Polish space technology firm Eycore has successfully launched its first Earth observation satellite, Eycore-1, marking a significant milestone for both the company and Europe’s growing private space sector. The satellite lifted off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket on May 3 from Vandenberg Space Force Base, making Eycore only the second privately owned European company to operate its own synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite.
Lockheed Martin has announced it will join forces with Firefly Aerospace and Seagate Space to develop a sea-based launch capability for the Alpha rocket. The initiative signals a growing push toward more flexible and responsive access to space, particularly for national security missions. Currently, Firefly’s 29.48-meter Alpha rocket launches exclusively from Space Launch Complex 2 at Vandenberg Space Force Base. However, the new collaboration aims to break free from the limitations of fixed, land-based launch infrastructure by leveraging Seagate Space’s “Gateway” offshore platform.
SpaceX is facing a fresh legal challenge as it prepares for the next test of its massive Starship rocket, with residents in nearby Texas communities alleging that previous launches have caused damage to their homes. The lawsuit, filed April 30 in federal court, comes as the company moves closer to the 12th test flight of its Starship system from its Starbase facility in South Texas. Airspace advisories indicate launch opportunities could begin as early as May 12 and continue through May 18, although SpaceX has not officially confirmed a launch date.
SpaceX successfully launched and deployed 45 satellites early Sunday morning in a complex international rideshare mission aboard its Falcon 9 rocket, marking another major milestone in the company’s growing launch operations. Liftoff took place at 12:00 a.m. PDT (3:00 a.m. EDT / 0700 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 4 East at Vandenberg Space Force Station in California. The mission, designated CAS500-2, was led by South Korea’s Compact Advanced Satellite 500-2, with SpaceX later confirming that all payloads were successfully deployed.
A discarded upper stage from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is on course to collide with the Moon’s near side in early August, in what experts describe as a rare and scientifically notable—though harmless—event. The rocket stage, left over from a January 2025 launch that carried two commercial lunar landers, has been drifting through a highly elliptical orbit around Earth for more than a year. That orbit periodically carried it beyond the Moon before gravitational interactions gradually altered its trajectory. Astronomers now project that journey will end with an impact on Aug. 5.
SpaceX successfully launched its most powerful operational rocket, the Falcon Heavy, on Wednesday, sending a next-generation communications satellite into orbit and marking a significant milestone for global connectivity. The towering 70-meter rocket lifted off at 10:13 a.m. EDT (1413 UTC) from Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Powered by 27 Merlin engines generating approximately 5 million pounds of thrust, the rocket soared skyward on its 12th mission since its debut in 2018.
NASA is preparing for its next human spaceflight mission under the Commercial Crew Program, announcing that the SpaceX Crew-13 launch is now targeted for no earlier than mid-September. The revised timeline, moved up from November, is part of the agency’s effort to increase the frequency of U.S. crew rotation missions to the International Space Station (ISS) and maintain a steady human presence in orbit.
In a significant milestone for U.S. military space operations, the U.S. Space Force successfully launched the final satellite in its Global Positioning System (GPS) III series early Tuesday morning. The mission lifted off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket operated by SpaceX, signaling the conclusion of a major modernization phase for the GPS constellation. The rocket launched at 2:53:25 a.m. EDT (0653:25 UTC) from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, after a 24-hour delay caused by unfavorable weather conditions in the booster recovery zone.
Article by Dhanushka Nilanga
Blue Origin encountered a setback in its push to scale up launch operations after its heavy-lift New Glenn rocket experienced a second-stage malfunction during its third flight on April 19, leaving its payload in an unintended orbit. The NG-3 mission lifted off at 7:25 a.m. Eastern from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, following a brief hold in the countdown due to an unspecified technical issue. While the launch and ascent initially proceeded as planned, problems emerged during the upper stage phase of the mission.
Blue Origin inched closer to another major milestone in its heavy-lift ambitions Thursday morning as its powerful New Glenn rocket completed a crucial engine test at its Florida launch site. Just after sunrise, at 7:45 a.m. EDT (1145 UTC), all seven BE-4 engines on the rocket’s first stage ignited in a coordinated static fire that lasted roughly 20 seconds. The dramatic test marked a key pre-launch demonstration, with engineers now set to analyze performance data before clearing the vehicle for flight. If all systems check out, the rocket could lift off as early as Sunday, April 19, carrying AST SpaceMobile’s BlueBird-7 satellite.
SpaceX has taken a significant step toward launching the next generation of its Starship megarocket, successfully completing a full-duration static-fire test of the upgraded “Version 3” upper stage. The test, conducted on the evening of April 14, saw the Starship V3 upper stage ignite its engines while secured to the launch pad—an essential preflight procedure used to validate performance and systems ahead of liftoff. In a brief statement posted on X, SpaceX confirmed the achievement, noting it was the first full-duration static fire for the new variant.
