Howard Jones – Things Can Only Get Better
An evening pause: Performed live 1985.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Tag: commercial
FAA releases more information about SpaceX’s proposed Starfall recoverable capsule
Back in July 2025 it was reported that SpaceX was developing its own recoverable capsule design — dubbed Starfall and comparable in concept to Varda’s capsules.
Under the plan, internally called Starfall, SpaceX’s Starship rocket would bring products such as pharmaceutical components to space in small, uncrewed capsules, said one of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter is confidential.
Starship would then deploy the capsules, which would spend time in orbit before reentering the atmosphere, where they could be recovered back on Earth, the person added.
The FAA has now released an environmental assessment of the design that provides more information, including the first proposed demo missions. The graphic to the right is from that assessment, and provides a simplified illustration of the capsule’s size and shape.
The FAA decision approves two reentries of Starfall capsules in the Pacific Ocean about 1,300 kilometers off the coasts of California and Mexico. The capsules would launch on either Falcon 9 or Starship vehicles, going into orbit before reentry or flying a direct suborbital trajectory to the landing zone.
The capsules are disk-shaped, 0.75 meters tall and 3.1 meters in diameter at the top. The capsules have cold-gas attitude control thrusters but no other propulsion system and do not have the ability to deorbit on their own. The vehicle consists of two parts: a top plate and a heat shield. The top plate is an aluminum structure partially wrapped in an unspecified thermal protection material and weighs 1,400 kilograms. The heat shield is a carbon-fiber structure covered in thermal protection material and also contains nitrogen gas bottles used for the thrusters and other systems. It weighs about 700 kilograms.
The vehicle would slow its descent using a single main parachute, along with pilot and drogue parachutes, with the heat shield jettisoned before splashdown. The FAA documents state that SpaceX will use boats to recover all elements of the spacecraft after splashdown.
No timeline for these tests was provided. It appears SpaceX wants to manufacture and fly these in large numbers, using Starship. It also appears it would be in direct competition with Varda and a host of other startups that have raised capital and are developing their own capsules. In the U.S. Varda, Inversion Space, and Sierra Space have raised money for doing such orbital work. In Europe, The Exploration Company in France, Atmos in Germany, PLD in Spain, Genesis in Croatia, and Space Cargo in Luxembourg have also raised capital. So far, Varda is the only company to successfully fly capsules.
Because all would be depended on other rocket companies to launch their capsules, including SpaceX, Starfall raises some legitimate antitrust questions. SpaceX’s ability to undercut its rivals in this area, as both capsule and rocket provider, would be unmatched, and could easily wipe out all competition.
The competitive need for more launch providers at low cost is becoming increasingly critical.
Space Force awards SpaceX a $4.16 billion satellite contract, the second this week
The Space Force yesterday awarded SpaceX a $4.16 billion contract to build a satellite constellation to track all flying objects, in addition to the $2.29 billion contract it awarded the company earlier in the week for a different data/communications constellation.
The $4.16 billion Other Transaction Authority agreement is for the Space-Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator (SB-AMTI) program, which aims to develop and field a network of satellites carrying sensors that can continuously detect and follow airborne targets. The deal will allow the Space Force to field an AMTI constellation by 2028, Space Systems Command said in a press release.
Space Force officials also noted that this contract is only the first, and that it does not intend to rely just on SpaceX for this tracking constellation. It intends to use “a highly diversified pool of traditional and non-traditional vendors, each bringing various capabilities” to the system.
Regardless, SpaceX’s satellite division this week won two Pentagon contracts worth more than $6 billion. Not bad work if you can get it.
SpaceX launches more Starlink satellites
SpaceX this morning successfully placed another 24 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
The first stage completed its 22nd flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.
The leaders in the 2026 launch race:
64 SpaceX
30 China
8 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 64 to 55.
Chemistry Simplified – A sunken treasure of logs
An evening pause: Believe it or not, this strange underwater treasure find actually explains (and duplicates) how Antonio Stradivari made his magnificent violins in the 1700s.
Hat tip Cotour.
