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

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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

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

European Spaceflight

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ESA schedules Space Rider inaugural flight for 2028 At its Ministerial Council meeting in Bremen, the European Space Agency said the inaugural flight of its reusable Space Rider orbital reentry vehicle is expected in 2028. The announcement establishes a timetable for Europe’s first operationally focused reusable payload-return demonstrator and advances ESA’s reusability agenda.

2025-11-27T01:44:49.301211-08:00

ESA schedules Space Rider inaugural flight for 2028

Space.com

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Soyuz MS-28 launches from Baikonur with NASA's Chris Williams and two Russian cosmonauts for eight-month ISS mission A Soyuz MS-28 lifted off from Baikonur on Thanksgiving Day carrying NASA astronaut Chris Williams — an astronomer-turned medical physicist and Harvard board-certified specialist — alongside Russian cosmonauts Sergey Kud-Sverchkov (commander) and Sergei Mikayev, beginning a planned eight-month stay aboard the International Space Station.

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

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

deutschland.de

Spain's $376M pledge pushes ESA ISR constellation precursor past funding threshold; programme to start 2026 Spain's $376 million pledge has pushed ESA's planned multi‑sensor ISR constellation precursor past its funding threshold, clearing the way for the programme to begin in 2026 as 23 member states meet in Bremen's CM25 ministerial to finalise space investment priorities.

2025-11-26T23:34:38.971807-08:00

Spain's $376M pledge pushes ESA ISR constellation precursor past funding threshold; programme to start 2026

satnews

SES expands multi-launch services deal with Relativity to fly satellites on Terran R SES extended a multi-year, multi-launch services agreement with Relativity Space to fly selected SES satellites on Terran R, a medium-to-heavy-lift reusable launch vehicle. The deal secures multiple missions over several years and supports Relativity's push to scale Terran R flight cadence.

2025-11-26T23:05:27.887911-08:00

SES expands multi-launch services deal with Relativity to fly satellites on Terran R

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