Aerospace

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket has suffered its second anomaly of 2024. In response to this, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has grounded the vehicle and is requiring a mishap investigation. This anomaly occurred during the booster landing of the Starlink Group 8-6 mission, with the satellites successfully

Aug 28, 2024 • 2 mins

Blue Origin announced on August 23rd that the first launch of New Glenn would occur no earlier than October 13th, 2024. This first launch will be carrying the two ESCAPADE spacecraft, as well as sending them toward Mars! This maiden launch date comes a few years after the company'

Aug 23, 2024 • 3 mins

On the evening of August 19th, Rocket Factory Augsburg was performing a nine-engine static fire on the first-stage of its RFA ONE launch vehicle. However a few seconds into the firing an anomoly occured, leading to the loss of the first-stage. Rocket Factory Augsburg has not yet stated the cause

Aug 20, 2024 • 2 mins

One thing is going to space; another is coming back. The art of entering the Earth's atmosphere is something scientists and engineers are still working on perfecting, as temperatures from the hot plasma hitting the vehicle can reach up to 3800°C (7000°F), although in most cases

Aug 17, 2024 • 13 mins

At 03:47 am Universal Coordinated Time on August 16th, India launched its third development flight for its SSLV launch vehicle. This third, and final, development flight flew from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. Atop of SSLV for this launch was the EOS-08 satellite, a small 175.5 kilogram Earth

Aug 16, 2024 • 2 mins

At 14:42 pm China Standard Time, or 06:42 am Universal Coordinated Time, on August 6th, the first batch of satellites for the Shanghai-backed Qianfan mega-constellation was sent skyward! This first batch of 18 satellites were sent to a polar orbit atop of a Long March 6A from the

Aug 6, 2024 • 3 mins

On July 16th a Long March 12 'simulator' was spotted being transported around the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site (文昌商业航天发射场), in China's southernmost province of Hainan. The simulator of the launch vehicle is believed to be for final 'fit' testing and rehearsals ahead of

Jul 16, 2024 • 3 mins

SpaceX launched what appeared to be a regular Starlink mission atop of Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 4E, in California, on July 12th at 02:35 Universal Coordinated Time. During the second-stage's ascent to orbit, a build-up of ice was noticed on SpaceX's launch stream.

Jul 12, 2024 • 2 mins

Disclaimer: Launch vehicles that have recently been announced or have had minimal details shared are not included. SpaceX has slashed the cost of sending satellites into orbit since the introduction of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle in 2010. Over its fourteen-year history, Falcon 9 has flown almost 350 times while

Jul 10, 2024 • 8 mins

Europe has finally returned its domestic access to space with the debut launch of Ariane 6 on July 9th. The first Ariane 6 launch vehicle lifted off from Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 4 (Ariane Launch Complex 4) located at the Guiana Space Centre, in French Guiana in the north of

Jul 9, 2024 • 5 mins

Firefly's Alpha rocket lifted off today on July 4th 2024, 12:04 AM EDT from Pad SLC-2W, at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA. Alpha is a small sat launcher priced at 15 million US dollars a launch. Alpha is designed to be the most reliable

Jul 5, 2024 • 5 mins

On June 25th, 2024 a Falcon Heavy lifted off from the pad carrying 'GOES-U' to GTO. GOES-U will provide advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements of Earth’s weather, oceans, and environment, as well as real-time mapping of total lightning activity and improved monitoring of solar activity and space

Jun 26, 2024 • 4 mins

Ariane 6 is finally less than a month away from its inaugural launch from Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 4 (Ariane Launch Complex 4) at the Guiana Space Centre, located in French Guiana in the north of South America. The launch date of no earlier than July 9th was announced by

Jun 13, 2024 • 4 mins