The draft standard AIAA S-110A (revision of AIAA S-110-2005), Space Systems—Structures, Structural Items, and Pressurized Structures is undergoing a second public review. The AIAA Structures Committee on Standards is responsible for developing this revised draft standard. The document establishes baseline structural requirements for the design, test, qualification, and acceptance of spaceflight structures and pressurized structures. To obtain a copy for review, please contact Nick Tongson. Public review deadline: 29 August 2025.
Tag: aerospace engineering
ULA Vulcan Set for Debut Launch for U.S. Space Force Next Week
Defense Daily reports, “The United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket is to have its debut National Security Space Launch for the U.S. Space Force on Aug. 12 in carrying the USSF-106 mission to orbit. ULA said on Tuesday that the Aug. 12 launch from Cape Canaveral is ‘pending range approval.’”
Full Story (Defense Daily)
Boeing Beats Allegiant’s Expectations on Max 8 Deliveries with Timely Deliveries
Flight Global reports Drew Wells, Allegiant’s chief commercial officer, “said during Allegiant Travel Company’s earnings call on 4 August that ‘Boeing has exceeded our expectations on aircraft deliveries throughout this year.’”
Full Story (Flight Global)
Lockheed Martin Details Challenges Implementing AI in the DOD Marketspace
FROM THE INSTITUTE
“AI will be the mainstream fabric of everything we do going forward,” John Clark, Lockheed Martin’s senior vice president of Technology and Strategic Innovation, said during AIAA AVIATION Forum. Speaking with Graham Warwick, executive editor of Technology for Aviation Week, Clark discussed a range of challenges confronting the defense aerospace sector in today’s AI race, while sharing Lockheed Martin’s specific path forward, embracing a modular deployment of AI focused on use cases and iterating fast from existing models.
Full Story (Aerospace America)
Skydweller UAS Performs Three-day Unmanned Flight Test
UK Defense Journal reports, “The U.S. Navy has completed a successful three-day nonstop flight of a solar-powered unmanned aerial system (UAS), according to a Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) update issued on 29 July. Conducted in partnership with Skydweller Aero, the 73-hour continuous flight from Stennis, Mississippi, demonstrated the Skydweller UAS’s ability to sustain solar-powered flight while maintaining communications, autonomous operation, and responsiveness to changing weather conditions.”
Full Story (UK Defense Journal)
AIAA Statement on the NASA SpaceX Crew-11 Launch
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 1, 2025 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) CEO Clay Mowry made the following statement:
“We congratulate the entire NASA SpaceX team on its successful Crew-11 launch to the International Space Station (ISS). NASA’s reuse of the SpaceX Falcon rocket and Dragon spacecraft continues to show us that reusability is the future of launch.
We are eager to follow the crew through its mission, demonstrating the value of scientific research conducted onboard the ISS that will help prepare us for our off-world future of human exploration of the moon and eventually on to Mars.
We applaud this mission to the ISS through NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, demonstrating the collaboration between NASA and private industry to continue America’s leadership in low Earth orbit. With NASA astronauts, a Russian cosmonaut, and a JAXA astronaut, Crew-11 continues NASA’s ongoing commitment to international cooperation – a hallmark of space exploration.
AIAA is honored to recognize the countless aerospace professionals involved in making this mission a success. We salute NASA, SpaceX, and Crew-11 for shaping the future of aerospace.”
Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
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, and follow AIAA on X/Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches 19 Starlink Satellites from California
SPACE reports a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched 19 Starlink satellites from California’s central coast today (July 31), then came back to Earth for a landing on “the SpaceX drone ship named ‘Of Course I Still Love You.'”
Full Story (SPACE)
Video
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from California (Liftoff at 14:56)
Spaceflight Now; YouTube
Still “A Long Way to Go” for a Lunar Economic Boom
FROM THE INSTITUTE
The grand visions of a bustling lunar economy remain too heavily dependent on government funding, as private investment in moon missions still lags far behind, start-up founders and investors agreed during a panel discussion at 2025 ASCEND.
Full Story (Aerospace America)
NASA Simulating Air Taxi Crashes to Study Materials for New Generation of eVTOL
Flying Magazine reports, “NASA researchers are simulating crashes to study the optimal materials for a new generation of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis. Per a recent media release, the space agency in June dropped a full-scale aircraft body—modeled after an eVTOL air taxi—from a 35-foot gantry at its Langley Research Center in Virginia.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
Live Coverage: Crew-11 Scheduled for Launch at 12:09 p.m. EDT
Update 12:16 p.m. EDT
NASA and SpaceX delayed the Crew-11 launch to the ISS at T-minus one minute before liftoff due to weather concerns. The next launch opportunity is scheduled for Friday, August 1, at 11:43 a.m. EDT.
Spaceflight Now reports, “A group of astronauts and a cosmonaut originally slated to fly on other missions are finally getting their ticket to ride. The quartet, led by NASA astronaut Zena Cardman, will head to the International Space Station beginning with a launch scheduled for Thursday afternoon. The SpaceX Crew-11 mission will launch onboard the Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for 12:09 p.m. EDT (1609 UTC).”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
Live Coverage
Crew-11 Scheduled for Launch at 12:09 p.m. EDT
Spaceflight Now; YouTube