Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation News

Universe Today • Mark Thompson

Cold‑War Liability Rules Leave Civilians Without Recourse After SpaceX Debris Strikes Polish Warehouse

A chunk of SpaceX rocket debris that struck a Polish warehouse this year exposed a gap in liability rules written for state-only launches. Under the Cold War-era treaty, civilians cannot sue foreign commercial operators directly; damaged parties must wait for their governments to pursue state-to-state claims.

2025-11-12T11:24:48.768867-08:00

TechCrunch

Solar storms delay Blue Origin's New Glenn launch of NASA's ESCAPADE Mars probes

2025-11-12T07:39:51.616555-08:00

Aviation Week

Airbus ships fourth European Service Module (ESM‑4) to Kennedy for Artemis IV despite mission uncertainty

2025-11-11T01:41:08.863140-08:00

Ars Technica

Blue Origin targets Nov. 9 New Glenn launch with NASA's twin ESCAPADE smallsats to Mars

2025-11-09T08:13:27.827783-08:00

Launch Vehicles & Space Transportation News Timeline

Bloomberg

Firefly targets Alpha return-to-flight late 2025–early 2026 after September explosion Firefly Aerospace plans to return its Alpha orbital rocket to flight between late 2025 and early 2026 after implementing corrective fixes following the September explosion of an Alpha vehicle; the company says work is underway to validate changes and restore its launch cadence.

2025-11-12T23:53:22.632451-08:00

Firefly targets Alpha return-to-flight late 2025–early 2026 after September explosion

Ars Technica

Busiest spaceport sets new launch and payload records — pressure grows on range capacity and orbital congestion The busiest spaceport set new records for both launch cadence and total payload mass this year, increasing strain on range operations, ground infrastructure and orbital traffic-management systems as operators loft larger rideshare and constellation payloads into already crowded low Earth orbit.

2025-11-12T14:13:26.078550-08:00

Busiest spaceport sets new launch and payload records — pressure grows on range capacity and orbital congestion

NASA Spaceflight

Firefly pins Alpha test anomaly on minor hydrocarbon contamination Firefly Aerospace said it has pinpointed a minor hydrocarbon contamination as the root cause of a combustion anomaly during testing of its Alpha rocket stage. The company identified the contamination after investigating the test incident and says the finding explains the anomalous combustion behavior.

2025-11-12T14:00:06.261918-08:00

Firefly pins Alpha test anomaly on minor hydrocarbon contamination

Universe Today

Blue Origin scraps four‑year Jacklyn conversion, pivots to purpose‑built booster‑catch ship After four years converting a massive cargo ferry into Jacklyn — a rocket‑catching ship named for Jeff Bezos's mother — Blue Origin scrapped the conversion and began again. The move reflects hard technical lessons about recovering 57‑metre boosters descending at hypersonic speeds and a shift to purpose‑built simplicity.

2025-11-12T11:44:46.007567-08:00

Blue Origin scraps four‑year Jacklyn conversion, pivots to purpose‑built booster‑catch ship

Universe Today

❗️

Cold‑War Liability Rules Leave Civilians Without Recourse After SpaceX Debris Strikes Polish Warehouse A chunk of SpaceX rocket debris that struck a Polish warehouse this year exposed a gap in liability rules written for state-only launches. Under the Cold War-era treaty, civilians cannot sue foreign commercial operators directly; damaged parties must wait for their governments to pursue state-to-state claims.

2025-11-12T11:24:48.768867-08:00

Cold‑War Liability Rules Leave Civilians Without Recourse After SpaceX Debris Strikes Polish Warehouse

TechCrunch

❗️

Solar storms delay Blue Origin's New Glenn launch of NASA's ESCAPADE Mars probes Blue Origin has delayed the second New Glenn launch carrying NASA's twin ESCAPADE Mars space‑weather smallsats after heightened solar activity and geomagnetic storms disrupted operations. The mission, previously scrubbed for weather, later secured a short favorable window for liftoff and a planned booster landing attempt.

2025-11-12T07:39:51.616555-08:00

Solar storms delay Blue Origin's New Glenn launch of NASA's ESCAPADE Mars probes

relativityspace.com

SES expands multi‑launch agreement with Relativity to task Terran R for GEO and MEO satellites SES on Nov. 12, 2025 announced a multi‑year, multi‑launch services agreement with Relativity Space to task multiple Terran R flights to place SES GEO and MEO satellites into orbit. The deal deepens the operators’ partnership and secures dedicated heavy‑lift capacity for SES’s multi‑orbit needs.

2025-11-12T07:09:26.515068-08:00

SES expands multi‑launch agreement with Relativity to task Terran R for GEO and MEO satellites

SpaceNews.com

Why Yuma Matters: Building a U.S. Southern Launch Corridor A southern launch corridor anchored at Yuma, Arizona, is being promoted as a strategic node for U.S. space access, offering a dedicated route for commercial and military orbital launches. Proponents say it would expand launch capacity, improve range safety and concentrate infrastructure investment to support growing flight rates.

2025-11-12T06:16:14.189703-08:00

Why Yuma Matters: Building a U.S. Southern Launch Corridor

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