Tag: rockets

Space Force Considers Boosting Wallops Launch Cadence to Meet Commercial Demand

Defense Daily reports, “While the Space Force has used NASA’s site at Wallops Island, Va., to launch niche missions, including small-satellite orbital and sounding rocket hypersonic suborbital launches, the service may need to ensure that it is able to ramp up launches there significantly, the head of U.S. Space Command said on Thursday. Wallops “has been an amazing story over the last decade,” Space Force Gen. Stephen Whiting told a Senate Armed Services Committee.”
Full Story (Defense Daily – Subscription Publication)

SpaceX Tests V3 Starship Booster in Key Pre-Launch Milestone

SPACE reports SpaceX “conducted a static fire test” with the first stage of its V3 Starship on Monday (March 16), a milestone moment for this bigger, more powerful megarocket. “It was the first-ever static fire for a Version 3 (V3) vehicle — the latest iteration of Starship, which SpaceX is developing to help humanity put boots on the moon and Mars.”
Full Story (SPACE)

Firefly’s Alpha Rocket Resumes Flights, Successfully Reaches Orbit

Aviation Week reports, “Firefly Aerospace has returned to flight after nearly one year, ready to resume its mission to bring additional launch capacity to hungry U.S. government and commercial space customers. The Alpha launch vehicle took off March 11 from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg SFB in California at 5:50 p.m. PDT, following several attempts scrubbed due to high winds and atypical sensor readings. But with the weather and sensors finally cooperating, the small-lift rocket carried its cargo to orbit at last.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

Video

Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket returns to flight. (Launch takes place at the 00:29 mark)
VideoFromSpace; YouTube

AIAA Releases Special Collection Celebrating 100 Years of Rocketry

FROM THE INSTITUTE
Today marks the 100th anniversary of Dr. Robert H. Goddard’s first liquid-fueled rocket test in a field in Auburn, Massachusetts. To commemorate the event that effectively launched the space age, AIAA released a special technical collection drawn from Aerospace Research Central (ARC), “AIAA Collection: A Century of Rocketry.” ARC is AIAA’s digital library spanning more than 200,000 papers and over 90 years of aerospace scholarship and technical excellence. The centennial works will be free to access during 2026.

March 2026: The Goddard Centennial

FROM THE INSTITUTE
This March 16th will mark the 100th anniversary of Dr. Robert Goddard’s historic first flight of a liquid propulsion rocket, back in 1926. That flight is rocketry’s closest equivalent of the Wright Brothers’ first flight of an airplane at Kitty Hawk in 1903. And just like the similarly historic Kitty Hawk flight, Goddard’s pioneering first liquid propulsion flight opened the way to a world-changing future that all of humankind benefits from today.

NASA Taps ULA’s Centaur V to Power Future SLS Upper Stage

Spaceflight Now reports, “NASA officially selected United Launch Alliance’s Centaur 5 as the upper stage for its Space Launch System rocket starting with the Artemis 4 mission, scheduled to launch no earlier than early 2028. The Centaur 5 was developed as the upper stage of ULA’s Vulcan rocket. The launch vehicle flew four times since its debut in January 2024 and the upper stage performed well across all flights.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

Senate Committee Approves Legislation Supporting NASA’s Artemis Lunar Campaign

Ars Technica reports, “During a brief hearing on Wednesday morning, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation spent only a few minutes ‘marking up’ new legislation that provides guidance to NASA for its various initiatives, including the Artemis program to land humans on the Moon. ‘Our bill authorizes critical funding for, and gives strategic direction to, the agency in line with the priorities of administrator Isaacman and the Trump administration,’ said the committee’s chairman, Sen. Ted Cruz, (R-Texas).”
Full Story (Ars Technica)

SpaceX Launches 29 Starlink Satellites on Falcon 9 Rocket from Cape Canaveral

Spaceflight Now reports, “SpaceX sent a Falcon 9 rocket soaring from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during a pre-dawn liftoff on Wednesday with a batch of Starlink internet satellites onboard. Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 happened at 5:52:20 a.m. EST (1052:20 UTC). The rocket flew on a north-easterly trajectory upon leaving the launch pad.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

Video

SpaceX Launches 29 Starlink Satellites (Launch occurs at the 1:00:10 mark)
Spaceflight Now; YouTube

SpaceX Conducts Bicoastal Falcon 9 Launches, Deploys 54 Starlink Satellites

SPACE reports, “SpaceX marched into the new month with a pair of Starlink launches from opposite coasts.”  The first Falcon 9 launch took place from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 5:10 a.m. EST, resulting in the successful deployment of 25 Starlink satellites (Group 17-23). “Nearly 12 hours later, at 9:56 p.m. EST (0256 GMT March 2), another Falcon 9 carrying 29 Starlink satellites (Group 10-41) launched from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.”
Full Story (SPACE)



Video

SpaceX launches 29 Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral on Falcon 9 rocket. (Launch occurs at the 1:00:16 mark)
Spaceflight Now; YouTube