The costs of space launch have fallen 96% in the past six decades and have the potential to plummet by nearly as much by 2040, a new study finds.

However, such an improvement might get hampered by a number of challenges, such as the rise of space debris in orbit or a single company monopolizing commercial space launch, researchers added.

Although previous analyses of space launch suggested that costs had dropped over time, one major problem with these prior studies was that they "considered the cost of the rockets, but not how much they launched during their lifetimes," study co-author Francesco Nicoli, an associate professor of political economy at the Politecnico University of Turin in Italy, told Space.com. This meant this earlier work failed to accurately track the average costs of reaching space.

In the new study, the researchers developed the largest dataset of rocket launches to date, covering 4,405 launches from 1960 to 2025. This included more than 330 different rocket configurations devised by developers in the United States, Russia, China, India, Europe, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Israel, Iran, South Korea and Ukraine.

The investigators found that, in 2024 U.S. dollars, the average cost of sending 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) to orbit dropped from $87,023 in 1960 to $3,868 in 2025 — a decrease of 96%.

All in all, the rate at which the space-launch industry learned to reduce costs was among the fastest recorded in any industry to date, the investigators noted. They calculated that each time the cumulative payload of the entire space-launch industry doubled, the average cost of sending 2.2 pounds (1 kg) to orbit decreased by 21.2%.

This learning rate exceeds that seen with solar panels, "a technology that is now frequently taken as the benchmark for cost reduction," study co-author Alessio Terzi, an assistant professor of public policy at the University of Cambridge in England, told Space.com.

The researchers suggested two major causes behind this drop in costs. "First, the end of the Cold War and the shift to so-called 'New Space,' meaning the use of space for commercial purpose, seems to have accelerated the rate of learning — in the Cold War era, countries launched with their national launchers no matter the cost," Terzi said. "Second, our data shows an acceleration in the learning rate of space since the launch of the Falcon 9 of SpaceX, and the advent of reusability at scale."

Assuming this trend holds, the investigators estimated the average cost of space launch would fall to $1,600 per 2.2 pounds (1 kg) by 2030 and $300 by 2040. "There is still significant scope for further cost reductions going forward," Terzi said.

Of course, past performance is no guarantee of future results. There are at least three factors that could slow or reverse this cost trajectory, the researchers said.

First, space junk poses a growing problem for the launch industry. Space debris is typically zipping at speeds of about 16,800 mph (27,000 km/h), and so can inflict massive damage on anything in orbit. The problem space junk poses gets worse when collisions spawn even more debris, eventually cluttering space with high-speed shrapnel, a scenario nicknamed the "Kessler syndrome" after NASA scientist Donald Kessler, who predicted it in 1978.

Second, at the global level, SpaceX is currently responsible for roughly 75% of the total payload sent to orbit. The investigators noted there are strong economic incentives for a would-be monopolist to charge higher prices to potential clients. This in turn would reduce the total payload sent to orbit, slowing the future evolution of average launch costs.

Finally, the current climate of increasing geopolitical tensions is likely to make governments around the world cautious when it comes to depending too heavily on a single U.S. company for space launch. This may bring back Cold War dynamics, as nations pursue independent access to orbit, even if this means using more expensive home-based rocket technology, the researchers said.

All in all, "there is a strong feeling, perhaps exemplified by the recent record-breaking mega-IPO of SpaceX, that space is at a structural break point — a moment where trends are accelerating," Terzi said. "Forecasting at moments of structural break is very hard in general, and therefore also in our case."

The scientists detailed their findings July 14 in the journal PNAS Nexus.

Futurists and science fiction writers have predicted privately funded missions to Mars for decades, but until recently, the prospect appeared to be decades away. While fully private human missions to Mars are probably not yet practical (given the complexity and cost of such missions), the commercial sector, in partnership with space agencies such as NASA, has a critical role to play in enabling a human presence on Mars. Whether that possibility becomes reality will depend on the choices we make today about public leadership, commercial engagement, and international collaboration.

The role of national space agencies is not limited to funding missions. They maintain the research ecosystems, testing facilities, safety standards, planetary-science programs, and international partnerships that commercial industry builds upon.

However, no single agency — not even NASA — can develop all the technologies, supply chains, transportation systems, life-support tools, digital platforms, and surface infrastructure needed to move from exploration to sustained settlement. Commercial participation is therefore not "nice to have"; it is the engine that will turn Mars from an aspirational destination into an achievable, economically grounded frontier. While NASA has an extraordinary repository of knowledge and expertise from which to draw, commercial industry can deploy more "outside the box" thinking and a somewhat higher risk tolerance that can yield more nimbleness. Working together should deliver the best of both worlds.

Public-private partnerships between NASA and industry demonstrate today's commitment to building a platform for a vibrant and multisided commercial space economy. Over the last two decades, NASA introduced programs such as the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS), the Commercial Crew Program (CCP), Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS), and the Human Landing System (HLS) program.

While these programs have faced challenges (such as the continuing delays in developing a system capable of safely landing humans on the moon), they have succeeded in producing new cargo vehicles to supply the International Space Station (ISS), the only new operational crew vehicle yet to reach the ISS (SpaceX's Dragon capsule), and the first commercial robotic landers on the lunar surface. NASA also just awarded over $1 billion in contracts to start developing infrastructure needed to build the planned Moon Base.

Public-private Mars missions

Not all of NASA's commercial partnerships have been focused on low Earth orbit (LEO) or the moon. NASA's ESCAPADE mission, a partnership between NASA, UC Berkeley, Rocket Lab, and Advanced Space, launched on Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket in November 2025, using commercially developed spacecraft platforms and streamlined development processes. ESCAPADE is expected to deliver critical knowledge for human exploration about radiation risks, atmospheric escape, and space weather dynamics at a fraction of the traditional cost.

On June 17, NASA also announced a partnership with Relativity Space to deliver the Aeolus atmospheric‑science instrument payload suite to Mars in 2028. According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, "By pairing NASA’s world‑class instruments with commercial innovation and investment, we can deliver more science, more often, and reduce the time it takes to get essential data into the hands of researchers preparing for future human missions to Mars."

In 2025, NASA also announced a new, highly ambitious, public-private partnership program: Commercial Mars Payload Services (CMPS). By challenging the commercial aerospace industry to deliver payloads and communications relays to both Mars orbit and the surface, CMPS may create efficiencies that could enable the development of lunar and Mars architectures in parallel, which is essential if we hope to land humans on the Red Planet anytime soon. However, with the realignment of NASA's Artemis Program, as well as budget disagreements between the Administration and Congress, the future of CMPS remains unclear.

Even with a large amount of funds entering the commercial space industry (such as the recent SpaceX IPO), a critical part of this equation is NASA's role as an anchor tenant, which was key to transforming commercial space in LEO and is now poised to do the same for Mars. When NASA commits to purchasing services rather than owning the entire stack (imagery, transportation, surface mobility, communications, in-situ resource utilization), it sends a powerful signal to the market: there will be customers, there will be demand, and there will be revenue beyond any single mission.

That stable early demand empowers companies to raise capital, build technologies, and develop capabilities that would be far too risky or expensive to pursue on speculation. Firms collaborating with NASA could then sell similar capabilities to other U.S. and international agencies, research institutions, and eventually commercial customers. By serving as a guaranteed first buyer, the agency catalyzes an ecosystem that becomes self-sustaining over time.

Mars innovation improving life on Earth

Creating a human presence on Mars isn't only about rockets and crew vehicles—and not all projects need cost billions of dollars. A sustainable Mars program will require hundreds, if not thousands, of innovations that protect human health, maintain psychological resilience, and support efficient work in one of the harshest environments imaginable. Mars inhabitants will need to eat, drink, breathe, heal, sleep, relax, and collaborate productively for months or years at a time.

Delivering those capabilities will demand breakthroughs in medical science, mental-health support, agriculture and nutrition, artificial intelligence, autonomy and robotics, biotechnology, circular environmental systems, materials science, design, and more. Importantly, many critical solutions will come from companies that currently do not think of themselves as "space companies."

This is where Mars becomes a driving engine for improving life on Earth. By inviting innovators across sectors — health, food, energy, manufacturing, construction, A.I. and more — to solve Mars-class problems, we accelerate progress on the very challenges that people face on Earth today. Technologies that keep crews alive and thriving on Mars can make our hospitals more resilient, our homes more efficient, our food systems more sustainable, and our workplaces healthier.

Ultimately, the path to Mars runs through a steady cadence of public–private projects in LEO and here on Earth, as well as missions launched directly to the Red Planet. Every new launch vehicle, propulsion system, habitat technology, food-production method, and autonomous system built for deep-space missions drives jobs, strengthens manufacturing capacity, opens new markets, and builds the technological base here on Earth that keeps the U.S. and its partners competitive. Such benefits to our home planet do not and will not have to wait until we actually land humans on Mars. They are already being felt, and enjoyed, here on Earth today.

This commercial pathway depends on NASA leadership. As NASA prepares to build the Moon Base over the next several years, it should not lose sight of Mars. It must continue to empower public-private partnerships to help enable human missions to Mars as soon as the 2030s.

Now is the moment for action. If we act deliberately in this decade by strengthening public leadership, empowering commercial innovation, and working together across borders, we will not only make a human presence on Mars achievable, but also unlock enduring benefits for life on Earth.

Dr. Tiffany Vora is President of Explore Mars, Inc and a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s GeoTech Center.

Chris Carberry is CEO of Explore Mars, Inc. and the author of The Music of Space, Alcohol in Space, and co-editor of A Future Spacefaring Society.

It's Juneteenth in the U.S. today (June 19), a federal holiday that commemorates the end of slavery in America.

Though the Civil War ended in April of 1865, it wasn't until June 19 that same year when Union soldiers officially enforced the law that all enslaved people would be free. But the end of slavery was only the beginning of the challenges soon to follow; for one, segregation between Black and white people in the U.S., both systemic and informal, persisted for years. And we still live in a time when active racism, and the consequences of prior racism, trickle into many aspects of society.

It indeed affected NASA; Black women at the agency were once discriminated against despite making serious contributions to the space program. Our image of the day today celebrates the accomplishments of one such woman, Annie Easley.

Who is Annie Easley?

In 1955, Annie Easley started working for NASA's predecessor organization, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Her job was to serve as a "human computer," which was a position unique to the time. (NACA was dissolved in 1958, and its duties and personnel were taken on by the newly created NASA.)

Human computers at NACA and NASA were women who worked as basically early versions of computer programmers. To be a human computer, you had to be extremely good at mathematics, performing reliable calculations on a consistent basis to aid space missions.

Eventually, though, NASA moved toward the use of machine computers more often; Easley transitioned along with the space agency, ultimately becoming a full-fledged computer programmer.

As NASA explains, Easley's career shifted once again as it progressed. After some time, she took a position as the space agency's EEO, or Equal Employment Opportunity, counselor. She worked with NACA/NASA for 34 years before retiring in 1989. She passed away in 2011.

