Space Explored

The new year is right around the corner, and with that come new goals, records, and the arrival of new players in the space realm. The most promising to shake things up, Blue Origin, is just now making its new-space prime entrance. What does 2026 have in store for its big rocket, the New Glenn?

A new crew of three launched and arrived at the International Space Station after lifting off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan early this morning. The crew will replace the existing Soyuz crew on the ISS; both crews consist of two Russian cosmonauts and one NASA astronaut.

CubeSats began as a simple idea: standardize a tiny satellite so anyone could build one and share a rocket. The basic “1U” block is a 10 -centimeter cube. Larger variants – 2U, 3U, 6U, 12U, even 16U – snap together like Legos. 

For all their power, rockets remain at the mercy of the sky. A launch vehicle can withstand hundreds of tons of thrust, heat that rivals the Sun’s surface, and the vibrations comparable to a small earthquake – but a shift in wind or a charged cloud layer can still stop everything on the pad.

Yesterday, Blue Origin successfully launched its second New Glenn rocket from LC-36 in Florida. While a second successful mission is enough to celebrate, what happened at the end of the mission is bigger news for the company and the industry.

Rocket Lab is no longer planning on getting its Neutron rocket to the launch pad for its first flight by the end of this year. Not a surprise to many, but the debut flight of what could be a real Falcon 9 competitor is now scheduled for Q1 of 2026.

For most of the nation last night, the Northern Lights, or officially named the Aurora Borealis, were visible in an awesome display. This is due to a powerful solar storm coming from our Sun; however, that same storm that’s causing the beautiful nighttime display is also causing issues for the space industry who are trying to get rockets launched.

A company that has been out of the limelight for a while, Astra is quietly getting itself ready to re-emerge as a hopeful commercial launch contender. But should we even expect to see Astra rockets fly again?

After an hour and a half attempt, Blue Origin scrubbed its New Glenn NG-2 mission due to weather concerns. It wasn’t the only issue the company ran into during the countdown, but why did weather specifically cause the delay? And when will it launch again?

Blue Origin’s second New Glenn mission, NG-2, is finally on the launch pad and ready for its next flight. This could be a pivotal moment for the company as it is full of multiple firsts and features a NASA mission to Mars.

Last week, NASA Acting Administrator Sean Duffy shared a major accomplishment for President Trump’s space program. The issue is that the accomplishment he was talking about has nothing to do with President Trump’s space plans and began even before President Trump’s first term.

President Trump has renominated private astronaut and tech billionaire Jared Isaacman as NASA Administrator. This comes as both a surprise and is not at all, beating out Acting Administrator Sean Duffy for the job.

It’s been nine months into President Trump’s second term, and the government’s most popular and beloved agency is still without proper leadership. Some rumbles have made it sound like that could change soon, but we’re still awaiting official word.

Blue Origin may just have a shot at taking away SpaceX’s prized Artemis 3 crewed lunar landing, as the company has fallen behind its goals to get an HLS Starship variant ready for a 2027 attempt. Now NASA is looking at new options that may be able to get a lander ready faster.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has been the company’s workhorse since its debut in 2010. It has delivered cargo to the ISS, helped build out a new GPS constellation, redefined the cost of launch, and delivered thousands of Starlink satellites into orbit. It has done so by repeatedly breaking yearly launch records and hitting triple-digit launch years twice. However, with Starship’s soon debut as an operational rocket, the company plans to sunset the Falcon 9, ending its dominance during its peak.

They have come from a fragile blue sphere, wrapped in oceans and clouds. They walk in sealed suits, carrying their air like infants carry blankets. They are aliens – strangers who bend local dust into shelter and harvest light into food. They call themselves human.

SpaceX launched its 11th Starship rocket Monday afternoon on what could be its final mission of 2025. The launch was another overall success for the Starship program, with it actually being rather boring—a good thing for launches.