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.

When the four-person crew of Axiom Mission 2 launched on a 10-day mission to the International Space Station in May 2023, their schedule was packed with biomedical research aimed at understanding how the human body responds to spaceflight. Now, a new analysis of blood samples from that mission suggests that short-duration spaceflight may briefly accelerate biological aging—while also revealing signs of an intrinsic capacity for recovery once astronauts return to Earth.

GE Aerospace and Lockheed Martin have completed a series of propulsion tests demonstrating the feasibility of a liquid-fueled rotating detonation ramjet designed for future hypersonic missile systems. The milestone marks the first major outcome of a broader joint technology development effort between the two companies aimed at advancing affordable, long-range hypersonic strike capabilities.

China carried out its third and fourth orbital launches of 2026 within hours of each other, sending an Earth-observation satellite for Algeria into orbit aboard a Long March rocket and adding four spacecraft to a domestic internet-of-things constellation via a nighttime sea launch.

NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy have renewed and expanded their long-standing partnership to develop a nuclear fission power system capable of operating on the Moon, a move officials say is critical to sustaining human presence beyond Earth and preparing for future missions to Mars. Under the renewed agreement, the two agencies are targeting the deployment of a fission surface power reactor on the lunar surface by 2030 as part of the Artemis program and the broader Moon-to-Mars exploration strategy.

Four astronauts returned safely to Earth early Thursday, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California after NASA ordered their mission cut short due to a medical issue—the first time in the agency’s history that a spaceflight has been ended early for such a reason.

The U.S. Space Force is once again reshuffling launch assignments for its Global Positioning System constellation, shifting the next GPS satellite mission from United Launch Alliance to SpaceX in an effort to accelerate delivery and reduce costs. A spokesperson for the Space Force’s Space Systems Command confirmed Tuesday that the GPS III Space Vehicle 09 (SV09) will now launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket instead of ULA’s Vulcan.