Commercial Space
Blue Origin blames September New Shepard abort on engine nozzle failure
Structural failure of the nozzle at the base of a rocket engine powering an unpiloted New Shepard spacecraft toward the edge of space last September triggered a dramatic-but-safe in-flight abort, builder Blue Origin announced Friday, saying the company has identified fixes and plans to resume sub-orbital flights “soon.”
SpaceX pausing launches of new-generation Starlink satellites
SpaceX’s next two missions will revert to launching older versions of the company’s Starlink internet satellites, instead of new second-generation Starlink platforms as originally planned, while ground teams work out unspecified problems with the first batch of upgraded Starlinks launched in February.
Relativity’s 3D-printed Terran 1 rocket reaches space, but falls short of orbit
Relativity Space, a company with ambitions to develop a fully reusable rocket, launched its first expendable methane-fueled booster from Cape Canaveral Wednesday night, successfully demonstrating the strength of the launcher’s first-of-its-kind 3D-printed structure but failing to reach orbit after a malfunction on the test flight’s second stage.