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Rocket Lab announced it will fly payloads for Planet and Spire aboard its upcoming second test flight, dubbed “Still Testing,” from Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. Rocket Lab’s Electron orbital launch vehicle will carry two Earth-imaging Dove satellites for Planet and two Lemur 2 satellites from Spire for weather mapping and ship traffic tracking....

United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully orbited a classified satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on Saturday, Sept. 23 from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base. According to NRO, the mission, dubbed NROL 42, is in support of national security, but the true purpose of the payload remains a mystery. The payload launched aboard an Atlas...

Arianespace has set a new launch date for the Intelsat 37e and BSAT 4a satellites after an anomaly scrubbed the first launch attempt back on Sept 5. Arianespace will now launch the satellites on Friday, Sept. 29, as early as 5:47 p.m. EST. During the original synchronized sequence of the final countdown, Arianespace observed an...

Northrop Grumman announced on Sept. 18 that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Orbital ATK for approximately $7.8 billion in cash, plus the assumption of $1.4 billion in net debt. The boards of directors of both companies unanimously approved the deal, which is expected to close in the first half of 2018 given...

Arianespace will launch four new satellites for the Galileo constellation, using two Ariane 62 versions of the next-generation Ariane 6 rocket from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. The European Space Agency (ESA) will conduct the contract on behalf of the European Commission (DG Growth) and the European Union (EU). The launches are planned...

SES has selected Arianespace for its fifth launch of four O3b satellites joining its Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) fleet. The satellites will fly on a Soyuz rocket from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, in 2019. Arianespace previously orbited the existing 12 satellites in the O3b fleet in 2013 and 2014, and will...

International Launch Services (ILS) successfully orbited Hispasat’s 11th satellite, Amazonas 5, on Sept. 11 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The satellite flew aboard a Proton Breeze M rocket and has begun maneuvering to the Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) point where Hispasat will carry out the test phase over the next several weeks. Once the...

SpaceX has marked its seventh Falcon 9 ground landing after successfully orbiting the U.S. Air Force’s X-37B spaceplane, also known as Orbital Test Vehicle 5 (OTV 5). With Hurricane Irma swirling over the Northeast Caribbean, the Sept. 7 mission was potentially SpaceX’s last opportunity before the weekend due to worsening forecasts for Friday’s backup launch...

Despite numerous delays since SpaceX first unveiled its Falcon Heavy plans in 2011, it seems the rocket has a chance of meeting its November launch deadline after all. SpaceX just completed testing of Falcon Heavy’s first stage cores at its facility in Texas, clearing one of the major milestones before the rocket’s inaugural launch...

Kacific Broadband Satellites Group and Sky Perfect JSAT have confirmed that SpaceX will launch the two companies’ shared condominium satellite, Kacific 1/JCSAT 18. SpaceX will launch the satellite in the second half of 2019 atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Kacific 1 will deliver high speed broadband to South East Asia and Pacific regions via 56...