SPACE UPDATE NASA & NEWSPACE Rocket Lab has fully financed its pending acquisition of Iridium, expected to close in mid-2027, through a $1.944B equity program. SpaceX Starship Flight 14 was pushed to September 28; for this flight, the upper-stage will attempt its first true orbital insertion maneuver. Intuitive Machines states

SPACE UPDATE NASA & NEWSPACE NASA has requested proposals to develop surface technologies, including power, oxygen extraction and manufacturing needed to build a sustainable lunar South Pole base. Founded in 2019, Stoke Space has raised $2.3 billion in total capital, following a recent $1 billion Series E financing round to

SPACE UPDATE NASA & NEWSPACE Blue Origin won US$700M contract to build Mars telecommunications orbiter; and broke ground at new Cape Canaveral payload processing facility that aims to support up to 16 missions annually. NASA is modifying its lunar spacesuit requirements for a simpler, lighter “Sortie Suit” variant with Axiom Space

SPACE UPDATE NASA & NEWSPACE Over a 2-year period starting in 2027, SpaceX plans to build Starbase Louisiana, a $100 billion spaceport serving as a Starship launch hub.  Issued by the White House, a memorandum outlined a new National Space Transportation Policy, establishing goals to achieve over 1,000 annual launches

SPACE UPDATE NASA & NEWSPACE Firefly awarded Spacecraft Processing Operations Contract from NASA, allowing the company to compete for task orders to support missions launching from Vandenberg.  Intuitive Machines will design and manufacture a multi-satellite communications infrastructure—likely three geostationary craft—for an undisclosed customer in a deal valued at over $600

SPACE UPDATE NASA & NEWSPACE Blue Origin is constructing LC-36B at Cape Canaveral to support New Glenn 9×4 (9 boosters and 4 upper-stage engines) launches, while New Glenn 7×2 will launch from LC-36A after its rebuild.  Virgin Galactic opened public voting to name its new “Delta-1” SpaceShip vehicle, which is

SPACE UPDATE NASA & NEWSPACE NASA and Northrop Grumman are repurposing Gateway HALO technologies into three Lunar Infrastructure Demo (LID) missions to tackle extreme temperature swings at the lunar South Pole. SpaceX stock has fallen significantly from its post-IPO peak above $200, though the company’s 2026 second-quarter revenue hit $7.8

SPACE UPDATE NASA & NEWSPACE The upper stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will impact the Moon, creating a flash of light and plume of ejecta, on August 5 at 06:34:33 UTC near the Einstein and Bell craters (the Earth-facing edge around the 10 o’clock position). Rocket Lab was

SPACE UPDATE NASA & NEWSPACE Highly anticipated SpaceX Starship Flight 13 achieved many mission successes: Super Heavy hard splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, deployed 20 Starlink satellites, Starship soft landing in Indian Ocean. Astronauts and engineers increasingly question whether a safe, practical landing at the lunar south pole is

SPACE UPDATE NASA & COMMERCIAL PARTNERS SpaceX Starship Flight 13 automatically aborted as multiple raptor engines failed to ignite. May attempt flight as early as July 20. NASA and Draper cancel lunar lander CLPS CP-12 contract – this mission was the Team Draper Commercial Mission 1 (aka ispace Mission 3) to

SPACE UPDATE NASA & COMMERCIAL PARTNERS Fire on the Moon combustion experiment, recently detailed by astronaut Butch Wilmore, is expected to be among the payloads aboard Astrobotic’s Griffin-1 mission launching in late 2026. NASA’s CAPSTONE spacecraft concluded a successful extended mission testing lunar technologies, serving as a cost-effective testbed for

SPACE UPDATE NASA & COMMERCIAL PARTNERS Another round of awards, totaling nearly $600 million, to be given to NASA commercial partners for lunar missions (Astrobotic $297.9M, Firefly Aerospace $144.2M, Intuitive Machines $148.3M). Engineering model of Perseverance rover (dubbed “Promise”) may be repurposed for lunar mission with multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator.

