Space.com
• Tariq Malik
SpaceX is preparing to launch NASA’s Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station on Oct. 1, with weather officials projecting a 55%–60% chance of favorable conditions. Separately, Starship’s 14th flight reached orbit and carried its first operational payload, marking a major test milestone.
Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation
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Experts warn that continued growth in rocket launch frequency could increase the likelihood of uncontrolled space-debris reentries and, eventually, a fatality on the ground. The trend underscores the safety consequences of expanding launch activity and the need to manage debris generated by increasingly crowded orbital operations.
High activity
Russia says it is continuing work on a reusable, crewed transport spacecraft, despite the program’s lengthy delays. The announcement offers little detail on the vehicle’s development status or timetable, leaving its path to operational service unclear.
High activity
SpaceX is preparing to launch NASA’s Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station on Oct. 1, with weather officials projecting a 55%–60% chance of favorable conditions. Separately, Starship’s 14th flight reached orbit and carried its first operational payload, marking a major test milestone.
High activity
SpaceX’s Starship Flight 14 completed its mission despite engine losses on both stages: Booster 21 flew its full profile, while Ship 41 reached orbit, deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites and safely returned to the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. Preparations for Flight 15 are now underway.
Hop Aero has raised $11 million to develop suborbital point-to-point logistics, following the company’s participation in Y Combinator’s summer batch. The funding represents a new private-sector investment in space transportation concepts aimed at moving goods between distant locations through suborbital flight.
Chinese commercial launch provider CAS Space is targeting early 2027 for the first flight of its reusable Lihong-2 suborbital rocket. The mission is planned to carry pharmaceutical payloads, linking the company’s vehicle development to emerging commercial demand for suborbital research and in-space processing.
A new group of Chinese commercial launch companies is pursuing electric-pump-fed liquid engines, signaling an emerging propulsion trend in the country’s private space sector. The effort could broaden the technology base available to Chinese launch providers as they develop competing commercial space transportation systems.
France’s CNES has published a call for proposals to replace ageing launch-tracking equipment at the Guiana Space Centre with three automated optical tracking turrets. The upgrade is intended to modernize optical monitoring capabilities supporting rocket launches from Europe’s primary spaceport.
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