Budding space tourism company Blue Origin has announced that, following a long development programme, it will conduct its first crewed New Shepard flight on 20 July. The announcement, on 5 May 2021, was timed to mark the 60th anniversary of the launch – on 5 May...
Following four failed attempts to land previous versions of the Starship launch vehicle, SpaceX finally succeeded in landing its latest prototype, SN15, on 5 May after a six-minute test flight. As the dust cleared from the landing pad at the Boca Chica facility in...
At 1556 GMT on 14 April, Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle and Mk 3 version of the capsule made another successful uncrewed launch beyond the Karman Line official limit of space (100km). The actual altitude reached a peak at 106 km over the Van...
Just as the Starship SN8 test launch ended in an explosive landing failure in December – after all the hard bits of the flight – so the same has happened to its successor, Starship SN9. After a few days’ delay due to a flight safety waiver dispute with the Federal...
Iranian media has announced the first launch of a new Iranian launch vehicle called Zoljanah-1. Although the exact date has not been disclosed, the launch occurred during January. The 25.5m-long three-stage launch vehicle was apparently launched on a suborbital test...
At 1717 GMT on 14 January, Blue Origin conducted a test flight from their Van Horn, Texas, facility. The subject was a re-engined version of the New Shepard vertically-launched, suborbital, spaceflight system. Additionally the mission was also evaluating a new capsule...
