Enlarge (credit: Blue Origin) Welcome to Edition 4.08 of the Rocket Report! It’s been another big week for private spaceflight, which means I made my second trip in nine days to the El Paso airport. This time, I enjoyed getting to see Blue Origin’s launch site in West Texas, and watching New Shepard launch in […]
Enlarge / VSS Unity burns its rocket motor on July 11, 2021. (credit: Virgin Galactic) Welcome to Edition 4.07 of the Rocket Report! Looking back to Virgin Galactic’s flight and ahead to Blue Origin, we’re continuing to experience a very special moment in human spaceflight history this week, with final preparations underway for Jeff Bezos […]
Enlarge / Space shuttle Atlantis launched on Friday, July 8, 2011, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. This was the final launch of the space shuttle program. (credit: NASA) Welcome to Edition 4.06 of the Rocket Report! After years and years of promises, the era of suborbital space tourism is really and truly upon us. What […]
Enlarge / A Super Heavy booster rolled out of SpaceX’s production facilities in South Texas on Thursday. (credit: Elon Musk) Welcome to Edition 4.05 of the Rocket Report! We have a really big week in small launch: Virgin Orbit confirmed the viability of its LauncherOne vehicle with a second consecutive successful flight. Congratulations to the […]
Enlarge / During a presentation on Thursday a Chinese space official showcased a new design for the Long March 9 that, umm, resembles a Super Heavy booster. (credit: YouTube) Welcome to Edition 4.04 of the Rocket Report! About two months ago, we reported on China’s state rocket company releasing a rendering of a spacecraft that […]
Enlarge / A Falcon 9 rocket goes supersonic on Thursday, launching a GPS III satellite for the Space Force. (credit: US Space Force) Welcome to Edition 4.03 of the Rocket Report! This week saw two significant launches back-to-back. On Wednesday evening, US time, China launched its first crewed mission to its new space station, which […]
Enlarge / This is the rendering China’s Dongfang Space released of its proposed rocket. It seems to be Kerbal-approved. (credit: Dongfang Space) Welcome to Edition 4.02 of the Rocket Report! This week there’s news about the space race between two rocket billionaires, Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson, and still more news about Branson’s other space […]
Enlarge / An Atlas V rocket lifts off on Tuesday, May 18, 2021. (credit: United Launch Alliance) Welcome to Edition 3.45 of the Rocket Report! This week we have an Indian commercial space race to dig into, an explanation of why Elon Musk’s hat is probably safe, and much, much more to discuss in the […]
Enlarge / Starship SN15 takes to the skies in early April. (credit: SpaceX) Welcome to Edition 3.44 of the Rocket Report! I took just three days off from work last week, and when I returned to the home office, there was an absolute torrent of launch news to catch up with. In this report, I […]
Enlarge / NASA and Boeing work to remove the SLS rocket core stage from its test stand in Mississippi. (credit: NASA) Welcome to Edition 3.42 of the Rocket Report! This week we’ve got an update on Virgin Orbit, which has signed a multilaunch deal for its LauncherOne vehicle. Additionally, NASA has provided a couple of […]