Rocket Report: A dark day for Blue Origin; Pentagon eyes new launch site

A new crew launched to China’s Tiangong space station, and one of the astronauts will stay for a year.

Welcome to Edition 8.43 of the Rocket Report! A disclaimer: No one yet fully appreciates the ramifications of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket explosion Thursday night on its launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. What we know as of this writing is that much of Blue’s sole orbital-class launch pad has been destroyed, and the New Glenn rocket will be grounded for an extended period of time. It is too soon for any hot takes, at least until the Sun rises at the Cape on Friday morning. One thing I am sure of is that we will be writing about this event for weeks, months, and years to come.

As always, we welcome reader submissions. If you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets, as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Charting China’s contribution to space junk. There’s a problem with the drastic uptick in Chinese space launches over the last decade. China appears to be ignoring long-established norms about disposing of the upper stages of rockets, Ars reports. These are the parts of the vehicle that separate from the first stage of a rocket and push a satellite or spacecraft into orbit. In the early decades of spaceflight, launch operators routinely left upper stages in orbit after they released their payloads. But most launch companies today reserve enough propellant in their rockets to remove them from orbit to avoid the risk of spent upper stages becoming a source of space debris. But China is not following this trend. There has been striking growth in China’s rocket body mass. In the past five years, the mass of Chinese rocket bodies in long-lived orbits has risen from less than 100 metric tons to 252, according to a new analysis by Space Domain Awareness expert Jim Shell.

Worst practices… The recent growth of Chinese upper stages has been driven by the country’s increased launch rate as it begins to deploy satellite megaconstellations, Shell said. China’s space industry is just at the beginning of launching megaconstellations to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service, suggesting that if the country does not curb this practice it will deteriorate an already congested space environment. Chinese constellations such as Guowang and Spacesail are typically at higher altitudes, above 800 km, and China may launch 1,000 or more rockets over the next decade to support these constellations. That’s a lot of new junk if the trend continues.

DARPA, Voyager team up on solid rocket motors. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded Voyager Technologies a $16.5 million contract to continue development of a solid rocket motor thrust-control technology designed to make missile propulsion systems more adaptable across different missions and weapons programs, Space News reports. The contract is part of DARPA’s “Burn n’ Go” program. Solid rocket motors are used for a wide range of applications, from tactical missiles to space launch vehicles. The upside for solid rocket motors is their reliability and manufacturability. Solid rocket motors can vary their thrust, but these thrust profiles are predetermined by propellant grain patterns and the dimensions of the motor. In other words, the thrust profiles are locked in once the motor is manufactured. Unlike liquid-fueled rocket engines, solid-fueled rockets typically can’t be throttled up or down on the fly.

It’s in the propellant… Voyager is working with DARPA on a new “propellant-embedded” method of controlling the thrust of solid rocket motors after they are manufactured. The recent contract is for Phase 2 of the Burn n’ Go program. During Phase 1, Voyager worked on architecture concepts and preliminary designs. Voyager’s Phase 2 contract will culminate in “tailorable SRM hot-fire demonstrations,” the company said in a press release. “This award reflects confidence in our ability to translate advanced propulsion technologies into field-ready capabilities that support US national readiness and deterrence,” said Matt Magaña, president of space, defense, and national security programs at Voyager. “Our approach is designed not only to demonstrate performance gains at the system level, but to establish a credible path to industrialization that can reshape how solid rocket motors are produced, mission tailored and controlled.”

Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity vehicle returns to flight, kinda. With its first Delta-class suborbital spaceship expected to debut this summer, Virgin Galactic has returned its first-generation SpaceShipTwo vehicle Unity to flight for pilot and ground team training, Aviation Week & Space Technology reports. Grounded since its seventh and final operational mission on June 8, 2024, VSS Unity and its quad-jet carrier aircraft took to the skies over New Mexico on Wednesday. The jet released the unpowered spaceplane, and its two pilots steered Unity to a runway landing at Spaceport America. This was the first of several anticipated glide flights with Unity to help prepare the Virgin Galactic’s pilots for the first glide test flights of the Delta-class ship.

