Mission Reports

China launched a Long March 4B rocket Wednesday carrying two Tianhui radar mapping satellites into orbit more than 300 miles in altitude.

The launch of a miniature trailblazer probe for NASA’s planned Gateway lunar space station has been moved from Rocket Lab’s new launch pad in Virginia to the company’s spaceport in New Zealand, officials recently announced.

Airbus’s Pléiades Neo 4 Earth observation satellite, three tech demo CubeSats sponsored by the European Space Agency, and a commercial nanosatellite owned by a French startup company launched at 9:47 p.m. EDT Monday (0147 GMT Tuesday) aboard a Vega rocket from French Guiana.

Rocket Lab is gearing up for three back-to-back missions beginning later this month from its New Zealand launch base, each carrying two commercial BlackSky Earth-imaging satellites.