Launch

Arianespace has signed an agreement with Spaceflight Industries for the launch of several small payloads. This will be the inaugural mission for Spaceflight customer spacecraft on an Arianespace vehicle. The initial batch of spacecraft is slated for launch aboard Vega in early 2019 from Europe’s spaceport at the Guiana Space Center. The contract with Seattle-based...

S7 Group, the holding company that owns Russia’s S7 Airlines, has finally closed the transaction on its $109 million purchase of Sea Launch assets from RSC Energia. The two corporations first signed the purchase agreement in late 2016. As part of the deal, S7 Group will take control of the Sea Launch Commander ship and...

NanoRacks has been awarded a contract with the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) Professional Services Schedule (00CORP). As a services provider under this contract, NanoRacks will be able to provide its in-space services to federal agencies at a pre-negotiated fixed rate. NanoRacks is offering its flagship services within the GSA schedule, centered around microgravity research...

A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rocket carrying the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC)-11 mission lifted off from Space Launch Complex 41 Saturday evening. AFSPC 11 is a multi-payload mission: the forward or upper payload is called Continuous Broadcast Augmenting Satcom (CBAS), while the aft spacecraft is known as the EELV Secondary Payload Adapter...

Boeing announced its investment in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom-based Reaction Engines, whose technology will contribute to the next generation of hypersonic flight and space access vehicles. Boeing’s HorizonX Ventures division participated in the company’s $37.3 million Series B funding round alongside Rolls-Royce and BAE Systems. Founded by three propulsion engineers in 1989, Reaction Engines produces technical designs...

The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully orbited its IRNSS 1I satellite from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota today, forging ahead with its planned schedule of launches despite losing contact with the last satellite it launched, GSAT 6A, at the end of March. According to ISRO, its master control facility at Hassan, Karnataka...

Arianespace conducted its third flight of the year this Thursday, lofting two telecommunications satellites, DSN 1/Superbird 8 for Sky Perfect JSAT, and Hylas 4 for Avanti Communications. The mission was Ariane 5’s first return to the launchpad after a trajectory deviation in January led to the rocket placing two satellites in the incorrect orbit. This...

Virgin Galactic successfully conducted a supersonic flight of its spacecraft this week — marking the company’s first return to the skies after a fatal crash four years ago. After two years of ground and atmospheric testing, the passing of this milestone marks the start of the final portion of VSS Unity’s flight test program. Attached to...

During its April 2 mission, SpaceX carried Kenya’s first ever satellite to the International Space Station (ISS). The University of Nairobi developed the Cubesat mission, called First Kenya University Nanosatellite-Precursor Flight (1KUNS-PF), as part of the KuboCube program, an initiative supported by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Japan Aerospace...

The first nozzle of the P120 solid rocket motor common to the future European launchers Ariane 6 and Vega C has just left for the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, ArianeGroup announced. Engineers will fit the nozzle to the body of the booster intended for the first firing test on the solid rocket...