The importance of NASA's human computers

Like Easley, many of NASA's human computers became computer programmers once the agency made the transition to relying more heavily on machine computers. They together performed hundreds of thousands of calculations for the space program.

Easley alone was able to develop code that was crucial in research of energy-conversion systems, which paved the way for hybrid vehicles like the Centaur upper-stage rocket. Down the line, this work of hers contributed to the 1997 launch of the Cassini spacecraft that headed to Saturn.

However, the story wasn't as golden as it sounds retrospectively. Though NACA started hiring white women as "computers" in 1935, the agency didn't begin allowing Black women to enter the workforce until 1943. And that was only due to a shortage of professionals because of World War 2. In fact, human computers at the agency were not called professionals but rather "subprofessionals," and they were regularly talked down to by men who worked at the organization.

Black women had it particularly bad: They had to jump through hoops imposed by both racism and sexism.

Easley was one of just four African Americans out of 2,500 employees at NACA when she was hired.

In a 2001 interview, Easley recalled her mother saying to her: "'You can be anything you want to. It doesn't matter what you look like, what your size is, what your color is. You can be anything you want to, but you do have to work at it.'"

"I still believe that," she said.

For better or for worse, the world has its first trillionaire: Elon Musk.

On Friday (June 12), Musk's rocket company SpaceX made its debut on the Nasdaq, marking the largest IPO in history. With a staggering $1.78 trillion dollar valuation, it made Musk the first-ever trillionaire during the first 20 minutes or so of trading.

And to mark the occasion, SpaceX's giant Starship rocket was broadcast on the side of a skyscraper in New York City. On another skyscraper just to the left, Musk himself was featured.

What is it?

SpaceX's tremendous IPO started trading at around $150 a share on opening day, ultimately closing that same day at $160.95 a share. It has since been a big topic of discussion among financial experts and amateur traders alike.

The 19.2% gain that SpaceX's stock (trading under the ticker symbol SPCX) experienced on opening day took the company to a $2.1 trillion market capitalization, according to Yahoo Finance.

SpaceX, however, isn't alone in getting past a trillion in market cap this year. Also according to Yahoo Finance, Walmart (WMT) did the same on Feb. 3, as did Micron Technology (MU) on May 26. Meanwhile, Apple (AAPL) was the first company ever to top a trillion in market cap, doing so in August of 2018.

Still, Musk is the first person to have a net worth above a trillion (though, to be clear, most of that money remains in his stock holdings).

Why is it noteworthy?

It's fitting that Starship was the chosen vehicle to be broadcast in celebration of the SpaceX IPO instead of, perhaps, the company's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket, which has sent astronauts to the International Space Station time and again.

Starship is analogous to the larger-than-life dreams of Musk, and it's key to SpaceX's future. Unlike the tried-and-trusted Falcon 9, the 408-foot-tall (124 meters) Starship is still in development. It's being built to bring humans to the moon — no, the pun isn't lost on me — and Mars someday. Settling Mars has been a longtime goal of Musk, with the entrepreneur even suggesting he'd like to die on the Red Planet one day.

SpaceX has been continually building and flying iterations of Starship while unafraid of failure, in keeping with the company's philosophy. The idea is to find and fix issues via flight testing, a strategy that SpaceX thinks works well over the long haul. This method has led to some stunning images and also some environmental hazards. To illustrate his grandiose thinking, a few years ago, Musk said he hopes to send fleets of 1,000 Starships to Mars every 26 months. More recently, he said he hopes to put up to one million AI satellites in Earth orbit.

"It is certainly hard to believe that a little company that started in a warehouse in El Segundo is now going public with the largest IPO ever," Musk said during an opening ceremony broadcast by Nasdaq on the day of the IPO. "I gave SpaceX less than a 10% chance of succeeding at all, to be clear."

With the launch of SpaceX into the IPO frontier today, the space industry has its newest publicly traded juggernaut.

SpaceX's initial public offering, or IPO, went live for trading on the Nasdaq today (June 12), riding on what you could call the "Elon factor" — the high anticipation to grab stock in a company that once aimed for Mars, but now seems to be aiming at everything else, too.

Last May, SpaceX filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission key documentation that signaled an initial public offering (IPO) of stock. Talk of SpaceX, which billionaire Elon Musk founded in 2002 to find a way to Mars, going public had been rampant since late 2025, when the first hints arose of its possibility.

And this week, the long-anticipated IPO hit the streets, becoming the largest IPO in history, a $1.77 trillion dollar valuation. SpaceX anticipated a $75 billion initial offering, with shares valued at $135 each, a dollar number that SpaceX can modify on its own.

But today, as the NASDAQ trading began, SpaceX stock began trading at $155 a share, ultimately closing at just above $161 a share. Elon Musk became the world's first trillionaire in the first 20 minutes of trading, according to the New York Times.

Musk was not in New York City as trading began, choosing to celebrate at the company's Starbase, Texas facility with around 5,000 supporters.

"It is certainly hard to believe that little company that started in a warehouse in El Segundo is now going public with the largest IPO ever," Musk said during an opening ceremony broadcast by Nasdaq. "I gave SpaceX less than a 10% chance of succeeding at all, to be clear."

SpaceX transitioning to a publicly traded company is a big deal, not only cash wise but may well power the future and potency of commercial space overall.

Market appetite

Shaun Davies is an associate professor of finance at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder. He thinks the SpaceX IPO will absolutely provide investors, entrepreneurs, and bankers with valuable information about the market's appetite for space-related companies.

"That said, I would be careful about viewing SpaceX as a pure test of the space startup sector," Davies told Space.com.

SpaceX today, Davies said, is much more than a launch company. Investors are evaluating a combination of commercial space operations, Starlink's global broadband network, and increasingly its artificial intelligence (AI) related ambitions through xAI, founded by Musk in 2023.

In many ways, SpaceX resembles a diversified technology and infrastructure company as much as a traditional aerospace company, Davies said.

"If the IPO is successful, I do think it could create momentum for other aerospace and advanced transportation companies. Firms pursuing next-generation aviation technologies, including companies such as Boom Supersonic, could benefit from increased investor interest in frontier transportation and aerospace businesses," he added. "However, many of those companies are still several years away from being public-market ready."

As for the big picture, if SpaceX raises approximately $75 billion as currently expected, Davies said it would comfortably be the largest IPO in history and would raise more capital than all U.S. IPOs raised during the peak year of the dot-com boom.

"That's a remarkable milestone in itself," Davies said, observing that the IPO raise is different from the value of the SpaceX, which is roughly $2 trillion. “What's perhaps even more interesting is that SpaceX may not hold the record for very long.”

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell rang the opening bell in at Nasdaq's Marketsite in New York surrounded by supporters, friends and family. Confetti rained down as trading began.

"I am so proud of this team," Shotwell said as she recounted the company's successes from its first orbital launch to rocket reuse, to launching astronauts for NASA, developing its Starship megarocket and to expanding into artificial intelligence and more.

"Elon founded this company in 2002 initially to build rockets and spaceships that will take humans to Mars, the moon, and even beyond," Shotwell said. "We've not quite gotten to Mars, we're almost at the moon."

Before trading even began, SpaceX celebrated with a rocket launch, a Falcon 9 mission that sent 29 satellites into orbit. It may have been a risky move for some companies to launch on IPO day, but Falcon 9 launches seem routine now, flying multiple times a week (there was one yesterday, too).

"What company would do such a thing on the day that they open in the public market?" Shotwell asked. "SpaceX, right?"

New wave of IPOs?

Davies said that investors are already looking ahead to companies like OpenAI and Anthropic, both of which have achieved extraordinary private-market valuations. It is certainly possible that one or both could eventually pursue offerings that rival or even exceed the size of the SpaceX transaction, he said.

"More broadly, this could mark the beginning of a new wave of large-scale technology IPOs. For years, many of the most valuable technology companies stayed private longer than ever before," Davies said."We may now be entering a period where some of those companies finally access public markets."

All this said, market conditions still matter, he added.

Over the past several trading sessions there has been some reassessment of valuations among high-flying technology stocks, including a recent sharp pullback in the NASDAQ, the marketplace where investors can buy and sell shares of publicly traded companies

"If investors become more cautious toward growth-oriented companies, that could make it more challenging for future IPO candidates," Davies said. "The opportunity is clearly there, but the market still has to be willing to support these valuations."

Watershed moment

"SpaceX’s IPO is a watershed moment for both the industry and the financial markets," said Jeffrey Manber, special representative to the chairman and CEO of Voyager Technologies, a defense and space technology firm.

"Though the public SpaceX is far more than a rocket company and far more than a space company, it nonetheless is as impactful a moment as what Microsoft was to software and Google to the internet," Manber said.

Manber seemed struck on how far private space endeavors have come.

"One of my favorite expressions in the early 90s was 'remember, no one has gotten rich from commercial space,'" he told Space.com.

Scaling to cosmic heights

What makes Manber most optimistic is that there is a straight line from the 2008 NASA cargo contract to the International Space Station and the SpaceX Starlink internet satellite constellation.

"But at the time doubters kept saying there is no demand for low Earth orbit transportation and that SpaceX would remain dependent on NASA funding forever." Manber said. What Elon Musk did, he added, was show that, with the government as a customer, the commercial markets are scalable to incredible heights.

"So, too, we'll see this again with the commercial [low Earth orbit] destinations space station marketplace," Manber added. "The killer market demand will emerge once we have commercially run orbiting platforms."

Prediction and a revisit of history

According to Manber, space is now its own asset class.

There are specialized investment vehicles just for commercial space services. Investors can support companies focused on everything from launch services to Earth observation to lunar services, and even to new spaceports, he said.

And the mind-boggling amount of wealth created by the SpaceX IPO — about 4,400 current and former SpaceX employees are expected to become millionaires, according to the New York Times — has led Manber to make a pretty safe prediction.

"One of the unanticipated impacts of the SpaceX IPO will be the literally dozens and dozens of newly minted commercial space entrepreneurs who will self-fund their own companies," he said. "A true explosion in commercial space services is about to be realized, thanks to the transfer of wealth to hundreds of SpaceX employees."

The moment reminded Manber of another key IPO in history.

"I'm reminded that the world's first IPO was for the Dutch East India Company in 1602 to pay for their spice trading voyagers which were both years in the making and technically difficult to achieve," Manber said. "This time investors are supporting what could be the first voyagers to the planet Mars. Never underestimate the power of the commercial marketplace and its role in commercial exploration."

While SpaceX has evolved into more than just a space company over the last 24 years, Musk maintains that his long-term goal of making humanity a mutiplanetary species remains the same.

"That's what SpaceX is all about, is to take the fiction out of science fiction and create an exciting, inspiring future for everyone," Musk said as trading began today. "We want to be able to take anyone who wants to go to the moon, anyone who wants to go to Mars, or anywhere in the solar system, and maybe beyond the solar system."

