Enlarge / Tory Bruno shared an image of a brightly painted Vulcan rocket first stage tank this week on Twitter. (credit: Tory Bruno) Welcome to Edition 4.42 of the Rocket Report! I am sorry to say there will be no Rocket Report next week as I will be traveling to Washington, DC, to participate in […]
Enlarge / The Space Launch System rocket rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building this week. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann) Welcome to Edition 4.41 of the Rocket Report! For your situational awareness, Rocket Lab’s “There and Back Again” mission is now scheduled for 22:35 UTC on Friday from Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The company is […]
Enlarge / A Falcon 9 rocket launched the NROL-85 mission on April 17. (credit: SpaceX) Welcome to Edition 4.40 of the Rocket Report! There is a lot happening in spaceflight this week, but I’m probably most excited about Rocket Lab’s attempt to capture the first stage of its Electron rocket in mid-air. This launch (and […]
Enlarge / A United Launch Alliance Atlas V booster is delivered to Cape Canaveral by NASA’s Pegasus barge this week. (credit: United Launch Alliance) Welcome to Edition 4.39 of the Rocket Report! As usual there is plenty to discuss in the world of launch this week, from a successful hot fire test in Spain to […]
Enlarge / SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and the Endeavour spacecraft await the Axiom-1 crew launch on Friday. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann) Welcome to Edition 4.38 of the Rocket Report! We’re already in the second quarter of 2022, hard as it is to believe. This means that many companies with aspirations to debut new rockets this year, […]
Enlarge / The crew of NS-20 view the New Shepard spacecraft and rocket prior to launch. (credit: Blue Origin) Welcome to Edition 4.37 of the Rocket Report! The big event this weekend is a wet dress rehearsal for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, which begins on Friday and is presently scheduled to conclude on Sunday. […]
Enlarge / Astra’s LV0009 takes off from Kodiak Island, Alaska, on March 15. (credit: Brady Kenniston/Astra) Welcome to Edition 4.36 of the Rocket Report! As I took last week off for Spring Break, there is quite a bit of news to get to this week, including positive steps forward for some US small launch companies […]
Enlarge / Only five Ariane 5 rockets remain before Europe will transition to the Ariane 6 vehicle. (credit: ArianeGroup) Welcome to Edition 4.35 of the Rocket Report! No report next week. We’re now one week away from the momentous rollout of the Space Launch System rocket for the first time to the launch pad. I […]
Enlarge / As the space world watched Russia threaten to withhold Soyuz launches, SpaceX causally sent its ninth rocket of 2022 into orbit on Thursday, another batch of Starlink satellites. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann / Ars Technica) Welcome to Edition 4.34 of the Rocket Report! There is a famous quote said by Vladimir Lenin, of all […]
Enlarge / A fully stacked Starship and Super Heavy rocket on Thursday morning in South Texas. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann / Ars Technica) Welcome to Edition 4.32 of the Rocket Report! There are plenty of international happenings this week, with progress in Europe, Asia, and North America. But the biggest news may have come from SpaceX’s […]