Tag: reusable rockets
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Space Epoch Raises $343 Million to Fund Reusable Yuanxingzhe-1 Rocket
Chinese commercial launch company Space Epoch has completed a Series B++ financing round, bringing its total funding raised over the past six months to more than 2.3 billion yuan, or approximately $343 million. The capital will support the first orbital flight of its reusable Yuanxingzhe-1 methane-fueled rocket, first-stage recovery testing and the development of commercial…
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SpaceX Rolls Super Heavy to Launch Pad for Starship’s First Orbital Flight
SpaceX moved the Super Heavy booster assigned to Starship Flight 14 to the launch pad at Starbase, Texas, on September 21, advancing preparations for the vehicle’s first orbital mission. Targeted for September 28 pending regulatory approval, the flight is expected to complete six Earth orbits and deploy 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites. The booster, identified…
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SpaceX Targets September 28 for Starship’s First Orbital Flight as Florida Pad Nears Readiness
SpaceX is targeting no earlier than September 28 for Starship Flight 14, pending regulatory approval, in what would be the vehicle’s first orbital mission after 13 suborbital flight tests. The mission is expected to carry 26 Starlink V3 satellites and comes as SpaceX moves Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center toward operational status,…
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SpaceX Falcon 9 Landing Team Wins First Neil Armstrong Space Prize for Pioneering Reusable Booster Landings
Purdue University presented its first Neil Armstrong Space Prize to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Booster Landing Team on September 15, 2026, at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. Announced in April, the award recognizes the team’s development of vertical booster landings, which made repeated first-stage reuse a routine part of orbital launches. Five SpaceX employees accepted…
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SpaceX Sets Sept. 22 for Starship’s First Orbital Flight and Starlink V3 Deployment
SpaceX is targeting Sept. 22, 2026, for the first orbital flight of its Starship launch system, a roughly 10-hour mission that will deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites and send the spacecraft around Earth six times before a planned Pacific Ocean splashdown. Flight 14 is scheduled to lift off from Starbase in South Texas during a…
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Zhuque-2E Y7 Launches 10 Qianfan Satellites in Single Mission (Video)
LandSpace successfully launched a Zhuque-2E Y7 carrier rocket at 2:26 p.m. on September 15 from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone, placing 10 satellites for Qianfan Polar Orbit Group 19 into their designated orbits. The successful one-rocket, 10-satellite mission advanced the deployment of the Qianfan constellation while reinforcing Zhuque-2E’s role in China’s expanding commercial…
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How Do Rockets Find Their Way Home? Three Mainstream Recovery Methods Explained
On August 19, the Zhuque-3 Y2 launch vehicle lifted off from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone. Its first stage successfully landed as planned at the Zhuque-3 landing site in Minqin County, Gansu Province. The mission marked another major breakthrough for China in key reusable-rocket technologies, making Zhuque-3 the country’s first launch vehicle to…
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Inside the Global Reusable Rocket Engine Race: Who Is Defining the Next-Generation Heart of Spaceflight?
If rocket engines could only be used once, the space economy would remain an expensive one-way journey. But as Falcon 9 first stages repeatedly return to their landing sites and Raptor engines fire again and again aboard Starship, that logic has been fundamentally rewritten: engine reusability is becoming a decisive factor in launch costs, flight…
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Both Bound for the Moon: Why Are NASA’s SLS and SpaceX’s Starship So Different?
On one side is the orange-and-white SLS. On the other is Starship, resembling a stainless-steel tower. Both are part of the United States’ architecture for returning humans to the Moon, yet they have almost nothing in common—from their appearance and engines to how they are intended to operate. Their respective roles: SLS Block 1 and…
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China’s First Open Shared TT&C Platform for Commercial Space Begins Operations in Beijing
China’s first open shared platform for commercial space tracking, telemetry and command (TT&C) services officially began operations Aug. 19 in Beijing, supporting the full measurement and control process for the launch of a Honghu-03 satellite and the recovery of a reusable rocket booster. The Beijing Rocket Street Commercial Space Intelligent TT&C Center, located in Beijing…