Editor's note: This story was updated at 4:30 pm ET to include details of SpaceX's IPO success at the close of trading.

When SpaceX attempted to launch its newest (and tallest) megarocket yet on Thursday (May 21), all eyes were on the shiny Starship Version 3 atop its South Texas pad. Especially NASA's, since the agency wants to use the towering rocketship to land Artemis astronauts on the moon in two years.

So it was a bit of a surprise when SpaceX, with less than 15 minutes remaining before liftoff, announced something new: A private Starship mission to Mars, a flyby expedition led by cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang.

"So it's going to be a flyby mission of Mars," Wang said in a recorded announcement unveiled by SpaceX during live launch commentary (the Starship V3 liftoff was ultimately scrubbed). "A lot of people talk about Mars. We like Mars, we're gonna land on Mars. We're gonna do a city on Mars. But let's get it started with a flyby."

SpaceX did not announce a target date or year for when Wang might launch to Mars (its Starships have not yet orbited Earth, let alone reached the moon or carried astronauts to space). Nor did SpaceX or Wang announce who might join the entrepreneur on the flight.

Wang, who already flew in space on the private SpaceX Dragon mission Fram2 over Earth's poles in 2025, made the announcement while speaking with SpaceX's Dan Huot from the extremely remote Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, a lonely isle 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) southwest of South Africa's Cape of Good Hope.

"It's arguably one of the most remote islands in the world," Wang said. But with this Starship Mars mission, Wang is looking for a place even more remote, and he's not worried about being bored on the way. Huot said the mission includes long legs to and from Mars, with the flyby lasting just two hours.

"This is actually for my style of fireworks," he told Huot. "I can stare at the map view on airplanes all the way from takeoff through landing, so I think I'm going to enjoy the trip."

During Fram2, Wang and three other private astronauts on his crew made history as the first four people ever to fly over Earth's poles during the 3.5-day mission. The Mars mission will make history as well, and even fly by the moon on the way to the Red Planet, SpaceX said.

"Even though it's a flyby, it will try a lot of things never attempted before," Wang said.

Wang isn't the first billionaire to book a trip to the moon or beyond on a SpaceX Starship. He's actually the fourth. So the question of when, or perhaps even IF, his Starship Mars mission will fly is a reasonable one to ask.

In 2018, Japanese billionaire Yusaka Maezawa announced a grand plan called dearMoon, which would use Starship to fly eight civilians — a mix of artists, performers, YouTube creators and more — to the moon and back. But Maezawa, who later flew to the International Space Station on a Russian Soyuz capsule (he actually bought two tickets, one for himself and another for a videographer), ultimately canceled that Starship trip in 2025 after years of waiting.

"I signed the contract in 2018 based on the assumption that dearMoon would launch by the end of 2023," Maezawa said in a statement on X after canceling the flight. "It's a developmental project, so it is what it is, but it is still uncertain as to when Starship can launch." SpaceX founder Elon Musk first announced what would become the Starship program in 2016.

Then, in 2022, SpaceX found a new billionaire interested in Starship. It was Dennis Tito, who made history in 2001 when he became the world's first space tourist to buy a ticket to the International Space Station, on a Russian Soyuz (for a reported $20 million). With SpaceX, he was likely putting down a lot more for a trip around the moon on Starship for himself and his wife Akiko.

"This program could prove to be one of the most important accomplishments in six million years of human history," Tito said of Starship at the time. (Tito also once tried to assemble a private flyby of Mars by 2018 as part of his Inspiration Mars concept, but it depended heavily on the quick development of NASA's Space Launch System megarocket, which did not fly until 2022).

Also in 2022, yet another billionaire booked a private Starship trip: American entrepreneur Jared Isaacman.

If that name sounds familiar, it should. Isaacman is the head of NASA now, serving as the space agency's administrator after being nominated by the Trump administration, then called off, then re-nominated and finally confirmed by the Senate this past December.

Isaacman is also a seasoned pilot (he flies MiG jets and cofounded the Black Diamond Jet Team) who financed SpaceX's first-ever private astronaut flight — Inspiration4 in 2021 — then bought three more flights with SpaceX as part of his Polaris Program. Those flights included Polaris Dawn in 2024, during which Isaacman performed the world's first private spacewalk. A second Dragon flight was to come next, and be followed by the first crewed flight of a Starship vehicle. The latter two missions have not yet launched, and it is unlikely Isaacman will fly them while serving as NASA administrator.

Isaacman, though, is still betting on a crewed Starship flight soon, this time for NASA astronauts. NASA picked SpaceX to land its Artemis astronauts on the moon by 2028. Earlier this year, under Isaacman's leadership, NASA restructured the schedule for that moon landing, which will now occur on the Artemis 4 mission.

SpaceX will likely attempt an uncrewed landing of Starship before that flight, and NASA hopes the company will have a Starship lander ready for an Earth orbit docking test by Artemis 3 astronauts in 2027.

Wang, meanwhile, believes his mission to Mars could help inspire people around the world to pursue interests in space exploration and the Red Planet.

"It will light the fire. It will ignite the imagination, and it will build the momentum," Wang said in the SpaceX video. "After we come back from Mars, we will have the opportunity to take some real photos, especially of Mars. Mars will no longer become a distant place. It will become a reality."

Blue Origin's moon lander has passed its tests in the vacuum chamber.

This marks one big step forward for the company and its possible participation in humanity's return to the moon.

What is it?

Blue Origin's uncrewed cargo lunar lander, called Moon Mark 1 (MK1) and nicknamed Endurance, has completed its testing in the vacuum chamber, NASA shared on May 4.

The lander, which is being developed in support of NASA's Artemis program, was tested in Thermal Vacuum Chamber A at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. These tests evaluated how the spacecraft can hold up against extreme temperatures, and modeled how it will eventually fare in the extreme environments of spaceflight and in the vacuum of outer space.

Why is it incredible?

Blue Origin's lander is being developed as part of NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the lunar surface in 2028.

With the recent success of Artemis 2, which saw astronauts fly around the moon and back, the program established the first human presence at the moon since the agency's Apollo program launched its last lunar mission in 1972.

MK1 is scheduled to carry NASA science experiments and technology to the moon's south pole as early as late 2026. The success of this test represents a step forward in solidifying the public-private partnership that will support this return to the moon.

South Korean startup Innospace says it knows what went wrong on its first-ever orbital launch attempt.

Innospace sent its Hanbit-Nano rocket skyward for the first time ever on Dec. 22, from the Alcantara Space Center in Brazil. But the landmark flight — the first-ever orbital launch attempt by a South Korean company — didn't last long, as the Hanbit-Nano exploded less than a minute after leaving the pad.

Now Innospace has released new details about that launch failure and the results from a joint investigation, which shed light on what went wrong and how the company plans to move forward.

A gas leak in the forward section of Hanbit-Nano's first-stage hybrid rocket combustion chamber triggered a rupture, ultimately leading to mission failure, according to a March 17 Innospace update.

The leak "was caused by insufficient compression and uneven sealing performance resulting from plastic deformation of sealing components during the reassembly process following the replacement of the forward chamber plug during launch preparation activities in Brazil," the update reads.

Hanbit-Nano is a two-stage rocket powered by a mixture of liquid oxygen (LOX) and paraffin, a solid rocket fuel. The rocket's upper stage is designed to fly in two configurations, one that burns the same LOX-paraffin fuel, and another powered by LOX and liquid methane.

On its failed flight in December, Hanbit-Nano was carrying five payloads for customers in Brazil and India, as well as three technology-demonstrating payloads. The 57-foot-tall (17.3 meters) rocket is designed to deliver nearly 200 pounds (90 kilograms) to a sun-synchronous orbit from its Brazilian launch pad.

Innospace conducted its investigation into the mission's failure alongside CENIPA, the Brazilian Air Force authority responsible for aerospace accident investigations. Innospace says it is already implementing design improvements to affected components and introducing additional verification steps to prevent similar failures in future launches.

"This process has provided valuable technical assets that will contribute to further advancing our launch vehicle technologies," said Innospace CEO Soojong Kim in the update.

The company plans to move ahead with a follow-up launch, pending authorization from the Korea Aerospace Administration (KASA). That next attempt is currently targeted for the third quarter of 2026, with Brazil expected to remain the launch site.

Innospace is part of a growing wave of international startups aiming to compete in the small satellite launch market, where reliability and turnaround time are critical.

A successful return to flight in 2026 will be key for the company to demonstrate it can recover from early setbacks and move toward regular orbital launch capability.

The third time was not the charm for Space One's Kairos rocket.

Kairos launched for the third time ever on Wednesday (March 4), lifting off from Space One's Spaceport Kii in Wakayama Prefecture at 9:10 p.m. EST (0210 GMT and 11:10 a.m. local time in Japan on March 5). But it was all over about two minutes later.

"Kairos No. 3 was launched on March 5, 2026, at 11:10:00 a.m., but we determined that mission success was difficult and implemented flight termination measures," Tokyo-based Space One said via X on Wednesday evening (in Japanese; translation by X).

It was the third straight failure for Kairos. The rocket's debut flight, in March 2024, ended just five seconds after liftoff when the rocket's flight termination system detected lower-than-expected velocity and thrust.

The second launch, in December 2024, lasted longer but also met an explosive end. Space One terminated that mission about three minutes into flight, at an altitude of roughly 62 miles (100 kilometers), after detecting performance anomalies. Five satellites were lost.

Five small spacecraft were lost on Wednesday's flight as well. They were supposed to be deployed about 50 minutes after launch at an altitude of 310 miles (500 kilometers), according to Japanese outlet NHK.

It's too early to tell what went wrong on Wednesday. Space One said it will provide details when they are available.

Space One, which was founded in 2018, aims to become a major player in the small-satellite launch industry. The company wants to be launching 20 missions per year by the end of the decade and 30 per year in the 2030s.

Space One's first rocket is the 59-foot-tall (18 meters) Kairos, which consists of three solid-fuel stages topped by a liquid-propellant upper stage. Kairos can deliver up to 330 pounds (150 kilograms) of payload to sun-synchronous orbit, according to Space One.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 11:00 a.m. ET on March 4 with the new target launch date of March 4, then again at 9:30 p.m. ET on March 4 with news of the launch failure.

Blue Origin won't be launching any more space tourism missions for a while.

Jeff Bezos' aerospace company announced today (Jan. 30) that it's grounding its New Shepard suborbital vehicle for at least two years, so it can focus on sending people much farther afield.

The move allows Blue Origin to "shift resources to further accelerate development of the company's human lunar capabilities," the company wrote in a statement today. "The decision reflects Blue Origin's commitment to the nation's goal of returning to the moon and establishing a permanent, sustained lunar presence."

Blue Origin's lunar ambitions are concrete: The company holds a contract to land NASA astronauts on the moon using its Blue Moon spacecraft. If all goes to plan, Blue Moon will do so for the first time on the Artemis 5 mission, which is targeted to launch in 2029.

