Over the last seven days, spaceflight and astronomy delivered major milestones in orbit, on the launch pad, and across the solar system. The International Space Station briefly hosted a record eight visiting spacecraft, underscoring how crowded and commercially active low Earth orbit has become. SpaceX flew multiple Falcon 9 missions for its Starlink internet constellation, including a rapid-fire sequence that highlighted the company’s high launch cadence. Europe’s Vega‑C returned to action to loft a South Korean Earth‑observation satellite, signaling renewed confidence in the small‑lift launcher market. Closer to the sun, NASA highlighted an incoming bout of moderate geomagnetic storms driven by a coronal mass ejection and high‑speed solar wind stream, reminding forecasters to stay alert for auroras and space‑weather impacts. Meanwhile, NASA’s new PUNCH mission showcased its ability to track a recently discovered comet, extending a 30‑year legacy of comet hunting by the SOHO spacecraft. Together, these developments show how human spaceflight, commercial launch, and heliophysics are converging in a busy opening to December.
ISS PACKS ALL DOCKING PORTS WITH 8 SPACECRAFT
NASA reported that for the first time every available docking port on the International Space Station was filled, with eight visiting vehicles simultaneously attached to the outpost. The traffic peak followed the arrival of the Soyuz MS‑28 spacecraft on November 27, carrying a NASA astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts for an approximately eight‑month mission.
The fully booked configuration highlighted how the ISS is now hosting a mix of government and commercial vehicles, including cargo freighters and crew capsules from multiple nations. Mission controllers carefully choreographed visiting vehicle traffic to maintain clear approach corridors and ensure safe departure slots in the weeks ahead. NASA
SOYUZ MS-28 THANKSGIVING CREW ARRIVAL AT ISS
The Soyuz MS‑28 mission launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome and reached orbit in under 10 minutes, deploying its solar arrays before beginning a fast‑track rendezvous with the space station. After completing two orbits of Earth, the spacecraft docked to the ISS’s Rassvet module on the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, adding three new crew members to Expedition 73.
The crew’s arrival expanded the station’s population and kicked off a planned months‑long research stay focused on human physiology, fluid physics, and technology demonstrations in microgravity. NASA provided live coverage of the docking, emphasizing the symbolic importance of an international crew linking up with the ISS on a major U.S. holiday. Spaceflight Now | NASA | YouTube
SPACEX FALCON 9 KICKS OFF DECEMBER WITH STARLINK LAUNCHES
SpaceX opened December with a predawn Falcon 9 launch that added another batch of Starlink broadband satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The mission continued a year of intense activity in which Falcon 9 has flown more than 150 times in 2025, with the majority of those launches dedicated to building out the Starlink constellation.
Shortly afterward, another Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, marking the company’s third orbital mission in less than two days and deploying 29 more Starlink spacecraft. The latest Cape flight brought the tally of orbital launches from Space Launch Complex 40 to 295 overall, illustrating how central that pad has become to SpaceX’s operations. Spaceflight Now
ARIANESPACE VEGA-C LAUNCHES SOUTH KOREAN EARTH-OBSERVATION SATELLITE
Arianespace successfully flew a Vega‑C rocket carrying a South Korean Earth‑observation satellite, marking a key commercial mission for Europe’s small‑lift launcher. The flight, conducted from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, placed the imaging spacecraft into orbit to support South Korea’s civilian and governmental remote‑sensing needs.
The mission contributed to Vega‑C’s recovery and demonstrated continued demand for dedicated small‑satellite launchers amid a crowded market increasingly dominated by larger reusable rockets. European partners emphasized that sustaining independent access to space for smaller payloads remains a strategic priority for Earth‑observation and science missions. Spaceflight Now
G2 GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH AS CME AND HIGH-SPEED STREAM APPROACH
U.S. space‑weather forecasters issued a G2 (moderate) geomagnetic storm watch covering December 3–4, citing the expected interaction of a coronal mass ejection with a coronal‑hole high‑speed stream. The alert indicated that combined solar wind disturbances could enhance auroral activity at lower latitudes and pose minor risks to satellites, power systems, and high‑frequency radio communications.
Operators were advised to remain “space‑weather aware” during the watch window while monitoring solar wind data and geomagnetic indices for signs of intensified storm conditions. Public outreach highlighted opportunities for aurora viewing if geomagnetic activity peaks overnight during the forecast period. Space Weather
NASA’S PUNCH MISSION TRACKS COMET 2025 R2 (SWAN) FROM SOHO DISCOVERY
NASA detailed how its PUNCH mission monitored comet 2025 R2 (SWAN) as it crossed the inner heliosphere between late August and early October 2025. The comet was originally discovered on September 11 by an amateur astronomer examining images from the SWAN instrument aboard the long‑running SOHO spacecraft, which has now enabled the identification of more than 5,000 comets.
PUNCH’s wide‑field imaging of the comet’s motion and interaction with the solar wind demonstrated the mission’s capability to study the transition region between the solar corona and interplanetary space. Scientists noted that coordinated observations between PUNCH and SOHO illustrate how newer missions can extend the legacy of older heliophysics observatories. NASA