Commercial Space

The flight of a Russian Angara A5 heavy-lift rocket from Vostochny Cosmodrome was automatically aborted 2 min. before the planned 5:00 a.m. EDT April 9 liftoff.

As part of a demonstration, Astrobotic will use an AI-enabled software program to control and monitor its CubeRover lunar rover on its upcoming Moon mission.

CEO Steve Isakowitz speaks about the transformation underway at the only U.S. government-backed R&D center committed exclusively to space enterprise.

Rocket Lab USA will launch a group of experimental payloads to very low earth orbit (VLEO) in April 2026.

The company to show how technology onboard spacecraft could be used for Joint All-Domain Command-and-Control applications.

Wakata has logged 505 days in space over five missions on the NASA space shuttle, Russian Soyuz, SpaceX Crew Dragon and International Space Station.

A Falcon 9 rocket has delivered 11 satellites into mid-inclination, low Earth orbit, marking the inaugural run of a new rideshare service called Bandwagon.

Sierra Space has begun initial drop tests of Ghost, a deployable decelerator designed to protect a pre-staged payload during re-entry within 90 min. of call-up.

Startups Isar Aerospace, PLD Space and Rocket Factory Augsburg already have agreed to use the refurbished ELM-Diamant launch complex in Kourou, French Guiana.

Guy Norris talks with CEO Tom Vice about the spinoff-turned-prime’s growth plans as its space defense business surges and its spaceplane prepares for flight.

The U.S. military wants terminals to connect with multiple satellite constellations.

The company is confident a spate of hardware issues and oversights are behind it.

AST SpaceMobile’s first batch of direct-to-cellular satellites will not be launched in the second quarter of this year as planned,

Russia has restored its capability for high-resolution Earth mapping with the recent launch of the new Resurs-P observation satellite.

Terran Orbital has been notified by the New York Stock Exchange that it is no longer at risk of being delisted.

The Pentagon on April 2 revealed its long-awaited strategy for integrating commercial space capabilities into national defense operations.

The financing comes as SpaceX’s Starlink LEO constellation eats Telesat’s lunch.

The company first wants to move projects from high risk to high reward.

ILC Dover is being sold again, this time to the global industrial-machinery company Ingersoll Rand.

Planet Labs has expanded its partnership with satellite image analytics firm SynMax to sell AI-powered vessel monitoring and classification software.

SpaceX is looking to fly Starship again in early May.

Listen in as former Space Shuttle program manager Wayne Hale joins Aviation Week editors to unpack Starship's third flight test.

Our roundup of the main aerospace and defense stories making the news this week.

The Defense Innovation Unit has awarded three contracts for development of low-cost space tugs and in-space refueling technologies.

Astra Space and Terran Orbital are the latest public space startups to bow out.