But Blue Origin could hit the gray dirt much sooner than that: It plans to launch a pathfinder version of Blue Moon on a robotic demonstration mission to the lunar surface later this year.

Artemis 2, the first-ever crewed mission of the Artemis program, could launch on its round-the-moon flight as soon as Feb. 8. Artemis 3 and Artemis 4, the first crewed Artemis flights to the lunar surface, are slated to use SpaceX's Starship vehicle as a lander.

New Shepard, a reusable rocket-capsule combo, launched for the first time in April 2015. It now has 38 total flights under its belt, including 17 crewed missions, which together have carried 98 people to and from suborbital space. (Six people have flown twice, so a total of 92 different individuals have flown on New Shepard.)

New Shepard flew most recently just last week, when it sent six people up on a mission called NS-38.

Passengers get to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see Earth against the blackness of space during New Shepard flights, each of which lasts 10 to 12 minutes. Blue Origin has not revealed its ticket prices for the vehicle.

Blue Origin just sent its latest batch of space tourists to the final frontier.

The company, which was founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, launched its New Shepard vehicle today (Jan. 22), sending six passengers on a brief trip to suborbital space.

It was Blue Origin's 17th human spaceflight to date and the 38th mission overall for New Shepard, the company's autonomous, reusable rocket-capsule combo. That latter fact explains the flight's name: NS-38.

New Shepard lifted off from Blue Origin's West Texas launch site today at 11:25 a.m. EST (1625 GMT; 10:25 a.m. local time in Texas), after a brief delay caused by "unauthorized personnel on the range," according to the Blue Origin stream.

The six people inside the vehicle's capsule were entrepreneur and pilot Tim Drexler; Linda Edwards, a retired obstetrician/gynecologist; real estate developer Alain Fernandez; entrepreneur Alberto Gutiérrez; Jim Hendren, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who founded the company Hendren Plastics Inc.; and Laura Stiles, Blue Origin’s director of New Shepard launch operations.

Stiles was a late addition to the crew. She replaced Andrew Yaffe, who had to drop out due to illness but will fly on a future New Shepard mission, according to Blue Origin.

The sextet enjoyed a few minutes of weightlessness and saw Earth against the blackness of space.

They also earned their astronaut wings, as New Shepard carried them above the Kármán Line, the 62-mile-high (100 kilometers) boundary that's widely recognized as the start of outer space. (It's not unanimous, however; both NASA and the U.S. Air Force deem space to begin 50 miles, or 80 km, above Earth.) Telemetry during today's flight indicated the capsule reached an altitude of nearly 350,000 feet (106,680 meters).

NS-38 ended quickly, as all New Shepard flights do. The vehicle's rocket came back to Earth for a powered touchdown at its designated landing pad at 7 minutes and 20 seconds after liftoff. The capsule followed suit roughly three minutes later, raising a cloud of dust in the West Texas desert as it settled down softly under parachutes.

Blue Origin has now flown 98 people to space over its 17 human spaceflights, the first of which took place on July 20, 2021 — the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. That tally includes 92 different individuals, as six people have ridden the capsule twice.

Blue Origin has not revealed its ticket prices. For perspective, Virgin Galactic, the company's main competitor in the suborbital space tourism industry, charges $600,000 per seat.

Six space tourists will launch to the final frontier on Thursday (Jan. 22), and you can watch the action live.

Blue Origin is scheduled to launch its NS-38 suborbital mission from West Texas on Thursday, during a window that opens at 11:00 a.m. EST (1600 GMT; 10:00 a.m. local Texas time).

You can watch it live here at Space.com courtesy of Blue origin, or directly via the company. Coverage will start 30 minutes before launch.

As its name suggests, NS-38 will be the 38th flight of New Shepard, Blue Origin's reusable rocket-capsule combo. Sixteen of the vehicle's 37 missions to date have carried people; the others have been uncrewed research flights.

New Shepard flights last 10 to 12 minutes from liftoff to the capsule's parachute-aided touchdown. During this time, passengers get to experience a brief period of weightlessness and see Earth against the blackness of space.

Blue Origin has not revealed how much it charges for a seat aboard New Shepard. Virgin Galactic, the company's chief competitor in the suborbital space tourism industry, has done so; Virgin Galactic tickets are $600,000 apiece.

The six people going up on NS-38 are entrepreneur and pilot Tim Drexler; retired obstetrician/gynecologist Linda Edwards; real estate developer and investor Alain Fernandez; entrepreneur and technologist Alberto Gutiérrez; retired U.S. Air Force Col. Jim Hendren, who founded the company Hendren Plastics Inc.; and Laura Stiles, Blue Origin’s director of New Shepard launch operations. You can read more about them all via Blue Origin.

Stiles is a late addition to the manifest. Blue Origin just announced her inclusion today (Jan. 20), explaining that she's replacing a passenger who can no longer fly on Thursday due to illness (but will get to participate in a future mission).

The person who dropped out is presumably Andrew Yaffe, a veteran of the recycling industry who was identified as an NS-38 crewmember in Blue Origin's first update about the mission.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 3:45 p.m. ET on Jan. 21 with the new launch target time of 11:00 a.m. ET on Jan. 22.

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

After a string of dramatic failures, the huge Starship rocket from SpaceX had a fully successful test on Oct. 13, 2025. A couple more test flights, and SpaceX plans to launch it into orbit.

A month later, a rival rocket company, Blue Origin, flew its almost-as-large New Glenn rocket all the way to orbit and sent spacecraft on their way to Mars.

While these successful flights are exciting news for future missions to the Moon as well as other planets, I've argued for several years that these superheavy-lift rockets can also boost research in my own specialty, astronomy – the study of stars and galaxies far beyond our solar system – to new heights.

Taking the broad view

Why do I say that? Astronomy needs space. Getting above the atmosphere allows telescopes to detect vastly more of the electromagnetic spectrum than visible light alone. At these heights, telescopes can detect light at much longer and shorter wavelengths, which are otherwise blocked by Earth's atmosphere.

To get an idea of how that has enriched astronomy, imagine listening to someone play the piano, but only in one octave. The music would sound much richer if they used the full keyboard.

With the broader spectrum in view, astronomers can see objects in the sky that are much colder than stars, but also objects that are far hotter.

How much cooler and hotter? The hottest stars you can see in visible light are about 10 times hotter than the coolest. With the whole infrared-to-X-ray spectrum, the temperatures that come into view can be 1,000 times colder or 1,000 times hotter than regular stars.

Scientists have had nearly 50 years of access to the full light spectrum with sets of increasingly powerful telescopes. Alas, this access has come at an ever-increasing cost, too. The newest telescope is the spectacular James Webb Space Telescope, which cost about US$10 billion and detects a portion of the infrared spectrum. At that forbidding price, NASA can't afford to match Webb across the spectrum by building its full infrared and X-ray siblings.

We'll have to wait a long time even for one more. The estimated date to launch the next "Great Observatory" is a distant 2045 and may be later. The range of notes astronomers can play will shrink, along with our views of the universe.

Escaping the trap with heavy-lift vehicles

These new rockets give us a chance to escape this trap. For the same cost, they can send about 10 times more mass to orbit, and they have bodies about twice as wide, compared with the rockets that have been in use for decades.

Mass matters because telescopes contain heavy mirrors, and the bigger the mirror, the better they work. For example, building Webb's large mirror meant finding a way to make a superb mirror that was 10 times lighter in weight per square meter than the already lightweight Hubble mirror. The engineers found a solution that was technically sweet but financially costly.

Similarly, the size of the rocket's body matters because to fit Webb's 21-foot-diameter mirror (6.5 meters) into the 13-foot-diameter body (4 meters) of its ride, the Ariane V rocket, it had to fold up like origami for launch. Normally, space missions try to avoid any moving parts, but for Webb they had no choice.

Again, the result was a technical triumph, but the complexity introduced over 300 places where one mistake could have ended the mission. Each one of the over 300 locations had to be 300 times less likely to fail than if there had been only one, pumping up the design, manufacturing and testing requirements – and inflating the cost.

The larger, wider Starship and New Glenn rockets mean that building a Webb-like space telescope today could be done with none of the origami-like folding and unfolding, with their attendant risks, and so be much cheaper.

New ideas

This opportunity is being seized by at least three teams. First, a proposed deep infrared telescope called Origins would take advantage of superheavy lift. Scientists at Caltech are studying a potential smaller version called Prima.

Second, an X-ray telescope that can take pictures as sharp as Webb – with a sensitivity to match – would likely use thicker and heavier mirrors than imagined just a few years ago.

And third, a study published in 2025 proposes a very low-frequency radio telescope, GO-LoW, that also takes advantage of using more mass. GO-LoW would be made of 100,000 tiny telescopes, so mass production savings kick in too.

All three of these telescopes would be easily 100 times more sensitive than their predecessors and at least comparable to Webb in their own bands of the spectrum.

It would be ideal if engineers could get these telescopes down to half the cost of a large observatory like Webb. Then, for the same price, NASA could fly two new Great Observatories instead of resigning itself to building one. If it could get the cost down to a third, it could potentially fly a full spectrum-spanning set.

Big challenges, big payoff

Of course, a lot could go wrong. For one thing, these rockets may not perform as advertised, either in capability or cost. Still, investing in a few starting studies won't cost much and will likely have a big payoff.

For another, like the poet Goethe on his deathbed, we astronomers will always be asking for "more light." But if we call for yet bigger and more complex telescopes than the already awesome Great Observatories recommended by the National Academies 2020 Astronomy Survey, then we will bring back all the costly issues faced by the Webb designers.

Space agencies have the challenge of keeping the astronomers' endless desires under strict control – building to cost must come first.

But if agencies can keep astronomers' ambitions from becoming too astronomical, while taking full advantage of the new design space opened up by the superheavy-lift rockets, then our understanding of the universe could advance beyond imagination in just a decade or so.

Surprise, surprise: SpaceX shattered its single-year launch record again in 2025.

Elon Musk's company has now set a new mark six years in a row, and the numbers are getting pretty silly. The record has risen from 25 orbital liftoffs in 2020 to 31 (2021) to 61 (2022) to 96 (2023) to 134 (2024) and, now, to a whopping 165. And that's not including five non-orbital Starship test flights by SpaceX.

That's a launch almost every other day, a staggering cadence that leaves other companies — and entire nations — in the dust. Indeed, SpaceX launched nearly twice as many orbital missions as China did this year, and the company's 2025 output represented about 85% of the United States' total tally.

All 165 of those launches were conducted by SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9, which features a reusable first stage. (There were no liftoffs by the powerful Falcon Heavy, which hasn't flown since October 2024.) And those Falcon 9 boosters came back to Earth for a safe landing on all but three occasions.

Two of the exceptions were launches in January and October that sent massive Spainsat NG communications satellites to geostationary transfer orbit. These were heavy lifts for the Falcon 9 first stage, which didn't have enough fuel left over for a return to Earth.

