Space

Portugal has become the 60th nation to sign the Artemis Accords governing deep-space exploration.

The International Space Station crew held a change-of-command ceremony Jan. 12 in advance of the Crew-11 astronauts’ planned early return to Earth.

A Jan. 11 SpaceX rideshare launch carried 40 payloads to orbit, including 10 satellites from Kepler Communications.

MaiaSpace, an ArianeGroup subsidiary developing a small, reusable launcher, has plans for a larger version with twice the payload, CEO Yohann Leroy said.

China’s CAS Space says it has completed the first suborbital test flight of its Li Hong-1 reentry capsule, containing microgravity experiments.

Sweden is joining the list of European countries buying Iceye synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites.

India suffered a third-stage failure on its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket on Jan. 12, leading to the loss of 15 satellites and a reentry capsule.

Eutelsat says it will buy another tranche of satellites from Airbus to build out its OneWeb low-Earth-orbit broadband communication system.

NASA sets Jan. 17 as the "no earlier than" date for the roll out of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule to be used for the Artemis II mission to take four astronauts around the Moon.

As part of the SpaceX Crew-11 astronauts’ upcoming early departure from the ISS, command of the orbital outpost will be turned over to a Russian cosmonaut.

The U.S. Space Force has awarded military space launches worth $739 million to SpaceX to support future missions for the Space Development Agency and NRO.

Russia’s altering of the orbital plans for the ROS follow-on to the ISS has caused Moscow to build use of the Baikonur spaceport back into its planning.

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

NASA plans to return the International Space Station’s Crew-11 astronauts to Earth early due to a recent medical issue experienced by one of the four.

The philanthropic organization of Eric Schmidt, billionaire and former Google chief executive, plans to launch a large private space telescope.

The UK defense ministry is broadening its search for alternative means of position, navigation and timing.

The European Space Agency plans 65 satellite launches and other missions throughout the year, a roughly 30% jump from last year’s record figure.

South Korean launch services provider Innospace is continuing to work on expanding its footprint despite the recent failure of its Hanbit-Nano rocket.

NASA is considering cutting short the current Crew-11 mission to the International Space Station due to an undisclosed medical issue with one of the astronauts on the orbital outpost.

Rocket Lab joins established primes as the U.S. Space Development Agency scales its proliferated missile-warning and tracking architecture.

Japan’s Ministry of Defense has awarded Astroscale a contract to develop “a general gripping mechanism system” to grab “national satellites.”

One week into 2026, United Launch Alliance is preparing for its first mission of the year.

The number of orbital launch attempts worldwide last year surpassed the record 2024 flight rate by 25%.

NASA’s first ISS spacewalk of 2026 is planned for Jan. 8 to prep the orbital lab for the installation of its seventh ISS Roll-Out Solar Array (IROSA).

Startup Array Labs plans to launch its first formation-flying cluster comprised of four radar satellites in the middle of 2027.