Space & Aerospace
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Blue Origin's New Glenn Rocket Explodes During Static Fire Test, Destroying Its Only Launch Pad and Threatening NASA Moon Timeline
A hotfire engine test at Cape Canaveral on May 28 destroyed New Glenn and LC-36, freezing Amazon's 24-launch satellite manifest and casting doubt on Blue Origin's role in NASA's 2026-2028 lunar program.
FAA Declares Starship Flight 12 a Mishap and Grounds the Rocket Pending Raptor 3 Engine Investigation
The FAA classified the May 22 Starship V3 test as a mishap on May 27, after Super Heavy Booster 19 failed its boostback burn and hard-splashed in the Gulf of America, grounding the program until SpaceX's investigation is approved.
NASA Awards Nearly $1 Billion in Moon Base Contracts to Blue Origin, Astrolab, Lunar Outpost, and Firefly
NASA awarded contracts for lunar terrain vehicles, cargo landers, and a drone survey mission on May 26, marking the first concrete procurement step under the Moon Base program announced in March.
China Launches Shenzhou 23 With Hong Kong's First Astronaut as One Crew Member Prepares for Historic Year-Long Stay
Shenzhou 23 lifted off May 24 carrying Lai Ka-ying, Hong Kong's first astronaut, with one of the three crew members set for China's first year-long spaceflight.
SpaceX Scrubs First Starship V3 Launch After Hydraulic Failure, Sets May 22 Window for Flight 12
A hydraulic pin failure on the launch tower arm forced SpaceX to scrub the first Starship V3 test flight at T-40 seconds, with a second attempt targeting 6:30 p.m. EDT on May 22.
Joby Completes Week-Long New York Air Taxi Campaign as Wisk Doubles Its Autonomous Test Fleet
Joby flew JFK-to-Manhattan routes in seven minutes during an April 27–May 1 New York campaign, days before Wisk flew its second Gen 6 autonomous prototype.
Star Catcher Raises $65 Million Series A to Beam Concentrated Sunlight at Satellites, Bringing Total Funding to $88 Million
The Florida space-energy startup, founded less than two years ago, will use the oversubscribed round led by B Capital to fly the first-ever space-based optical power-beaming demonstration later this year.
ULA Confirms Successful GEM 63XL Static Fire as Vulcan SRB Investigation Drags On and Space Force Pause Holds
ULA says Northrop Grumman ran a successful GEM 63XL solid rocket booster static fire on April 15, but the Vulcan rocket remains grounded for national security launches three months after a nozzle anomaly on USSF-87, with Amazon expected to anchor a return-to-flight by year-end.
Mars Express Images Shalbatana Vallis, a 1,300 km Equatorial Flood Channel That Burst From Mars 3.5 Billion Years Ago
ESA's Mars Express has released a new HRSC image of Shalbatana Vallis, a 1,300 km equatorial channel that was carved when groundwater erupted onto the Martian surface roughly 3.5 billion years ago.
Tianzhou-10 Launches on Long March 7 and Docks With Tiangong's Tianhe Module in Under Five Hours, Carrying 6.2 Tons of Cargo
China's tenth Tianzhou cargo spacecraft lifted off from Wenchang at 8:14 a.m. Beijing time on May 11 and rendezvoused with Tiangong's Tianhe core module the same afternoon, delivering propellant, a new EVA suit, and six scientific payloads.
ESA and JAXA Sign RAMSES Cooperation Agreement to Send Spacecraft to Asteroid Apophis Ahead of 2029 Earth Flyby
Berlin signing on 7 May commits Japan to launch ESA's Ramses probe on an H3 rocket in 2028, in time to escort Apophis through its 32,000 km flyby of Earth.
NASA JPL Fires Up 120-Kilowatt Lithium-Fed Magnetoplasmadynamic Thruster, a 25x Power Leap Over the Psyche Engines
On Feb. 24, a JPL-led team ran a lithium-vapor magnetoplasmadynamic thruster at 120 kilowatts inside the CoMeT vacuum chamber, more than 25 times the power of the electric engines on NASA's Psyche spacecraft.