Two "returning to normal" stories

They're both smallish stories - but returning to normal should be pretty close to no news. 

FAA lifts restrictions on launches 

It has been in effect something like one week, but the ban on daytime launches due to the government shutdown that the FAA introduced at the start of the month, the official start was Monday the 10th, is over. Beginning that day the FAA said commercial space launches would only be permitted between 10 pm and 6 am local time, when the national airspace is most quiet. The restriction is lifted as of today. The order officially ended this morning at 6 a.m. EST.

One has to wonder what sort of impact it had. 

The order primarily affected SpaceX, by far the most prolific American launch company. SpaceX has been lofting Starlink missions to expand its growing wireless internet megaconstellation in low Earth orbit every few days; it has already launched more than 100 Starlink missions this year.

SpaceX wasn't totally grounded while the order was in place, though. The company managed to launch four after-hours missions during the week-long restriction phase, including three Starlink missions and the Sentinel-6B ocean mapping satellite. 

You'll remember that Blue Origin's launch of their second New Glenn mission, the ESCAPADE satellites, had to file for an exemption for last Thursday's afternoon launch. My perception is that it's probably easier to get an exemption for a "big deal" NASA flight than routine Starlink missions, but SpaceX never asked for one. They just chose a launch time in allowed time. 

China has a scheduled launch date for the Shenzhou 22 replacement capsule

China has set a NET launch date for the replacement capsule that caused the Shenzhou 21 crew to use the capsule from the previous crew (20) to return to Earth.  In that linked post, we talked about the overall plan being to use the capsule from the SZ22 mission but that it wasn't immediately available. Today, the news was presented that preparations are well underway for a launch next Tuesday.

... China is aiming for Nov. 25 to launch a replacement spacecraft up to Tiangong from its Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia. An official with China's Manned Space Agency (CMSA) told state broadcaster CCTV that "the mission for launching the Shenzhou 22 spacecraft has been initiated, with preparations for all systems in full swing, including testing the spacecraft and rocket components and preparing the cargo." 

The official added that China will take the opportunity to send up food and additional cargo to the Shenzhou 21 crew, who just began their six-month stay aboard Tiangong on Oct. 31. ...

The Shenzhou (SZ) 22 mission had been scheduled for the April/May time frame, so it's more than a small difference in the mission profile to launch before December and carry more food and supplies than the usual amount - which they're saying is most likely because of the extra consumption that the SZ-20 crew consumed in their extra time on the station (although it seems that has to be a small percentage difference - they only spent an extra few days out of their seven months on station).

Space.com points out that by the time the SZ-22 launches to the Tiangong space station, close to three weeks will have passed since the cracks were discovered in the SZ-20 spacecraft. Similar things have happened to the ISS over the years but we have no photographs of the SZ-20's damage. 

A Long March-2F rocket carrying three astronauts and the Shenzhou 20 spacecraft lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi desert, in northwest China on April 24. The Shenzhou 20 craft would go on to be damaged by space debris while docked at the Tiangong Space Station and deemed unfit to return the crew to Earth. (Image credit: PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images)