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Good question from Jonathan, does anyone here know the answer?
https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/2011632642182304214QuoteJonathan McDowell
@planet4589
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Suborbital launch at 0800 UTC Jan 12 of a Lihong-1 from Jiuquan. Does anyone have dimensions (e.g. diameter) of this rocket?
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-11 mission safely splashed down early Thursday morning in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego, concluding a more than five-month mission aboard the International Space Station.
NASA astronauts Zena Cardman and Mike Fincke, JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) astronaut Kimiya Yui, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Platonov returned to Earth at 12:41 a.m. PST. Teams aboard SpaceX recovery vessels retrieved the spacecraft and its crew shortly after landing.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our astronauts and the teams on the ground at NASA, SpaceX, and across our international partnerships,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “Their professionalism and focus kept the mission on track, even with an adjusted timeline. Crew-11 completed more than 140 science experiments that advance human exploration. Missions like Crew-11 demonstrate the capability inherent in America’s space program—our ability to bring astronauts home as needed, launch new crews quickly, and continue pushing forward on human spaceflight as we prepare for our historic Artemis II mission, from low Earth orbit to the Moon and ultimately Mars.”
Crew-11 returned home about a month earlier than planned because of a medical concern teams are monitoring with one of the crew members, who remains stable. Due to medical privacy, it is not appropriate for NASA to share more details about the crew member. Prior to return, NASA previously coordinated for all four crew members to be transported to a local hospital for additional evaluation, taking advantage of medical resources on Earth to provide the best care possible.
Following the planned overnight hospital stay, the crew members will return to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and undergo standard postflight reconditioning and evaluations.
The Crew-11 mission lifted off at 11:43 a.m. EDT on Aug.1, 2025, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. About 15 hours later, the crew’s SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked to the orbital outpost at 1:27 a.m. CDT on Aug. 2.
During their 167-day mission, the four crew members traveled nearly 71 million miles and completed more than 2,670 orbits around Earth. The Crew-11 mission was Fincke’s fourth spaceflight, Yui’s second, and the first for Cardman and Platonov. Fincke has logged 549 days in space, ranking him fourth among all NASA astronauts for cumulative days in space.
Along the way, Crew-11 logged hundreds of hours of research, maintenance, and technology demonstrations. The crew members also celebrated the 25th anniversary of continuous human presence aboard the orbiting laboratory on Nov. 2, 2025. Research conducted aboard the space station advances scientific knowledge and demonstrates new technologies that enable us to prepare for human exploration of the Moon and Mars.
LIVE: After Crew-11's splashdown off the coast of California earlier this morning, @NASAAdmin and agency leaders are sharing mission updates and taking questions from media.
Iridium Satellite LLC seeks experimental special temporary authority license for a period of 180 days, beginning September 1, 2026, to transmit in the 1618.725-1626.5 MHz band from its space stations to the Kentucky Re-Entry Probe Experiment -3 (“KREPE-3”).
To accommodate the requirements of the launch integrators, Iridium requests that its STA be granted no later than April 1, 2026.
The KREPE-3 research project developed by the University of Kentucky is a successor mission to the KREPE-1 and KREPE-2 missions and is designed to test atmospheric re-entry thermal protection systems by using up to 12 self contained space capsules.
The data from the on-board sensors will be relayed to the Iridium constellation during the descent of the capsules back to Earth.
Each capsule will include a single Iridium Certus 9704 satellite modem. Upon deployment, the capsules will collect data as they descend through the atmosphere, concluding with a splashdown in the ocean. The modems will relay data via the Iridium system to KREPE mission control.
The KREPE-3 mission is scheduled to be part of the Cygnus NG-24 resupply mission in early 2026, with re-entry planned for late summer 2026.
The AggieSat6 mission anticipates a launch on April 7th. The main mission phase is approximately 12 months. The satellite will de-orbit within 5 years of launch.
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The AggieSat6 spacecraft will be deployed from the launch vehicle in an orbit with an apogee and perigee of 515 km and an inclination of 60 degrees.
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AggieSat6 is a 6U CubeSat with dimensions 36.6 x 24.1 x 11.7 cm. It carries 8 antennas: one GPS receiving antenna (GNC), five receiving antennas (PAY), and two receiving/transmitting antennas (COM). The exterior bus is made from 6061-T6 aluminum and houses all payload and electronics components.
Total spacecraft mass at launch: The AggieSat6 spacecraft is 6.040 kg
International Space Station
@Space_Station
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@AstroIronMike Fincke has accumulated 549 days in space after returning to Earth today aboard the
@SpaceX Dragon with #Crew11 placing him fourth all-time among @NASA astronauts. https://go.nasa.gov/49xOMvu
