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...
SpaceX launches Starlink mission and achieves first 10th stage re-use
At 0642 GMT on 9 May 2021 SpaceX conducted its second Starlink launch of the month. This mission lifted-off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and carried 60 Starlink satellites into LEO. Importantly, this mission was the first to pass the 10th re-use milestone for a...
China launches a fresh Yaogan 30 satellite triplet believed to have an SIGINT role
On 6 May at 1811 GMT, China successfully launched a Long March 2C (CZ-2C) vehicle from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, China. The primary payload on the mission was the Yaogan 30-8-A, B, C triplet, these were joined by Tianqi-12 which also hitched a ride to LEO....
Blue Origin to auction seat on first crewed mission
Budding space tourism company Blue Origin has announced that, following a long development programme, it will conduct its first crewed New Shepard flight on 20 July. The announcement, on 5 May 2021, was timed to mark the 60th anniversary of the launch - on 5 May 1961...
SpaceX Starship makes successful landing
Following four failed attempts to land previous versions of its Starship launch vehicle, SpaceX finally succeeded in landing its latest prototype, SN15, on 5 May 2021, following a six-minute test flight. As the dust cleared from the landing pad at the Boca Chica...
SpaceX launches first Starlink mission of May placing 60 satellites into orbit
At 1901 GMT on 4 May 2021 SpaceX successfully launched another set of 60 Starlink satellites. The mission utilised a Falcon 9 vehicle from Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, USA. The satellites were deployed into their deployment orbit in LEO 1 hour 4 minutes after...
Crew Dragon Resilience returns to Earth
After a US record breaking 167 days docked on the International Space Station, the reusable Crew Dragon Resilience undocked from the Harmony Zenith docking port at 0035 GMT on the 2 May with Commander Mike Hopkins, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Soichi...
Senator Bill Nelson becomes NASA’s Administrator
After a much smoother passage of congressional acceptance that his predecessor Jim Bridenstine (he was confirmed by unanimously by the US Senate) the former Democrat Senator Bill Nelson was formally sworn in front of his family, former administrators Jim Bridenstine...
Prospective German launch start-ups add bookings to manifests whilst competing for funding (Updated)
Two of the three upcoming German small launcher developers: Isar Aerospace and Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA), have been the recipients of launch contracts (or bookings) in recent weeks. Both of these start-ups are developing new small launch vehicles, Spectrum (Isar)...
China launches Yaogan 34 optical remote sensing satellite
At 0727 GMT on 30 April China launched the YAOGAN 34 optical remote sensing satellite into a sun-synchronous Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The mission was carried by a Long March 4C (CZ-4C) rocket and lifted-off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China. It is believed...