The other non-landing was a failed attempt, suffered during the launch of a batch of Starlink internet satellites on March 3. The booster actually touched down successfully on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean as planned that day, but it tipped over after a fire broke out near its base and damaged a landing leg.

Speaking of Starlink missions: They dominated SpaceX's manifest this year, making up 123 of the 165 Falcon 9 launches. Together, those missions lofted more than 3,000 satellites for the Starlink megaconstellation, which currently consists of more than 9,300 active spacecraft.

SpaceX notched a number of other milestones during this very busy year. For example, the company pulled off its 500th rocket landing and 500th launch of a used rocket in 2025. And it repeatedly extended the record for most launches by a single Falcon 9 booster, which currently stands at 32.

The 165 Falcon 9 missions weren't SpaceX's only liftoffs this year, though. The company also launched five suborbital test flights of Starship, a fully reusable vehicle that's the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. SpaceX lost at least one of the megarocket's two stages during the first three Starship flights of the year, but the most recent two, in August and October, were unalloyed successes.

We should see a lot more Starship action in 2026, including the stainless-steel vehicle's first orbital flight — and maybe, if things go exceedingly well, an uncrewed trip to Mars.

Correction: An earlier version of this story initially reported the number of SpaceX's orbital launches as 167 in 2025. It has been corrected to 165, per the company's records.

2025 was a very busy year in spaceflight.

Over the past 12 months, we saw multiple spaceflight records broken, the debut of a powerful new reusable rocket and the first-ever fully successful private moon landing.

Here's a rundown of the top 10 spaceflight stories of the year.

10. Astronauts fly over Earth's poles for the first time ever

On March 31, SpaceX launched the private Fram2 mission, which sent four private astronauts on a 3.5-day mission to Earth orbit aboard a Crew Dragon capsule. It was SpaceX's 17th crewed mission to date, but it still broke new ground: Fram2 circled our planet over the poles, which no astronaut flight had ever done before.

There are a number of reasons why human spaceflight planners have avoided this trajectory. Chief among them is that the most common astronaut destinations — these days, the International Space Station (ISS) and China's Tiangong outpost — don't take polar paths. Flying over the poles also exposes astronauts to higher levels of radiation and imposes communications challenges.

The Fram2 crew — led by billionaire commander and mission funder Chun Wang — performed a few dozen scientific experiments during their flight. They also got unprecedented views of our planet's icy extremes, some of which they shared with those of us stuck down here on terra firma.

9. India completes its first in-space docking

India notched a big milestone shortly after the calendar turned this year: On Jan. 15, the two spacecraft of the nation's Space Docking Experiment, or SpaDex for short, linked up in Earth orbit. The success made India just the fourth nation ever to pull off an in-space docking, after the USSR/Russia, the United States and China.

Those other countries are all space powers, a status that India seeks to attain as well. And SpaDex is a step along this path: Mastery of docking tech is necessary to achieve big things in the final frontier, like building a space station and returning samples from the moon.

8. European mission creates its first artificial solar eclipse

An "eclipse machine" came online in 2025. The European Space Agency's two-satellite Proba-3 mission launched to Earth orbit in December 2024, tasked with generating artificial solar eclipses via precise formation flying: One Proba-3 spacecraft blocks out the sun from the perspective of the other, which observes the phenomenon using an onboard telescope.

Proba-3 was designed to help scientists study the sun's wispy, superhot corona, or outer atmosphere, which is swamped by our star's overwhelming brightness — except during total solar eclipses. And Proba-3 delivered the goods for the first time on May 23, capturing an eclipse of its own creation.

7. Suni Williams breaks spacewalk record

Suni Williams' latest space stay lasted far longer than she or anyone else had expected — and the unplanned extension allowed her to break a spacewalk record.

Williams and fellow NASA astronaut Butch Wilmore launched toward the ISS on June 5, 2024, on the first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft. Their mission was supposed to last just 10 days or so. But Starliner suffered thruster problems and helium leaks on the way up, so NASA delayed the vehicle's return to study the issues. The agency eventually decided to bring Starliner home uncrewed, which happened without incident on Sept. 7, 2024, and kept Williams and Wilmore on the ISS until March of this year, when they returned to Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.

NASA integrated Williams and Wilmore into the ISS' full-time crew, and the duo used their extra time well. Williams, for example, performed two spacewalks: one on Jan. 16 and the other on Jan. 30. That second excursion brought her career spacewalking time (accrued over nine extravehicular activities) to 62 hours, 6 minutes. That set a new record for female spaceflyers, besting NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson's total time by 1 hour, 45 minutes. The overall record is 82 hours, 22 minutes, held by cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev.

Whitson still holds the American and female-astronaut records for the most total time spent in space, at 675 days. Williams has been off Earth for a total of 608 days.

6. China launches a mission to sample a "quasi-moon" of Earth

China continued its bold advance into the final frontier this year, launching its first-ever asteroid sample-return mission. That project, called Tianwen 2, isn't targeting any old asteroid — it's on the way to Kamo'oalewa (also known as 2016 HO3), which may be a piece of the moon blasted into space by a giant impact. Kamo'oalewa is weird in another way as well: It's one of Earth's seven known "quasi-moons," objects that don't circle our planet but orbit the sun in lockstep with it.

Tianwen 2 launched on May 28. If all goes according to plan, it will return samples of Kamo'oalewa to Earth in 2027, giving scientists their first up-close look at an intriguing and mysterious object.

5. SpaceX breaks its launch record — again

No surprises here: SpaceX broke its single-year launch record in 2025. Elon Musk's company has launched 170 times so far this year — 165 flights of its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket and five suborbital test missions of Starship, the giant, fully reusable vehicle designed to help humanity settle Mars and the moon. More than 70% of the Falcon 9 launches have been devoted to building out SpaceX's Starlink megaconstellation, which consists of more than 9,000 operational satellites (and counting).

It was the sixth year in a row that SpaceX has set a new launch record. That mark has increased from 25 in 2020 to 31 (2021) to 61 (2022) to 98 (2023) to 138 (2024) and, now, to 170. And SpaceX is planning to launch two more Falcon 9 missions before the calendar turns, so that number should reach 172.

4. China launches its first reusable rocket

The Chinese company Landspace has developed its own version of the Falcon 9. The rocket, called Zhuque-3, features a reusable first stage powered by nine engines. Zhuque-3 took flight for the first time on Dec. 3, successfully reaching orbit and nearly pulling off a booster landing as well. Zhuque-3's first stage crashed and burned near its touchdown zone, however, apparently after suffering an engine loss during the descent.

Zhuque-3 may well pull off China's first-ever orbital rocket landing on its next flight. Or another vehicle may claim that mantle — Space Pioneer's Tianlong-3, perhaps, or the Long March 12A, which was developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. Both of those rockets feature reusable first stages and are scheduled to make their debut flights soon.

3. Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket comes online

An even more powerful, partially reusable rocket earned its wings this year: New Glenn, the heavy lifter developed by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' aerospace company.

New Glenn debuted Jan. 16, successfully reaching orbit with a dummy version of Blue Origin's Blue Ring spacecraft platform on board. The company tried to land the rocket's reusable first stage on a ship at sea during the flight, but that didn't work out. The second try was the charm, however: New Glenn's booster aced its ocean landing during flight number two, which occurred Nov. 13. The rocket succeeded in its primary mission that day as well, sending the twin ESCAPADE Mars probes into the final frontier for NASA.

Each New Glenn first stage is designed to fly at least 25 times, according to Blue Origin. If the company can attain such SpaceX-levels of reuse, it could achieve some very big things down the road.

2. SpaceX's Starship aces two straight test flights

Speaking of reuse: SpaceX's fully reusable vehicle, the Starship megarocket, flew five test flights in 2025. The first three were checkered affairs, featuring the loss of at least one of Starship's two stages. But the final two, which lifted off in August and October, were unqualified successes.

On both missions, Starship's Super Heavy booster came back to Earth for a pinpoint touchdown in the Gulf of Mexico. The vehicle's upper stage reached space, deployed dummy versions of SpaceX's Starlink satellites, and splashed down in the Indian Ocean as planned.

Starship, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, still has to check off some pretty big boxes before it's up and running. It needs to reach orbit, for example, and demonstrate in-space refueling of the upper stage, which will be needed on all missions to the moon and Mars. But Starship enters 2026 with some serious momentum.

1. A private company lands on the moon

On March 2, Firefly Aerospace's robotic Blue Ghost lander touched down successfully on the moon. It remained operational for about two weeks thereafter, allowing the science instruments it carried to do their planned work.

This was an unprecedented achievement for private industry and spaceflight in general. Another company, Houston-based Intuitive Machines, put its Odysseus lunar lander down in February 2024, but that vehicle soon toppled over, shortening its mission and those of some of its payloads. Intuitive Machines' second lunar lander, Athena, suffered a similar fate shortly after its touchdown on March 6 of this year.

Blue Ghost's success was also a victory for NASA, which booked the mission (and those of Odysseus and Athena) via its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. More CLPS missions — by Firefly, Intuitive Machines, Astrobotic and other companies — are scheduled to launch soon, potentially opening up the moon to more research and human exploration activities — and perhaps even settlement down the road.

Aerospace engineer Michi Benthaus made spaceflight history on Saturday morning (Dec. 20).

Blue Origin launched Benthaus and her five crewmates on a suborbital spaceflight from the company's West Texas launch site on Saturday, lifting off at 9:15 a.m. EST (1415 GMT; 8:15 a.m. local Texas time).

Benthaus became the first wheelchair user ever to reach the final frontier.

The launch was originally scheduled to occur on Thursday, but that attempt was called off due to an "issue with built-in checks prior to flight," Blue Origin commentators said during the livestream that day.

Benthaus, who works at the European Space Agency, has used a wheelchair since suffering a mountain-biking accident in 2018. Joining her on the Saturday's flight are investors Joey Hyde and Adonis Pouroulis, aerospace engineer Hans Koenigsmann, entrepreneur Neal Milch and self-proclaimed "space nerd" Jason Stansell.

Koenigsmann's name and face are familiar to many space fans, for he worked at SpaceX from 2002 to 2021. He served as the company's vice president of build and flight reliability for the final 10 years of that tenure and participated in many post-launch press conferences in that capacity.

Blue Origin designated the mission NS-37, because it was the 37th liftoff of New Shepard, an autonomous, fully reusable rocket-capsule combo.

New Shepard flights are suborbital and brief, lasting just 10 to 12 minutes from liftoff to capsule touchdown. Passengers get to see Earth against the blackness of space and experience a few minutes of weightlessness.

They also get astronaut wings. New Shepard gets above the 62-mile-high (100 kilometers) Kármán line, the widely recognized boundary where outer space begins.

As of Saturday, 16 of New Shepard's 37 flights have carried passengers; the other 20 have been uncrewed research missions. The 16 crewed flights have lofted a total of 92 people, though just 86 individuals — six passengers have been repeat customers.

