Rocket Report: Starliner soars to space station; Starship’s wild flight

Welcome to Edition 6.47 of the Rocket Report! The monumental news of late is that Boeing's Starliner spacecraft not only successfully launched on an Atlas V rocket, but then subsequently docked with the International Space Station. Congratulations to all involved. It's been a long road to get here.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and 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.

Firefly lands massive launch contract. Firefly Aerospace announced Wednesday that it has signed a multi-launch agreement with Lockheed Martin for 25 launches on Firefly’s Alpha rocket through the end of this decade. This agreement commits Lockheed Martin to 15 launch reservations and 10 optional launches. Alpha will launch Lockheed Martin spacecraft into low-Earth orbit from Firefly’s facilities on the West and East Coast. The first mission will launch on Alpha flight 6, from Firefly’s SLC-2 launch site at the Vandenberg Space Force Base later this year.

A big bet on Alpha ... It is not entirely clear which payloads Lockheed is seeking to fly on Alpha, which has the capability to loft 1 metric ton into low-Earth orbit. "Our customers have told us they need rapid advancement of new mission capabilities," said Bob Behnken, director of Ignite Technology Acceleration at Lockheed Martin Space. "This agreement with Firefly further diversifies our access to space, allowing us to continue quickly flight demonstrating the cutting-edge technology we are developing for them, as well as enabling our continued exploration of tactical and responsive space solutions." (submitted by Ken the Bin)

It’s now Sir Peter Beck to you, commoner. Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck has been made a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the aerospace industry, business, and education, Crux reports. Beck received the honors both for Rocket Lab's Ātea 1 suborbital launch back in 2009, and the company's four dozen launches since then.

A deserved honor ... Beck has, almost singlehandedly, put New Zealand on the map for space activities. When he started Rocket Lab there was virtually no space industry in the country. He deserves this honor and is one of the first space industry people to be knighted. While Sir Richard Branson is a knight, it's worth noting he was knighted before founding Virgin Galactic.

Account of Astra’s dire fundraising efforts. Astra Space said this week it had filed its "definitive information statement" as part of the process of taking the company private. If the transaction is completed, the company’s Class A common stock will be delisted from Nasdaq and deregistered. Eligible shareholders will be paid 50 cents a share—quite the comedown for a stock that once traded at $209 a share. The statement (download 355 pages here) makes for interesting reading, as there is a lengthy explanation of the efforts that Astra put into raising additional funding in 2023.

No takers ... "During its engagement, at the direction of the Company, PJT Partners reached out to 30 parties, which included a combination of financial buyers and strategic parties, who were ultimately most interested in the Space Products business," the statement reads. "Of those parties, 14 parties executed a confidentiality agreement with the Company and only seven parties actively engaged in due diligence." None ultimately bit. The statement also includes forward projections for revenues from its launch and spacecraft engine business, but these seem rather aspirational. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Rocket Lab's back-to-back missions for NASA. In less than a two-week period, Rocket Lab's Electron vehicle launched two missions for NASA. The two shoebox-sized satellites, named PREFIRE for Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment, launched on May 25 and June 5 from the same site in New Zealand.

Learning valuable operational lessons ... This was an impressive 11-day turnaround between launches by Rocket Lab. The company has now launched seven times this year and is on pace to shatter its previous record for total annual launches—10—set last year. The increase in operational cadence will no doubt help Rocket Lab when it starts flying the larger Neutron vehicle in a year or two. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Air Force ramps up Minuteman cadence. On Thursday, for the second time in a week, a joint team of Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen supported by Space Force Guardians launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with one re-entry vehicle from Vandenberg Space Force Base. This test launch is part of routine and periodic activities intended to demonstrate that the United States’ nuclear deterrent is safe, secure, and reliable, the Air Force said in a news release.

Success follows failure ... “The fact that we were able to complete two operational test launches in one week is a testimony to the excellence and professionalism of the Airmen and Guardians who do this mission every day,” said Col. Chris Cruise, 377th Test and Evaluation Group Commander. “This morning’s launch demonstrates our commitment to deterrence as we serve as the cornerstone of security for our allies and partners across the globe.” The dual tests come after some recent failures in the Minuteman program, such as a test in November 2023.

Starliner roars into space but encounters issues. After years of delays, Boeing's Starliner spacecraft finally rocketed into orbit from Florida on Wednesday, sending two veteran NASA astronauts on a long-delayed shakedown cruise to the International Space Station. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, both former US Navy pilots, will "test this thing from izzard to gizzard" to ensure Boeing's Starliner is ready for operational six-month crew rotation missions to the ISS, Ars reports.

Trials then triumph ... However, as the crew prepared for an overnight sleep shift ahead of Thursday's docking at the space station, two new helium leaks popped up on Boeing's capsule. These leaks didn't appear during troubleshooting of the known leak on the ground. After Wilmore and Williams woke up from their sleep shift early Thursday, ground controllers told the crew that the spacecraft would still be able to proceed with rendezvous and docking at the space station. Then, they worked through some thruster issues before ultimately docking later on Thursday.

