Tag: Launch
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SpaceX Pushes First Starship Tower Catch Attempt to Later This Year as Reusability Campaign Advances
SpaceX is now targeting its first attempt to catch a returning Starship upper stage with the launch tower “chopstick” arms within the next few months, a shift from earlier expectations that the milestone could occur on the vehicle’s next flight. The updated timeline came from CEO Elon Musk, who said the company’s first Starship tower-catch…
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China Moves Chang’e-7 to Launch Pad for High-Stakes Lunar South Pole Mission
China has moved the Chang’e-7 lunar probe and its Long March-5 Y14 rocket to the launch area at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan, bringing one of the country’s most ambitious lunar exploration missions to the final stage before liftoff. The vertical transfer took place on Aug. 19, 2026, after the spacecraft and launcher…
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China Achieves First Land-Based Recovery of an Orbital-Class Rocket Booster as Zhuque-3 Returns Upright
Source: LandSpace Technology Corporation Ltd. China has successfully completed its first land-based recovery of an orbital-class launch vehicle first stage using powered vertical landing and landing legs, marking a major milestone in the country’s reusable launch vehicle development. At 7:35 a.m. Beijing time on August 19, Zhuque-3 Y2, a reusable launch vehicle developed by LandSpace…
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Airtel Africa and Starlink Turn Direct-to-Device Connectivity Into a Commercial Network
The commercial launch of Starlink Mobile in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) marks a more important shift in satellite communications than the headline “Africa’s first commercial direct-to-device service” might suggest. On August 14, 2026, Airtel Africa and SpaceX began commercial Starlink Mobile operations in the DRC, allowing customers with compatible smartphones to connect…
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SpaceX Launches Two Falcon 9s From Opposite Coasts in 38 Minutes
The two flights deployed the USSF-366 mission for the U.S. Space Force from Florida and a Globalstar-2R communications satellite from California. The milestone highlights SpaceX’s approach of treating orbital launch operations as a high-density transportation network, relying on automated range safety protocols and parallel pad refurbishment to increase turnaround throughput. Company executives frequently compare rocket…
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PlanetiQ Secures $2.73 Million NOAA Contract for GNSS-RO and TEC Data
PlanetiQ announced that it has been awarded a $2.73 million contract by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to provide commercial GNSS Radio Occultation (GNSS-RO) and Total Electron Content (TEC) data through NOAA’s Commercial Data Program. Under the 74-day contract, PlanetiQ will provide NOAA with 4200 GNSS-RO profiles per day and 500 TEC tracks…
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SEOPS Expands Waymaker Program as First LEO Mission Nears Full Capacity
SEOPS has announced that its inaugural Waymaker dedicated rideshare mission to sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) was nearing capacity, with 90% of available payload mass already under contract just months after the program’s launch. To meet customer demand for dedicated rideshare opportunities to low Earth orbit (LEO), SEOPS has introduced a second Waymaker mission in early 2028.…
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U.S Space Force and Japan Launch Space-Domain Awareness Payload on QZS-7 Satellite
A U.S. Space Domain Awareness payload hosted on Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite 7 (QZS-7) successfully launched on a Japanese H-3 launch vehicle from Tanegashima Space Center (TNSC) in Japan on August 10, 2026. This is the final of the two launches that are part of the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System-Hosted Payload (QZSS-HP) program, the first bilateral U.S.…
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MDA Space Deploys First Eight Globalstar Replenishment Satellites
MDA Space, a provider of technology and services to the global space industry, has confirmed the successful deployment of the initial eight replenishment satellites for Globalstar Inc.’s existing low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation. Developed and fully integrated and tested in Montréal, the satellites were launched on Aug. 15, 2026, at 9:12 p.m. ET aboard a…
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EnduroSat and Bulgaria Sign MoU for Space and Defense R&D Center
EnduroSat, a space infrastructure builder, and the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria had signed a memorandum of understanding to turn the former military airbase Dobroslavtsi into Europe’s space and defense R&D center. For constellation operators, governments, and defense forces, the site had enabled serial production and logistics for large and complex space fleets. “Rarely…