Rocket Report: SpaceX at the service of a rival; Endeavour goes vertical

# Rocket Report: SpaceX at the service of a rival; Endeavour goes vertical

– Rocket Report
– Welcome to Edition 6.29 of the Rocket Report!
– SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is the only US launch vehicle offering crew or cargo service to the International Space Station.
– Northrop Grumman’s Antares rocket retired last year, forcing that company to sign a contract with SpaceX to launch its Cygnus supply ships to the ISS.
– United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V is yet to begin launching astronauts on Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule to the ISS.

– Virgin Galactic flies four passengers to the edge of space
– Virgin Galactic’s first suborbital mission of 2024 on January 26 carried four customers for the first time.
– The customers, from the US, Ukraine, and Austria were taken on a suborbital hop over New Mexico aboard the VSS Unity rocket plane.
– Virgin Galactic announced it would soon wind down flights of VSS Unity, preserving cash reserves for development of its next-generation Delta class of suborbital vehicles.
– Virgin Galactic intends to fly Unity again on Galactic 07 in the second quarter of the year and possibly once more on the Galactic 08 mission.

– Iran launches second rocket in eight days
– Iran launched a trio of small satellites into low-Earth orbit on January 28 using the Simorgh rocket.
– The Simorgh rocket, which is managed by the civilian-run Iranian Space Agency, had made its first successful flight into orbit, deploying three satellites.
– Previously, the Iranian military’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had launched two new orbital-class rockets in recent years, achieving repeated success.

– Rocket Lab’s first launch of 2024
– Rocket Lab kicked off its launch year with a recovery Electron mission from New Zealand on January 31.
– The Electron rocket released four Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellites into orbit for Spire Global and NorthStar Earth & Space.
– Around 17 minutes after liftoff, the Electron’s first-stage booster splashed down in the Pacific Ocean under parachute.

– PLD Space wins government backing
– PLD Space has won a 40.5-million euro loan from a Spanish government fund to develop its small launch vehicle called Miura 5.
– Miura 5 is scheduled to make its debut launch from French Guiana in late 2025 or early 2026 and start commercial operations later in 2026.

– Japanese launch startup sets a date
– Space One, a Japanese company, has set a launch date for its Kairos rocket on March 9.
– The Kairos rocket will attempt to place a small Earth-imaging satellite into orbit for the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, a Japanese intelligence agency.

– Falcon 9, meet Cygnus
– SpaceX has launched a Northrop Grumman-owned Cygnus supply ship on a cargo delivery mission to the International Space Station using a Falcon 9 rocket.
– With Antares grounded after a launch failure, Cygnus cargo ships will have to launch at least three times on SpaceX rockets to fill the gap.

– ESA gives “go” to dismantle Ariane 6
– Preparations are underway to begin taking apart an Ariane 6 rocket on its launch pad in Kourou, French Guiana.
– Technicians will dismantle the full-scale test version of the Ariane 6 launcher to prepare the launch site for the arrival of the first flight-worthy Ariane 6 rocket.

– Starlab to launch on Starship
– The Starlab commercial space station will launch on SpaceX’s Starship rocket.
– Starlab is a joint venture between the US-based Voyager Space and the European-based multinational aerospace corporation Airbus and will have a diameter of about 26 feet.

– Endeavour goes vertical
– NASA’s retired winged orbiter Endeavour will be displayed vertically in launch configuration at the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the California Science Center.