ULA’s Atlas-5 rocket launches 29 Leo satellites for Amazon
ULA this evening successfully placed 29 more Leo satellites into orbit for Amazon, its Atlas-5 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
ULA is in the process of retiring the Atlas-5 rocket. It now has only seven Atlas-5 rockets left in stock, with one reserved for Leo launches and six for Boeing’s Starliner manned capsule (though there is a good chance some if not all of the Starliner launches will be switched to other payloads). Because its Vulcan rocket, intended to replace Atlas-5, is presently grounded, the company appears to be accelerating Atlas-5 launches, with the last few launches space only about a month apart.
With this launch, Amazon now has 331 Leo satellites in orbit, out of the 1,616 it needs to launch by July to meet its FCC license requirement. It is not going to meet that requirement, because two of the five rockets it contracted for launches are presently grounded (ULA’s Vulcan and Blue Origin’s New Glenn), and only one launch is presently scheduled before July, by Arianespace’s Ariane-6. Furthermore, ULA has only one more Atlas-5 scheduled for Leo, and the ten launches Amazon had purchased from SpaceX are not scheduled. For these reasons, Amazon has asked for a time extension, which the FCC is presently considering.
As this was only the fourth launch by ULA in 2026, the leader board for the 2026 launch race remains unchanged:
63 SpaceX
30 China
8 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 63 to 54.
SpaceX launches another 29 Starlink satellites
SpaceX this morning successfully placed 29 more Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Cape Canaveral Space Force station in Florida. The first stage completed its 16th flight (57 days after its last flight), landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.
The leaders in the 2026 launch race:
63 SpaceX
30 China
8 Russia
7 Rocket Lab
For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 63 to 53.
ULA has an Atlas-5 launch scheduled for this evening to launch 29 Leo satellites for Amazon, but at the moment the weather does not look promising.
Firefly announces new stock sale aimed at raising more than a half billion in new funds
The publicly traded rocket/lunar lander company Firefly yesterday announced a new public offering of stock, totalling more than 12 million shares, with the goal of raising more than a half billion for “general corporate purposes.”
Firefly Aerospace (Nasdaq: FLY), a market leading space and defense technology company, today announced the pricing of its public offering of 4,000,000 shares of its common stock and 8,000,000 shares of common stock by certain selling stockholders (the “Offering”) at a public offering price of $48.00 per share. In addition, the selling stockholders have granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 1,800,000 shares of common stock at the public offering price, less underwriting discounts and commissions. The Offering is expected to close on June 1, 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.
Firefly intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering for general corporate purposes, including to support growth of core business and recently awarded programs and initiatives. Firefly will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale of shares by the selling stockholders.
Click for source.
Simple math says this offering hopes to raise $576 million dollars, assuming the $48 per share price holds.
The graph to the right shows the full price history of Firefly’s stock since the initial public offering in 2025. After an initial high around $60, the stock sagged to around $20, and only has recovered back into the $40 to $50 range in the past few months. It appears therefore that the company has well timed this new offering.
South Korean rocket startup Innospace signs up another American satellite launch manager
Hanbit-Nano less than five seconds after launch and
just prior to its failure in December 2025.
The South Korean rocket startup Innospace has signed a deal with the American company Ensemble Commercial Services to help obtain satellite contracts and manage the integration and deployment of these payloads.
This marks INNOSPACE’s second launch service distribution agreement in the U.S., following its agreement signed in August last year with Texas-based Arrow Science and Technology, LLC. By securing multiple local partners in the U.S., INNOSPACE plans to enhance customer accessibility in the North American market and accelerate its efforts to identify satellite launch demand and expand sales activities.
Under the agreement, Ensemble will identify potential customers in the U.S., including satellite companies, space startups and research institutions, and connect them with launch service opportunities offered by INNOSPACE for small satellites. Ensemble will also provide regular market updates on the U.S. satellite industry, launch demand trends and potential customer activities, supporting INNOSPACE’s sales activities in the U.S. market.
…With this agreement, INNOSPACE has now secured launch service distribution partners across nine companies in seven countries, including Taiwan, Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, the U.S., Germany and the United Kingdom.
