Space Explored

This month was expected to be a big one for lunar exploration with two new landers attempting soft landings on the Moon‘s surface. However, once again, landing on the Moon seems to be the next major hurdle for anyone, even the United States.

This week Rocket Lab will reattempt its first launch of 2024 and possibly Virgin Galactic will fly Friday on one of its final missions before it goes quiet. For SpaceX however, this month has been far below its 13 launches a month goal, although this year’s start looks to be stronger than last year’s.

Thursday afternoon SpaceX launched the Axiom-3 mission out of Kennedy Space Center making it its first human spaceflight mission of the year. Another milestone first was it being the first entirely European crewed mission ever with all four astronauts holding citizenship from a European nation.

Axiom Space is less than a day away from initiating Axiom Mission 3. Ax-3 is the commercial space company’s first all-European astronaut mission. Here’s what you need to know to follow along from anywhere in the universe.

We have two firsts for 2024 this week. First SpaceX is set to launch the Axiom-3 mission on Wednesday as the first human spaceflight mission of the year. Then, just a few hours later, Rocket Lab plans to make its 2024 debut with a Electron launch out of New Zealand.

On Thursday, Rocket Lab plans to launch its first Electron rocket of 2024 with Spire Global on top. This mission will also feature a recovery of the Electron’s booster, another test before a full reuse of a booster on a future mission.

Wednesday Blue Origin transported a New Glenn booster to LC-36 from its rocket factory just outside Kennedy Space Center‘s gates. We aren’t certain how much of this booster is flight hardware, however, the more hardware we see the higher we believe chances of a launch this year is possible.

NASA announced in a stacked press conference that the agency is delaying its much anticipated Artemis 2 mission over safety concerns with the Lockheed Martin Orion spacecraft. Now slated for a September 2025 launch date, the delay also extends to Artemis 3 which is planned to liftoff one year after Artemis 2.

While ULA’s mission was a resounding success, the same cannot be said for the payload that was tucked inside Vulcan‘s fairing. While details are slim, we know that the first Astrobotic Peregrine lander has suffered a failure in its propulsion system, ending it’s chance of a soft lunar landing.

While it looks like a light week for launches from SpaceX, over in the Pacific Ocean, China will be busy launching several rockets from around its country. Also, Japan will chime in with a rare H-II launch.

At 2:18:38 A.M. ET Monday morning, ULA debuted its Vulcan rocket after years of delays and setbacks. With a highly expected successful deployment of Astrobotic‘s first Peregrine lunar lander, Vulcan kickstarts ULA’s new commercial launch future as well as NASA‘s new exploration of the Moon.

On Friday ULA rolled out its first fully integrated Vulcan rocket, payload included, to ready it for launch early Monday morning. However, a last second meeting at the White House was called over one of the payloads hitching a ride to the Moon.

Last year SpaceX shared that it wanted to launch as many as 144 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets in 2024. This week, the man in charge in making that a reality shared the milestones it needs to hit to meat that goal.

Late last night, SpaceX launched its first rocket of 2024 out of Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. On top, in addition to the Starlink V2 mini satellites were used to, were six Starlink satellites capable of connecting directly to standard 5G cellphones. These satellites are the first following a partnership with T-Mobile announced back in 2022 to feature the connectivity, and are a major step forward for SpaceX’s satellite internet constellation.

Early Monday morning ULA plans to launch its first of two certification missions for its Vulcan rocket. What does this have to do with SpaceX‘s CEO Elon Musk? Well after a prediction made over five years ago, he’s now safe from an eating your hat moment.

Welcome to 2024, a year hopefully of many firsts. India started the year off with a launch just a few hours into New Years Day but here in the Western Hemisphere, SpaceX will kick things off with you guessed it, a Starlink launch.

Also, special guest this week since it’s launching so early Monday morning, ULA plans to debut its Vulcan rocket after years of delays.

With this week’s poll now closed, the results for the rocket of year as voted by all of you are now in. Unshockingly to almost anyone, it came down to two rockets, both by SpaceX. Below are your most voted pick and the pick by us.

Last night SpaceX rounded out the year with a double header, launching a classified mission on the Falcon Heavy for the US Air Force and Space Force and then about three hours later, 23 Starlink satellites. This completed another record breaking year with 98 total rocket launches from the company and many other milestones.

Three reports have collaborated the current list of bidders that wish to buy United Launch Alliance: Blue Origin, Textron, and Cerberus. The sale isn’t guaranteed but it is likely, as even ULA’s CEO has hinted towards the company’s interest.

Just before the Christmas weekend Firefly launched its fourth Alpha rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. While the booster and first burn of the second stage perform normally, the second burn failed to place Lockheed Martin‘s tech demonstrator into its intended orbit.

SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 booster B1058 fell over on droneship Just Read The Instructions while on its way back to port after launching the Starlink Group 6-32 mission over the weekend. The booster was used on SpaceX’s first crewed flight to space back in 2020, DM-2, which was also NASA‘s return of crewed flights from US soil.