Spaceflight Now reports, “AST SpaceMobile bounced back from the loss of its BlueBird 7 satellite last month with the launch of three more in the predawn hours of Wednesday morning. The company launched BlueBird 8, 9, and 10 onboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.”
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SpaceX Launches First Block 2 BlueBird Satellites for AST SpaceMobile (Launch occurs at the 1:00:28 mark)
Spaceflight Now; YouTube; Framegrab
SPACE reports, “A SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft is headed back to Earth. The robotic Dragon undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) today at 12:25 p.m. EDT (1625 GMT), about 20 minutes later than originally planned. The departure occurred while the two spacecraft were flying about 260 miles (418 kilometers) above the northern Pacific Ocean, NASA officials said during today’s undocking livestream.”
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Spaceflight Now reports, “The U.S. Space Force is seeking potential users of a new launch site at Vandenberg Space Force Base reserved for smaller rockets. The Space Force released a request for information June 8 seeking interest from launch vehicle operators in Space Launch Complex (SLC) 9, a proposed launch site at Vandenberg that would be used for small- and medium-class launch vehicles. Responses to the RFI are due July 8.”
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Space News reports, “Concerns that America’s launch infrastructure may not keep pace with rising demand are reviving interest in an unconventional workaround: sea-based rocket launch. Long viewed as a technically difficult niche with a history of commercial failure, companies and defense officials are giving offshore launch a second look as they search for ways to expand United States launch capacity.”
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Spaceflight Now reports, “SpaceX continued to push its Falcon 9 rocket fleet to the next level by flying its flight leader, tail number B1067, on a record-breaking 35th flight Monday morning. It launched SpaceX’s latest batch of Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station shortly before sunrise.”
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VideoFromSpace; YouTube
SpaceX launches on booster’s record-breaking 35th flight (Launch at 00:13 mark)
Space News reports, “Construction of the Shanghai-led Qianfan constellation continued to accelerate this week with a pair of Long March launches, following on from two recent experimental flights. China launched Long March 6A and Long March 8 rockets Thursday and Friday respectively, adding 36 satellites to the project led by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), or Spacesail.”
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Spaceflight Now reports, “Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp, in an overnight post on the social media platform X, said propellant tanks at launch pad 36 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station made it through the blast in good shape, as did a nearby processing hangar. The main support gantry, while damaged, can be repaired in place.”
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CNBC reports, “NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman on Monday told CNBC that it will ‘take some serious time’ to restore the launchpad damaged last week by a Blue Origin rocket explosion. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin was conducting a hot-fire test of its massive New Glenn rocket on Thursday at a Space Force launch facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, when the rocket erupted into a fireball. Bezos confirmed that all Blue Origin personnel were safe following the incident, and pledged to rebuild, while calling it a ‘very rough day.'”
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Via Satellite reports, “Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket faces a major setback after an explosion on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Thursday evening. This explosion will likely impact timelines for the rocket’s customers Amazon Leo, AST SpaceMobile, NASA, and its national security certification for the U.S. Space Force.”
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Aviation Week reports, “SpaceX completed a full suborbital flight of the latest version of its Starship-Super Heavy launch vehicle on May 22, achieving several key milestones for ‘Version 3’ even as it lost its first-stage booster shortly into the flight.”
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SpaceX Starship V3 flip and landing burn.
VideoFromSpace; YouTube; Framegrab