Schneider.

 Image of the month
Wernher von Braun with the Rocketdyne F-1 engines

Pictured here are two titans of spaceflight history: Dr. Wernher von Braun, one of the main figures of the early American space program and designer of both the Saturn V and V-2 rockets, and five (four visible) Rocketdyne F-1 engines, used on the Saturn V Dynamic Test Vehicle. Dr. von Braun's career is noted for a great number of achievements in human spaceflight, including the Apollo mission which successfully put human beings on the moon; nevertheless, it is burdened with the shadow of his activities in the Nazi Party, especially concerning his work on the V-2.

The engines behind him, in addition to being immense, have the honor of being the only engines used to get humans to the moon, as of the time of writing. Developed in the late 1950s, the 8,400 kilograms (18,500 lb) engines are still the most powerful single combustion chamber liquid-propellant rocket ever made.

Members

New Members:

Number of active members: 219. Total number of members: 446.

January Launches
All times stated here are in UTC. See a complete list here.

  1. United StatesCanadaUnited KingdomFinlandGermany Falcon 9 Block 5 — various, including Pandora (11 Jan. at 13:44:50) (success)
  2. IndiaThailandSpain PSLV-DL — various, including EOS-N1 and THEOS-2A (12 Jan. at 04:48:30) (launch failure)
  3. China Ceres-2 — various (17 Jan. at 04:05) (launch failure)
 Article Statistics
This data reflects values from 31 January 2026.
Spaceflight articles by quality and importance
Quality Importance
Top High Mid Low NA ??? Total
FA 6 30 15 8 59
FL 3 4 4 11
FM 124 124
A 1 2 1 4
GA 12 26 34 59 2 133
B 16 77 196 236 6 531
C 44 170 607 860 1 58 1,740
Start 15 134 1,026 2,701 499 4,375
Stub 5 195 1,986 296 2,482
List 11 119 110 239 1 44 524
Category 1,282 1,282
Disambig 48 48
File 275 275
Portal 55 55
Project 109 109
Redirect 2 43 143 1,248 1,436
Template 534 534
NA 2 2
Other 34 34
Assessed 105 566 2,232 6,237 3,713 905 13,758
Unassessed 1 8 127 136
Total 105 567 2,232 6,245 3,713 1,032 13,894
Monthly Changes

Since December 2025, there are two fewer top-importance, two more high-importance, two more mid-importance, 19 more low-importance, 20 more NA-importance, and 31 more unknown-importance articles, for a total of 72 new articles. There are also three more GA-class, three more B-class, twelve more C-class, eleven more Start-class, and eleven more Stub-class articles, and three more lists.

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MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:43, 3 March 2026 (UTC)

The Signpost: 10 March 2026

  • Special report: What actually happened during the Wikimedia security incident?
    A horrifying exploit took place, which could have had catastrophic and far-reaching consequences if used maliciously; instead, it seems to have happened by accident and was used for childish vandalism. How did this happen, and what did the script actually do?
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