*New Zealand reaches orbit  New Zealand has successfully placed a spacecraft into orbit for the first time. Rocket Lab’s unmanned Electron launch vehicle – named Still Testing – blasted off from the Lift off Mahia Peninsula launch pad on Sunday afternoon. You tube video url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPcsZgmTRrg   *Black hole burping Astronomers have caught a monster black hole in a distant galaxy snacking on gas and then "burping" — not once, but twice. The findings show two separate episodes of feeding frenzy by the supermassive black hole about 800 million light-years away. *The changing Sun Like the waistband of a couch potato in midlife, the orbits of planets in our solar system are expanding. It happens because the Sun’s gravitational grip gradually weakens as our star ages and loses mass.  *Tiangong-1 crashing back to Earth Chinese space officials say their Tiangong 1 space station is still under control and will likely crash back to Earth in mid to late March. However, their inability to provide an exact schedule for the orbiter’s return continues to raise concerns about the likelihood of an imminent uncontrolled re-entry.  *China launches new navigation satellites China has launched its latest pair of Beidou-3 navigation satellites into orbit. The spacecraft were launched on a Long March-3B rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan province. *Virgin Galactic test flight Virgin Galactic has carried out its first spaceplane drop glide test for 2018\. The VSS Unity achieved Mach zero point nine in the skies above California’s Mojave Desert. *Mystery surrounds SpaceX Zuma mission US Government officials are still refusing to say what happened to the top secret SpaceX Zuma mission which is suspected to have failed to deploy after reaching orbit.  You tube video url: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CArCgeXn3AQ *Dragon returns home The SpaceX CRS 13 capsule has returned to Earth splashing down successfully in the North Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja, California. The Dragon was undocked from the Harmony module’s nadir port by the space stations robotic arm and then released to fire its manoeuvring thrusters for the first of three burns to slowly push away from the space station. For enhanced Show Notes including photos to accompany this episode, visit: http://www.bitesz.com/spacetimeshownotes Subscribe, rate and review SpaceTime at all good podcasting apps…including Apple Podcasts (formerly iTunes), google podcasts, Stitcher, PocketCasts, Podbean, Radio Public, Tunein Radio, google play, Spreaker etc Would you prefer to have access to the special commercial free version of SpaceTime? Help support the show, subscribe at Patreon....and share in the rewards. Details at www.patreon.com/spacetimewithstuartgary Help support SpaceTime : The SpaceTime with Stuart Gary merchandise shop. Get your T-Shirts, Coffee Cups, badges, tote bag + more and help support the show. Check out the range: http://www.cafepress.com/spacetime Thank you. Plus: As a part of the SpaceTime family, you can get a free audio book of your choice, plus 30 days free access from audible.com. Just visit www.audibletrial.com/spacetime or click on the banner link at www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com Email: [email protected] Join our mailing list at http://www.bitesz.com/join-our-mailing-list  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/spacetime-your-guide-to-space-astronomy--2458531/support.