Space FrontPage

Blue Origin has completed its investigation into the partial failure of the third flight of its New Glenn rocket, clearing the way for the heavy-lift vehicle to return to flight operations. In a statement released May 22, the company confirmed that the Federal Aviation Administration approved the final mishap report for the April 19 NG-3 mission, during which the rocket’s upper stage suffered a malfunction that prevented its payload from reaching its intended orbit.

SpaceX successfully launched the first flight of its redesigned “Version 3” Super Heavy-Starship rocket on Friday evening, marking a major milestone in the company’s push toward fully reusable deep-space transportation systems for missions to the Moon and Mars. The towering 407-foot-tall vehicle lifted off at 6:30 p.m. EDT from SpaceX’s upgraded second launch pad at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas. The mission served as the debut of the company’s heavily upgraded Starship V3 architecture, featuring more powerful Raptor 3 engines, enhanced flight-control systems, improved heat-shield performance, and infrastructure designed for rapid reusability.

Polish space technology firm Eycore has successfully launched its first Earth observation satellite, Eycore-1, marking a significant milestone for both the company and Europe’s growing private space sector. The satellite lifted off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on May 3 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, making Eycore only the second privately owned European company to operate its own synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite.

Lockheed Martin has announced it will join forces with Firefly Aerospace and Seagate Space to develop a sea-based launch capability for the Alpha rocket. The initiative signals a growing push toward more flexible and responsive access to space, particularly for national security missions. Currently, Firefly’s 29.48-meter Alpha rocket launches exclusively from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Space Force Base. However, the new collaboration aims to break free from the limitations of fixed, land-based launch infrastructure by leveraging Seagate Space’s “Gateway” offshore platform.

SpaceX is facing a fresh legal challenge as it prepares for the next test of its massive Starship rocket, with residents in nearby Texas communities alleging that previous launches have caused damage to their homes. The lawsuit, filed April 30 in federal court, comes as the company moves closer to the 12th test flight of its Starship system from its Starbase facility in South Texas. Airspace advisories indicate launch opportunities could begin as early as May 12 and continue through May 18, although SpaceX has not officially confirmed a launch date.

SpaceX successfully launched and deployed 45 satellites early Sunday morning in a complex international rideshare mission aboard its Falcon 9 rocket, marking another major milestone in the company’s growing launch operations. Liftoff took place at 12:00 a.m. PDT (3:00 a.m. EDT / 0700 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Station in California. The mission, designated CAS500-2, was led by South Korea’s Compact Advanced Satellite 500-2, with SpaceX later confirming that all payloads were successfully deployed.

A discarded upper stage from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is on course to collide with the Moon’s near side in early August, in what experts describe as a rare and scientifically notable—though harmless—event. The rocket stage, left over from a January 2025 launch that carried two commercial lunar landers, has been drifting through a highly elliptical orbit around Earth for more than a year. That orbit periodically carried it beyond the Moon before gravitational interactions gradually altered its trajectory. Astronomers now project that journey will end with an impact on Aug. 5.

SpaceX successfully launched its most powerful operational rocket, the Falcon Heavy, on Wednesday, sending a next-generation communications satellite into orbit and marking a significant milestone for global connectivity. The towering 70-meter rocket lifted off at 10:13 a.m. EDT (1413 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Powered by 27 Merlin engines generating approximately 5 million pounds of thrust, the rocket soared skyward on its 12th mission since its debut in 2018.

NASA is preparing for its next human spaceflight mission under the Commercial Crew Program, announcing that the SpaceX Crew-13 launch is now targeted for no earlier than mid-September. The revised timeline, moved up from November, is part of the agency’s effort to increase the frequency of U.S. crew rotation missions to the International Space Station (ISS) and maintain a steady human presence in orbit.

In a significant milestone for U.S. military space operations, the U.S. Space Force successfully launched the final satellite in its Global Positioning System (GPS) III series early Tuesday morning. The mission lifted off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket operated by SpaceX, signaling the conclusion of a major modernization phase for the GPS constellation. The rocket launched at 2:53:25 a.m. EDT (0653:25 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, after a 24-hour delay caused by unfavorable weather conditions in the booster recovery zone.

Article by Dhanushka Nilanga

Blue Origin encountered a setback in its push to scale up launch operations after its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket experienced a second-stage malfunction during its third flight on April 19, leaving its payload in an unintended orbit. The NG-3 mission lifted off at 7:25 a.m. Eastern from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, following a brief hold in the countdown due to an unspecified technical issue. While the launch and ascent initially proceeded as planned, problems emerged during the upper stage phase of the mission.