Launch

Shortly after SpaceX completed its first test flight of its Starship rocket on Thursday, the company’s CEO Elon Musk outlined potential next steps for the launch vehicle in a series of posts to X (formerly Twitter). Musk stated that after Starship sustained some minor damage during the mission and lost shielding tiles, SpaceX would augment...

Orbex will have even closer ties in Europe, thanks to signing a new framework contract for the Flight Ticket Initiative, a program organized by the European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA). Interestingly, Orbex is the only UK supplier, and only launch services provider with its own spaceport, to be selected for the Flight Ticket...

Rocket Lab has launched two satellites in 11 days, in another key milestone for the company. It has completed the second of two Electron launches for NASA’s PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment) climate change-focused mission. The turnaround was less than two weeks. ‘PREFIRE and Ice’ lifted-off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1...

NASA, Boeing, and ULA will try, once again, to launch the Starliner Crew Flight Test (CFT) this Wednesday after scrubbing their latest attempt just 3 minutes and 50 seconds before liftoff on Sunday. The group has two more windows this week – June 5 at 10:52 a.m. and June 6 at 10:29 a.m. (EST) –...

August 2024 could mark one of the most important points in the United Kingdom’s space history, with plans underway for the first vertical launch from U.K. soil. If the launch goes as planned, it will make headlines beyond the space industry and beyond the U.K. After Virgin Orbit’s high-profile air-launch failure in 2023, the stakes...

Amazon is beginning the process to actively deorbit its two Project Kuiper prototype satellites, nearly eight months after the satellites were launched. In an update on May 23, Amazon said it is beginning the final stage of the prototype mission, demonstrating active deorbit.  “The last milestone in our Protoflight mission is deorbiting Kuipersat-1 and Kuipersat-2....

French startup Kinéis is preparing for two Rocket Lab launches starting in June to launch the first 10 satellites of its IoT constellation. Kinéis announced Thursday that two launches are planned between June 17 and July 15, with five satellites on each launch.  Kinéis signed a five-launch deal with Rocket Lab in 2021. At the...

Orbex is forming a new technology partnership ahead of launching its first rockets from the U.K. The company has formed a new partnership with MSP, which will provide technology to automate the production of components being used by the orbital launch services provider as it progresses towards its first launch. Orbex announced the partnership on...

A South Korean rocket will be the first to launch from the Esrange Space Center in northern Sweden thanks to a collaboration between companies in Sweden and South Korea. Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) is teaming up with South Korean rocket company Perigee Aerospace which will see Perigee’s Blue Whale 1 microlauncher launched from the Esprange Space...

Rocket Lab reported a record $93 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2024 — a 69% year-over-year revenue increase. The launch and space systems company  released its Q1 2024 financials on May 6, along with the update that the first launch of its next-generation Neutron rocket will slip to mid-2025 at the earliest. ...