Sunday Space Links

NASA: The Commercial Crew program is now targeting August for the uncrewed orbital flight test of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. This date is partially due to congestion at Kennedy Space Center, though also gives Boeing more time to complete the parachute and pad abort tests necessary to demonstrate capsule safety.

Arianespace: OneWeb has contracted the first flight of the Ariane 6 to launch dozens of units for its satellite internet megaconstellation. Arianespace launched the company's first six satellites in February; the Ariane 6 launch is slated for late 2020.

JPL:The rotary flight demonstrated planned to fly with the Mars 2020 rover completes test hops in a simulated Martian environment. It will be the first aircraft and first helicopter to operate on another world.

JAXA: Japan successfully deploys the Small Carry-on Impactor from Hayabusa2, continuing our current international research effort of shooting-up nearby celestial objects. The spacecraft in investigate the resulting impact crater at some point in the future, but the impact was already confirmed by visual imaging: