Changelog

FIX Fixed invisible Sign In button on the Account page — the outline button had no color or border defined, making it completely invisible on the dark background.

FIX Fixed ISS page showing negative orbit count (−155,221) when the launch date was set to a future value.

FIX Fixed wrong breadcrumbs on 14 detail pages across 10 post types — all incorrectly showed “← ALL LAUNCHES” instead of the correct archive (e.g., “← ALL SATELLITES”, “← ALL PROBES”).

FIX Fixed Leaflet maps repeating the world map side-by-side on all map pages (launch pads, ISS tracker, satellite tracker, surface maps). Added noWrap to all tile layers.

FIX Fixed “1 launches” grammar on taxonomy cross-links — now correctly shows “1 launch” (singular) vs “5 launches” (plural).

FIX Fixed light mode theme toggle button nearly invisible — added higher contrast icon and border for the light theme.

FIX Fixed signup/login modal not vertically centered on mobile — was stuck at the top of the screen.

FIX Fixed launch schedule month cards displaying in non-chronological order.

DESIGN Redesigned Account page buttons (logged-out view) — replaced plain unstyled buttons with gradient CTAs matching the site-wide design system. Sign Up Free uses the cyan gradient, Sign In uses a cyan outline, Upgrade to Pro uses the blue gradient, and Go Enterprise uses a purple outline.

DESIGN Added plan comparison table to the Features page — side-by-side Free vs Pro vs Enterprise with feature checkmarks, respects the monthly/annual pricing toggle, and CTA buttons in each column.

DESIGN Upgraded About page CTA — replaced the weak “Explore Live Launches” link with dual buttons (Sign Up Free + Explore Launches) and a Pro upgrade link.

DESIGN Upgraded Space Stations archive page — replaced basic WordPress query cards with rich cards showing hero image, active/completed status badge, country, crew capacity, module count, mass, and launch year.

DESIGN Changed “TAP FOR DETAILS” to “VIEW DETAILS” on the homepage hero card — more appropriate for desktop users.

DESIGN Added upgrade CTA buttons to the Account page pricing table — the comparison table was previously a dead end with no clickable path to upgrade.

FEATURE Contact form — replaced the email-only Contact page with a full submission form (name, email, category, message) that sends via REST API. Categories include General, Data Error, Feature Request, API, Partnership, and Bug Report.

FEATURE Filter reset buttons — all 8 archive pages (Vehicles, Boosters, Agencies, Satellites, Pads, Landers, Rovers, Probes) now show a RESET button when any filter or search is active. Click to clear all filters instantly.

FEATURE Click-outside-to-close for the homepage advanced search/filter panel — clicking anywhere outside the panel now closes it, matching standard UX expectations.

FEATURE Probe label collision avoidance — the solar system visualization now detects overlapping probe names and offsets them vertically so all labels remain readable, even in crowded inner solar system regions.

FEATURE Briefings email subscribe CTA — added a banner at the top of the Daily Briefings page encouraging visitors to sign up for email delivery.

FEATURE Live telemetry extraction — an external AI worker captures frames from YouTube live streams every 3 seconds, crops to the telemetry overlay region, and uses Claude Vision to extract real speed (km/h) and altitude (km) data. Results are pushed to Mission Control in real time via REST API.

FEATURE Mission Control telemetry gauges — revived the speed and altitude gauge UI with real data from the AI extraction pipeline. Gauges auto-appear when data flows and gracefully show “SIGNAL LOST” or hide when the worker stops.

FEATURE Admin telemetry controls — START/STOP TELEMETRY button in the Mission Control admin panel to activate the external worker. Auto-detects crop profile (SpaceX, RocketLab, generic) from the rocket name. Budget limit and 2-hour safety timeout.

INFRA Telemetry worker microservice — standalone Python/FastAPI app with yt-dlp + FFmpeg for frame capture, Pillow for cropping, and Claude Haiku Vision for OCR. Deployable to Railway (~$5/mo). Cost per launch: ~$0.03–$0.25.

FIX MC countdown sync — server-side rendered initial countdown value prevents flash on page refresh. Milestone poll now returns updated launch_date so the countdown auto-corrects if LL2 updates the time.

FIX TBD launches no longer show countdown timers on any card across all CPT detail pages (stations, satellites, vehicles, agencies, pads, locations, related launches).

FEATURE Desktop Explore mega menu — hover or click the EXPLORE button in the header to reveal a full-width dropdown organized into five columns: Schedule, Spacecraft, Exploration, Infrastructure, and Learn. Smooth open/close animations, keyboard accessible (Escape to close), and auto-closes on outside click.

FEATURE Mobile hamburger menu — added a persistent hamburger button (☰) to the header that appears on all pages at mobile widths (≤900px). Opens the slide-in navigation panel with a dedicated EXPLORE section listing all post types: Vehicles, Boosters, Satellites, Space Stations, Deep Space Probes, Landers, Rovers, Agencies, Launch Pads, About, and Features.

DESIGN Mega menu styling — glass-morphism card with accent top border, category headings in Orbitron display font, hover effects with subtle translate animation, full dark/light theme support.

FEATURE Agency CPT — dedicated detail pages for every launch provider (SpaceX, ULA, Rocket Lab, ISRO, etc.) at /agencies/{name}/ with logo, stats, vehicles, launch sites, pads, upcoming & recent launches, and external links. Auto-synced from launch data with enriched metadata from LL2 API (type, founding year, logo, wiki/info URLs).

FEATURE Launch Pad CPT — dedicated detail pages for every launch pad at /pads/{name}/ with interactive map, weather, coordinates, parent site link, vehicles, agencies, and full launch history. Auto-synced from launch data.

FEATURE Clickable Launch Details — Vehicle, Agency, Launch Pad, and Launch Site fields on launch detail pages are now links to their respective CPT detail pages. Styled with accent blue color and hover effects.

FEATURE Cross-linked CPT ecosystem — Location pages now link to agency and vehicle pages in their stats bars. Pad lists on location pages link to pad detail pages. Vehicle manufacturer names link to agency pages. Agency taxonomy pages 301-redirect to agency CPT pages.

SEO Full SEO for new CPTs — OG/meta/Twitter tags, breadcrumbs (schema + visible), keyword-optimized title tags, Schema.org Organization (agencies) and Place with GeoCoordinates (pads).

DATA LL2 API enrichment — importer now captures agency type, abbreviation, description, founding year, logo URL, wiki/info URLs, plus pad wiki/map URLs. Synced to CPT posts during cron import.

DESIGN Archive pages for Agencies (/agencies/) and Launch Pads (/pads/) with grid layout, SEO intro copy, and links in the footer Explore section.

FEATURE Expandable milestone cards in Mission Control — click any milestone to reveal a detailed description of what it means, customized for each rocket type (Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, Starship, Electron, New Glenn) with vehicle-specific engineering details

FEATURE Anomaly simulation in Mission Control — admin simulation panel now includes HOLD (yellow), SCRUB (red), and MISSION FAILURE (red) buttons that apply dramatic visual effects to the affected milestone and display a prominent alert banner with a randomized realistic reason

DESIGN Three new milestone visual states — HOLD pulses yellow with warning icon, SCRUB flashes red with X icon, FAILURE pulses deep red with explosion icon. Anomaly banners animate in with type-specific styling. Screen-wide red flash on mission failure

FEATURE Satellite CPT — dashboard pages for every satellite constellation (Starlink, OneWeb, Kuiper, GPS, Galileo, and more) with deployment history, orbital specs, and variant details

FEATURE Constellation taxonomy groups satellite variants — Starlink v0.9, v1.0, v1.5, v2 Mini, and v2 are each tracked separately with version-specific specs

FEATURE Space Station CPT — ISS and Tiangong with seeded data including module timelines, orbital parameters, crew capacity, and mission statistics

FEATURE Live real-time orbit tracker on station pages — shows current position on a dark map with animated ground track, visibility footprint, and lat/lon/altitude readout updated every 2 seconds

DATA CelesTrak TLE integration — fetches Two-Line Element sets for each station, cached for 6 hours, with custom SGP4 orbital propagator in JavaScript for real-time position calculation

DATA Auto-sync satellites from launch data — parses mission names against 11 known constellation patterns, detects Starlink variants by date and description, links to launch and vehicle pages

FEATURE Launch detail pages now link to satellite pages when a launch deploys tracked satellites

FEATURE Vehicle pages show “Satellites Deployed” section linking to all satellite types launched by that rocket

SEO Schema.org Article markup for satellite and station detail pages. OG tags and meta descriptions for all new pages. SEO intro copy on archives.

INFRA REST endpoint /sll/v1/station-tle/{id} for programmatic TLE access. Station mission counting via cron. Rewrite rules auto-flush on activation.

FEATURE “Add to Calendar” buttons on hero cards, launch cards, and detail pages — downloads .ics file for each launch

FEATURE “Alert Me” toggle on every launch — get email notifications for specific launches you follow

DESIGN Premium button styling with gradient backgrounds, glow hover effects, and success/active state animations

DESIGN Enhanced CTA banner with feature icons (Calendar Sync, Launch Alerts, API Access)

INFRA Feature usage analytics system — custom DB table tracking all member interactions (signups, logins, calendar access, alerts, API calls)

INFRA Admin Analytics dashboard with overview stats, 30-day usage chart, and recent activity feed

FEATURE Free membership tier with custom branded signup/login modal — WordPress users under the hood

FEATURE My Account page at /account/ with profile, subscription status, feature cards, and settings

