Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation News

SpaceWatch Global • Joshua Faleti

Rocket Lab lands three dedicated Electron launches for iQPS, adds JAXA missions from New Zealand as stock rallies

Rocket Lab has signed a multi-launch deal with iQPS for three dedicated Electron missions to deploy the company's Earth-imaging constellation, and has won JAXA missions set to launch from its New Zealand Launch Complex 1. The flurry of contracts has coincided with a sharp uptick in Rocket Lab's share price.

2025-10-10T03:04:45.536829-07:00

SpaceNews.com

Momentus wins multiple NASA tech‑demo contracts to fly COSMIC microgravity mission and thruster test on Vigoride

2025-10-09T13:51:11.035641-07:00

Space Explored

SpaceX moves reused Super Heavy to pad for Starship Flight 11, will attempt first booster reuse

2025-10-09T11:53:36.487625-07:00

Space.com

SpaceX delays KF-03 Kuiper launch to Oct. 11; 24 Amazon satellites moved to Cape Canaveral evening window

2025-10-09T09:29:35.715597-07:00

Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation News Timeline

Ars Technica

Putin approves Wagner-branded Soyuz mission President Vladimir Putin has approved a Soyuz mission that will carry Wagner Group branding, marking an explicit association between a Russian state-operated Soyuz launch and the private military organisation. The decision formalizes a public link between national space assets and a paramilitary actor.

2025-10-10T14:35:53.967401-07:00

Putin approves Wagner-branded Soyuz mission

SpaceNews.com

New Zealand outlines progress and plans to grow its domestic space industry New Zealand’s government is highlighting recent steps to expand its domestic space sector, outlining policy measures, investment and industry support aimed at growing launch, satellite and ground capabilities. Officials say the initiatives will attract private capital, scale local supply chains and position New Zealand as a regional space hub.

2025-10-10T05:28:55.858049-07:00

New Zealand outlines progress and plans to grow its domestic space industry

rocketlabcorp.com

Rocket Lab wins two dedicated Electron launches for JAXA; first mission slated for December Rocket Lab has signed a direct contract with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency for two dedicated Electron launches from its Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, with the first mission targeted as soon as December. Both flights will carry payloads for JAXA's Satellite Technology Demonstration Program.

2025-10-10T05:12:50.483191-07:00

Rocket Lab wins two dedicated Electron launches for JAXA; first mission slated for December

SpaceWatch Global

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Rocket Lab lands three dedicated Electron launches for iQPS, adds JAXA missions from New Zealand as stock rallies Rocket Lab has signed a multi-launch deal with iQPS for three dedicated Electron missions to deploy the company's Earth-imaging constellation, and has won JAXA missions set to launch from its New Zealand Launch Complex 1. The flurry of contracts has coincided with a sharp uptick in Rocket Lab's share price.

2025-10-10T03:04:45.536829-07:00

Rocket Lab lands three dedicated Electron launches for iQPS, adds JAXA missions from New Zealand as stock rallies

Associated Press

Car-sized NASA hardware parachutes onto West Texas farm, recovered after reentry A West Texas woman spotted a car-sized object under a massive parachute drifting over her farm; deputies located the piece in a neighbor’s yard and confirmed it was NASA hardware that had reentered and landed. NASA had been searching for the missing equipment and recovered it after the sighting.

2025-10-09T16:24:46.140447-07:00

Car-sized NASA hardware parachutes onto West Texas farm, recovered after reentry

SpaceNews.com

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Momentus wins multiple NASA tech‑demo contracts to fly COSMIC microgravity mission and thruster test on Vigoride Momentus has secured multiple NASA contracts to fly technology‑demonstration payloads on its Vigoride in‑space tug. Awards include a $5.1 million contract to carry the COSMIC microgravity materials‑production demo and a separate mission to validate a new in‑space thruster; the flights aim to raise TRLs for on‑orbit manufacturing and propulsion.

2025-10-09T13:51:11.035641-07:00

Momentus wins multiple NASA tech‑demo contracts to fly COSMIC microgravity mission and thruster test on Vigoride

Via Satellite

French space‑defence startup Dark shutters operations Dark, a French space and defence startup developing an air‑launched spacecraft for military use, has shuttered operations. The closure halts the company's work on an air‑launch concept aimed at defence customers and removes one entrant from Europe's NewSpace defence ecosystem.

2025-10-09T13:16:05.929111-07:00

French space‑defence startup Dark shutters operations

Space Explored

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SpaceX moves reused Super Heavy to pad for Starship Flight 11, will attempt first booster reuse SpaceX rolled a previously flown Super Heavy booster to Pad 1 ahead of Starship Flight 11, scheduled for Oct. 13, in a planned first attempt to reuse the giant first stage. The move follows recent static-fire checks as the company prepares its 11th integrated Starship test.

2025-10-09T11:53:36.487625-07:00

SpaceX moves reused Super Heavy to pad for Starship Flight 11, will attempt first booster reuse

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