Launch

Arianespace’s Vega rocket returned to flight on Wednesday evening, launching a next-generation Earth Observation (EO) Pléiades Neo satellite for Airbus, along with five rideshare small satellites. The launch from French Guiana was the second Arianespace launch in less than 72 hours, after Arianespace launched a batch of OneWeb satellites from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia on...

Brazil is one step closer to finally achieving domestic orbital-class launch capabilities. On Wednesday, the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) and Brazilian Air Force signed a contract with Virgin Orbit to establish commercial launch services at the 39-year-old Alcântara Spaceport on Brazil’s northern coast. Virgin Orbit will utilize Alcântara’s existing infrastructure to conduct launches. Its LauncherOne...

German rocket developer Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) has signed a launch contracts with OHB Cosmos and LuxSpace, for dedicated missions between mid-2024 and 2025.  The deals, announced Tuesday, are for launches on the RFA One rocket, which is in development. RFA One is designed to carry payloads up to 1300 kg to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO)....

OneWeb has seen another 36 satellites successfully launched as it looks to build up its Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation. Arianespace and launch partner Glavkosmos launched the satellites from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia on Sunday, April 25. OneWeb confirmed contact with all 36 satellites on Monday. This successful launch brings OneWeb’s total in-orbit constellation to...

Spaceflight Inc. will provide launch and integration services for OQ Technology‘s first batch of six 5G Internet of Things (IoT) satellites under the terms of a new contract announced April 23. The agreement allots launch capacity and reservation on combined rideshare and dedicated launches. No timetable was given for the launch, but Spaceflight noted that...

This time last year, the U.S. had not launched astronauts from American soil in nearly a decade, but with SpaceX’s Crew-2 mission, these missions are now happening regularly. SpaceX launched the Crew-2 mission on a Falcon 9 rocket early Friday morning, launching four astronauts into space to journey to the International Space Station.  The Falcon...

Isar Aerospace had signed a deal for launch services with Airbus Defence and Space, the companies announced April 22. The deal sees Airbus Defence and Space commit to one launch, plus options, of a small Earth Observation (EO) satellite into orbit with Isar Aerospace’s Spectrum launch vehicle. This is a significant deal as according to...

Defense and security company QinetiQ and geospatial analytics firm HyperSat selected Virgin Orbit to launch a series of six hyperspectral satellites to Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) on its LauncherOne system. Virgin Orbit will launch the first of the six satellites no earlier than 2023. No timetable was given for the launch of the remaining satellites. Hypersat...

Amazon has signed a launch deal with ULA for nine Atlas V launches for its Project Kuiper satellite constellation. The Atlas V missions will launch from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The April 19 announcement did not disclose financial terms of the deal, or a timeline for the...

SpaceX has won yet another significant human space exploration contract with NASA. This time, the company was awarded the sole, firm-fixed price $2.89 billion milestone-based Artemis program contract to send astronauts to the Moon on the SpaceX Starship rocket and to continue development of the first commercial human lunar lander. NASA announced the award on...