Space Explored

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.

With New Years coming up at the end of the week, we now know what will end up being the final rocket launches of 2023. SpaceX‘s Falcon Heavy is also set to return this week after a lengthly delay. Meanwhile, China is back with a flurry of more launches, but India looks to be taking the crown as the final launch of 2023.

Starship testing is back this week with both the first stage Super Heavy booster and second stage Starship on their respective test/launch stands. Both vehicles either attempted or completed static fires this week.

At a meeting of the National Space Council in Washington, DC, Vice President Kamala Harris announced an international astronaut will land on the Moon through Artemis before the end of the decade.

After a one day delay to fix a technical issue, Blue Origin successfully launched its NS-24 mission Tuesday morning. This marked the company’s first flight in over 15 months after NS-23 suffered an anomaly mid-flight.

SpaceX launched a batch of its “Gen 2 mini” Starlink satellites from Florida last night, breaking a week long drought of launches from the company. While usually Starlink missions aren’t something to talk about, the long lull means the company will likely miss its 100 launch goal.

After an abnormal lull in SpaceX launches last week due to weather and technical delays, that could change this week with a handful of Falcon 9 missions before the Christmas weekend. Firefly is back with another launch of its Alpha rocket this week, following the success of its VICTUS NOX mission in September.

Rocket Lab launched an Electron rocket late Thursday evening after a couple months break after suffering a failure in September. The successful launch deployed a synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japan’s Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, iQPS.

What was suppose to be a week full of SpaceX launches has turned into well, not much. Between weather and lengthly technical delays, SpaceX’s chances of a 100 launch year might have just slipped their grasps.

NASA announced Wednesday that Voyager 1, its furthest operating spacecraft, is no longer able to send usable data back to Earth. The issue has been happening since November and teams on the ground are still working on a solution that could take weeks more to solve.

The FCC reaffirmed its rejection of a nearly $900 million subsidy to SpaceX‘s Starlink program after it determined it failed to meet certain technical and financial requirements. However, some opinions share there could be an outside motive to the way the Commission voted.

SpaceX plans to launch about 50 rockets from Vandenberg Space Force Base in 2024 with a chance of 100 launches in the year 2025. This comes to a spaceport that has historically seem launches in the single digits. Now, it could soon see a launch for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket in the next few years.

With a post on social media, Blue Origin announced its return to flight for the New Shepard rocket. Flying science equipment and postcards from its charity Club for the Future, launch is set for no earlier than December 18.

Another packed week between SpaceX and China launching almost every day this week. The expected Falcon Heavy launch from this weekend is now today (Monday) but that’s not the only RTLS mission this week. This Friday a Falcon 9 will fly and have its booster return to LZ-1 as well.

Hidden in the bunch will be the return to flight of Rocket Lab‘s Electron rocket!

In a post on social media, ULA CEO Tory Bruno shared that the launch date for the company’s new rocket, Vulcan, has been delayed to NET January 8. This comes after a wet dress rehearsal that wasn’t completed in full due to ground system faults. Another dress rehearsal will be required before launch.