It’s April already, which means NASA has shared the crew flying on Artemis 2. In an event at Houston’s Johnson Space Center, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, alongside numerous other NASA and Canadian Space Agency (CSA) leaders, announced the four-person team.

If you thought last week was empty on the launch schedule, this week looks to be even worse for those wanting to see more launches. Right now, on the schedule, we only see one launch from North America or Europe, to no one’s surprise, that is SpaceX.

NASA’s crawler-transporter has been certified as the heaviest self-powered vehicle on Earth by Guinness World Records.

The agency’s Exploration Ground Systems was presented the certificate on March 29, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Crawler-transporter 2, CT-2, is more than 6.6 million pounds and has the ability to transport up to 18 million pounds. It has technically held this record since 2016, after the completion of modifications it received to support the Artemis program and the Space Launch System rocket and its mobile launcher tower.

In 2019, SpaceX launched its first batch of 60 Starlink satellites. Since then, there have been two sides of the mega constellation debate: those that support and fear them. While I wish I could answer which of those sides is correct, I can only provide the latter more to worry about because China is entering stage right.

In an all-hands meeting Thursday afternoon, Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart told employees the bad news we had been expecting for a few days. The company will be laying off most of its workforce and cease operations due to a failure to gain funding.

In February, Space Explored interviewed five incredible members of NASA and Jacobs who were critical to the Artemis 1 mission, the maiden flight for NASA’s next-generation moon rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), and Orion spacecraft.

According to two sources, SpaceX could be getting its FAA launch license for its Starship launch vehicle. If true, this could lead to Elon Musk’s state of launching in late April actually being accurate (I SAID STOP LAUGHING).

It looked like Boeing would have a fantastic April with the launch of its first crewed flight of the Starliner spacecraft. However, now it seems like we’re going to have to wait until July before we see this milestone launch from the company to the International Space Station.

The European Space Agency’s High-Level Advisory Group (HLAG) released a report on the current state of Europe’s human exploration program. It calls for the continent to go all in on space, or risk being left in the dust.

Europe has become a key partner in many of NASA’s programs, including the Artemis Program. However, the continent’s space agency seems to have much more ambitious plans, rather than just helping NASA with its goals. The ESA’s HLAG report makes it clear that its objective should be to bolster its commercial market with its own human exploration program, including low Earth orbit and the Moon.

It looks like we will be getting an update on Astra’s progress on its Launch System 2 next month with the company’s second annual “Spacetech Day” event. The event will also cover the company’s electric propulsion system.

In contrast to the last few weeks, this week is relativity quiet in modern space launch terms. However, we do have the possibility of two SpaceX launches within 24 hours of each other again if launch dates hold and the weather is good.

Teams have assembled the main structures of NASA’s Artemis 2 Core Stage at New Orleans Michoud Assembly Facility, another step closer to getting the rocket ready for launch.

Small rocket startup Stoke Space recently received funding from Breakthrough Energy, an investment firm founded by Bill Gates.

Stoke Space was founded by Andy Lapsa and Tom Feldman in 2019 to develop a clean-fueled, fully-reusable two-stage rocket. Lapsa was formerly responsible for the development and operation of Blue Origin’s BE-3 and BE-4 engines.

The engines that are being developed for Stoke Space’s rocket utilize liquid oxygen and liquid natural gas, which burns cleaner than kerosene — one of the more common rocket propellant fuels, today.

Last September, Blue Origin suffered an inflight failure of an uncrewed New Shepard rocket. Friday, the company released its findings from its investigation into the failure.

Unless you’re a night owl, you probably missed that last night Rocket Lab launched its third Electron rocket of the year and carrying its final contracted mission for satellite builder BlackSky. This mission also featured the year’s first recovery mission for Electron’s first stage.

SpaceX has encountered some issues with its brand new “V2 mini” Starlink satellites. Avid watchers of the company’s satellites have spotted many lowering their altitudes over the last week.

Over screams of excitement, Relativity’s livestream hosts continued to update us on Terran 1’s maiden launch and the making of history. While the rocket didn’t end up making it into orbit, it just barely crossed over the boundary of space and far exceeded the mission’s milestones, still bringing joy to the host’s voices, even while announcing the failure.

Tonight, Relativity will have its third attempt at getting its Terran 1 rocket into space for the first time. Right now, Relativity has the Good Luck Have Fun launch window opening at 10:00 p.m. EST and going until 1:00 a.m. EST.

Last week we saw the first major collapse of a recent commercial space company, with Virgin Orbit furloughing its entire staff except for a handful of employees. However, there are some signs of hope, as tomorrow more employees will return for work with more coming later.

Have these last two weeks flown by for anyone else or just me? I don’t think we have ever been closer to seeing SpaceX’s first Starship orbital launch than we are now. But, according to two SpaceXers, we are just waiting on the FAA’s approval.

We have another busy week ahead with four launches scheduled around the globe, all from different companies. Check out below to see what is launching.

Friday, SpaceX launched two missions from both coasts of the United States to bring its rate back up, closer to its goal. With these launches in the books, SpaceX has launched 19 missions with 20 successful booster landings.

Thursday evening Rocket Lab launched once again from its Virginia launch site at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. This was the company’s second launch of the year, both coming from LC-2.

NASA is returning humanity to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years, but this time powered by the growing commercial space industry. To walk on the Moon, you need a few essential tools to survive. One of those was unveiled today – a space suit.