Launch Vehicles
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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.
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.
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.
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.
Rocket Lab Books More Launches in Q1 Than All of 2025, Adds $30M Anduril HASTE Deal, Space Force Interceptor Pick, and Motiv Robotics Buyout
Rocket Lab disclosed 31 new launch contracts plus five Neutron flights in the first quarter, then stacked three same-day announcements: an Anduril hypersonics order, a Raytheon-paired Space Force selection, and a Mars-veteran robotics acquisition.
Skyroot Aerospace Becomes India's First Space-Tech Unicorn With $60 Million Round Ahead of Vikram-1 Maiden Orbital Launch
Hyderabad-based Skyroot raised $60 million co-led by GIC and Sherpalo Ventures at a $1.1 billion valuation, with Vikram-1's first orbital flight targeted for June 2026.
Falcon Heavy Returns After 560 Days to Close Out the Troubled ViaSat-3 Constellation
SpaceX targets April 27 to launch ViaSat-3 F3 to the Asia-Pacific, ending Falcon Heavy's longest gap and capping a constellation that lost 90% of its first satellite to an antenna failure.
Blue Origin's New Glenn Nails First Booster Reuse but Loses BlueBird 7 Satellite to Wrong Orbit
New Glenn's third flight landed its reused booster successfully but an upper stage engine failure put AST SpaceMobile's satellite into an unusable orbit, triggering an FAA investigation and grounding.
Blue Origin Targets April 12 for New Glenn's First Booster Reuse, Carrying the Largest Commercial Satellite Ever to Orbit
New Glenn-3 will refly the booster that landed after delivering NASA's ESCAPADE Mars probes, deploying AST SpaceMobile's 2,400-square-foot BlueBird 7 direct-to-device satellite.
Pulsar Fusion Achieves First Plasma in Nuclear Fusion Rocket Engine, Demonstrated Live at Bezos-Hosted MARS Conference
UK startup Pulsar Fusion demonstrated the first-ever plasma ignition inside a nuclear fusion rocket exhaust system, streaming the test live from Bletchley to Amazon's MARS Conference in California.
CAS Space Targets Late March for Kinetica-2 Maiden Flight, China's Latest Bid for a Reusable Medium-Lift Rocket
Chinese Academy of Sciences spinoff CAS Space will attempt the first launch of its Kinetica-2 kerosene-LOX rocket from Jiuquan, carrying a prototype cargo spacecraft for the Tiangong space station.