FEATURE Calendar Sync — subscribable iCal feed URL that auto-updates with all upcoming launches

FEATURE Launch Notifications — email alerts 24h and 1h before launches near your location

FEATURE Authenticated API access with personal API keys and tier-based rate limits

INFRA Registry-driven tier and feature system — adding a new tier or feature is a single array entry

INFRA Admin Members dashboard with stats, member list, tier management, and user impersonation

INFRA Brute force protection on login (10/15min) and registration rate limiting (5/hour per IP)

SEO Rich taxonomy archive pages for agencies, rocket families, mission types, and launch sites with stats, intro copy, launch lists, and cross-links

SEO Launch Schedule page with monthly archive grid — browse launches by month

SEO Location pages enriched with auto-generated intro copy describing the facility, country, pad count, and launch total

SEO “Browse by” taxonomy cross-links on every launch detail page — links to agency, rocket family, and launch site archive pages

SEO Taxonomy cross-links section on each archive page showing related providers, rocket families, and sites

SEO Server-side rendered launch list on homepage — crawlers now see 15 upcoming launches instead of “Loading…”

SEO Server-side rendered data sources page — source cards visible without JavaScript

SEO Homepage H1 tag and 150-word intro paragraph for search engine context

SEO Visible breadcrumb navigation on all detail pages (launches, vehicles, boosters, locations, briefings)

SEO Meta descriptions for vehicle and booster archives, taxonomy pages, with 155-char enforcement

SEO Intro copy added to vehicle archive and booster archive pages for search context

DESIGN Expanded header navigation: Vehicles, Briefings, and About links visible on desktop

FEATURE Data Methodology page — explains data collection, update frequency, visibility scoring, and credibility system

FEATURE Contact page with error reporting guidance and general inquiry info

FEATURE Automated daily blog posts summarizing all space launches for the day, written at an 8th grade reading level

DATA Claude API integration for AI-powered article generation with launch data, news, crew info, and booster reuse context

FEATURE Admin dashboard for Daily Briefings with pause/resume, generate now, API key settings, and run history table

DESIGN Briefings archive page at /briefings/ with blog-style cards and pagination

DESIGN Single blog post template with styled stats banners, launch fact tables, crew/booster cards, and “What to Watch” callouts

SEO Blog posts include Open Graph and Twitter Card meta tags for rich social sharing

INFRA Daily cron schedule with idempotency, retry logic, and “Daily Briefing” category auto-creation

INFRA Run history tracking with status badges (success/failed/skipped) — last 30 runs stored

FEATURE Privacy Policy page with full coverage of location data, cookies, third-party services, and children’s privacy

FEATURE Terms & Conditions page with accuracy disclaimers, API usage terms, liability limitations, and acceptable use

FEATURE Changelog page with searchable, filterable, sortable version history

DESIGN Footer redesigned with 4-column grid layout — brand, explore, resources, and legal sections

DESIGN Footer fully responsive — 2-column on tablet, single column on mobile

INFRA Google Tag Manager (GTM-PN4742HD) installed on all pages via wp_head and wp_body_open hooks

INFRA Template part sync system — forces theme file versions on version bump, prevents stale DB cache

INFRA Auto-creation of legal pages and changelog page on init

FIX Share button moved inline in card flow — no longer overlaps status badge or other elements

DESIGN Removed DETAILS arrow from launch cards for cleaner layout

DESIGN Share button repositioned to bottom-right of cards

FEATURE Launch site location now displayed on cards

DATA Source logging added for YouTube and Spaceflight Now scrapers

FEATURE Compass restricted to mobile devices only — desktop shows simple text direction

FEATURE Rebuilt compass as “Launch Direction Finder” with large arrow and turn-by-turn instructions

DESIGN Green/yellow/default state indicators for direction alignment

DESIGN Font size bump across entire site — minimum 11px, body text 17px for improved readability

FIX Fixed compass direction (was pointing backwards) — corrected relative angle calculation

FEATURE Live compass on mobile using DeviceOrientationEvent — point your phone toward the launch

FEATURE iOS permission request flow for motion sensor access

FEATURE Full visibility scoring panel with 4 factors: distance, direction, cloud cover, and time of day

FEATURE Solar altitude calculator for night/twilight launch bonus scoring

FEATURE Contextual viewing tips based on distance, weather, and time of day

DESIGN Restored hamburger filter drawer on mobile while keeping desktop compact row

DESIGN Single compact topbar row on desktop: tagline, mode toggle, visibility toggle, location, search, and freshness indicator

FIX GO badge readability fix — white text on green background

FEATURE Rocket images displayed on launch cards

FEATURE Crew and passenger photos on launch detail pages

FEATURE About page with feature grid, how-it-works steps, and data source list

DATA Video discovery v2 — YouTube search scraping and Spaceflight Now article scraping

