Space Launch News - Space-Travel.Com brings you daily news about Space Travel, Rocket Launchers and Rocket Science. http://www.space-travel.com/index.html Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT en-us Impulse Space and SES have entered a multi-launch agreement to utilize the Helios kick stage for direct satellite transfers from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to Geostationary (GEO) and Medium Earth Orbits (MEO), significantly reducing orbital transit time to just hours. The inaugural mission, slated for 2027, will see Helios transporting a 4-ton-class payload directly to GEO within eight hours af]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT SpaceX said Friday it will make another launch attempt next week of the massive Starship rocket - key to CEO Elon Musk's long-term vision of colonizing Mars - after two consecutive in-flight explosions earlier this year. "The ninth flight test of Starship is preparing to launch as soon as Tuesday, May 27," the company said on its website, adding the launch window would open at 6:30 pm (233]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT Rocket Lab USA has announced it will launch the next BlackSky Gen-3 satellite as part of its continued partnership with the real-time space-based intelligence company. The mission, named "Full Stream Ahead," is scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand during a window opening May 28, 2025 (UTC). This upcoming flight marks the second of four planned Electron missions this y]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT The Federal Aviation Administration has approved the launch of SpaceX's Starship 9 after two mission mishaps idled the program for months. "The FAA conducted a comprehensive safety review of the SpaceX Starship Flight 8 mishap and determined that the company has satisfactorily addressed the causes of the mishap, and, therefore, the Starship vehicle can return to flight," the FAA said in]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT China's private rocket manufacturer LandSpace successfully launched its modified ZQ-2E Y2 rocket on Saturday, deploying six satellites into orbit from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone near the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 12:12 pm (Beijing Time). The ZQ-2E Y2 is an enhanced version of the Zhuque-2 (ZQ-2) model, named after the Vermilion Bird of ancient Chinese mythology,]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT CAS Space, a commercial aerospace firm under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, launched its Kinetica 1-Y7 solid-propellant rocket on Wednesday, successfully deploying six satellites into space. The rocket lifted off at 12:05 pm local time from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. Onboard were three remote-sensing satellites, one radar satellite, a mini weather satellite, ]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT India failed in its attempt to launch a satellite to observe Earth when the third stage failed, the nation's space agency said Sunday. The Indian Space Research Organization's EOS-09 spacecraft lifted off atop a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota at 5:59 a.m. local time Sunday. There have been 101 launches from Sriharikota, which is 1417]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT Akoustis Technologies, a leading provider of patented bulk acoustic wave (BAW) high-band RF filters, has completed the sale of most of its assets to Tune Holdings Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX). The sale, conducted as a going-concern transaction under Section 363 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, was approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Dist]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT An Australian aerospace firm said Friday it has scrubbed a historic attempt to send a locally developed rocket into orbit, citing a glitch in the nose cone protecting its payload - a jar of Vegemite. An electrical fault erroneously deployed the opening mechanism of the carbon-fibre nose cone during pre-flight testing, Gilmour Space Technologies said. The nose cone is designed to shield ]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT American aerospace firm Rocket Lab on Saturday carried a successful launch mission from its facility in New Zealand. The California-based publicly-traded company completed its third mission for Japanese firm the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, using one its partially-reusable Electron orbital launch vehicle. "Another fantastic launch by the Electron team to flawlessly deli]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT Southern Launch and Varda Space Industries successfully executed the reentry of the W-3 mission at the Koonibba Test Range on May 14, 2025. This milestone came just ten weeks after the W-2 mission, Australia's first commercial spacecraft reentry, further demonstrating Southern Launch's ability to support rapid mission turnarounds. The W-3 capsule, developed by Varda Space Industries, carri]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT Rocket Lab has achieved a rapid turnaround of two Earth return missions within just two months, successfully delivering Varda Space Industries' W-3 capsule back to Earth. This marks the third overall success in Varda's W-series missions, highlighting Rocket Lab's growing expertise in hypersonic re-entry logistics. The latest mission saw the W-3 capsule return at 02:07 a.m. UTC on May 14, f]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT Kazakhstan said Thursday there were no talks on Russia giving up its lease on the Baikonur spaceport before it runs out in 2050, amid reports Moscow is looking to ditch the ageing cosmodrome. The spaceport is used by Russia to send astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). But Moscow has signalled it aims to pull out of the ISS - one of the rare projects where Russian coopera]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT China has successfully completed full-scale testing of a 140-tonne liquid oxygen-methane rocket engine, a critical component for the nation's reusable carrier rockets, according to its developer, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation's Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology. The engine, boasting the highest thrust among China's current open-cycle liquid oxygen-methane models]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT On April 22nd, SpaceX's Bandwagon-3 rideshare mission took off from Cape Canaveral. Alongside the normal payload of satellites, there was a capsule from a German space start-up - Phoenix 1. This was the inaugural payload of ATMOS Space GmbH, and the first orbital test of its inflatable aerodynamic decelerator (IAD). To re-enter from low-Earth orbit, most spacecraft either use a tile-based ]]> Mon, 26 May 2025 11:49:33 GMT