Rocket Report: Starship could fly again in May; Ariane 6 coming...
Enlarge / Nine kerosene-fueled Rutherford engines power Rocket Lab's Electron launch vehicle off the pad at Wallops Island, Virginia, early Thursday. Welcome to Edition 6.36 of the Rocket Report! SpaceX wants to launch the next Starship test flight as soon as early May, the company's president and chief operating officer said this week. The third…
Rocket launch marks big step in building China’s lunar infrastructure
Enlarge / A Long March 8 rocket, standing 165 feet (50 meters) tall, rolled out of its assembly building to its launch pad Sunday at the Wenchang Space Launch Site. The next phase of China's Moon program begins with the launch of a new data relay satellite Monday to link lunar landers and rovers on…
SpaceX celebrates major progress on the third flight of Starship
Enlarge / SpaceX's Starship soars through the sky over South Texas, powered by 33 methane-burning Raptor engines.Stephen Clark/Ars Technica SpaceX's new-generation Starship rocket, the most powerful and largest launcher ever built, flew halfway around the world following liftoff from South Texas on Thursday, accomplishing a key demonstration of its ability to carry heavyweight payloads into…
SpaceX has a license to launch Starship—this time it might fly...
Enlarge / SpaceX's third flight-ready Starship rocket underwent a countdown dress rehearsal earlier this month. The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday it has approved a commercial launch license for the third full-scale test flight of SpaceX's giant Starship rocket. This is the final regulatory hurdle before SpaceX can launch Starship from South Texas. The third…
Russia’s next-generation rocket is a decade old and still flying dummy...
Enlarge / Technicians assemble an Angara A5 rocket at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia's Far East.Roscosmos By some measures, Russia's next-generation flagship rocket program—the Angara—is now three decades old. The Russian government approved the development of the Angara rocket in 1992, soon after the fall of the Soviet Union ushered in a prolonged economic recession.…
The world’s most-traveled crew transport spacecraft flies again
Enlarge / A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with the Crew-8 mission, sending three NASA astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut on a six-month expedition on the International Space Station. SpaceX's oldest Crew Dragon spacecraft launched Sunday night on its fifth mission to the International Space Station, and engineers are crunching data to see if…
The world’s most traveled crew transport spacecraft flies again
Enlarge / A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off with the Crew-8 mission, sending three NASA astronauts and one Russian cosmonaut on a six-month expedition on the International Space Station. SpaceX's oldest Crew Dragon spacecraft launched Sunday night on its fifth mission to the International Space Station, and engineers are crunching data to see if…
The world’s most traveled crew transport spacecraft will launch again tonight
Enlarge / A Falcon 9 rocket with SpaceX's Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft stands on Launch Complex 39A ahead of a launch attempt Sunday night.Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images SpaceX's oldest Crew Dragon spacecraft is about to launch on its fifth mission to the International Space Station, and engineers are crunching data to see if the…
Jeff Bezos’ New Glenn rocket finally makes an appearance on the...
Enlarge / Dave Limp, Blue Origin's new CEO, and founder Jeff Bezos observe the New Glenn rocket on its launch pad Wednesday at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Anyone who has tracked the development of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket has been waiting for signs of progress from the usually secretive space company. On…
Japan’s new H3 rocket proved it works, but will it catch...
Enlarge / Japan's second H3 rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 9:22 am local time Saturday. Japan's new H3 rocket took off Friday on its second test flight; its success is an important milestone for the launch vehicle poised to power nearly all of the Japanese space program's missions into orbit over…
