Tag: commercial-space
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Firefly is building fast and breaking things on path to a reusable rocket
BRIGGS, Texas—The new medium-lift rocket under development by Firefly Aerospace and Northrop Grumman will eventually incorporate a recoverable booster that will return to its launch site in Virginia for reuse. Firefly has previously suggested rocket reuse is on the roadmap for the new rocket—known, for now, only as the Medium Launch Vehicle (MLV)—but officials revealed…
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SpaceX is about to launch Starship again—the FAA will be more forgiving this time
The Federal Aviation Administration approved the commercial launch license for the fourth test flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket Tuesday, with liftoff from South Texas targeted for just after sunrise Thursday. “The FAA has approved a license authorization for SpaceX Starship Flight 4,” the agency said in a statement. “SpaceX met all safety and other licensing…
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Rocket Report: North Korean rocket explosion; launch over Chinese skyline
Welcome to Edition 6.46 of the Rocket Report! It looks like we will be covering the crew test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft and the fourth test flight of SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket over the next week. All of this is happening as SpaceX keeps up its cadence of flying multiple Starlink missions per week.…
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Surviving reentry is the key goal for SpaceX’s fourth Starship test flight
After three test flights, SpaceX has shown that the world’s most powerful rocket can reach space. Now, engineers must demonstrate the company’s next-generation Starship vehicle can get back home. This will be the central objective for the fourth Starship test flight, which could happen as soon as early June, according to Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder…
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Blue Origin resumes human flights to suborbital space, but it wasn’t perfect
More than 60 years after he was denied an opportunity to become America’s first Black astronaut, Ed Dwight finally traveled into space Sunday with five other passengers on a 10-minute flight inside a Blue Origin capsule. Dwight, a retired Air Force captain and test pilot, had a chance to become the first African American astronaut.…
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We take a stab at decoding SpaceX’s ever-changing plans for Starship in Florida
There are a couple of ways to read the announcement from the Federal Aviation Administration that it’s kicking off a new environmental review of SpaceX’s plan to launch the most powerful rocket in the world from Florida. The FAA said on May 10 that it plans to develop an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for SpaceX’s…
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Rocket Report: Starship stacked; Georgia shuts the door on Spaceport Camden
Welcome to Edition 6.44 of the Rocket Report! Kathy Lueders, general manager of SpaceX’s Starbase launch facility, says the company expects to receive an FAA launch license for the next Starship test flight shortly after Memorial Day. It looks like this rocket could fly in late May or early June, about two-and-a-half months after the…
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First Dream Chaser spaceplane needs more work when it gets to launch site
There is still some work to do to prepare Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane for its first mission, but the company says the winged resupply craft for the International Space Station will soon ship to its launch site in Florida. The Dream Chaser will take off on top of a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket…
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Two giants in the satellite telecom industry join forces to counter Starlink
Facing competition from Starlink and other emerging satellite broadband networks, the two companies that own most of the traditional commercial communications spacecraft in geostationary orbit announced plans to join forces Tuesday. SES, based in Luxembourg, will buy Intelsat for $3.1 billion. The acquisition will create a combined company boasting a fleet of some 100 multi-ton satellites…
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Rocket Report: Starship could save Mars Sample Return; BE-4s for second Vulcan
Welcome to Edition 6.40 of the Rocket Report! There was a lot of exciting news this week. For the first time, SpaceX launched a reusable Falcon 9 booster for a 20th flight. A few miles away at Cape Canaveral, Boeing and United Launch Alliance completed one of the final steps before the first crew launch…