SpaceNews reports that Blue Origin is seeking permission to significantly increase the launch rate of its New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral as it continues recovering from a May pad explosion. The FAA released a draft environmental assessment Sept. 29 examining a proposal to boost launches from Launch Complex 36 “from 12 to 50 per year.” The increase would support a substantially higher flight cadence for New Glenn from Florida.
Full Story (SpaceNews)
Tag: Mission
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope Launches to Explore the Universe’s Biggest Mysteries
Ars Technica reports, “NASA’s $4.3 billion Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope” launched Sunday from Kennedy Space Center, beginning a mission to investigate dark energy, exoplanets, and other fundamental mysteries of the universe using its 300-megapixel Wide Field Instrument.
Full Story (Ars Technica)
Rocket Lab Launches JAXA Tech Demo Satellite atop an Electron Rocket
Space News reports, “A Rocket Lab Electron rocket successfully launched a technology demonstration satellite for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on Dec. 13 as the company reshuffles its launch manifest. The Electron lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 10:09 p.m. Eastern. The payload, JAXA’s Rapid Innovative Payload Demonstration Satellite-4, or RAISE-4, was deployed into a 540-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit nearly 55 minutes later.”
Full Story (Space News)
Blue Origin Set to Launch New Glenn Following Weekend Weather Delay
Spaceflight Now Update at 10:40 am ET: “NASA scrubbed the launch due to strong solar impacts.”
Spaceflight Now reports Blue Origin was able to secure permission from the Federal Aviation Administration for a daytime launch. According the article, Blue Origin will “take another crack at launching its 98-meter-tall (321 ft) New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Wednesday, Nov. 12.” An 87-minute launch window “opens at 2:50 p.m. EST (1950 UTC) on Wednesday.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
Video
Watch Launch Live
Spaceflight Now
SpaceX Performs 550th Falcon 9 Launch
Spaceflight Now reports, “SpaceX launched its 550th Falcon 9 mission since the rocket’s debut in 2010. The launch from California added 28 more broadband internet satellites to the company’s Starlink constellation.” The Starlink 11-5 mission was the 95th flight in 2025 supporting the low Earth orbit internet constellation. “Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 7:16 a.m. PDT (10:16 a.m. EDT / 1416 UTC).”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
Video
SpaceX Falcon 9 launches on the 11-5 mission (Launch occurs at 30:28 mark).
Spaceflight Now; YouTube
Next X-37B Mission to Test Quantum Sensor and Laser Link Experiments
Breaking Defense reports, “The Defense Department’s secretive X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle will lift off again in late August, carrying a quantum sensor that could enable navigation when GPS is unavailable as well as a laser communication system, the Space Force announced today. The Aug. 21 mission will be the eighth for the mysterious space plane, which is operated by the Space Force in partnership with the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)
SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches Fourth Axiom Space Private Astronaut Mission to ISS
Space News reports, “SpaceX launched a Crew Dragon spacecraft on a private astronaut mission to the International Space Station June 25 after weeks of delays. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 2:31 a.m. Eastern from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A. The Crew Dragon spacecraft deployed from the upper stage in low Earth orbit nearly 10 minutes later. The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to land at Landing Zone 1 at Cape Canaveral.”
Full Story (Space News)
Video
Axiom Mission 4 Launches to the International Space Station (Launch takes place at the 52:42 mark)
NASA; YouTube
Blue Origin Announces Passengers for 12th Space Tourism Launch
SPACE reports that Blue Origin has revealed the identities of the six passengers who will fly on the company’s 12th human spaceflight mission. A target date has “yet to be announced.”
Full Story (SPACE)
NASA Requests Proposals for Private Astronaut Space Station Mission
Aviation Week reports, “NASA has requested proposals from American-led companies for two private astronaut missions to the International Space Station (ISS) as part of its ongoing strategy to transition the scientific development activities underway aboard the orbital lab to commercially owned and operated successors.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Silent Barker Spacecraft Expected to Begin Operation in 2025
Aviation Week reports, “The first spacecraft from a joint U.S. Space Force and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) program to conduct space situational awareness are close to entering operation next year. The Silent Barker spacecraft were launched Sept. 10, 2023, aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Since then, the satellites have been undergoing the test-and-checkout phase, which is nearing completion, U.S. Space Command chief Gen. Stephen Whiting told reporters Dec. 11.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)