Managing energy... “Unity‘s glide characteristics and energy-management profile provide an outstanding real-world proxy for our new spaceship,” said Mike Moses, president of Virgin Galactic Spaceline. “Using a proven vehicle in this way prepares our pilots and operations teams to move through flight testing for our new spaceship more efficiently and with greater confidence than simulator training alone could provide.” The latest schedule provided by Virgin Galactic calls for glide flights of the first Delta-class ship to begin before the end of September, followed by the first rocket-powered test flights by the end of the year.

German launch startup tests upgraded engine. Rocket Factory Augsburg, based in Germany, has developed and tested its Helix engine for use on the company’s light-class RFA One satellite launcher. RFA is working on an upgrade to the power pack, a critical piece of the Helix engine responsible for delivering propellants from the rocket’s storage tanks to the engine combustion chamber. This new power pack design recently completed a series of tests in Sweden through a partnership between RFA and the European Space Agency, ESA announced this week. RFA says the power pack will allow the company’s souped-up kerosene-fueled Helix 2.0 engine to provide double the thrust for the RFA One rocket with the same mass and cost of the already-developed Helix 1.0. “The result for our customers: more payload for a lower budget!” said Stefan Brieschenk, RFA’s chief operating officer.

But what about that launch?... All of this work to upgrade the RFA One launcher is happening before the company has even flown the basic configuration of the rocket. Nine Helix 1.0 engines will power the first RFA One booster off its launch pad in Scotland. RFA has applied for a marine license to launch its first RFA One rocket no earlier than July 1. There is still much work to do to prepare for the rocket’s first launch. The original booster RFA planned to use for the first test flight was destroyed during a test-firing in 2024. “This is a legally required step for planning, and a good sign of how far we’ve come—but it’s not a launch date just yet,” RFA said. (submitted by EllPeaTea)

Fresh crew launches to China’s Tiangong space station. China launched the Shenzhou 23 spacecraft Sunday with three astronauts heading to its space station, including one set to stay in space for a year, The Associated Press reports. The spacecraft blasted off on a Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The astronauts on the mission are Zhu Yangzhu, the commander, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka-ying, also identified by Chinese authorities as Li Jiaying using the Mandarin transliteration of her name. Lai, who was born and raised in Hong Kong and has a doctoral degree in computer forensics, is the first astronaut from the city on a space mission.

Who will draw the straw?... The Shenzhou 23 spacecraft docked at the Tiangong space station less than four hours after launch. The new crew members joined three astronauts who have lived and worked on the Tiangong complex for more than 200 days, temporarily raising the station’s crew complement to six. The outgoing crew is set to return to Earth as soon as Friday. One of the three astronauts on the Shenzhou 23 mission is scheduled to stay at the orbiting space station for a year in what would be among the world’s longest single stays in space. Chinese officials said they have not determined which of the astronauts will be tasked with the one-year stay in orbit. The other two crew members will return to Earth in approximately six months. (submitted by EllPeaTea)

NASA to order more Crew Dragon flights from SpaceX. NASA plans to add more missions to SpaceX’s commercial crew contract, protecting the agency from the possibility that Boeing’s spacecraft is never certified for missions to the International Space Station, Space News reports. The space agency announced its intent May 18 to add six more missions to SpaceX’s commercial crew contract. Each will carry four astronauts to and from the space station. NASA last placed an order for more SpaceX commercial crew missions in 2022, when it added five missions for $1.4 billion. That contract extension covers missions through Crew-14, expected to launch sometime next year. The Crew-12 mission is currently docked at the ISS.

Blame Starliner… If Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule had worked out as NASA hoped, the agency would have two independent crew transportation providers to service the International Space Station. But six years after NASA certified SpaceX to ferry crews to and from the ISS, Boeing’s Starliner still lacks approval for regular crew rotation flights after a 2024 test flight was marred by technical issues. The next Starliner mission will be a cargo-only flight, so the earliest Boeing’s crew capsule will fly with astronauts again is next year. With the ISS nearing retirement in the early 2030s and Starliner still firmly in test phase, NASA has reduced its order for operational Starliner flights from six to four. (submitted by EllPeaTea)

Rideshare integrators book their own Falcon 9 launches. Two rideshare operators—SEOPS and Exolaunch—have purchased dedicated SpaceX Falcon 9 launches to run their own rideshare missions, Via Satellite reports. Both companies announced the deals on Tuesday during the Smallsat Europe industry conference, with Exolaunch buying two Falcon 9 launches, and SEOPS purchasing one. Both companies explained the dedicated missions as a way to increase options for a pressured smallsat launch market.

