Vast Space is accelerating toward its goal of building a thriving commercial presence in low Earth orbit with the announcement of three new research payload partners for its Haven-1 space station. Japan Manned Space Systems Corporation (JAMSS), Interstellar Lab, and Exobiosphere are all expected to deploy experiments aboard the single-module space station, slated to launch no earlier than May 2026 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9. 

NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) team moves quickly to prepare Artemis 2 for launch in early 2026. In March, EGS successfully stacked the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage onto the mobile launcher between the two solid rocket boosters (SRBs). The Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter (LVSA) is now part of the core stage. Alongside core stage integration, NASA has steadily progressed on the Orion spacecraft, preparing it for its first crewed mission around the Moon and back.

Last week, Jared Isaacman sat in front of his first Congressional hearing in what is expected to be his new career as NASA Administrator. On Wednesday, Isaacman sat in front of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee for his confirmation hearing, answering any questions the Senators wished before they voted on giving him the job or not. Here are five things we could expect from potential Administrator Isaacman if he is confirmed.

Jared Isaacman has finally received his call to be interviewed by the Senate for his new job as NASA Administrator, much more delayed than we originally thought. This will kick off the intense process before Isaacman can officially begin managing the agency.

SpaceX announced that its Starship Flight 9 mission will see the rocket’s first taste of reusability with the booster from Flight 7. The company also announced that a vast majority of the Raptor engines that flew on the booster will return for flight as well.

Read more: Starship Flight 9: SpaceX shows off Ship 35 heading for testing

Last week NASA announced that it has added SpaceX’s Starship rocket to its NASA Launch Services II contract, giving future access to NASA missions when the agency and rocket are ready. However, Starship’s current status will need to move forward in development much further before it will likely be able to compete for contracts.

Jeff Thornburg, former SpaceX VP that oversaw the development of Starship‘s Raptor engine, announced today that his company, Portal Space Systems, has raised $17.5 million in seed funding. The company plans to finish development and launch its first Supernova satellite system that is powered by an engine that comes with the benefits of nuclear propulsion, without the reactor.

Last week, the US Space Force announced it had certified ULA‘s Vulcan rocket for use on national security space launches, a major win for the company’s bottom line. However, the multi-month delay means Vulcan will not be ULA’s next launch, but the company still has big plans for this year.

Monday evening, SpaceX’s “Fram2” lifted off successfully from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission marked the first human spaceflight to fly in a true polar orbit, passing directly over both the North and South Poles. The mission name references the historic Norwegian ship Fram, which was used during polar expeditions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

A recent report from ProPublica shared a rather concerning tactic SpaceX is encouraging when it comes to foreign investment. While Chinese investors are usually avoided when the company is a defense contractor, SpaceX has supported this investment through offshore shell companies, masking their identity from government regulators.

After a rather space-packed first term, many expected the same to happen during President Trump‘s second term. However, we are approaching two-thirds of the way through Trump’s 100 days, and we still don’t have a firm understanding of his space goals.

The crew of FRAM2, the first crewed spaceflight to fly over Earth’s poles, is set and ready to launch as soon as a week from today. The four crew members completed their training at SpaceX‘s Hawthorne offices and are now off to Cape Canaveral to enter quarantine before launch.

For the last couple of years, SpaceX has been shaving hours off its booster turnaround timelines. This has turned months-long turnarounds into weeks; last week, SpaceX finally got that timeline down to just nine days! The company also just recently broke a launch pad turnaround timeline as well.

We’re soon closing the chapter on the first quarter of 2025, and so far the only companies in the headlines for launches have been SpaceX and Rocket Lab, with other companies like Firefly soon to follow. However, SpaceX’s supposed competitor has been nowhere, still waiting on final work from the Space Force that its Vulcan rocket is cleared to launch the missions it was contracted to do. So when might ULA, Vulcan, or Atlas finally launch next?

It’s been a while since we’ve discussed the space tourism company after it retired its VSS Unity spaceplane last year. 2025 will be the year of building for Virgin Galactic; the company announced recently that work is already underway on its first Delta spaceplane.

Over the weekend and yesterday, NASA and SpaceX successfully rotated out Crew-9 for Crew-10 at the International Space Station. The crew members included former Starliner crew members, Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.

Last night, SpaceX attempted to launch its Crew-10 mission from LC-39A; however, it ran into a snag about 40 minutes before liftoff, scrubbing the launch. NASA and SpaceX will reattempt to launch the international crew of four on Friday, March 14 at 7:03 P.M. ET.

After being first reported over two years ago, Blue Origin has finally released details on its first all-female New Shepard mission, commanded by helicopter pilot, entrepreneur, and girlfriend of Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez.

Last week featured a rare zero-launch week for SpaceX’s Falcon rocket as the company jumps back after a failed booster on March 2. SpaceX is expected to return to Falcon launches this week with the launch of two NASA payloads: SPHEREx and PUNCH.

During the live coverage of SpaceX’s Starship Flight 8, the company laid out an update to its plan to launch the massive vehicle from Florida. Some of the plans we’ve seen starting to take shape already were finally confirmed by SpaceX, such as the massive expansion of Roberts Road.

SpaceX was able to get its Starship Flight 8 off the ground after a scrub Monday afternoon; its goal was to repeat the Flight 7 objectives. However, Flight 8 ended in a similar spot, with Ship 34’s ascent into space being cut short due to an unknown issue.

Later this afternoon, SpaceX will make its second attempt to launch its Starship Flight 8 mission from Starbase, Texas. The launch will largely be a repeat of Flight 7, which concluded early before much of its testing could be done. Below is everything SpaceX wanted to test on Flight 7 but will now be testing on Flight 8, plus other tidbits on the launch!

SpaceX is planning to launch its Starship Flight 8 later this afternoon from its launch site in South Texas. The flight will mostly be a rehash of Flight 7, focusing on testing the changes to Starship Block 2, new heat shield modifications, and deploying its first dummy satellites into space.

SpaceX X Livestream: https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1lPKqMQbAWLKb

SpaceX scrubbed its Starship Flight 8 launch attempt on Monday afternoon. The cause for the scrub was not entirely shared, but it seemed to have shown up in the late stages of the count and involved the Super Heavy Booster.