Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation News

SpaceNews.com • Jeff Foust

SpaceX Targets May 27 for Starship IFT-9, First Super Heavy Reuse After FAA Clears Path

SpaceX is set to launch Starship’s ninth integrated flight test on May 27 from Starbase, marking the first reuse of a Super Heavy booster—one that flew IFT-7 and returned—to pad capture by mechanical arms. The mission follows FAA clearance after it identified a Raptor engine fault in IFT-8.

2025-05-23T16:22:16.872604-07:00

NASA Spaceflight

China’s Private Rockets Log Trio of Launches as Tianwen-2 Readies Liftoff

2025-05-23T13:58:31.208450-07:00

Aviation Week

Dawn Aerospace Opens Sales of Aurora Rocket-Powered Suborbital Spaceplane

2025-05-22T10:21:37.625852-07:00

European Spaceflight

CNES Taps AndroMach to Hot-Fire LOX/Propane Engine for ENVOL Spaceplane

2025-05-19T07:37:56.415153-07:00

Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation News Timeline

Florida Today

SpaceX Launches 23 Starlink Satellites on Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket at 1:19 p.m. EDT on May 24 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, deploying 23 satellites for its Starlink 12-22 mission and further expanding its low Earth orbit broadband constellation.

2025-05-24T11:18:02.634519-07:00

SpaceX Launches 23 Starlink Satellites on Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral

Air Data News

Lifting Bodies: NASA’s wingless aircraft that paved the way for the Space Shuttle

2025-05-24T09:07:56.835370-07:00

Lifting Bodies: NASA’s wingless

Indian Express

India Finalizes Space Activities Bill to Unlock $44B Private Sector Market India’s parliament has approved the Space Activities Bill, establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework and empowering IN-SPACe to license and oversee private ventures. The law aims to catalyze a $44 billion domestic space market by 2033, while states compete to host new launch facilities.

2025-05-23T23:18:01.425709-07:00

India Finalizes Space Activities Bill to Unlock $44B Private Sector Market

SpaceNews.com

❗️

SpaceX Targets May 27 for Starship IFT-9, First Super Heavy Reuse After FAA Clears Path SpaceX is set to launch Starship’s ninth integrated flight test on May 27 from Starbase, marking the first reuse of a Super Heavy booster—one that flew IFT-7 and returned—to pad capture by mechanical arms. The mission follows FAA clearance after it identified a Raptor engine fault in IFT-8.

2025-05-23T16:22:16.872604-07:00

SpaceX Targets May 27 for Starship IFT-9, First Super Heavy Reuse After FAA Clears Path

Space.com

SpaceX Sets May 27 for IFT-9 Starship Launch With First Re-flight of Super Heavy Booster SpaceX plans to launch its ninth Starship Integrated Flight Test on May 27 at 7:30 p.m. EDT (23:30 GMT), marking the first time the company will re-use a Super Heavy booster—the same one that powered IFT-7 and was caught by the launchpad’s mechanical arms.

2025-05-23T15:43:35.762598-07:00

SpaceX Sets May 27 for IFT-9 Starship Launch With First Re-flight of Super Heavy Booster

NASA Spaceflight

❗️

China’s Private Rockets Log Trio of Launches as Tianwen-2 Readies Liftoff China’s commercial launch sector achieved three distinct orbital missions this month—including a key return-to-flight milestone—underscoring rapid private-rocket growth. Meanwhile, the China National Space Administration is finalizing preparations for the Tianwen-2 interplanetary probe, set to embark on asteroid and comet exploration.

2025-05-23T13:58:31.208450-07:00

China’s Private Rockets Log Trio of Launches as Tianwen-2 Readies Liftoff

SpaceNews.com

SES Signs Multi-Launch Deal with Impulse Space to Use Helios Kick Stage for MEO/GEO Deployments SES has become the first commercial customer for Impulse Space’s Helios high-energy kick stage, signing a multi-launch agreement to transport its satellites from low Earth orbit into medium and geostationary orbits more efficiently and reliably.

2025-05-23T12:26:30.790040-07:00

SES Signs Multi-Launch Deal with Impulse Space to Use Helios Kick Stage for MEO/GEO Deployments

Aviation Week

SpaceX Cargo Dragon Undocks from ISS, Set for May 25 Pacific Splashdown At 12:05 p.m. EDT on May 25, the unpiloted SpaceX Cargo Dragon spacecraft undocked from the zenith port of the ISS’s Harmony module and is en route for a planned splashdown off California’s Pacific coast at approximately 5:45 a.m. GMT. Recovery operations will follow to retrieve critical experiments and hardware.

2025-05-23T12:18:24.770062-07:00

SpaceX Cargo Dragon Undocks from ISS, Set for May 25 Pacific Splashdown

Create a free account to see more recent Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation stories.