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)
Tag: Astronautics
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
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)
SpaceX Delays Starship Flight 10 Test Launch, Now Targets Monday Evening
SPACE reports SpaceX scrubbed the planned 10th test flight of its Starship megarocket today (Aug. 24), citing “an issue with ground systems” at its Starbase site in South Texas…
Full Story (SPACE)
SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches Space Force’s X-37B Spaceplane
Spaceflight Now reports, “A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket thundered off launch pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida shortly before midnight, carrying with it a military spaceplane known as the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle. The launch Thursday night kicked off the eighth mission for the program, which began operational flights in April 2010. United States Space Force (USSF) officials confirmed separation of the Boeing-built spacecraft in the hours following liftoff at 11:50 p.m. EDT (0350 UTC on Aug. 22).”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
Video
SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the X-37B (Launch at the 58:35 mark)
Spaceflight Now; YouTube
ULA Undertaking New Efforts on Vulcan Reusability
Space News reports, “United Launch Alliance is leaning more into reusability as it advances work on recovering the engine section of the Vulcan rocket and embarks on another project. Tory Bruno, president and chief executive of ULA, said during an episode of his “The Burn Sequence” podcast published Aug. 19 that the company was working on a new initiative related to reuse of the Vulcan Centaur rocket beyond recovery of the engine section of the vehicle’s first stage.”
Full Story (Space News)
Can AI Solve the Space Debris Crisis?
In this IEEE Spectrum piece, Mark Thompson examines whether AI can solve the space traffic jam. Discover how CREAM is automating collision avoidance and changing the way we manage satellites.
Full Story (IEEE Spectrum)
SpaceX Concludes Investigation into Starship Failure Clearing Way for Flight 10
SPACE reports, “The U.S Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has closed its investigation into SpaceX’s Starship mission failure this spring and given the green light for Starship Flight Test 10 to proceed this weekend.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Executive Order Aims to Advance Space Industry by Reducing Environmental Regulation
Defense One reports, “The U.S. government must reduce environmental and other regulations to make it easier for commercial space companies to launch rockets, expand launch facilities, and perform “novel” space activities, according to a new executive order. “It is the policy of the United States to enhance American greatness in space by enabling a competitive launch marketplace and substantially increasing commercial space launch cadence and novel space activities by 2030,” says the order, signed Wednesday by President Donald Trump.”
Full Story (Defense One)
SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches 28 More Starlink Satellites into Orbit from Florida
SPACE reports a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida on Thursday morning (Aug. 14), carrying 28 Starlink broadband satellites into low Earth orbit. “SpaceX now has more than 8,100 active Starlink satellites in its megaconstellation.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Video
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches from Cape Canaveral with 28 Starlink satellites (Launch at the 1:00:44 mark)
Spaceflight Now; YouTube