SSI News
Virgin Galactic completes a SpaceShipTwo suborbital test flight
At 1526 GMT on 22 May Virgin Galactic achieved its first successful suborbital crewed mission from Spaceport America, New Mexico. Following its release from the WhiteKnightTwo - VMS Eve - carrier aircraft the SpaceShipTwo vehicle - VSS Unity - completed a crewed...
Money for newspace
Funding for newspace companies continued to flow this month, boosting the prospects for three budding space ventures. Axelspace On 13 May, Japanese imaging firm Axelspace announced a US$23.8m investment from a group of venture capital companies and investment funds,...
Firefly selects SpaceX to launch its lunar lander mission
On 19 May Firefly Aerospace contracted SpaceX to launch its Blue Ghost lunar lander mission, planned for 2023. SpaceX will utilise its Falcon 9 launch vehicle for the mission. Firefly is developing the Blue Ghost lander as part of the NASA CLPS (Commercial Lunar...
China launches ocean monitoring satellite to LEO
China successfully launched a Long March 4B (CZ-4B) vehicle carrying the HAIYANG 2D satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 0403 GMT on 19 March 2021 into a sun-synchronous orbit. The HAIYANG 2D satellite is to be used to monitor the health of the seas...
ULA Atlas V launches SBIRS GEO-5 to bolster American missile launch detection capability
The United Launch Alliance (ULA) successfully launched the SBIRS GEO-5, TDO 3 and TDO 4 satellites into a GTO orbit at 1737 GMT on 18 May on an Atlas V 421 vehicle (using a pair of the standard AJ60A solid rocket boosters) from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station,...
China lands rover on Mars
Mars is now the red planet in more than one way: on 14 May, China successfully landed its Zhurong rover in a dune field in Utopia Planitia. This is significant because it marks China as the third nation to land a spacecraft on Mars, and only the second to make a...
Space Tourism at last?
It looks as if the floodgates might be about to open in the space tourism market following years of frustratingly slow progress. On 13 May, space tourism company Space Adventures announced that two civilians will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on the...
SpaceX launches Starlink mission with reduced complement to accommodate two rideshares
At 2254 GMT on 15 May SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 vehicle carrying 52 Starlink satellites and two rideshare payloads: Capella-06 and Tyvak 0130. The mission was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The B1058 first-stage successfully landed on the...
Rocket Lab Electron rocket suffers launch failure losing two BlackSky satellites
An Electron rocket built by Rocket Lab suffered a failure during a launch that took place at 1111 GMT on 15 May from Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. The anomaly occurred post ignition of the second-stage. Seconds after ignition, the single Rutherford engine shut down...
Virgin Orbit signed to provide two launches for British newspace company Arqit Limited
On 12 May Virgin Orbit announced that it had been selected by Arqit Limited to launch its first two satellites. The contract covers two launches starting in 2023. Arqit Limited is a British, newspace company which has recently exited "stealth mode" and developed a...
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