Innospace has made one failed attempt in December 2025 to launch its Hanbit-Nano rocket. It hopes to try again in the third quarter of this year.
Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay.
Blue Origin’s next New Glenn rocket explodes during static fire test on the launchpad
During a static fire test of the first stage tonight in preparation for the next launch scheduled for June 4), Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket exploded just as the test began, destroying the first stage and much of the only launchpad the company has to launch this rocket.
The link above is cued to just before the explosion, shown in a screen capture to the right. BtB’s stringer Jay just sent me a link to a different video view, from farther away but is in some ways as spectacular. According to Blue Origin’s statement, all workers are accounted for, so fortunately there were no fatalities.
The rocket was to launch 48 Amazon Leo satellites. As those satellites were not on the rocket during this test, they are safe and can be launched elsewhere.
The failure will likely prevent any further New Glenn launches by Blue Origin for at least three to six months. Not only does the company have to determine and fix the cause of the failure, it will need to rebuild the launchpad. At best I expect the company will at best manage one test launch before the end of the year.
As for Amazon, this puts it in a big bind. It has only 302 satellites in orbit, but is required to have launched 1,616 by July, according to its FCC license. It has requested a waiver but the FCC has not yet responded. At the moment of the four companies it has hired to launch the satellites, two are now grounded:
- ULA’s Vulcan rocket: 39 launches [GROUNDED]
- Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket: 24 launches (reduced from 27) [GROUNDED]
- Arianespace’s Ariane-6 rocket: 18 launches (2 completed)
- SpaceX’s Falcon-9: 13 launches (3 completed)
- ULA’s Atlas-5 rocket: 8 launches (6 completed)
There is no timeline for when Vulcan and New Glenn will fly again. Arianespace hopes to do four to six more launches in ’26, but only one is an Amazon Leo launch, in June. ULA has six additional Atlas-5 rockets in stock, purchased by Boeing to launch its Starliner capsule to ISS. It is very possible a deal could be arranged with Boeing to switch some of those flights to Leo, since at present there are no plans to launch Starliner in the near future.
All in all, Amazon’s only remaining option is SpaceX. Of the ten unflown launches in the SpaceX contract, none are as yet scheduled. It is now likely Amazon will negotiate a deal with SpaceX to accelerate that schedule. While SpaceX’s own launch manifest is quite crowded (launching its own Starlink constellation), making such a deal difficult, the company has also demonstrated its willingness to help competitors. It launched OneWeb satellites when that company’s deal with the Russians fell through. And it quickly launched those first three Leo missions, faster than anyone else.
This also will impact NASA’s just announced unmanned lunar lander program. One mission planned for this year, Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark-1 unmanned lander, was scheduled to launch on a New Glenn. In addition, a second New Glenn was set to launch NASA’s Viper rover next year. Neither will happen as scheduled.
Tuba Skinny – Jubilee Stomp
An evening pause: Performed with real joy, on the streets of New Orleans.
Hat tip Doug Johnson.
FAA grounds Starship/Superheavy pending completion of SpaceX’s investigation
According to an announcement yesterday by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Starship and Superheavy are presently grounded pending the completion of SpaceX’s investigation of the engine failures in the Superheavy booster.
After a thorough assessment of the operation, the FAA has determined the May 22 SpaceX Starship Flight 12 launch resulted in a mishap. The mishap involved the Super Heavy booster as it flew back to the Gulf of America after stage separation. There are no reports of public injury or damage to public property.
The FAA is requiring SpaceX to conduct a mishap investigation. The FAA will oversee the SpaceX-led investigation, be involved in every step of the process, and approve SpaceX’s final report, including any corrective actions.
The propaganda press will make of more this than it should. Based on the FAA’s procedures since Trump took over from Biden, the agency is not going to slow things down. It mostly just observes closely the investigation after any mishap, and as soon as the company is itself satisfied with the solution and has instigated its planned fixes, the FAA issues its stamp of approval and allows flights to proceed immediately.
For example, it acted in this manner for the Starship/Superheavy tests in 2025. It also did the same for Blue Origin in its investigation of its recent New Glenn failure. In both cases there were no delays waiting for the agency to retype the company’s conclusions. The approval was immediate. Expect the same now.
