Tag: aerospace engineering

Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 3 Opens in Virginia

Via Satellite reports, “Rocket Lab hosted the opening of its Launch Complex 3 in Virginia on Thursday. The site at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport will serve as the test, launch, and landing facility for its Neutron rocket in development. Rocket Lab built the site in less than two years after starting construction in late 2023. It is the company’s fourth launch site — the launcher has two pads at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, and also operates Launch Complex 2 at the Virginia spaceport.”
Full Story (Via Satellite)

Video

Rocket Lab hosts the opening of its Launch Complex 3
Rocket Lab; YouTube

General Atomics’ YFQ-42A Performs First Flight Test

Aviation Week reports, “Flight testing for the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) began Aug. 27, with the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. YFQ-42A taking off for the first time. The company, in an announcement after the close of business, confirmed the aircraft conducted flight testing in coordination with the U.S. Air Force.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

 Video

YFQ-42A unmanned fighter conducting flight testing
Media Magik Entertainment; YouTube

SpaceX Starship Completes Successful Test Flight After Previous Launch Setbacks

The New York Times reports, “After several disappointing failures, SpaceX’s Starship — the mammoth rocket that Elon Musk hopes to use to take people to Mars — made it all the way up to space and all the way back down to Earth during a 10th test flight on Tuesday night. The largely successful mission was a likely relief to both SpaceX and NASA, suggesting that the development program is back on track. NASA is counting on Starship as the lander to put its astronauts on the moon in the coming years.”
Full Story (New York Times – Subscription Publication)

 Video

SpaceX Starship Completes Successful Test Flight (Launch at the 2:59:19 mark)
NASASpaceFlight; YouTube

AIAA Statement on Tenth SpaceX Starship Test Flight

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 27, 2025 – Reston, Va. – AIAA issued the following statement from CEO Clay Mowry:

“Congratulations to the SpaceX team on the incredible 10th test flight of Starship. Every flight pushes the boundaries of what’s possible in reusable launch systems. The onboard camera views gave us a front-row seat to witness progress on the world’s largest heavy-lift reusable space launch system.

This flight demonstrated several of Starship’s capabilities including the ability to successfully dispense test Starlink payloads. The SpaceX engineering teams have applied valuable lessons from their recent test flights and they are making progress on a number of fronts.

It’s exciting to see SpaceX breaking barriers in reusable launch! We applaud SpaceX on accelerating humanity’s journey back to the moon and onward to Mars.

AIAA salutes the thousands of SpaceX professionals whose engineering expertise and determination have made this bold step forward with Starship that is shaping the future of aerospace.”

Media contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270

About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org or follow AIAA on X/Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

AIAA Award Presented at International Conference on Environmental Systems

FROM THE INSTITUTE
The 2025 AIAA Jeffries Aerospace Medicine and Life Sciences Research Award was presented at the International Conference on Environmental Systems, 13-17 July in Prague, Czechia, to Christophe Lasseur, European Space Agency (retired). He was honored “For leadership of international advanced life support research toward development of safe and reliable closed loop regenerative systems for sustained human presence in space.”
Full Story (Aerospace America)

SpaceX Launches NAOS and 7 Other Rideshare Satellites from Vandenberg

Spaceflight Now reports, “SpaceX launched its 37th Falcon 9 rocket launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base this year, late Tuesday morning. The orbital flight features a defense satellite for Luxembourg along with multiple other rideshare payloads.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

 Video

SpaceX Launches NAOS and 7 Other Rideshare Satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. (Launch at the 30:20 mark)
Spaceflight Now; YouTube

RTX Ventures Aims to Transform the Industry, One Investment at a Time

FROM THE INSTITUTE
Innovators! If you know of a startup enterprise in the aerospace or defense industries looking for investments, you may want to get to know RTX Ventures. A subsidiary of aerospace giant RTX Corporation, RTX Ventures is a three-year-old venture capital firm with a unique approach, noted Executive Director Roman Mueller. He described how the firm seeks companies to provide investment funding.
Full Story (Aerospace America)

Korean Air Announces Largest-ever Boeing Jet Order

Reuters reports, “Korean Air announced a $50 billion order on Monday for 103 Boeing airplanes and GE Aerospace engines and servicing coinciding with the visit of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to Washington. The order, the largest in the Korean air carrier’s history, includes a mix of 787s, 777s and 737 Boeing airplanes worth about $36.5 billion.”
Full Story (Reuters)

SpaceX Scrubs 10th Starship Test Launch Because of Lousy Weather

The New York Times reports, “SpaceX scrubbed the 10th test flight of Starship, the mammoth rocket that Elon Musk hopes to use to take people to Mars, for the second night in a row on Monday, The vehicle was fully loaded with propellants on the launchpad in Starbase, Texas. But persistent weather problems, particularly clouds that could put the vehicle at risk during flight, led to the launch being called off not long after 8 p.m. Eastern time.”
Full Story (New York Times)