Blue Origin has not disclosed how much it charges for a seat aboard New Shepard.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 12:45 p.m. ET on Dec. 22 to correct an error: New Shepard has now launched 16 crewed missions to date, not 17.

A wheelchair user will reach space next week for the first time ever, if all goes according to plan.

Blue Origin announced today (Dec. 11) that it's targeting Dec. 18 for its NS-37 mission, which will send six people on a brief trip to suborbital space and back.

One of the passengers is Michaela (Michi) Benthaus, an aerospace engineer at the European Space Agency who has used a wheelchair since suffering a spinal cord injury in a 2018 mountain-biking accident. She is poised to break new ground for access and inclusion in human spaceflight.

NS-37 will lift off from Blue Origin's West Texas site on Dec. 18 during a window that opens at 9:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT; 8:30 a.m. local time). The company will stream the action live, beginning about 40 minutes before launch.

As its name suggests, NS-37 will be the 37th overall flight of Blue Origin's autonomous New Shepard vehicle, which consists of a crew capsule and a rocket, both of which are reusable.

New Shepard flights last 10 to 12 minutes from liftoff to capsule touchdown. Passengers feel a few minutes of weightlessness and see Earth against the blackness of space.

The five folks who will get this experience on NS-37 along with Benthaus are investor Joey Hyde, aerospace engineer Hans Koenigsmann, entrepreneur Neal Milch, investor Adonis Pouroulis, and self-proclaimed "space nerd" Jason Stansell.

Other space nerds may recognize Koenigsmann's name: He was one of the first employees at SpaceX, working there from 2002 to 2021. For roughly half of that time, he served as the company's vice president of build and flight reliability and was a frequent participant in launch webcasts and press conferences.

Blue Origin, which was founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, also released the NS-37 mission patch today, along with an explanation of what some of its symbols mean. Here's that explanation, verbatim from the company:

• The DNA symbolizes the importance and impact of science to Neal Milch. 
• The hippo represents Michaela (Michi) Benthaus' favorite animal. Her plush hippo, which comforted her in the hospital after her accident, will join her in space. The tennis ball symbolizes another of Michi's competitive passions. 
• A baobab tree, iconic to South Africa, represents Adonis Pouroulis' roots. 
• A spiral galaxy symbolizes Joey Hyde's astrophysics research. 
• A dog-bone shape, stars in the crew capsule windows represent the number 201, and "K" are in memoriam of Jason Stansell's brother. 
• The shards represent Blue Origin's commitment to breaking down the barriers to accessing space, including cost, nationality, and ability.  

Blue Origin has become one of the most talked-about names in the modern space age.

Founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos in 2000, the company has steadily built a reputation for innovation, ambition, and a bold vision of humanity's future beyond Earth. From reusable rockets to lunar landers, Blue Origin is shaping the next chapter of space exploration.

This quiz dives into the company's origins, its technological breakthroughs, and the missions that have captured global attention.

Whether you're prepping for a trivia night or just want to flex your spaceflight smarts, this quiz will take you on a journey through the stars.

See how well you score below!

Michi Benthaus is about to make history.

Benthaus, an aerospace engineer at the European Space Agency, is one of the six passengers on Blue Origin's next space tourism launch, the company announced today (Dec. 3). She'll become the first wheelchair user ever to reach the final frontier.

Here's some information about Benthaus and her five crewmates on the upcoming flight, which Blue Origin calls NS-37. (The company has not yet announced a launch date, but we should learn that soon.)

• Michaela (Michi) Benthaus "has dedicated her career to scientific collaboration for the advancement of interplanetary exploration," Blue Origin wrote in a description of the NS-37 crew. A spinal cord injury, suffered in a mountain biking accident in 2018, affected Benthaus' ability to walk but not her passion for the final frontier. She flew on a weightlessness-inducing parabolic airplane flight in 2022 and completed a two-week-long analog astronaut mission in Poland in 2024.
• Joey Hyde, an investor who recently retired from "a leading hedge fund," according to Blue Origin. He holds a Ph.D. in astrophysics and has long been fascinated by human spaceflight.
• Hans Koenigsmann, a German-American aerospace engineer who worked for SpaceX from 2002 until 2021. For the last 10 of those years, he served as the company's vice president of build and flight reliability, the higher-up who's ultimately responsible for the safety and success of space missions.
• Neal Milch, an entrepreneur and executive who currently chairs the board of trustees at Jackson Laboratory, a nonprofit biomedical research institute that was established in Maine in 1929.
• Adonis Pouroulis, a mining engineer, investor and entrepreneur with a focus on natural resources and the energy sector. "His career and philanthropic work reflect a consistent commitment to education and the responsible and sustainable development of Earth’s resources," Blue Origin wrote.
• Jason Stansell, "a self-proclaimed space nerd" based in West Texas, according to Blue Origin. "Jason is looking to inspire healthy skepticism and promote science education through his experience. He is also dedicating his flight to his brother, Kevin, who passed away in 2016 to a hard-fought battle with brain cancer."

As its name suggests, NS-37 will be the 37th flight of Blue Origin's reusable New Shepard rocket-capsule combo. Each of these suborbital jaunts lasts just 10 to 12 minutes from liftoff to capsule touchdown but gets above the 62-mile-high (100 kilometers) Kármán Line, the widely regarded boundary of outer space.

Blue Origin, which was founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, has not disclosed how much it charges for this experience.

NS-37 will be the 16th crewed flight overall for the autonomous New Shepard, and its seventh such mission of 2025. To date, the vehicle has carried 86 people to and from suborbital space (but just 80 individuals, as six of them have been repeat customers).

Blue Origin launched its 15th space tourism flight today (Oct. 8), sending six people on a brief trip to the final frontier, including a mystery passenger who only revealed his identity after the flight.

The company's New Shepard vehicle lifted off from Blue Origin's West Texas launch site today at 9:40 a.m. EDT (1340 GMT; 8:40 a.m. local Texas time), kicking off a suborbital flight known as NS-36.

Everything went according to plan for Blue Origin. New Shepard's first stage came back to Earth for a vertical, powered landing about 8 minutes after launch, and the autonomous vehicle's capsule followed suit several minutes later, touching down under parachutes in the Texas desert.

Flying on that capsule were franchise-industry executive Jeff Elgin, media entrepreneur Danna Karagussova, electrical engineer Clint Kelly III, software entrepreneur and author Aaron Newman, and Ukrainian businessman and investor Vitalii Ostrovsky.

"Oh my God, oh my God!" Karagussova could be heard exclaiming as they reached space. She and her crewmates had dubbed themselves the "Space Nomads" for the flight, as each Blue Origin crew picks its own nickname, the company said.

There was also a sixth mystery passenger, who wanted to remain anonymous until after the flight.

That mystery space tourist was Will Lewis, CEO and chair of the medical biotech company Insmed. "He is an experienced adventurer and considers NS-36 to be the fulfillment of a lifelong dream," Blue Origin spokesperson Tabitha Lipkin said during live commentary.

NS-36 was the second spaceflight for Kelly, who performed pioneering robotics and computer-science research in the 1980s at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He also went to space on Blue Origin's NS-22 mission in August 2022.

You can read more about each NS-36 passenger in our crew reveal story.

Blue Origin, which was founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, has been flying New Shepard for a decade now.

As its name suggests, today's flight was the 36th overall for the reusable vehicle. It was just the 15th to carry people, however; most New Shepard jaunts have been uncrewed research flights.

New Shepard gets more than 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth — higher than the Kármán line, the widely recognized boundary of outer space. Passengers experience a few minutes of weightlessness and get to see Earth against the blackness of space.

Blue Origin said the NS-36 space tourists reached a maximum altitude of about 66 miles (107 kilometers), just above the Kármán line during their flight. From liftoff to landing, the entire mission lasted 10 minutes and 21 seconds.

Blue Origin has not revealed its New Shepard ticket prices. But, for some perspective: The company's biggest competitor in the suborbital tourism business, Virgin Galactic, charged $600,000 per seat for its most recent flights.

UPDATE: Blue Origin is now targeting 9:40 am ET (1340 GMT) for the launch of six passengers on its NS-36 space tourist flight.

Blue Origin plans to launch its 15th space tourism mission on today (Oct. 8), and you can watch the action live.

Blue Origin, which was founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, is targeting a window that opens at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT) on Wednesday morning for the latest flight of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle.

You can watch the liftoff — which will take place from Blue Origin's West Texas launch site — live here at Space.com, courtesy of the company. Coverage will begin 30 minutes before liftoff.

Blue Origin calls today's mission NS-36, because it will be the 36th overall flight of New Shepard, an autonomous, reusable rocket-capsule combo. Twenty-one of New Shepard's missions to date have been uncrewed research flights; this will be the 15th to carry people.

Six people will go up on NS-36. They are franchise-industry executive Jeff Elgin, media entrepreneur Danna Karagussova, electrical engineer and robotics researcher Clint Kelly III, software entrepreneur Aaron Newman, Ukrainian businessman Vitalii Ostrovsky, and a sixth passenger who wishes to remain anonymous until after the flight.

Kelly is a spaceflight veteran; he also flew on Blue Origin's NS-22 mission in August 2022.

You can read more about each of these passengers in our NS-36 crew reveal story.

New Shepard flights last 10 to 12 minutes from launch until capsule touchdown. Passengers get to experience a few minutes of weightlessness during this time, and they get above the Kármán line — the widely recognized boundary of outer space, which lies 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth.

It's unclear how much a seat aboard New Shepard costs; Blue Origin has not revealed its ticket prices.

New Shepard has carried some famous people to and from the final frontier over the past few years. Passengers on previous flights include "Star Trek" icon William Shatner, NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan and pop superstar Katy Perry.

We now know which people will fly on Blue Origin's next space tourism mission — most of them, anyway.

On Wednesday (Oct. 1), Blue Origin, which was founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, announced the passenger list for NS-36, the next flight of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle. (We don't yet know when NS-36 will launch; that info is coming soon, according to Blue Origin.)

The company gave us five names for NS-36. There will also be a sixth, but that person "asked to remain anonymous until after the flight," Blue Origin wrote in an update on Wednesday. Here's a brief rundown of the announced five, using information provided in the update.

• Jeff Elgin, founder of FranChoice, a network that helps match people with franchise-owning opportunities.
• Danna Karagussova, founder of Portals, "a multimodal ecosystem that features digital self-regulation tools that fuse art and science," according to Blue Origin. She's also a lifelong mountaineer.
• Dr. Clint Kelly III, an electrical engineer with a long history in computer and robotics research. His work at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in the 1980s helped lay the foundation for driverless cars, Blue Origin wrote. He's also a wildlife photographer who wrote a book about penguins. Kelly has already flown with Blue Origin, reaching space on the NS-22 mission in August 2022.
• Aaron Newman, an entrepreneur who founded five software startups. Newman is also a veteran of the U.S. Army and an explorer, having descended into the Mariana Trench, the deepest spot in the world's oceans.
• Vitalii Ostrovsky, a Ukrainian businessman, investor and globetrotter who has lived in more than 100 countries around the world.

