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The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has officially concluded its investigation into the explosive end of SpaceX's Starship Flight 7, which suffered a catastrophic failure high above the Atlantic Ocean in January. The agency has also wrapped up its probe into Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket mishap, marking significant milestones for both spaceflight companies.Starship Flight 7: A Partial Success That Ended in Fiery DemiseOn January 16, SpaceX launched its ambitious Starship Flight 7 from the Starbase facility in South Texas. The mission began on a promising note, with the Super Heavy booster executing a flawless return, successfully landing at the launch tower using its complex "chopstick" arm system just seven minutes after liftoff.

Four private astronauts launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center this evening aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon, marking the first human orbital flight to circle the Earth over both the North and South Poles. This unprecedented trajectory offers a distinctive perspective of the planet from space.

NASA's Artemis II mission, a crewed test flight around the Moon, is scheduled for April 2026 and appears on track. However, the subsequent Artemis III mission, intended to return astronauts to the lunar surface by mid-2027, faces growing uncertainty. A key challenge is SpaceX's Starship Human Landing System (HLS), which must demonstrate several milestones, including an uncrewed lunar landing and liftoff, before carrying a crew.

Less than a month after SpaceX’s Crew-10 mission launched to the International Space Station, another four-person team is preparing for a historic journey. The Fram2 mission will be the first crewed spaceflight to fly in a polar orbit, offering a unique vantage point over Earth's poles.Fram2 is scheduled to lift off on Monday, March 31, at 9:47 p.m. EDT (0147 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew will fly aboard Dragon Resilience, launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket making its sixth flight—a first for a crewed mission. The mission is expected to last three to five days, during which the spacecraft will orbit Earth over the poles.

The inaugural flight of Isar Aerospace's Spectrum rocket ended in a spectacular failure today, marking a major setback for the Germany-based company. The rocket, aiming to become the first orbital vehicle launched from European soil, lifted off from Andøya Spaceport in Norway but suffered a catastrophic anomaly just 18 seconds into the flight.

In its fifth mission of the year, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) successfully launched its latest spy satellite, NROL-69, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The classified payload lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Monday at 1:48 p.m. EDT (1748 UTC), heading to an undisclosed orbital destination.

The first-ever orbital rocket launch from continental Europe is on the horizon, with Germany-based Isar Aerospace gearing up for the maiden flight of its Spectrum rocket. The historic launch is scheduled for no earlier than Monday, March 24, from the Andøya Spaceport in Norway. The three-hour launch window will open at 7:30 a.m. EST (1130 GMT) and close at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT).

The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) successfully launched its eighth batch of satellites as part of its proliferated architecture constellation. The mission, carried out by SpaceX, also marked a new record for the company’s Falcon 9 rocket program, with the fastest-ever turnaround time for a reused first-stage booster.

NASA is carefully considering an additional test flight of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft before it is approved for regular crew rotation missions to the International Space Station (ISS). The agency is assessing whether this next test should be crewed or uncrewed, aiming to ensure all necessary improvements have been validated.

Starlab Space LLC has reached a significant milestone in its ambitious commercial space station project, successfully completing the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) in partnership with NASA. This achievement marks a crucial step toward full-scale production, validating the station’s architecture, systems, and integration plans as technically sound and safe for future astronaut operations. The PDR, coupled with a rigorous Level 1 safety review, confirms that Starlab’s design is on track for certification, positioning the company to compete for future NASA contracts for astronaut activity and station utilization.

In a precisely timed splashdown, the four astronauts of the Crew-9 mission safely returned to Earth on Tuesday evening, marking the end of an extraordinary chapter in their spaceflight journey. The crew’s Dragon Freedom spacecraft descended into the Gulf of Mexico near Tallahassee, Florida, at 5:57 p.m. EDT (2157 UTC), concluding a roughly 17-hour journey home from the International Space Station (ISS).

Firefly Aerospace has confirmed the successful conclusion of its Blue Ghost 1 lunar lander mission, which met 100% of its objectives. The mission ended with a final transmission at approximately 7:15 p.m. EDT on March 16, following 346 hours of operations — nearly 14.5 days in sunlight and an additional five hours after sunset at its Mare Crisium landing site.