ULA launched an Atlas V rocket early this morning carrying a classified payload. This was the Atlas V’s final national security payload, with the remaining NSSL missions being carried out by the company’s new Vulcan rocket.

SpaceX announced last week that the company will be moving its Dragon recovery operations to the West Coast of the United States due to trunk debris surviving reentry, even though computer models said it wouldn’t. This will be a return to form as the company started out recovering its Dragons from California.

This week we have a total of four launches on the schedule as of right now. Two of the missions are coming from SpaceX with the remaining two coming from Rocket Lab and ULA. The highlight for the week will be the Atlas V launch, as it will be ULA’s final Atlas launch for national security missions.

After Thursday’s green light from the FAA to resume launches, SpaceX took no time to try to catch up on the last few week’s lack of Starlink missions. Using all three of its Falcon 9 launch sites, the company launched a total of 67 Starlink satellites into orbit.

SpaceX has been cleared by the FAA to resume flight operations for its Falcon 9 rocket, even though the company’s investigation hasn’t yet been fully closed. SpaceX released a statement detailing what caused the failure of its second stage earlier this month and a short term fix ahead of Saturday’s early morning Starlink launch.

Blue Origin announced Wednesday its crew for the NS-26 missions. On board will be several high achieving and and lucky individuals that will get the chance to fly and feel weightlessness above the Karman Line. One of the crew members, a daughter of a previous participant, will become the youngest woman to reach 100 km.

Next month SpaceX is planning to launch the next crew of four astronauts to the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. In case you forgot, here’s a quick recap of who’s going to be on top of that Falcon 9 rocket come liftoff.

We only have two known launches this week and both will be coming from SpaceX within a couple hours of each other. However, there is no word from the FAA if the agency has green-lit the company to return to flight.

Earlier this month, NASA selected SpaceX to be the builder of the vehicle that will be tasked with deorbiting the International Space Station in the 2030s. While no design was shared, it was said to be built on Dragon heritage hardware. In a new render, SpaceX shows off that it’s not just based on it, it’s basically just a long Dragon.

It’s that time of year again where the aviation world descends onto the city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the annual EAA AirVenture fly-in convention. It is also our yearly reminder that the second letter of NASA stands for “Aeronautics,” as they will have a pretty serious presence this year surrounding their X-59 supersonic test plane.

On Thursday, Astra announced its deal to be taken private by its founders and long time investors, closed, effectively removing it as a publicly traded company. Its new parent company, Apogee Parent LLC, will purchase all of its outstanding stock and all stock it doesn’t own.

This week SpaceX founder and leader Elon Musk has decided to pull SpaceX’s headquarters from Hawthorne, California to Starbase, Texas over a pro-LGBTQ+ law. However, what this actually means is unclear, as this is not the first time Musk has moved its company to Texas over political trouble.

A new approach to spacesuit technology promises to revolutionize astronaut life support systems, ensuring sustainability and self-sufficiency in the harshest environments of space. Scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell University are addressing a significant challenge in space travel: water reclamation. Inspired by the “stillsuits” from Frank Herbert’s “Dune” novels, the new spacesuit system prototype aims to extend spacewalks and improve astronaut hygiene by recycling expelled urine into drinkable water.

Under a blistering Louisiana sun, the Artemis II core stage left the Michoud Assembly Facility this morning in New Orleans. This is the core of the massive SLS rocket that will take four astronauts to orbit the Moon for the first time in over 50 years.

In contrast to weeks past, we only have a single mission scheduled to launch this week, an Electron from New Zealand. Due to SpaceX’s anomaly mid-flight last week, its Falcon 9 rocket has been grounded until an investigation is completed.

Last night SpaceX launched its Starlink Group 9-3 mission from Vandenberg Space Force base, the mission ended in a failure in the Falcon 9’s second stage, leaving the payloads too low to reach orbit. This mark’s SpaceX’s first inflight failure since 2015’s CRS-7 flight.

On Tuesday Arianespace and ESA lifted off the long awaited Ariane 6 rocket from its launch site in French Guiana. Delivering several test satellites for multiple customers, the rocket proved it was capable of getting to orbit, however its second stage suffered an anomaly on a highly requested upgrade.

An internal NASA analysis has surfaced with concerning estimates as the agency advances toward a crewed lunar landing during the Artemis 3 mission, currently set for no earlier than September 2026. The analysis indicated a nearly one-in-three chance the lander, being developed by SpaceX, may be delayed by at least a year and a half.

Today ESA is preparing to launch its first Ariane 6 rocket from French Guiana in South America. The continent has been waiting a long time for this moment after several delays to various parts of the rocket.

Following a double header by SpaceX later today, tomorrow Arianespace and the European Space Agency are ready to attempt its first launch of its Ariane 6 rocket. After years of delays and issues, the rocket has finally made it to the launch pad.

The Canadian Space Agency has awarded MDA Space a $1 billion contract for the next phases of the Canadarm3 program. This robotic system is integral to NASA’s Gateway, a space station that will circle the Moon to support the Artemis program.

In preparation for the safe deorbit of the International Space Station after 2030, NASA has selected SpaceX to build and deliver the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle. The single-award contract, valued at $843 million, is widely regarded as critical to ensure the safe and controlled deorbiting of the decades-old laboratory, minimizing risks to populated areas.

While the launch date was still set, it was getting questionable if Polaris Dawn would actually be launching on July 12. Wednesday, the program announced a new launch date of July 31.

The European Space Agency has embarked on a collective initiative by signing contracts with Airbus Defence and Space, OHB, and Thales Alenia Space to develop large low Earth orbit satellite platforms that adhere to “Zero Debris” standards. This move aligns with ESA’s ambitious commitment to “significantly limit” the production of space debris by 2030 in hopes of making a significant step forward in space sustainability.