Transcending Transporter… SpaceX organizes its own rideshare launches. Its Transporter missions go to Sun-synchronous orbit, and Bandwagon flights launch into mid-inclination orbits. Companies like Exolaunch, SEOPS, and others buy up capacity on these missions to divide among their customers’ CubeSats and small satellites. SEOPS said its motivation for buying up an entire Falcon 9 launch, rather than reserving a portion of the capacity of a Transporter mission, was to create a mission tailored for “time-sensitive or non-standard payloads,” such as larger or unique satellites beyond typical rideshare limits. (submitted by EllPeaTea)

New Glenn explodes on the launch pad. On Thursday evening Blue Origin attempted to test fire its massive New Glenn rocket at its Florida launch site, but something went very wrong after engine ignition. The super heavy lift rocket exploded in spectacular and disastrous fashion, Ars reports. The static fire test was being filmed by NASASpaceflight.com on its Space Coast Live feed, which captured video of the conflagration that followed destruction of the booster. The first stage of New Glenn, fueled with methane, produced a massive fireball above the launch site along the Florida coast, LC-36A. It is possibly the most dramatic and powerful rocket explosion since the Soviet Union’s N1 rocket was destroyed during a launch attempt in 1969.

Far-reaching consequences… This is the worst disaster in the history of Blue Origin, founded in 2000. The space company owned by Jeff Bezos appeared to be on the verge of turning a corner with the New Glenn rocket after years of delays and growing pains. The New Glenn that blew up on the pad Thursday night was supposed to launch next week with a batch of Amazon Leo broadband satellites, which were safely tucked away in a hangar and not on top of the rocket when it exploded. It would have been the fourth New Glenn launch to date, coming less than two months since the rocket’s third flight. The failure of New Glenn also has major implications for NASA and its surging efforts to return humans to the Moon before the end of this decade, and to establish a lunar base on the surface.

Starship mostly successful on 12th test flight. SpaceX launched the first test flight of its upgraded Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster May 22, with mostly positive results, Ars reports. The giant rocket took off from South Texas, and its upper stage, or ship, splashed down on target in the Indian Ocean a little more than an hour later. This was the first flight of the latest version of SpaceX’s stainless-steel mega-rocket, and the 12th full-scale test flight of Starship to date. Starship V3 fared better on its debut than the first flights of Starship V1 and V2 in 2023 and 2025. Both past versions of Starship broke apart during launch on their inaugural flights.

Some goals left unaccomplished… Something caused two Raptor engines—one of 33 on the Super Heavy booster and one of six on Starship itself—to fail during the May 22 launch sequence. This is notable because the test flight marked the first use of SpaceX’s newest-version Raptor on a launch. The booster was unable to complete a guided descent toward the Gulf of Mexico, and the ship skipped a planned restart of a Raptor engine in space. The latter unchecked box means the next Starship flight will likely launch on a suborbital trajectory, as all Starships have to date, rather than attempting the program’s first truly orbital test flight. The good news is that Starship’s heat shield appeared to function well during reentry, with fewer signs of damage or degradation as the vehicle splashed down northwest of Australia. (submitted by EllPeaTea)

Air Force chief calls for new heavy launch site. Traffic at US military launch sites is approaching max capacity. The nation needs another launch site capable of hosting heavy and super heavy launches to keep up with the growing demand, according to a study cited by Air Force Secretary Troy Meink during recent testimony in front of the House Armed Services Committee, Payload reports. Meink talked about the growing challenge to find space to launch amid the geographical limitations at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Pentagon is preparing for the rising number of US launches to climb ever-higher in the coming years.

Support for diversity… Specifically, the Pentagon is talking about a new military-run spaceport. Defense officials are wary of the vulnerabilities of private or state-run launch sites to potential attack, and they argue that geographic diversity could help the military overcome bottlenecks at the Cape and Vandenberg.

Next three launches

May 29: Falcon 9 | Starlink 10-53 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 12:03 UTC

May 29: Atlas V | Amazon Leo LA-07 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 23:33 UTC

May 30: Falcon 9 | Starlink 17-41 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, California | 14:00 UTC