As its name suggests, NS-36 will be the 36th spaceflight for New Shepard, which consists of a reusable booster and a reusable capsule. It will be just the 15th New Shepard tourist flight, however; most of the vehicle's missions have been uncrewed research flights.

New Shepard flights — crewed or uncrewed — last 10 to 12 minutes from liftoff to the parachute-aided touchdown of the capsule. Passengers get to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and see Earth against the blackness of space. It's unclear how much this costs; Blue Origin has not revealed its ticket prices.

The university known as the cradle of astronauts will soon send a few more folks to the final frontier.

Twenty-eight alumni of Indiana-based Purdue have flown to space or been selected for spaceflight. That impressive roster includes Apollo astronauts Neil Armstrong, Gene Cernan, Roger Chaffee and Gus Grissom, as well as Adam Fuhrmann and Yuri Kubo, members of NASA's just-announced 2025 astronaut class.

And the list just got longer, for Purdue announced today (Sept. 23) that it's sending a team of researchers, students and alumni to suborbital space with Virgin Galactic in 2027, on a mission called Purdue 1.

"This mission with Purdue University is a powerful demonstration of what becomes possible when research institutions and educators gain direct access to the microgravity environment," Virgin Galactic President of Spaceline Mike Moses, a former NASA space shuttle launch integration manager who also went to Purdue, said in a statement.

"By enabling researchers to accompany and interact with their experiments in real time, we are not just advancing science — we are empowering the next generation of innovators and expanding the frontiers of educational opportunity," added Moses, whose wife Beth Moses is Virgin Galactic's chief astronaut instructor, a veteran of multiple suborbital spaceflights and a former Boilermaker herself.

Purdue 1 will carry five passengers to and from suborbital space, along with two pilots. Those passengers are Steven Collicott, a Purdue professor of aerospace engineering; Purdue graduate student Abigail Mizzi; alumnus Jason Williamson and two other alumni who will be named at a later date.

Virgin Galactic's space plane can carry six crewmembers, but one seat will be removed from the cabin on this flight to accommodate the mission's research payloads, according to the university.

Those experiments will be carried out by Collicott and Mizzi. Collicott's work will look at how liquids spread over a surface, while Mizzi will investigate how liquids oscillate in zero gravity.

"If you spill water on your kitchen counter, you’ll see it spreads more in some ways than others," Collicott said, in a description of his experiment. "Is this drinking water in a space station or a liquid packed with nutrients for a plant growth system? We need to get this important data to learn more about these flows to aid in spaceflight hardware design for future long-duration missions and perhaps so that future payloads can be automated, which would make missions even less expensive."

Virgin Galactic's space plane lifts off under the wings of a carrier aircraft, which drops it at an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,000 meters). The spacecraft ignites its onboard rocket motor, powering its own way to suborbital space, then glides back down for a runway landing here on Earth.

The company reached space for the first time in December 2018 and conducted its first fully crewed flight in July 2021. (Virgin Group founder Richard Branson was one of the passengers on that debut jaunt).

Virgin Galactic has flown seven commercial flights to date, the most recent one occurring in June 2024. The company has paused its launches to get a new, more advanced version of its space plane, known as the Delta class, up and running.

These new vehicles are expected to start flying in 2026, so Purdue 1 will be a Delta flight.

Virgin Galactic's most recent ticket price was $600,000. That was for a seat on the old VSS Unity space plane, however; prices for the Delta spacecraft have not yet been set, but they're expected to be a bit higher.

Collicott's seat will be paid for by NASA; the professor won a research proposal competition through the agency's Flight Opportunities program. Donations accepted by Purdue will fund Mizzi's trip, while the three alumni on the flight will pay for their own seats, according to the university.

A Red Planet settlement isn't a mere pipe dream, according to Elon Musk.

The SpaceX founder and CEO thinks humanity can get a sustainable, self-sufficient Mars settlement up and running by 2055, as long as we make some key advances with our heavy-lift launch technology.

"I think it can be done in in 30 years, provided there's an exponential increase in the tonnage to Mars with each successive Mars transfer window, which is every two years," Elon Musk said via video on Sept. 9 during the All-In Summit, an event organized by the All-In podcast. (Earth and the Red Planet align properly for interplanetary missions just once every 26 months.)

Ramping up the tonnage is important, he stressed, because a Mars settlement will need lots of stuff, from habitat modules to helper robots. And, to be truly self-sufficient, it will also need "to have all of the ingredients of civilization," Musk said — the materials that will enable settlers to grow food, generate fuel from the Martian atmosphere and build microchips, computers and rockets, among many other things.

Musk has one particular rocket in mind to make this Red Planet dream come true — SpaceX's Starship, the biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built.

Starship consists of two elements, both of which are designed to be fully and rapidly reusable — a booster called Super Heavy and an upper-stage spacecraft called Starship, or Ship for short. Both are made of stainless steel and powered by SpaceX's next-gen Raptor engine, which burns liquid oxygen and liquid methane (both of which can be produced on Mars, Musk has stressed).

The vehicle is still under development. It has flown in a fully stacked configuration 10 times to date, most recently on Aug. 26. Flight 10 went well; Starship notched all of its main mission milestones, including its first-ever payload deployment in space (eight dummy versions of SpaceX's Starlink broadband satellites).

This was an important bounce-back mission for Ship, which was lost prematurely on the previous three Starship test flights.

The next Starship test flight will be the final launch of the vehicle's current Version 2 design, Musk said at the All-In Summit.

"Thereafter, it's Version 3, which is a gigantic upgrade, because that's got Raptor 3, and pretty much everything changes on the rocket," he said, referring to the next engine iteration. "So, Version 3 might have some initial teething pains because it's such a radical redesign, but it's capable of over 100 tons to orbit, fully reusable."

That's about 2.5 times the lift capacity of SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket in reusable mode, he noted. But the Heavy, like its cousin the Falcon 9, is only partially reusable; the vehicle's upper stage is expendable. Each Super Heavy and Ship, by contrast, will fly many times, if all goes according to plan.

SpaceX has already demonstrated reusability with Super Heavy, flying the same booster on both Flight 7 and Flight 9. But it has yet to do so with Ship, which is understandable given the challenges involved.

"For full reusability of the Ship, there's still a lot of work that remains on the heat shield," Musk said.

"No one's ever made a fully reusable orbital heat shield. The [space] shuttle heat shield had to go through nine months of repair after every flight," he added. "We really are looking at the fundamental physics here — again, physics first principles, and trying to figure out, 'How do we make something that can withstand the heat, is very light [and] doesn't transmit the heat to the primary structure?' And then, all the tiles stay on and they don't crack."

Still, Musk voiced optimism about SpaceX's ability to clear such hurdles in a timely fashion.

"I think, unless we have some very major setbacks, SpaceX will demonstrate full reusability next year, catching both the booster and the Ship, and being able to deliver over 100 tons to a useful orbit," he said.

(Starship's eventual flight plan involves both Super Heavy and Ship coming back to the launch pad, where they'll be snagged by the "chopstick" arms of the launch tower.)

Starship Version 3 will stand about 408 feet (124.4 meters) tall, compared to Version 2's 397 feet (121 m), Musk has said. Version 3 will be the first iteration of the vehicle that can fly to Mars — and SpaceX hopes to launch the first uncrewed test flights to the Red Planet with it next year.

But most of the Mars-settlement heavy lifting could be done by an even bigger Starship: Musk has said the vehicle will eventually stand a whopping 466 feet (142 m) tall when fully stacked.

Musk will likely stay committed to the Mars-settlement goal over the long haul, as it has long been a driving force for him and SpaceX. Indeed, Musk has stressed that he founded the company in 2002 primarily to help humanity expand its footprint beyond Earth.

"What really matters is that Mars is self-sustaining, that we are truly a multi-planet species, such that we've achieved planetary redundancy," he said at the All-In Summit. "There's always some risk of an annihilation event on Earth — like I said, self annihilation, or some natural disaster — and so the probable lifespan of consciousness increases dramatically as soon as we are a multi-planet species, with the key test being: Can [the settlement on] Mars survive if the resupply ships stop coming?"

Since its founding in 2002, SpaceX has worked to revolutionize the spaceflight industry, mainly through developing reusable rockets that can land and fly again. This includes the company's Falcon 9 rocket, which has become the workhorse of global launches, ferrying cargo and astronauts to the International Space Station under contracts with NASA, among many other tasks.

But beyond the Falcon 9, SpaceX has been developing its Starship megarocket, which is designed to carry massive payloads and large crews on deep-space missions to the moon, Mars and beyond.

What is it?

In a recent post on X, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk shared a photo taken from beneath the Starship spacecraft that was being prepped to launch on the vehicle's 10th test flight. (That flight occurred on Aug. 26, and it went well.)

The photo shows the 33 Raptor engines of Super Heavy, Starship's first stage, arranged in a dense circular pattern. Musk added in a separate post: "33 engines, each more than twice the power of all 4 engines on a 747."

Where is it?

This photograph was taken at SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas, near Boca Chica, where the Starship system is built and tested.

Why is it amazing?

Packing 33 engines into a single stage presents some intense engineering challenges. Each Raptor engine must fire in perfect synchronization, maintaining stability during launch while withstanding extreme forces and vibrations.

As if this weren't ambitious enough, Musk added the following in a thread on his original post: "Starship V4 will have 42 engines when 3 more Raptors are added to a significantly longer ship. That will fly in 2027." With more engines providing additional thrust, systems like Starship can carry heavier payloads, making deep-space travel more achievable.

Want to learn more?

You can read more about SpaceX's mission and its Starship system.

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. — A new reusable rocket with jaws like a cosmic hippo, an innovative booster built by the company Rocket Lab, finally has its first launch pad on the Virginia coast and could make its first flight by the end of the year.

The novel booster, called Neutron, is Rocket Lab's newest and the company's first purpose-built reusable rocket to tap into the medium-size satellite launch market. The first flight is expected by the end of 2025 from the company's new pad, Launch Complex 3, which Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck officially opened for business on Thursday (Aug. 28).

"Today marks an extraordinary milestone, not just for Rocket Lab, but for the future of space access in America," Beck told a crowd of investors, reporters and company officials during a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday. "With the opening of Launch Complex 3, we take a major step forward in ensuring resilient and assured space access for the nation, a capability that has never been more critical."

Beck then hit a button that unleashed a torrent of water from the pad's deluge system.

Neutron's new launch site stands atop Pad 0D here at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. It is a sleek pad, consisting of concrete and steel painted in the company's red, black and gray colors with room to grow to support a high flight rate. Initial Neutron flights will use a crane to lift the rocket into place, with more infrastructure to be added as needed.

