Tag: commercial-space
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Rocket Report: Falcon 9 flies for 300th time; an intriguing launch from Russia
Welcome to Edition 6.31 of the Rocket Report! Photographers at Cape Canaveral, Florida, noticed a change to the spaceport’s skyline this week. Blue Origin has erected a full-size simulator of its New Glenn rocket vertically on its launch pad for a series of fit checks and tests. Late last year, we reported Blue Origin was…
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SpaceX launches military satellites tuned to track hypersonic missiles
Two prototype satellites for the Missile Defense Agency and four missile-tracking satellites for the US Space Force rode a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket into orbit Wednesday from Florida’s Space Coast. These satellites are part of a new generation of spacecraft designed to track hypersonic missiles launched by China or Russia and perhaps emerging missile threats…
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Sierra Space is blowing up stuff to prove inflatable habitats are safe
Sierra Space says it has demonstrated in a ground test that a full-scale inflatable habitat for a future space station can meet NASA’s recommended safety standards, clearing a technical gate on the road toward building a commercial outpost in low-Earth orbit. During a December test at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, Sierra Space’s…
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NASA urged Astrobotic not to send its hamstrung spacecraft toward the Moon
Astrobotic knew its first space mission would be rife with risks. After all, the company’s Peregrine spacecraft would attempt something never done before—landing a commercial spacecraft on the surface of the Moon. The most hazardous part of the mission, actually landing on the Moon, would happen more than a month after Peregrine’s launch. But the…
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Elon Musk’s recent all-hands meeting at SpaceX was full of interesting news
Last year was unquestionably the best year in SpaceX’s history, CEO Elon Musk told his employees during an all-hands meeting in South Texas last week. There were 96 flights of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets, plus the first two test flights of the enormous new Starship rocket. In 2024, SpaceX said it aims…
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The Space Force is changing the way it thinks about spaceports
A lot goes into a successful rocket launch. It’s not just reliable engines, computers, and sophisticated guidance algorithms. There’s also the launch pad and, perhaps even more of an afterthought to casual observers, the roads, bridges, pipelines, and electrical infrastructure required to keep a spaceport humming. Brig. Gen. Kristin Panzenhagen, commander of the Space Force’s…
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ULA’s Vulcan rocket shot for the Moon on debut launch—and hit a bullseye
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida—Right out of the gate, United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan rocket chased perfection. The Vulcan launcher hit its marks after lifting off from Florida’s Space Coast for the first time early Monday, successfully deploying a commercial robotic lander on a journey to the Moon and keeping ULA’s unblemished success record intact. “Yeehaw! I…
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Rocket Report: SpaceX’s record year; Firefly’s Alpha rocket falls short
Welcome to Edition 6.25 of the Rocket Report! We hope all our readers had a peaceful holiday break. While many of us were enjoying time off work, launch companies like SpaceX kept up the pace until the final days of 2023. Last year saw a record level of global launch activity, with 223 orbital launch…
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A commander’s lament on the loss of a historic SpaceX rocket
The Falcon 9 rocket that launched NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken on SpaceX’s first crew mission in 2020 launched and landed for the 19th and final time just before Christmas, then tipped over on its recovery ship during the trip back to Cape Canaveral, Florida. This particular booster, known by the tail number…
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SpaceX launches two rockets—three hours apart—to close out a record year
It seems like SpaceX did everything this year but launch 100 times. On Thursday night, the launch company sent two more rockets into orbit from Florida. One was a Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful rocket in commercial service, carrying the US military’s X-37B spaceplane from a launch pad at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at…