NASA Spaceflight
• Alejandro Alcantarilla Romera, Chris Bergin
NASA teams at Kennedy Space Center have stacked another pair of Artemis III Space Launch System solid-rocket-booster segments, while continuing Core Stage-3 engine work and early Artemis IV processing. Orion test results also confirmed a trajectory correction, providing additional progress across the Artemis hardware pipeline.
Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation
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Five orbital launches are expected this week from sites around the world, including Falcon 9 missions from Florida and California. The launches are set to deploy three O3b mPOWER broadband satellites and the USSF-153 payload, alongside Soyuz and CZ-8A missions.
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NASA teams at Kennedy Space Center have stacked another pair of Artemis III Space Launch System solid-rocket-booster segments, while continuing Core Stage-3 engine work and early Artemis IV processing. Orion test results also confirmed a trajectory correction, providing additional progress across the Artemis hardware pipeline.
Stratolaunch’s massive unmanned carrier aircraft has returned to Long Beach Airport nearly six years after its public unveiling. The aircraft was originally designed to carry rockets aloft and support small-satellite launches, offering an alternative air-launch platform for commercial space missions.
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MTG-I2 has passed its initial post-launch milestones, completing Europe’s Meteosat Third Generation constellation and enabling faster, higher-resolution weather monitoring. Separately, India’s GSLV Mark II deployed the EOS-05 Earth-imaging satellite, which has completed two apogee-raising maneuvers on its way to geostationary orbit.
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SpaceX continues expanding assembly, test and launch infrastructure at Starbase as hardware for the company’s 14th flight moves toward the launch pad. The activity signals ongoing preparation for the next vehicle test while construction and operational capabilities develop in parallel.
Stoke Space and Relativity Space are moving launch infrastructure at Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 14 and Launch Complex 16 toward their first flights. The progress marks a key step in bringing both companies’ launch sites closer to operational readiness and expanding commercial launch capacity from Florida’s Space Coast.
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German startup Isar Aerospace reached orbit with its Spectrum rocket from Andøya, Norway, deploying satellites on the vehicle’s second flight. The mission makes Isar the first commercial European company to deliver payloads to orbit from continental Europe, advancing the region’s effort to reduce reliance on American launch providers.
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The German startup’s Spectrum rocket successfully reached orbit after lifting off from Andøya Spaceport in Arctic Norway. The milestone marks the first orbital launch from European soil and brings Europe closer to offering satellite customers access to space from within the continent.
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