Marilyn Maye – You’re Gonna Hear From Me/Cabaret
An evening pause: Performed live 1967.
Hat tip Diane Zimmerman.
Space Force awards SpaceX $2.29 billion contract for military data constellation
In what is intended as an upgrade to the Starshield military variation of SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, the Space Force yesterday awarded SpaceX a $2.29 billion contract to launch a “data transport constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO) for the Space Data Network (SDN), which the service is developing as its central communications network to link sensors to shooters.”
Under the Other Transaction Authority agreement, the company is to deliver “a fully operational prototype capability by the end of 2027,” Space Systems Command (SSC) said in a press release.
The SDN Backbone, formerly known as MILNET and based on SpaceX’s Starshield militarized variant of its commercial Starlink constellation, will serve as the backhaul data transport layer for the broader SDN. While the award to SpaceX is thus not a surprise, the size of the contract is.
It appears that the Pentagon has been so satisfied with its use of both Starlink and Starshield that it was quite willing to give SpaceX this new larger contract.
The good part of this story is that SpaceX is providing good service to the American people, through the Pentagon. The bad part of this story is that it is getting so little competition from the rest of the aerospace industry. This was work that Amazon could have won, had its Leo constellation been operational and competitive. It is not, as yet, and so it loses business. As the saying goes, “He who hesitates is lost.” And sadly a lot of old and even new aerospace companies have been hesitating.
A review of what happened and what’s next for Starship/Superheavy
Link here. This article is a very nice and thorough review of what happened during SpaceX’s 12th test flight of Starship/Superheavy last week. What I like about it most is that it outlines what happened with very little speculation. No one outside of SpaceX is in a position to do this properly, and some speculation has been I think over the top. The article at the link avoids this.
It also provides a quick and reasonable summary about what is likely to happen next:
Next up will be Booster 20 and Ship 40 for Flight 13. This mission may launch in the July-August timeframe, pending testing and any mitigation efforts relating to the issues found during Flight 12. The launch pad appears to be in good shape, removing it from being a potential bottleneck to Booster 20’s Static Fire test, although that is not expected for weeks.
The article also provided this added news item that SpaceX revealed during last week’s test flight that has mostly fallen under the radar among news outlets (including here):
SpaceX also revealed plans for a lunar Starlink constellation using laser-linked relay satellites and confirmed that Fram2 commander Chun Wang has signed up for Starship’s first crewed interplanetary mission — a two-year Mars flyby. Wang will first fly with Dennis and Akiko Tito on the previously contracted crewed lunar flyby, potentially as early as 2034.
That’s two Starship missions apparently paid for by Wang, one around the Moon followed by a Mars fly-by. With the lunar fly-by targeting 2034, the Mars fly-by is likely a decade away, at the earliest.
German rocket startup signs deal with Nova Scotia spaceport
Proposed Canadian spaceports
The German rocket startup Isar Aerospace, which has not yet had a successful launch, has now signed a launch agreement with Maritime Launch Services, the company that has been trying to create a spaceport in Nova Scotia for more than a decade without success.
Space company Isar Aerospace and Spaceport operator Maritime Launch Services (MLS), have signed a Letter of Intent to advance sovereign orbital launch readiness from Nova Scotia, Canada. The agreement brings together Isar Aerospace’s orbital launch system and MLS’s launch site, Spaceport Nova Scotia, which is strategically located for launches to support reliable access to mid- to high-inclination and polar orbits for Earth observation and communication satellites and constellations, supporting commercial and government missions
Isar’s Spectrum rocket failed seconds after launch in its first attempt in 2025, launching from Norway’s Andoya spaceport. Since January the company has tried again several times but was forced to scrub each time. At present the launch is tentatively scheduled for June.
MLS’s history is even more convoluted. Initially a decade ago it partnered with a Ukrainian rocket company to offer launch services at Spaceport Nova Scotia. After years of delays that deal ended for good when Russia invaded the Ukraine. Since then MLS has tried to interest both satellite and rocket companies, all to no avail. This new deal was probably made possible due to financial help from the Canadian government, which in March 2026 signed a 10 year deal with MLS worth $200 million, with the intent to encourage a “sovereign orbital capability” for Canada. Since there are no rocket companies in Canada capable of doing this, it appears that capability will now come from Germany.
