Rocket Report: A dark day for Blue Origin; Pentagon eyes new launch site

Worst practices… The recent growth of Chinese upper stages has been driven by the country’s increased launch rate as it begins to deploy satellite megaconstellations, Shell said. China’s space industry is just at the beginning of launching megaconstellations to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service, suggesting that if the country does not curb this practice it will deteriorate an already congested space environment. Chinese constellations such as Guowang and Spacesail are typically at higher altitudes, above 800 km, and China may launch 1,000 or more rockets over the next decade to support these constellations. That’s a lot of new junk if the trend continues. Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity vehicle returns to flight, kinda. With its first Delta-class suborbital spaceship expected to debut this summer, Virgin Galactic has returned its first-generation SpaceShipTwo vehicle Unity to flight for pilot and ground team training, Aviation Week & Space Technology reports. Grounded since its seventh and final operational mission on June 8, 2024, VSS Unity and its quad-jet carrier aircraft took to the skies over New Mexico on Wednesday. The jet released the unpowered spaceplane, and its two pilots steered Unity to a runway landing at Spaceport America. This was the first of several anticipated glide flights with Unity to help prepare the Virgin Galactic’s pilots for the first glide test flights of the Delta-class ship. Managing energy... “Unity‘s glide characteristics and energy-management profile provide an outstanding real-world proxy for our new spaceship,” said Mike Moses, president of Virgin Galactic Spaceline. “Using a proven vehicle in this way prepares our pilots and operations teams to move through flight testing for our new spaceship more efficiently and with greater confidence than simulator training alone could provide.” The latest schedule provided by Virgin Galactic calls for glide flights of the first Delta-class ship to begin before the end of September, followed by the first rocket-powered test flights by the end of the year. But what about that launch?... All of this work to upgrade the RFA One launcher is happening before the company has even flown the basic configuration of the rocket. Nine Helix 1.0 engines will power the first RFA One booster off its launch pad in Scotland. RFA has applied for a marine license to launch its first RFA One rocket no earlier than July 1. There is still much work to do to prepare for the rocket’s first launch. The original booster RFA planned to use for the first test flight was destroyed during a test-firing in 2024. “This is a legally required step for planning, and a good sign of how far we’ve come—but it’s not a launch date just yet,” RFA said. (submitted by EllPeaTea) NASA to order more Crew Dragon flights from SpaceX. NASA plans to add more missions to SpaceX’s commercial crew contract, protecting the agency from the possibility that Boeing’s spacecraft is never certified for missions to the International Space Station, Space News reports. The space agency announced its intent May 18 to add six more missions to SpaceX’s commercial crew contract. Each will carry four astronauts to and from the space station. NASA last placed an order for more SpaceX commercial crew missions in 2022, when it added five missions for $1.4 billion. That contract extension covers missions through Crew-14, expected to launch sometime next year. The Crew-12 mission is currently docked at the ISS. Blame Starliner… If Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule had worked out as NASA hoped, the agency would have two independent crew transportation providers to service the International Space Station. But six years after NASA certified SpaceX to ferry crews to and from the ISS, Boeing’s Starliner still lacks approval for regular crew rotation flights after a 2024 test flight was marred by technical issues. The next Starliner mission will be a cargo-only flight, so the earliest Boeing’s crew capsule will fly with astronauts again is next year. With the ISS nearing retirement in the early 2030s and Starliner still firmly in test phase, NASA has reduced its order for operational Starliner flights from six to four. (submitted by EllPeaTea) Rideshare integrators book their own Falcon 9 launches. Two rideshare operators—SEOPS and Exolaunch—have purchased dedicated SpaceX Falcon 9 launches to run their own rideshare missions, Via Satellite reports. Both companies announced the deals on Tuesday during the Smallsat Europe industry conference, with Exolaunch buying two Falcon 9 launches, and SEOPS purchasing one. Both companies explained the dedicated missions as a way to increase options for a pressured smallsat launch market. Transcending Transporter… SpaceX organizes its own rideshare launches. Its Transporter missions go to Sun-synchronous orbit, and Bandwagon flights launch into mid-inclination orbits. Companies like Exolaunch, SEOPS, and others buy up capacity on these missions to divide among their customers’ CubeSats and small satellites. SEOPS said its motivation for buying up an entire Falcon 9 launch, rather than reserving a portion of the capacity of a Transporter mission, was to create a mission tailored for “time-sensitive or non-standard payloads,” such as larger or unique satellites beyond typical rideshare limits. (submitted by EllPeaTea) Starship mostly successful on 12th test flight. SpaceX launched the first test flight of its upgraded Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster May 22, with mostly positive results, Ars reports. The giant rocket took off from South Texas, and its upper stage, or ship, splashed down on target in the Indian Ocean a little more than an hour later. This was the first flight of the latest version of SpaceX’s stainless-steel mega-rocket, and the 12th full-scale test flight of Starship to date. Starship V3 fared better on its debut than the first flights of Starship V1 and V2 in 2023 and 2025. Both past versions of Starship broke apart during launch on their inaugural flights. Some goals left unaccomplished… Something caused two Raptor engines—one of 33 on the Super Heavy booster and one of six on Starship itself—to fail during the May 22 launch sequence. This is notable because the test flight marked the first use of SpaceX’s newest-version Raptor on a launch. The booster was unable to complete a guided descent toward the Gulf of Mexico, and the ship skipped a planned restart of a Raptor engine in space. The latter unchecked box means the next Starship flight will likely launch on a suborbital trajectory, as all Starships have to date, rather than attempting the program’s first truly orbital test flight. The good news is that Starship’s heat shield appeared to function well during reentry, with fewer signs of damage or degradation as the vehicle splashed down northwest of Australia. (submitted by EllPeaTea) Air Force chief calls for new heavy launch site. Traffic at US military launch sites is approaching max capacity. The nation needs another launch site capable of hosting heavy and super heavy launches to keep up with the growing demand, according to a study cited by Air Force Secretary Troy Meink during recent testimony in front of the House Armed Services Committee, Payload reports. Meink talked about the growing challenge to find space to launch amid the geographical limitations at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Pentagon is preparing for the rising number of US launches to climb ever-higher in the coming years. Support for diversity… Specifically, the Pentagon is talking about a new military-run spaceport. Defense officials are wary of the vulnerabilities of private or state-run launch sites to potential attack, and they argue that geographic diversity could help the military overcome bottlenecks at the Cape and Vandenberg. May 29: Falcon 9 | Starlink 10-53 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 12:03 UTC May 29: Atlas V | Amazon Leo LA-07 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 23:33 UTC May 30: Falcon 9 | Starlink 17-41 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 14:00 UTC