Ariane 6 gets a launch date. For the first time, the European Space Agency has set a specific target date for the debut of its Ariane 6 rocket: July 9. (Yes, of this year). The space agency's director general, Josef Aschbacher, announced the date at the ILA Berlin Air Show on Wednesday. The date is not set in stone, however, as Arianespace has yet to complete a wet dress rehearsal of the rocket.

Into the final stretch ... "This powerful rocket is the culmination of many years of dedication and ingenuity from thousands across Europe and, as it launches, it will re-establish Europe’s independent access to space," Aschbacher said. "I would like to thank the teams on the ground for their tireless hard work, teamwork and dedication in this last stretch of the inaugural launch campaign." The Ariane 6 rocket is running about four years late, but its debut does appear to be finally at hand. (submitted by EllPeaTea and Ken the Bin)

Chinese firm raises big money. Quasi-private Chinese launch company Space Pioneer has raised more than $200 million in a new round of funding, Andrew Jones reports on X. Impressively, to date, the firm has raised nearly half a billion dollars. Some of the new investors, however, are linked to the Chinese state. The additional funding will further development of a Falcon 9-like rocket as China seeks to compete with SpaceX on launch capability.

That design looks familiar ... The funding will support mass production of the Tianlong-3 rocket, which has nine engines and a payload capacity to low-Earth orbit of 17 metric tons. Like the Falcon 9, its nine main engines are powered by kerosene and liquid oxygen. A debut flight for the vehicle is now scheduled for later this summer, and Space Pioneer is hoping to push into first stage reuse shortly after the vehicle's initial flights.

Starship launches, survives reentry. SpaceX demonstrated Thursday that its towering Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket might one day soon be recovered and reused in the manner Elon Musk has made his vision for the future of space exploration, Ars reports. For the first time, both elements of the nearly 400-foot-tall (121-meter) rocket not only launched successfully from SpaceX's Starbase facility near Brownsville, Texas, but also came back to Earth for controlled splashdowns at sea. This demonstration is a forerunner to future Starship test flights that will bring the booster, and eventually the upper stage, back to land for reuse again and again.

Flight not without flaws ... Two of the 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster failed on Thursday's test flight—one on the ascent and one during the booster's final braking burn just before splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. Later, during reentry of Starship, one camera showed pieces of the rocket, presumably ceramic thermal protection tiles, peeling away. There appeared to be damage to the hinge joint connecting one of the ship's control flaps to the main body. Nevertheless, the damaged flap was still able to move and help control the ship using aerodynamic forces as it dived belly-first deeper into the atmosphere. Thus, the vehicle completed the main objectives of its flight. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Japanese billionaire cancels Starship flight. Last Friday night, the dearMoon project—a plan to launch a Japanese billionaire and 10 other 'crew members' on a circumlunar flight aboard SpaceX's Starship vehicle—was abruptly canceled. "It is unfortunate to be announcing that 'dearMoon,' the first private circumlunar flight project, will be canceled," the mission's official account on the social media site X said. "We thank everyone who has supported us and apologize to those who have looked forward to this project."

So what happened? ... When Yusaku Maezawa agreed to the mission in 2018, he said, the assumption was that the dearMoon mission would launch by the end of 2023. The mission was to be Starship's first human spaceflight to launch from Earth, fly around the Moon, and come back. Ars reports that one of the biggest impacts to the dearMoon project came in April 2021, when NASA selected the Starship vehicle as the lunar lander for its Artemis Program. Since then, SpaceX has been focused on getting Starship operational for Starlink missions and developing a lunar Starship.

Military may seek Starship test in FY 2025. A review of the Air Force Research Lab's budget plans offers additional detail about the government's goals for rocket cargo delivery around the planet, Breaking Defense reports. The budget indicates that the lab hopes to complete testing of the capability to air-drop cargo pallets down from SpaceX's Starship rocket during fiscal year 2025. Additionally, the company could launch a demonstration flight to "transport 30 to 100 tons of cargo to an austere site" in late FY25 or early FY26.

To Asia in the blink of an eye ... It appears the government is seeking to make this a truly commercial procurement, in that it seeks to buy services rather than the entire system itself. "A specific focus is how the Government can take advance of commercial capabilities without taking sole ownership or creating a unique aspect that is Government only, thereby driving up life cycle cost," a procurement document states. US Transportation Command appears to be particularly hopeful for the capability to rapidly drop kit into the Asia-Pacific theater in a conflict with China. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Next three launches

June 7: Falcon 9 | Starlink 10-1 | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida | 22:58 UTC

June 8: Falcon 9 | Starlink 8-8 | Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. | 10:00 UTC

June 8: SpaceShipTwo | Galactic-07 | Spaceport America, New Mexico | 11:00 UTC