Ars Technica reports, “The launch of NASA’s Artemis II mission will have to wait another month after a fueling test Monday uncovered hydrogen leaks in the connection between the rocket and its launch platform at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. ‘Engineers pushed through several challenges during the two-day test and met many of the planned objectives,’ NASA said in a statement following the conclusion of the mock countdown.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)
Tag: rockets
Rocket Lab Launches South Korean Disaster-Monitoring Satellite After Delay
SPACE reports, “Rocket Lab launched a South Korean disaster-monitoring satellite from New Zealand on Thursday (Jan. 29), about six weeks later than originally planned. A 59-foot-tall (18-meter-tall) Electron rocket launched the ‘Bridging the Swarm’ mission from Rocket Lab’s New Zealand site on Thursday at 8:21 p.m. EST (0121 GMT and 2:21 p.m. local New Zealand time on Jan. 30).”
Full Story (SPACE)
Video
Rocket Lab launches the “Bridging the Swarm” mission from New Zealand. (Launch occurs at the 52:02 mark)
Space Affairs; YouTube
Rocket Lab Sends First Open Cosmos Satellites Into Polar Orbit
Space News reports, “A Rocket Lab Electron launched the first satellites for a new constellation being developed by Open Cosmos that will use spectrum previously assigned to Rivada Space Networks. The Electron lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 5:52 a.m. Eastern Jan. 22. It deployed two satellites into a circular polar orbit at an altitude of about 1,050 kilometers one hour and nine minutes after liftoff.”
Full Story (Space News)
Video
RocketLab Electron Launch from New Zealand (Launch takes place at the 23:07 mark)
The Launch Pad | YouTube
NASA Readies Artemis 2 Rocket for Rollout Ahead of Historic Crewed Lunar Mission
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.”
Full Story (CBS News)
SpaceX Stacks Super Heavy Booster for Starship’s 12th Test Flight
SpaceX recently stacked the giant Super Heavy booster that will help launch the upcoming 12th test flight of the company’s Starship megarocket. SPACE reports, “On Christmas Eve (Dec. 24), the company posted a photo on X of the shiny Super Heavy booster that will conduct Starship Flight 12 standing in a high bay at its Starbase facility in South Texas.”
Full Story (SPACE)
SpaceX and China Power Record-Breaking Year for Orbital Launches
Space News reports, “Orbital launch activity set another annual record in 2025, although future growth may depend on factors different from those that fueled the recent surge. There were 324 orbital launch attempts worldwide in 2025, according to a SpaceNews analysis of open-source data. The total excludes suborbital launches, such as five test flights of SpaceX’s Starship that did not reach orbit by design, as well as three launches of the HASTE variant of Rocket Lab’s Electron.”
Full Story (Space News)
SpaceX Smashes Its Own Launch Record With 165 Orbital Flights in 2025
SPACE reports, “Elon Musk’s company has now set a new mark six years in a row, and the numbers are getting pretty silly. The record has risen from 25 orbital liftoffs in 2020 to 31 (2021) to 61 (2022) to 96 (2023) to 134 (2024) and, now, to a whopping 165. And that’s not including five non-orbital Starship test flights by SpaceX.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Long March 12A Reaches Orbit in Reusable Rocket Debut, Booster Landing Falls Short
Space News reports, “A first launch of the Long March 12A Chinese state-owned reusable rocket reached orbit late Monday, but attempted recovery of the first stage downrange failed. The Long March 12A rocket lifted off at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, Dec. 22 (0200 UTC, Dec. 23) from a dedicated pad at Jiuquan spaceport’s Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Zone. Amateur footage of the launch quickly appeared on Chinese social media.”
Full Story (Space News)
More Info (Video)
Rocket Lab Closes Record-Breaking Year With Successful Electron Launch
Space News reports, “Rocket Lab successfully launched a Japanese radar imaging satellite Dec. 21 in the final flight of a record-setting year for the company. An Electron rocket lifted off at 1:36 a.m. Eastern from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. The rocket deployed its payload, the QPS-SAR-15 satellite for Japanese company iQPS, into a 575-kilometer orbit at an inclination of 42 degrees about 50 minutes later. The satellite later made contact with controllers, iQPS said.”
Full Story (Space News – Subscription Publication)
Rocket Lab Launches STP-S30 DiskSat Mission From Wallops Island
Via Satellite reports, “A Rocket Lab Electron rocket carrying the Pentagon’s Space Test Program (STP) S30 mission lifted off from the Virginia Spaceport Authority’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia, on Thursday, according to U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command. S30 has four research and development, Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) DiskSat satellites, funded by NASA and developed by Aerospace Corp. as an alternative to cube satellites.”
Full Story (Via Satellite)
Video
Rocket Lab Electron launches Space Test Program (STP) S30 mission (Launch occurs at the 49:44 mark)
NASASpaceFlight; YouTube