FEATURE Video thumbnail grid with multiple embeds per launch

FEATURE Visibility toggle available in both toolbar and filter drawer with synced state

FEATURE Video discovery system — automatic YouTube embed with replay badges for past launches

FEATURE Location selection now persists across page navigations via localStorage

DESIGN Collapsible hamburger filter drawer on mobile — first launch visible above the fold

DESIGN Compact toolbar with tagline on mobile

SEO SEO meta tags on ALL page types — not just launches

SEO Twitter Card tags for rich social previews

SEO WebSite and ItemList JSON-LD schema added

SEO Sitemap detection tries multiple paths for compatibility

SEO 17 automated SEO checks with admin dashboard under Space Launch Live > SEO Readiness

SEO Daily cron for SEO monitoring with auto-fix for missing image alt tags

FEATURE Header navigation with HOME and NEXT LAUNCH links

FEATURE Next Launch link respects visibility filter — jumps to nearest visible launch

FEATURE Location selection persists in localStorage across sessions

DATA Strict binary pass/fail matching for timeline articles — eliminates false positives

FEATURE Booster reuse history — serial number, flight count, landing record, turnaround time, full flight log

FEATURE Spacecraft/capsule history with serial, flight count, and crew manifest

DATA Data sourced from LL2 launcher_stage and spacecraft_stage endpoints

DATA Word-boundary regex matching for launch identifiers with numbers

DATA Payload-specific search prevents generic rocket name matches

FEATURE Per-launch news timeline with chronological articles from Spaceflight News API

FEATURE System events (status changes, scrubs) shown inline with news

DATA Cron-based timeline refresh for upcoming launches

DATA 6 data sources: Launch Library 2, SNAPI, SpaceX API, Open-Meteo, YouTube, and Spaceflight Now

DATA Accelerated polling — every 2 minutes when a launch is within 4 hours

FEATURE Data Sources page with live status dashboard

FEATURE Visibility tooltip explaining the 5-star scoring system

FIX Fixed share button data encoding with base64 — special characters no longer break share URLs

DESIGN Share button now always visible on cards (not just on hover)

FEATURE Share popup with X (Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, Reddit, copy link, and native share

FEATURE Share button on both launch cards and detail pages

DESIGN Launch detail pages redesigned as dashboards — compact hero, quick stats bar, 3-column grid

DESIGN Everything above the fold — no wasted space on hero images

DESIGN Complete visual redesign with wider 1100px layout and stronger typography

DESIGN Dark and light mode with system preference detection

FEATURE Interactive Leaflet.js map with dark CARTO tiles, trajectory arc, and range circles

DESIGN Sticky header with logo and favicon

INFRA Server-side preloaded launch data — fixes SSL fetch issues on Local dev environments

FEATURE Searchable location picker with 250+ US cities

FEATURE Visibility filtering — show only launches within 500 miles of your location

FEATURE Full REST API with /sll/v1/launches and /sll/v1/launch/{id} endpoints

FEATURE Pad weather from Open-Meteo with temperature, wind, cloud cover, and visibility

FEATURE GPS geolocation with 5-star visibility scoring

FEATURE Search and mode toggle for upcoming/previous launches

FEATURE Auto-refresh every 5 minutes, accelerating to 2 minutes near T-0

FEATURE Hero countdown with live T-minus display and compact countdowns on all cards

DATA 20+ meta fields: launch date, rocket name, agency, pad coordinates, booster data, crew data, and more

INFRA WordPress plugin + block theme architecture with Full Site Editing

DATA Launch Library 2 API importer with 15-minute cron schedule

FEATURE Launch custom post type with agency, rocket family, mission type, and launch site taxonomies

FEATURE Live countdown timers and launch status badges (GO, TBD, Hold, Success, Failure)

DESIGN Canvas starfield background animation with space theme aesthetic

Full UI/UX Audit & Redesign Pass

Live AI Telemetry Extraction

Explore Mega Menu

Agencies & Launch Pads

Satellites & Space Stations

Premium Features & Analytics

Membership System

SEO Overhaul — Phase 2

SEO Overhaul — Phase 1

Daily Launch Briefings

Legal, Analytics & Footer Overhaul

Card Layout Polish

Card Enhancements

Compass Refinement

Launch Direction Finder

Typography Upgrade

Compass Fix

Live Compass

Comprehensive Visibility Panel

Mobile Filter Drawer

Desktop Topbar

Visual Polish

About Page & Video Discovery v2

Visibility Toggle Sync

Video System

Mobile Above-the-Fold Redesign

SEO Everywhere

SEO Audit System

Navigation & Persistence

Timeline Filtering v3

Booster & Spacecraft History

Timeline v3

Launch Timeline

Multi-Source Data System

Share Fix

Social Sharing

Dashboard Detail Pages

Design Overhaul

Preloaded Data & City Picker

Feature Parity with React App

Initial Release