Kansas – Dust in the Wind
An evening pause: Performed live c2011. While I consider the music of this song truly beautiful, I personally despise the nihilist sentiments of the lyrics. There is more to life and existence than dust and nothingness, even if we as humans can’t quite figure it out. For this reason I have for years refused to post this song as an evening pause when others have suggested it.
I decided this time to finally let it play, mostly because the violin solo here is so well done.
Hat tip Chris Petty.
NASA outlines new program of unmanned missions to Moon
NASA’s Moon base plans as of May 2026.
NASA officials today outlined its new reshaped program of unmanned missions to Moon, designed it says to lay the first groundwork for the manned lunar base to follow.
You can watch the press conference here. The map to the right comes from one viewgraph during that conference, and apparently shows the planned lunar base area, which officials said could cover about 100 square miles. Though officials said this is in the south pole region, I have not been able to identify the precise location, using the global map produced by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The large crater northeast of the base does not appear to be Shackleton Crater.
The schedule includes four already planned missions, two new missions awarded to Blue Origin in a $188 million contract to deliver two new rovers, and a new hopper mission mission to be delivered by Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander. The schedule is as follows:
» Read more
NASA approves lunar habitation module design from Italy’s space agency
While the American company Redwire appears in the lead to win a European contract to build its lunar lander’s robot arm, it appears the Italian Space Agency (ASI) has gotten NASA’s preliminary approval to begin work on its Multi-purpose Habitation module (MPH) for the lunar base.
The Italian Space Agency [ASI] announced on 22 May that its Multi-Purpose Habitation (MPH) module had been cleared by a NASA review board to progress toward a Preliminary Design Review in 2027. The first MPH module is expected to launch in 2033.
…With the successful completion of the SDR [System Definition Review] and SRR [System Requirements Review], ASI and Thales Alenia Space can now prepare for the Preliminary Design Review (PDR), which will assess whether the module’s preliminary design is mature enough to meet NASA’s requirements before the programme advances into detailed design and hardware development.
It should be noted that the MPH appears to be a revision of the habitable module that ESA and Thales Alenia were building for the now dead Lunar Gateway station. This new deal is likely NASA’s effort to give ESA comparable work to make up for the loss of its Gateway contribution.
At the same time, ASI will face heavy competition from American companies for this work, as it isn’t the only one proposing habitable modules for the American lunar base. In March 2026 Voyager Technologies and Max Space announced a partnership to build their own inflatable habitable lunar modules. Just as ESA can only make rare exceptions when it gives work to American companies, NASA is obliged to do the same with its European contracts.
Redwire completes testing on robot arm prototype for ESA
The European division of the American space manufacturing company Redwire last week delivered to the European Space Agency (ESA) a full developed and tested robot arm prototype, as per a 2024 contract.
The project is being led by Redwire’s Luxembourg team, which recently completed several project milestones including preliminary design and performance assessment.
Before successful delivery, the MANUS Breadboard Model underwent a comprehensive test campaign to verify the functionality and performance of the manipulator and tool-changer subsystems, and to demonstrate operational scenarios aligned with system requirements. All planned operations, including payload handling, end-effector actuation with wireless data and power transfer, range extender manipulation, and automatic deployment, were executed successfully, confirming overall system readiness. Functional testing validated safe and reliable mechanical performance, demonstrating strong joint-space accuracy and stable interaction among subsystems.
The arm is intended for ESA’s Argonaut lunar lander, allowing it to unload cargo from the lander to the lunar surface. ESA’s 2024 development contract was issued to both Redwire and the Polish company PIAP. PIAP however has not even built the actual prototype. It appears ESA is now moving forward on the full contract phase for the entire rover, and it appears Redwire’s Luxembourg division is in the best position to win the robot arm contract portion.
Not surprisingly, Redwire’s stock surged by 24% following this announcement.