Reuters
Beijing’s Satellite Town—designed to concentrate satellite manufacturing and operations—will be completed in the second half of 2026, according to state-owned media Beijing Daily. The project underscores how China is scaling terrestrial space industrial capacity alongside its faster orbital launch cadence.
By Spaceflight Now: SpaceX is positioned to complete its 600th Falcon booster landing during a Starlink mission now planned for Sunday morning. The Falcon 9 rocket will fly on a south-southwesterly trajectory upon departure from Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Ars Technica
• Stephen Clark
By Ars Technica: NASA confirmed Thursday that SpaceX will launch the European Space Agency’s Rosalind Franklin Mars rover, perhaps as soon as late 2028, on a Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
European Spaceflight
Space.com
• Mike Wall
By Space.com: The heat shield on Artemis 2's Orion capsule appears to have held up incredibly well, mission commander Reid Wiseman said.
SpaceNews.com
• Andrew Jones
By SpaceNews.com: China’s Shenzhou-21 astronauts conducted an extravehicular activity outside the Tiangong space station Thursday, installing debris-protection hardware and inspecting the orbital outpost.
aviationnews.eu
Leonard David
NASA
• Jennifer M Dooren
By NASA: NASA and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) launched the NASA Force website on Friday, opening applications for roles aimed at recruiting the nation’s top engineers and technologists to support America’s air and space program.
Flying Magazine
Reuters
By Reuters: Boeing and its unit Millennium Space Systems are working together to expand production capacity and launch a new satellite platform as they look to fulfill a growing backlog of orders, the aerospace firms said on Thursday.
Air & Space Forces Mag
By investors.rocketlabcorp.com: LONG BEACH, Calif., April 14, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Rocket Lab Corporation (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or the “Company”), a global leader in launch services and space systems, today introduced a new electric satellite thruster designed for high-volume production to meet the growing demand for reliable satellite.
European Spaceflight
• Andrew Parsonson
Space Intel Report
• Peter B de Selding
Via Satellite
• Ben Ackman
