Tag: Commercial
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Stoke Space completes Nova Stage 1 structural verification
Stoke Space completed proto-qualification of the first stage of its Nova rocket at its testing site in Moses Lake, Washington, in early June 2026. This milestone paves the way for the debut of the medium-lift Nova vehicle targeted for the end of 2026 from the historic Launch Complex-14 (LC-14) in Cape Canaveral. Nova Stage 1…
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SpaceX launches CAS500-2 and 45 other payloads to Sun-synchronous orbit
SpaceX successfully launched its third rideshare mission of 2026 aboard Falcon 9. The mission carried the Compact Advanced Satellite 500-2 (CAS500-2) and 45 other payloads as part of SpaceX’s rideshare program. Falcon 9 launched from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, and recovered the veteran first-stage booster, B1071,…
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Vast and Axiom awarded new private missions to ISS, continue work on commercial space stations
With NASA awarding back-to-back Private Astronaut Missions to aerospace companies Vast Space and Axiom Space in early 2026, NASA continues to foster and accelerate growth in commercial low-Earth orbit. The new missions are expected to launch in 2027, with NASA and SpaceX partnering with the companies to train, launch, and return four-person crews to and…
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The Space Traffic Report: Starlink, ISS docking, and upcoming Falcon 9 & Kuiper launches
This past week marked a relatively quiet period for orbital launches, but there was still plenty of movement above Earth — from a new batch of Starlink satellites joining the constellation, to supply missions coming and going from two different space stations. Here’s your weekly rundown of what moved in orbit and what to watch…
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Halfway through 2025, SpaceX breaks Falcon records and struggles with Starship
In the second quarter of 2025, SpaceX continued its record launch cadence with the Falcon family of rockets, completing the 500th launch of that family by any measure. The company continued to grow its Starlink constellation and customer base, and completed the deployment of its first-generation Direct-to-Cell constellation. While all other programs at SpaceX have…
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China accelerates toward lunar goals as reusability programs gain momentum
China has conducted two spacewalks from its Tiangong space station in as many months and is advancing on its lunar exploration plans with a successful pad abort test of its crewed Mengzhou capsule. Meanwhile, an experimental spacecraft has made advances in in-space refueling. Meanwhile, the next generation of reusable Chinese commercial rockets, many of which…
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Isar Aerospace launches Spectrum, fails early in first stage flight
Isar Aerospace, based near Munich, Germany, made the first-ever launch attempt of its Spectrum two-stage rocket on Sunday, March 30, at 10:30 UTC from the Orbital Launch Pad at the Andøya Space Center in Norway. An earlier attempt on Monday, March 24, was scrubbed due to high winds, and a second attempt on Saturday, March…
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Relativity Space makes significant progress on Terran R; flight hardware in production
Relativity Space has announced significant progress with its Terran R reusable launch vehicle. In a newly released video, the company says it is set to have the vehicle’s primary structure completed this year, with a full vehicle assembled for launch in 2026. Terran R is also anticipating reuse early in the program, with the first…
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Vast space station qualification article passes major milestone
Vast is one step closer to launching its first private commercial space station. The company recently completed testing of its Haven-1 qualification article in Mojave, California, and reported that it successfully passed its tests. The company’s current goal is to launch the flight article aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than May 2026.…
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Jared Isaacman nominated as next NASA administrator
Jared Isaacman has been nominated by President-Elect Donald Trump of the United States of America to become the next NASA Administrator after Senator Bill Nelson’s term ends. Isaacman is expected to be sworn in on Jan. 20, 2025, the first day of Trump’s upcoming term. Isaacman has a long history in the aerospace industry. He…