Tag: Launch Vehicles
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Stoke Space Raises $1 Billion, Targets Early 2027 Debut for Fully Reusable Nova Rocket
Stoke Space announced on September 8 that it completed the initial closing of a $1 billion Series E financing round, bringing its total capital raised to $2.3 billion. The Kent, Washington-based company will use the funding to prepare its fully reusable Nova Pathfinder rocket for a first orbital launch in early 2027, expand production and…
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China’s Private Rockets Accelerate Toward Orbit: Who Has Made It—and Who Is Next in Line
On September 1, PALLAS-1 Y1 lifted off from Jiuquan. Galactic Energy is no longer a company with only small solid-fueled rockets: its 52-meter-tall, medium-to-heavy liquid launch vehicle, powered by seven clustered liquid oxygen/kerosene engines, has now completed its first orbital flight. PALLAS-1 Y1 lifts off. Image source: Galactic Energy website, September 2, 2026. Less than…
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SpaceX Expands Starbase as Flight 14 Vehicles Complete Testing
SpaceX is expanding assembly, testing and launch infrastructure across Starbase, Texas, as Ship 41 and Booster 21 move through final checkout for Starship Flight 14. Recent aerial imagery shows simultaneous work at Massey’s test site, the Gigabay assembly building and both orbital launch pads, while hardware for Flight 15 and later vehicles is already entering…
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Isar Aerospace Makes History With First Orbital Launch From Western Europe
Isar Aerospace became the first company to launch a rocket into orbit from Western European soil on September 5, 2026, when its Spectrum vehicle lifted off from Andøya Spaceport in northern Norway and successfully deployed five CubeSats. The milestone came on only the German company’s second flight, following a failed debut in March 2025 and…
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Cowboy Space Takes 291,035-Square-Foot Seattle-Area Site for Orbital Data Center and Rocket Production
Cowboy Space has leased a 291,035-square-foot industrial facility in Kent, Washington, to manufacture rockets and spacecraft for its proposed Stampede orbital AI data center constellation, giving the California-based startup a large production base near Seattle’s established aerospace workforce. Newmark, which arranged the transaction for landlord CenterPoint Properties, said the agreement is the largest industrial lease…
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SpaceX Clears Florida Launch Capacity for Starship by Moving Falcon 9 Starlink Missions West
SpaceX has consolidated its remaining Falcon 9 Starlink launches at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, ending the constellation’s Falcon 9 campaign from Florida as it prepares the Space Coast for Starship-Super Heavy operations. The operational shift removes a large volume of routine Starlink missions from SpaceX’s Florida schedule, freeing launch infrastructure, personnel and range…
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HyImpulse Raises More Than €50 Million Ahead of Second SR75 Launch
German launch vehicle developer HyImpulse announced September 2, 2026, that it had raised more than €50 million, approximately $58 million, in a Series A extension to advance its suborbital SR75 and orbital SL1 rockets. The financing comes as the company prepares for a second SR75 flight from SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland before the end of…
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India Launches EOS-05, Its First Geosynchronous Earth-Imaging Satellite (Video)
A GSLV Mark II rocket launched the EOS-05 Earth-imaging satellite toward geosynchronous orbit — something India has never done successfully — from Satish Dhawan Space Centre on Sept. 3, 2026 at 5:25 p.m. EDT (2:55 a.m. on Sept. 4 India Standard Time). Credit: ISRO India launched EOS-05, its first Earth observation satellite designed to image…
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PALLAS-1 Completes Successful Maiden Flight: Why Did Galactic Energy Stick With LOX/Kerosene?
On the morning of September 1, PALLAS-1 Y1 lifted off from Jiuquan and successfully entered its planned orbit. For Galactic Energy, the mission marked not only the debut of a new launch vehicle, but also the company’s transition from small solid-fuel rockets to a medium-lift liquid-fuel rocket. The rocket also embodies a choice that is…
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SpaceX FCC Filing Outlines First Full Orbital Attempt for Starship Flight 14
SpaceX has submitted communications applications to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission for Starship Flight 14, formally identifying the mission as the program’s first attempt to place the vehicle into a sustained Earth orbit. The paperwork requests authority to operate launch-vehicle communications during a window beginning September 15, 2026, and extending through March 15, 2027. The…