SPACE reports, “Russia’s new Soyuz 5 rocket has taken to the skies at long last. The Soyuz 5 lifted off for the first time ever on Thursday (April 30), rising off a pad at the Russia-run Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 2:00 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT; 11:00 p.m. local time in Baikonur).”
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Launch of the new Soyuz-5 rocket (Launch occurs at the 21:14 mark)
Мир авиации; YouTube
Aviation News reports, “China has reached a pivotal milestone in its commercial aerospace ambitions with the full completion of a state-of-the-art ‘super factory’ in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province.”
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China launches a Lijian-2 Y1 carrier rocket on March 30, 2026 (Launch occurs at the 0:01 mark)
ShanghaiEye; YouTube; Framegrab
Spaceflight Now reports, “Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket roared to life in a critical pre-launch demonstration of its main engines Thursday, less than an hour after the Sun crested over the horizon in Florida. The seven BE-4 engines fired for about 20 seconds, at 7:45 a.m. EDT (1145 UTC). Engineers will now pore through the data and if everything looks good, the launch with AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird-7 satellite could take place as soon as Sunday, April 19.”
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SPACE reports, “NASA said Friday that it plans to return the Crew 11 to Earth next week, just one day after announcing that a crew member had suffered a medical issue that would require the crew to shorten its trip to the International Space Station. According to NASA, Crew 11 is targeting a departure from the space station aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour capsule ‘no earlier’ than 5 p.m. Eastern Time on Jan. 14, with a splash down off the coast of California at about 3:40 a.m. Eastern Time on Jan. 15.”
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Ars Technica reports, “The road to the second flight of Blue Origin’s heavy-lifting New Glenn rocket got a lot clearer Thursday night with a success test-firing of the launcher’s seven main engines on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Standing on a seaside launch pad, the New Glenn rocket ignited its seven BE-4 main engines at 9:59 pm EDT Thursday (01:59 UTC Friday). The engines burned for 38 seconds while the rocket remained firmly on the ground, according to a social media post by Blue Origin.”
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AP News reports, “SpaceX launched another of its mammoth Starship rocketson a test flight Monday, successfully making it halfway around the world while releasing mock satellites like last time. Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — thundered into the evening sky from the southern tip of Texas. The booster peeled away and made a controlled entry into the Gulf of Mexico as planned, with the spacecraft skimming space before descending into the Indian Ocean. Nothing was recovered.”
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SpaceX Starship Flight 11, Oct. 13, 2025.
NASASpaceFlight; YouTube
Aviation Week reports, “The first stage of a Firefly Aerospace Alpha rocket being prepared for launch on a commercial mission for Lockheed Martin was destroyed Sept. 29 during preflight testing at the company’s Briggs, Texas, facility. ‘During testing at Firefly’s facility in Briggs Texas, the first stage of Firefly’s Alpha Flight 7 rocket experienced an event that resulted in a loss of the stage,’ the company said in a statement.”
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SPACE reports, “Europe’s Ariane 6 heavy-lift rocket launched for the third time ever” on the evening of August 12, “sending an advanced weather and climate satellite to orbit. The powerful Ariane 6 lifted off from Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana … at 8:37 p.m. EDT (9:37 p.m. local time in Kourou; 0037 GMT on Aug. 13).”
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Ariane 6 Rocket Launches for Third Time Ever (Launch at the 30:12 mark)
Arianespace; YouTube
SPACE reports, “Amazon’s second fleet of internet satellites now has a target launch date. The stack of 27 satellites, part of Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation, is scheduled to launch on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket next Friday (June 13). Liftoff of the mission, known as Kuiper 2, is set for 2:29 p.m. EDT (1829 GMT), from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, ULA announced.”
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