Rocket Lab successfully returned to the pad on Thursday, January 29, launching a critical Earth-observation satellite for South Korea. The mission, titled "Bridging the Swarm," marks a significant step forward for the Korean Peninsula’s disaster-monitoring capabilities, though the path to the launchpad was marked by several technical hurdles and nearly six weeks of delays.
In the quiet, predawn hours of Thursday morning, SpaceX punctuated a historic month of operations by successfully launching its 13th Falcon 9 mission of January. While the launch marked a significant cadence milestone for the aerospace giant, the company followed the mission with a major announcement: the release of Stargaze, a revolutionary space-traffic management tool designed to prevent catastrophic orbital collisions.
Rocket Lab has officially delivered its distinctive “Hungry Hippo” payload fairing to its integration facilities at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Virginia. The arrival marks a pivotal transition for the company as it moves from component fabrication to the integration and qualification phase of its upcoming Neutron launch vehicle.
SpaceX is targeting a mid-March return to flight for its colossal Starship launch system, a mission that will mark the debut of a significantly upgraded "Version 3" (V3) configuration. This upcoming test, designated Flight 12, is anticipated to lift off in approximately six weeks, provided preparations continue on schedule. The timeline was shared by SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk on January 25.
NASA has cleared a major technical hurdle in its push to revive nuclear propulsion for deep-space exploration, completing a comprehensive cold-flow test campaign of a flight-like nuclear reactor development unit for the first time since the 1960s.
China is nearing operational readiness on its first offshore platform purpose-built to test, launch, and recover reusable liquid-propellant rockets, a move aimed at cutting launch costs and scaling up the country’s commercial access to orbit.
The astronauts selected to carry humanity back around the Moon have entered quarantine, marking a major milestone in preparations for NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission.
Blue Origin is set to take a major step forward in orbital rocket reusability with the next flight of its heavy-lift New Glenn vehicle.
Rocket Lab opened its 2026 launch manifest with a successful Electron mission from New Zealand, marking another milestone for the small-satellite launch provider. An Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 on the Māhia Peninsula at 5:52 a.m. EST on Jan. 22 (1052 GMT; 11:52 p.m. local time), carrying two satellites for European satellite company Open Cosmos. Roughly 70 minutes after liftoff, Electron’s kick stage deployed the spacecraft into a circular orbit about 1,050 kilometers above Earth, meeting all primary mission objectives.
Stratolaunch has completed a significant capital raise aimed at rapidly expanding its hypersonic test and flight services, bringing Elliott Investment Management on board as a new investor alongside existing backer Cerberus Capital Management. The funding is intended to accelerate production, increase flight cadence, and strengthen the company’s role within the U.S. defense industrial base as demand for hypersonic capabilities grows.
Starfish Space is poised to make history after securing a $52.5 million contract from the U.S. Space Force to provide satellite deorbiting services—marking the first time the military has signed a deal specifically for end-of-life disposal within a low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation.
NASA on Saturday began a critical new phase in its return-to-the-Moon campaign, rolling out the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion crew capsule for final preparations ahead of Artemis 2, the agency’s first crewed lunar mission in more than half a century.
