Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation News

SpaceNews.com • Emma Gatti

ESA secures record €22bn ministerial package, but exploration programmes face funding shortfalls

ESA has secured a record €22 billion ministerial package through 2028, but member-state resistance and remaining budget gaps leave human and robotic exploration programmes — including a planned first European crewed lunar mission — exposed to timeline risk and capability shortfalls.

2025-11-27T12:22:30.681208-08:00

Space.com

Soyuz MS-28 launches from Baikonur with NASA's Chris Williams and two Russian cosmonauts for eight-month ISS mission

2025-11-27T01:42:52.684380-08:00

Space.com

South Korea's Nuri completes fourth flight, lofts largest national Earth‑observation satellite and 13 smallsats

2025-11-26T08:40:51.105236-08:00

Space.com

Soyuz MS-28 to launch NASA astronaut and two Roscosmos cosmonauts to ISS on Thanksgiving

2025-11-26T10:03:41.911330-08:00

Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation News Timeline

Spaceflight Now

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SpaceX Transporter-15 to launch ~140 smallsats, including NASA's R5‑S7 CubeSat, from Vandenberg on Nov. 28 SpaceX's Falcon 9 will launch the Transporter‑15 dedicated rideshare from Vandenberg SLC‑4E on Nov. 28, 2025 at 10:18 a.m. PST, carrying about 140 payloads to sun‑synchronous orbit. Among them NASA's shoebox‑sized R5‑S7 CubeSat will demonstrate rapid, low‑cost spacecraft technologies in LEO.

2025-11-28T09:45:03.850364-08:00

SpaceX Transporter-15 to launch ~140 smallsats, including NASA's R5‑S7 CubeSat, from Vandenberg on Nov. 28

Ars Technica

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Unsecured 20‑ton service platform discovered ahead of Soyuz launch An unsecured 20‑ton service platform was found at the launch complex shortly before a Soyuz crew launch, prompting immediate safety and oversight questions about Russia's crewed-launch operations and potential impacts to International Space Station access. Officials signalled increased scrutiny of launch‑site procedures.

2025-11-28T08:45:43.278733-08:00

Unsecured 20‑ton service platform discovered ahead of Soyuz launch

European Spaceflight

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ESA backs two ISS cargo-return demos and signs on as anchor customer for commercial LEO return service The European Space Agency will fund two demonstration missions to return cargo from the International Space Station and has agreed to be an anchor customer for a future commercial low‑Earth‑orbit cargo‑return service, providing institutional demand to validate commercial payload‑return capabilities from LEO.

2025-11-28T06:23:59.224213-08:00

ESA backs two ISS cargo-return demos and signs on as anchor customer for commercial LEO return service

Universe Today

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Roman Space Telescope clears key acoustic, vibration and thermal‑vacuum tests NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope completed a fall campaign of acoustic, vibration and thermal‑vacuum testing, performed separately on its inner and outer spacecraft elements, marking a series of integration milestones as the observatory moves closer to transfer to a Florida launch pad.

2025-11-28T03:49:56.323186-08:00

Roman Space Telescope clears key acoustic, vibration and thermal‑vacuum tests

air-cosmos.com

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ArianeGroup completes maiden flight of SyLEx sounding rocket for France's DGA ArianeGroup on 28 November completed the maiden flight of SyLEx (Système de Lancement d’Expériences), a sounding rocket developed since 2021 for the DGA, launching from the Biscarosse missile test range and delivering a new sovereign suborbital test capability for supersonic technologies and civil experiments.

2025-11-28T03:10:08.354146-08:00

ArianeGroup completes maiden flight of SyLEx sounding rocket for France's DGA

Soyuz MS-28 damages Baikonur crewed‑launch pad, threatens Russia's ISS launch cadence A Soyuz MS-28 launch on Nov. 27, 2025 damaged the Baikonur crewed‑launch pad; footage shows the service gantry falling into an exhaust trench. The damage to Russia's sole operational site for Soyuz and Progress missions jeopardizes upcoming ISS crew rotations and cargo launch cadence.

2025-11-27T15:47:43.154752-08:00

Soyuz MS-28 damages Baikonur crewed‑launch pad, threatens Russia's ISS launch cadence

SpaceNews.com

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ESA secures record €22bn ministerial package, but exploration programmes face funding shortfalls ESA has secured a record €22 billion ministerial package through 2028, but member-state resistance and remaining budget gaps leave human and robotic exploration programmes — including a planned first European crewed lunar mission — exposed to timeline risk and capability shortfalls.

2025-11-27T12:22:30.681208-08:00

ESA secures record €22bn ministerial package, but exploration programmes face funding shortfalls

SpaceNews.com

ACME Space to test balloon‑launched space‑manufacturing platform in 2026 ACME Space will conduct a test run in 2026 of a balloon‑launched space‑manufacturing platform — a 'space factory' lifted to the stratosphere by a high‑altitude balloon. The flight will be a demonstration of the concept and its viability for in‑atmosphere manufacturing.

2025-11-27T05:05:54.845971-08:00

ACME Space to test balloon‑launched space‑manufacturing platform in 2026

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