LUNAR NEWS NASA & ARTEMIS NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman to discuss the next set of lunar lander missions and awards this Tuesday 30 June. Eric Berger reports the work for the Lunar Gateway’s planned Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) has ceased. A NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) analysis indicates aging infrastructure will need $1

LUNAR NEWS Chang’e-6 lead isotope data shows that a massive impact, rather than just the early Lunar Magma Ocean, heavily modified the lunar crust in the South Pole–Aitken region. | Astrobotic Griffin-1 lander is to be sent to JPL later this month for environmental testing, in preparation for its launch

LUNAR NEWS Falcon 9 upper stage (4,000 kg dry) now expected to impact lunar surface at 06:35 UTC on August 5, 2026. | Artemis III test mission set for 2027, names 4 crew members. | The details of Japan’s SLIM lander deploying a baseball-sized rover (LEV-2) on the lunar surface

LUNAR NEWS SpaceX likely will go public at a multiple of the combined market capitalization of all other space companies. | FAA requires an investigation into uncontrolled landing of SpaceX Super Heavy booster on Starship Flight 12. | Blue Origin mission schedule is said by others to be set back

June 1-7, 2026 | Vol 45, Week 22 | Hawai`i Island, USA NASA Personnel Announce Timeline for USA on the Moon, Project Awards, Moon Base Website Live-streamed and recorded NASA news conference May 26 on Moon Base plans featured Jared Isaacman, Lorie Glaze and Carlos García-Galán. Isaacman restated the intention

May 25-31, 2026 | Vol 45, Week 21 | Hawai`i Island, USA Shenzhou 23: Imminent Launch Followed by Shenzhou 24: International Collaboration in Autumn The Shenzhou 23 mission is scheduled to launch NET May 24. Although originally planned for November, the craft was moved sooner consequent to the space debris

May 18-24, 2026 | Vol 45, Week 20 | Hawai`i Island, USA SMILE Sun, You’ll Soon Be on Camera! The first mission to observe Earth’s magnetosphere in X-ray light, SMILE (Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer), is prepared to launch May 19 via Vega-C rocket from Guiana Space Center. SMILE

May 11-17, 2026 | Vol 45, Week 19 | Hawai`i Island, USA SpaceX’s Plans 5 Flights This Week, Including Starship Version 3, and IPO in June SpaceX plans 5 launches this week, which would bring 2026 launches to 61, the Falcon 9 rocket flying 59 times, Falcon Heavy once, and

May 4-10, 2026 | Vol 45, Week 18 | Hawai`i Island, USA Canada is Building a Spacefaring Nation — Mirroring May 5 Canadian Space Launch Conference Canadian Space Agency (CSA-ASC) Astronaut Jeremy Hansen was part of the Artemis II lunar flyby crew, and Canada contributes to the Artemis program, yet CSA-ASC terminated

April 27 – May 3, 2026 | Vol 45, Week 17 | Hawai`i Island, USA Amazon Leo Constellation to Gain 61 Additional Satellites this Week Two launches, April 27 + 28, are planned for the Amazon Leo project for global internet, using different launch providers and vehicles. United Launch Alliance

April 20-26, 2026 | Vol 45, Week 16 | Hawai`i Island, USA ULA Vulcan-Centaur Rocket Needs Northrop Grumman Boosters to Pass the Test United Launch Alliance (ULA) plans a static fire test this week of its Vulcan-Centaur (VC) rocket. Although a VC deployed two satellites to geosynchronous orbit in February,

April 13-19, 2026 | Vol 45, Week 15 | Hawai`i Island, USA From Humans to Hardware, 2026 Moon Missions Plan Next-Gen Telescope and Hopping Probe As Artemis II crew readjusts to life back on Earth after their unprecedented lunar-far-side flyby, robotic Moon missions for 2026 are next up. China National