Nasaspaceflight

In another busy week of launches, China will launch three taikonauts to the Tiangong Space Station aboard a Chang Zheng rocket this week as part of the Shenzhou 19 mission. Additionally, both Russia and Japan will launch military payloads, and Rocket Lab will launch a confidential customer’s payload from New Zealand.

Fresh off the successful New Shepard NS-27 flight, Blue Origin is making intense preparations for the first flight of its long-awaited New Glenn heavy-lift rocket. The company has rolled out New Glenn’s first stage, equipped with seven BE-4 engines, for a static test firing. This is part of an effort to make the flight by the end of 2024.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) will soon close out production of its Atlas V rocket, completing…

SpaceX is at it again, laying the groundwork for expansion at its Roberts Road facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The work never ceases with SpaceX as it prepares for the future with an evolution coming to the Space Coast. These developments include new buildings, property expansions, and rumors of Starship’s revival in Florida.

NASA and Space Launch System core stage prime contractor Boeing are working to finish activating new production facilities at the Kennedy Space Center, to complete and deliver the next two units by the end of 2026. After summertime engine section hardware deliveries, the two SLS processing cells in the Space Systems Processing Facility are filled for the first time, and Boeing is preparing to check out new tooling in the Vehicle Assembly Building for the final assembly of the third and fourth stages.

PLD Space unveiled an aggressive 10-year plan last month at the company’s new headquarters building in Elche, Spain. This plan will begin by upgrading its under-development Miura 5 rocket with propulsive landing capability, which will aid in introducing a whole new family of rockets.

The European Space Agency (ESA) faces a crossroads as it works to prepare flights of the Vega-C and Ariane 6 as early as this December. While technicians in Europe and French Guiana are preparing these rockets and their payloads for flight, ESA and Arianespace are grappling with major changes in the space launch industry over the last decade.

In August, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover began its fifth science campaign — the rover’s most ambitious yet. The campaign has seen Perseverance climb the western rim of Jezero Crater and face its steepest and most challenging terrain yet, all the while continuing to take surface samples and look for signs of ancient microbial life. Currently, Perseverance is expected to crest over the crater rim in early December.

While SpaceX is preparing to fly Starship on its sixth integrated test flight next week, the company flew one satellite and plans to fly another to geostationary transfer orbit this week. Meanwhile, four Starlink missions are scheduled to fly this week, with three launching from Florida and one launching from California.

Work on the orbital launch mount and Pad B continues, the final Block 1 ship expected to fly is preparing for launch, and Booster 13 is expected to roll out for full-stack testing any day. Considerable changes have occurred in the short time since Starship flight 5, and those changes are beginning to head toward a Nov. 18 launch for Starship’s sixth flight.