Space FrontPage

​ SpaceX has issued a temporary "pause" on all Falcon 9 launches following an engine malfunction at the conclusion of a Starlink mission on Monday, February 2. While the rocket successfully delivered its payload of 25 satellites to their intended orbit, the vehicle's upper stage experienced an "off-nominal condition" during a critical deorbit maneuver, raising concerns about orbital safety and hardware reliability.

A key countdown rehearsal for NASA’s first crewed Artemis mission around the Moon was cut short early Tuesday after engineers were unable to resolve an out-of-limits hydrogen leak, prompting the space agency to formally slip the long-awaited flight from February to no earlier than March.

A rare and punishing arctic outbreak sweeping through the Sunshine State has forced NASA to hit the brakes on its final major hurdle before returning humans to lunar orbit. On Friday, the space agency announced that abnormally cold temperatures and high winds have delayed a critical "wet dress rehearsal" for the Artemis II mission, subsequently pushing the earliest possible launch date to February 8.

In a strategic shift that marks a major turning point for the commercial space sector, Blue Origin announced on Friday that it is officially suspending its celebrated New Shepard flight program. The company, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, revealed that the hiatus will last for at least two years as it redirects its engineering talent and financial capital toward the intensifying race for the lunar surface. By pausing the suborbital flights that have famously carried nearly 100 people across the Karman line—the internationally recognized boundary of space—Blue Origin is signaling a decisive pivot away from short-duration tourism and toward the high-stakes infrastructure required for a permanent human presence on the Moon.

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.