Seth Kurkowski

The national airline of Qatar, Qatar Airways, has equipped the first Boeing 777 long-range aircraft with Starlink service and is ready for service. The airline also plans to equip its entire fleet of 777s by the end of 2025.

This week, SpaceX hit its first triple-digit launch year and continues to extend that number in the remaining months of 2024. Blue Origin might finally get its NS-27 mission off the ground to certify its new New Shepard rocket. Finally, NASA’s Artemis program is once again under fire for being behind schedule and so much… so much… over budget.

Sunday, SpaceX successfully launched and caught its Starship booster down in Starbase, Texas. A feat that many didn’t think would come true when watching the renders. However, SpaceX once again defied the odds and made fiction a reality and can now move on with its much more ambitious Starship plans.

Defying all belief in the previous timelines, SpaceX and what sounds like both local and federal agencies have begun preparations for Starship Flight 5 for no earlier than October 13. The mission will be full of high stakes both for SpaceX and NASA, which is hoping to keep the program on the right course ahead to meet Artemis Program deadlines.

This week SpaceX returns with the FAA‘s okay to resume launches, starting with ESA‘s Hera mission to the asteroid Didymos. Late-week weather around the Florida Peninsula will, however, likely delay several missions the company has.

ULA launched its Cert-2 mission on its brand new Vulcan rocket early Friday morning. While there was an obvious anomaly in one of its solid rocket motors, the company states the mission was a success. Now ULA and the Space Force will have to review flight data in order to gain certification for its lucrative National Security Space Launch missions.

SpaceX has run into another issue with its Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage, this time having an “off-nominal” reentry burn after Crew-9‘s orbit insertion. This comes just a short time ahead of two important science missions for both NASA and ESA that have October launch windows.

It will be another quiet week with SpaceX having yet another issue with its second stage. On Friday, SpaceX hopes to return, but the more exciting mission will be Vulcan‘s second flight, also on Friday. This mission will be its second and hopefully final certification flight for NASA and the Space Force.

SpaceX launched the two person crew of Crew-9 for NASA early Saturday afternoon from SLC-40. The mission is sending a NASA astronaut and Russian cosmonaut to the ISS for a six month stay, the two spare seats will be used to bring Starliner’s crew back at the completion of their mission.

The launch of Crew-9 is underway and is set to launch at 1:17 P.M. ET from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Update: Launched!

This week, Blue Origin made another step in the right direction in getting its New Glenn rocket to the pad for launch. On Thursday, the company fueled up its New Glenn second stage and conducted a 15-second risk reduction static fire.

SpaceX is set and prepared to launch the two-person crew of Crew-9 on their Falcon 9 rocket to the ISS for a six-month stay. This marks two historic firsts for SpaceX and the US space program, SLC-40‘s first human spaceflight and the first Russian to be at the controls of an American spacecraft.

One mission concluded, one moved into its next phase, and another is getting ready to launch. Here’s a brief recap of the last few days’ worth of human spaceflight stories.

SpaceX is back in the Starship launch testing zone with its Starship rocket down in Starbase, Texas. The company just did its first fully stacked fueling test with the hardware intended for Flight 5. However, SpaceX is still over two months away from getting FAA approval to launch.

SpaceX recovered at least the booster engine section of its most recent Starship flight, per a photo shared by Elon Musk on X. The flight was an overall success for the company, but they are still far away from getting to where they need to be.

ULA finished assembly of its second Vulcan rocket at its Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station last week. The rocket is finishing up final checks before launching an important second certification mission for the U.S. Space Force.

In a detail-packed Forbes report, sources say that Axiom Space is struggling to make payroll, is late on payments to its contractors (including SpaceX), and has begun downsizing some aspects of the company. All this while outside capital has become increasingly difficult to find.

This week the FAA announced new fines against SpaceX for violating its launch license during Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches back in 2023. However, the company states that the FAA was a part of the decision-making for moving forward with one of the violations, and allowed it to continue with its launch.

It’s been over three months since Starship last flew a rather successful mission from South Texas. In what was a big breakthrough in the red tape, SpaceX was granted a multi-launch contract, so where are the launches?

China is leading this week in launches, but SpaceX is set (already has by publishing this) to launch yet another major ESA mission over using domestic options. Rocket Lab will also make a showing this week with a… family-specific mission name.