Jack Congram

Welcome back to Weekly Dose of Space! Last week saw only one orbital launch worldwide. This week, Artemis II hardware was also on the move, Astra was returned to private ownership, and a leadership change occurred at Firefly. As always, we'll also look ahead to what the worldwide

Jul 21, 2024 • 8 mins

NASA announced on July 17th that it was ending its work on the VIPER lunar rover. VIPER, or Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, was a Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program mission that would search for the location of water ice and other potential resources on the surface of the Moon.

Jul 18, 2024 • 2 mins

On July 16th a Long March 12 'simulator' was spotted being transported around the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site (文昌商业航天发射场), in China's southernmost province of Hainan. The simulator of the launch vehicle is believed to be for final 'fit' testing and rehearsals ahead of

Jul 16, 2024 • 3 mins

Welcome back to Weekly Dose of Space! Last week saw four orbital launch attempts occur, with only one completely succeeding. This week also had a test aircraft gain clearance to go supersonic and one of NASA's planetary exploration missions encounter a potential hardware problem. As always, we'

Jul 14, 2024 • 6 mins

SpaceX launched what appeared to be a regular Starlink mission atop of Falcon 9 from Space Launch Complex 4E, in California, on July 12th at 02:35 Universal Coordinated Time. During the second-stage's ascent to orbit, a build-up of ice was noticed on SpaceX's launch stream.

Jul 12, 2024 • 2 mins

Disclaimer: Launch vehicles that have recently been announced or have had minimal details shared are not included. SpaceX has slashed the cost of sending satellites into orbit since the introduction of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle in 2010. Over its fourteen-year history, Falcon 9 has flown almost 350 times while

Jul 10, 2024 • 8 mins

Europe has finally returned its domestic access to space with the debut launch of Ariane 6 on July 9th. The first Ariane 6 launch vehicle lifted off from Ensemble de Lancement Ariane 4 (Ariane Launch Complex 4) located at the Guiana Space Centre, in French Guiana in the north of

Jul 9, 2024 • 5 mins

Welcome back to Weekly Dose of Space! Last week saw four orbital launches occur, with a fifty-fifty split between Asia and North America. This week also saw another country join the International Lunar Research Station and SpaceX win yet another launch contract. As always, we'll also look ahead

Jul 7, 2024 • 5 mins

Disclaimer: This article contains the speculation of the writers due to the ongoing accident investigation by Space Pioneer and authorities in China. Space Pioneer has recently become a well-known name in China's commercial aerospace industry, but for the wrong reasons. The company escalated to the spotlight outside of

Jul 3, 2024 • 5 mins

Welcome to our ninth Monthly Dose of Space! In this monthly newsletter, we bring you major news from the past month we haven't covered in our weekly newsletters. June has been an incredible month for spaceflight and ends the first half of 2024, so let's jump

Jul 1, 2024 • 14 mins

Welcome back to Weekly Dose of Space! Last week saw six orbital launches worldwide, with half being for SpaceX's Starlink constellation. This week also saw NASA select the U.S. International Space Station deorbit vehicle, and the China National Space Administration revealed how much Moon rock Chang'

Jun 30, 2024 • 6 mins

China's Chang'e 6 probe departed for the Moon's far side a little over fifty-three days ago, it would later land on the Moon at the start of June. Today, the Chang'e 6 probes re-entry capsule touched down at the landing site located

Jun 25, 2024 • 5 mins

Welcome back to Weekly Dose of Space! Last week saw four orbital launch attempts worldwide, with all successfully delivering their payloads. This week also saw Ariane 6 move closer to launch, Starliner extending its stay at the International Space Station, and Rocket Lab receiving its largest launch contract. As always,

Jun 23, 2024 • 7 mins