Aviation Week reports, “Blue Origin has announced plans for a 10th crewed New Shepard suborbital rocket mission with six private astronauts. A date for the launch of the reusable New Shepard with its crew capsule from the company’s West Texas launch site will be announced soon, the company’s Feb. 18 announcement says.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Tag: engineering
FAA Certification Frees Archer Aviation to Assemble eVTOL Pilot Team
Aerotime reports, “The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has given Archer Aviation the green light to begin assembling a team of pilots to fly its future fleet of electric vehicle takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. Archer Aviation announced on February 18, 2025, that the eVTOL developer had received its Part 141 certificate from the FAA signifying that it is a formally recognized and regulated institution for pilot training.”
Full Story (Aerotime)
Rocket Lab Successfully Launches BlackSky Gen-3 Satellite
Spaceflight Now reports, “Update 7:16 p.m. EST (0016 UTC): Rocket Lab confirms a successful payload deployment. Rocket Lab (Nasdaq: RKLB) completed its second Electron rocket of the month and its 60th to date. The flight carried with it the first of BlackSky’s Gen-3 Earth imaging and analytics gathering satellites. Liftoff of the mission, dubbed ‘Fasten Your Space Belts,’ from Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand happened at 12:17 p.m. NZDT on Feb. 19 (6:17 p.m. EST, 2317 UCT on Feb. 18).”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
General Atomics to Reveal New ‘Super Wide Area’ Sensor for ‘Iron Dome for America’
Breaking Defense reports, “General Atomics is ready to step in the ring to compete for contracts to build President Donald Trump’s ‘Iron Dome for America’ with a new technology the company believes can radically contain the costs of the project, the head of General Atomics’ aeronautics unit said. The special sauce, Dave Alexander told Breaking Defense in an exclusive interview, is a long-range, high resolution sensor that has been under development for about a decade, has a “super wide area” of coverage, and is ready for production.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Lander Now in Lunar Orbit
Spaceflight Now reports, “A robotic lander from Texas-based Firefly Aerospace is now in orbit around the Moon and going through its final preparations to land in the coming weeks. On Thursday, the company announced that its Blue Ghost lander fired its main engine and thrusters for four minutes and 15 seconds in a maneuver called the Lunar Orbit Insertion, which put it in an elliptical orbit around the Moon.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
Piper Aircraft Deliveries Increase 20 Percent in 2024
Flying Magazine reports, “Piper Aircraft deliveries rose 20 percent in 2024 compared with the previous year, with 291 aircraft, the manufacturer said Thursday. The increase, according to the company, was in part tied to the success of the M700 Fury, the company’s 300-knot turboprop that debuted in March.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
Video
Piper Introduces the M700 Fury
(Piper Aircraft, Inc.; YouTube)
Japan’s Resilience Lander Set for Lunar Flyby
SPACE reports, “The second lunar lander from Japanese space exploration company ispace is ready for a flyby of the moon as part of its elongated moon landing journey. ispace’s Resilience lander launched on Jan. 15 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, along with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander. It is taking an energy-efficient, circuitous route to the moon, and only last week performed a crucial maneuver to raise its orbit and set up the lunar flyby.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Final Gulfstream G650 Rolls Off Production Line Marking End of Era
Flying Magazine reports, “The last Gulfstream G650 has rolled off the production line, marking the end of a “legendary era,” the company said Wednesday. The news marks an end of a “legendary era,” the company said.
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
Second Launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket Planned for Late Spring
Space News reports, “Blue Origin expects to attempt its second New Glenn launch in late spring after correcting problems that prevented the booster from landing on the first launch last month. Speaking at the 27th Annual Commercial Space Conference here Feb. 12, Dave Limp, chief executive of Blue Origin, suggested a propulsion issue of some kind caused the loss of the New Glenn booster during its landing attempt on the Jan. 16 NG-1 launch. ‘We had most of the right conditions in the engine but we weren’t able to get everything right to the engine from the tanks,’ he said. ‘We think we understand what the issues are.’
Full Story (Space News)
U.S. Air Force Begins Initial Operational Testing and Evaluation of MH-139 Grey Wolf
Flying Magazine reports, “The U.S. Air Force recently launched initial operational testing and evaluation (IOT&E) of the MH-139 Grey Wolf, the helicopter set to replace the service’s aging fleet of Bell UH-1N Hueys that perform nuclear security missions. During the week of January 27, three MH-139 flights operated by the 550th Helicopter Squadron at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, demonstrated its capabilities, the Air Force said.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)