Enlarge / NASA astronaut Jessica Meir looks on as the SLS core stage completes a full-duration 8-minute firing. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann / Ars Technica)
Welcome to Edition 3.37 of the Rocket Report! This week saw NASA reach a big milestone in igniting the four main engines of its Space Launch System rocket and firing them for a full duration of more than eight minutes. Whatever you think about the program, it’s worth taking a moment to celebrate this achievement with the engineers who pulled it off.
As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.
Virgin Orbit may go public, too. The Wall Street Journal reports reports that Richard Branson has hired Credit Suisse Group AG and LionTree LLC to explore taking Virgin Orbit public through a special-purpose acquisition company, with a valuation of up to $3 billion. The company successfully reached orbit for the first time earlier this year.
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