"The pad is designed to be not just like a block of concrete; it's a really, really smart pad," Beck told Space.com in an interview on Thursday. "So we're able to shed a lot of systems out of the vehicle and push them in, down into the pad. Most people look at it and go, It's a piece of steel and concrete. But actually it is like a living, breathing, functioning machine."

Rocket Lab's first U.S. pad, Launch Complex 2, sits just next door and is used to launch Electron, the company's smaller workhorse rocket for small satellite missions. The company's primary launch site is Launch Complex 1, which consists of two pads for Electron flights on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.

The Neutron rocket is a medium-lift launch vehicle that will stand 141 feet (43 meters) tall and be able to lift payloads of up to 28,660 pounds (13,000 kilograms) on trips to low Earth orbit (LEO). The rocket's first stage will be fully reusable, powered by nine of the company's new Archimedes engines, which are fueled by liquid methane and liquid oxygen.

"Neutron is an entirely new kind of rocket, and it's been developed on a really, really rapid timeline to meet the demand for our constellation customers, and of course, high assurance missions for the nation," Beck said.

In a novel design, Rocket Lab has placed its Neutron second stage inside the first stage, instead of on top like more traditional rockets. That second stage will be deployed when the first stage's "Hungry Hippo" fairing (it's actually called that) opens its metal maw wide, ejecting a payload-bearing Neutron second stage powered by a single Archimedes engine into space. The first stage will then return to Earth for a land or ship-based landing.

Rocket Lab first unveiled its Neutron rocket concept in March 2021. Before then, Beck had said he'd eat his hat if the company built a booster larger than Electron. In a company video announcing Neutron, Beck did just that: He put a Rocket Lab baseball cap in a blender and ate pieces of the hat while sitting at a table between Neutron fairing halves.

The Neutron design has changed slightly during its development. When it was first announced, Neutron's first stage relied on seven Archimedes engines. Now it has nine. The rocket was also announced to make land-based landings. In March of this year, Rocket Lab unveiled a new landing platform to land Neutron at sea on some missions, much like SpaceX does with its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters and Blue Origin plans to do with its New Glenn rocket.

"Our new landing platform will open space access even further by enabling even more mission opportunities that require maximum Neutron performance," Beck said at the time. The landing barge is called "Return On Investment," perhaps a nod to Beck's initial comments in 2021 that developing a landing ship was a costly endeavor. "It's really important also to be able to return the vehicle to the launch site, not costly barges way out in the middle of the ocean," Beck said during a video presentation in December 2021.

Neutron also appears to have grown in size and performance over the course of its development. In 2021, the rocket was originally announced as a 130-foot-tall (40 m) booster that could haul up to 18,000 pounds (8,000 kg) to LEO, and up to 4,400 pounds (2,000 kg) to the moon. It also had a 15-foot-wide (4.5 m) fairing, a traditional size, and was expected to make its first flight in 2024, a deadline that Rocket Lab missed.

Now, the rocket is 11 feet taller (with a height of 141 feet) and has a 17-foot (5 m) fairing that can accommodate larger payloads. And its lift capacity is greater now — up to 28,660 pounds to LEO. Neutron is made of a "lightweight specially formulated Rocket Lab carbon composite" material, the company has said.

For comparison, Rocket Lab's Electron stands 59 feet (18 m) tall and can carry payloads of just over 660 pounds (300 kg) to LEO. While Electron was not designed for reflight, Rocket Lab did recover first stage boosters from the sea and via a parachute and helicopter catch system to test the concept. The company has also reused Electron Rutherford engines on subsequent flights.

Beck said that the original specifications of Neutron were more of a placeholder design as the company worked to develop the medium-lift rocket. Shaun D'Mello, Rocket Lab's vice president for the Neutron rocket, added that, as Neutron was under development, two things helped refine its design. First, Russia's invasion of Ukraine led some satellite companies to forgo launching on Russian rockets, opening up a market for Neutron to help fill, D'Mello said.

"The other data point is that, for constellations, space vehicle designers and satellite makers also had real satellites they're starting to build; satellites got heavier," he added. "So the new magic number — we call it that sweet spot — became closer to the 12- to 15-ton range."

Rocket Lab already has customers lined up for Neutron launches. Last November, the company announced that it had signed its first customer for the rocket, but did not publicly disclose the client or mission payload. Earlier this year, the U.S. Air Force announced it had booked a Neutron flight to test point-to-point launch cargo delivery. That mission is expected to fly in 2026.

In a November 2024 earnings call, Beck said the company aimed to launch one Neutron test flight in 2025, three missions in 2026 and five Neutron flights in 2027. The company would then target a flight rate of seven Neutron missions a year thereafter.

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, who cut the ribbon to open the Neutron pad on Thursday, said he welcomed the new rocket's addition to the commercial fleet operating out of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, since it will attract more tourists and business to the area.

"Before the end of this year, we will all gather and we will watch the first Neutron rocket lift off from Pad 0D right here together," Youngkin said. "If it's on Christmas Day, I'll bring the gifts."

SpaceX's Starship megarocket took to the skies for the 10th time ever today (Aug. 26), on a bold test flight that marked a big bounceback from recent failures.

Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, lifted off from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas today at 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT; 6:30 p.m. local Texas time). That was two days later than originally planned; an issue with ground systems at Starbase forced a scrub on Sunday (Aug. 24), and bad weather caused another one on Monday (Aug. 25).

But it was worth the wait: Starship did everything SpaceX asked it to today, getting the giant vehicle back on track after a string of issues.

"That was absolutely incredible," SpaceX Build Reliability Engineer Amanda Lee said during live launch commentary. "A huge congrats to all the teams here."

"Great work by the SpaceX team!!!" SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X after the flight.

A rocky road recently

Today's flight was the 10th overall for Starship, which is designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, and its fourth of 2025 so far. The year's three previous liftoffs didn't go entirely to plan.

The company lost the Ship vehicle, Starship's 171-foot-tall (52 meters) upper stage, less than 10 minutes after liftoff on both Flight 7 and Flight 8, which launched in January and March, respectively. The Ship on Flight 9 in May made it considerably farther, but still fell short of its planned Indian Ocean splashdown: The spacecraft broke apart as it reentered Earth's atmosphere about 45 minutes after liftoff.

SpaceX suffered another Ship setback in June, when the vehicle it was prepping for Flight 10 exploded on a Starbase test stand. The upper stage was completely destroyed, forcing SpaceX to switch to another Ship.

Starship's giant first-stage booster, named Super Heavy, has performed better as of late. For example, the booster successfully returned to Starbase for a dramatic catch by the launch tower's "chopstick" arms on both Flight 7 and Flight 8.

SpaceX notched a major Super Heavy milestone on Flight 9 as well, reflying the booster for the first time. (The same vehicle launched on Flight 7). But there was also a hiccup on the May mission.

SpaceX conducted a number of experiments with Super Heavy on Flight 9, including bringing it back to Earth at a different angle, and so aimed for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico rather than a somewhat risky return to Starbase. But Super Heavy didn't hit the water intact, exploding above the waves during the final stages of its descent.

Making adjustments

SpaceX studied the above issues in detail, then diagnosed them and cameup with fixes. For example, the company traced Ship's Flight 9 problems to a failure of the vehicle's main fuel tank pressurization system diffuser. Engineers redesigned the diffuser "to better direct pressurized gas into the main fuel tank and substantially decrease the strain on the diffuser structure," SpaceX wrote in a report about the Flight 9 anomaly.

Super Heavy's breakup on Flight 9 was likely caused by unexpectedly high forces on the booster's fuel transfer tube, which itself was the result of the higher "angle of attack" during descent, the company added. Future flights will reduce that angle to minimize the chance that the same problem will recur.

And the culprit of the June test-stand explosion was undetected damage to a composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV) in Ship's payload bay section, according to SpaceX. (COPVs in that area contain nitrogen gas that's used by Ship's environmental control system.)

"To address the issue, COPVs on upcoming flights will operate at a reduced pressure with additional inspections and proof tests added prior to loading reactive propellants onto a vehicle," the company wrote in the Flight 9 report, which also addressed the June explosion. "SpaceX has also updated its COPV acceptance criteria and developed a new non-destructive evaluation method to detect internal COPV damage."

An ambitious Flight 10

The goals of Flight 10 were similar to those of Flight 9. Once again, SpaceX aimed to perform several experiments with Super Heavy, including a fuel-conserving controlled flip during descent and a landing burn that featured "unique engine configurations," according to company mission preview.

That all seemed to go according to plan today, as did Super Heavy's final move: It made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about seven minutes after launch, just as SpaceX drew it up.

Ship came through today as well — and it had considerably more work to do. The upper stage separated from Super Heavy on time and achieved its desired suborbital trajectory. The, during a five-minute stretch that began about 20 minutes after launch, Ship deployed eight dummy versions of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites, a critical capability it tried but failed to demonstrate on all three of this year's previous Starship flights.

"Just a reminder, we're on a suborbital trajectory," SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot said during live commentary. "These satellites on that exact same suborbital trajectory, they're going to burn up entirely."

And there will be many satellite deployments from Ship in the future, if all goes to plan: SpaceX is counting on Starship to finish building out its Starlink megaconstellation, which is already the biggest satellite network ever assembled. The giant rocket should carry at least 60 Starlinks at a time, Huot said.

Then, about 38 minutes into the flight, Ship briefly ignited one of its engines. This was another big milestone for SpaceX; such in-space re-lights will be needed on operational Starship flights, to help power the vehicles to their distant destinations and to guide them down to Earth for safe touchdowns and reuse.

"Looks like we confirmed the relight of one of those center raptor engines second time we've done that," Lee said during live commentary. "Super exciting. Huge congrats to the team on this milestone."

"That was a cool light show," Huot added.

About 45 minutes after liftoff, Ship began its reentry to Earth's atmosphere, a violent ordeal that SpaceX made even more harrowing to push the vehicle to its limits.

"A significant number of tiles have been removed from Starship to stress-test vulnerable areas across the vehicle during reentry," the company wrote in the Flight 10 mission preview. "Multiple metallic tile options, including one with active cooling, will test alternative materials for protecting Starship during reentry."

Reentry took a toll on Ship. About two minutes in, a chunk of Ship's skirt — the basal part near its engine bay — broke apart, sending debris floating into the final frontier.

"That's not what we want to see," Huot said."We've got some visible damage on the aft skirt. We're continue to re enter, though.

The Ship vehicle persevered, surviving in good enough shape to perform its planned landing burn and splashing down in the Indian Ocean as planned. 66.5 minutes after launch. And it was a bullseye landing: Ship came down within view of a buoy-mounted camera that SpaceX set up in the planned splashdown zone.

All in all, it was a successful day for SpaceX and the Starship team — one that the company celebrated and will doubtless plan to build on going forward.

"We probably gave it a little bit of extra time in the oven, but made it all the way through reentry ... we promised maximum excitement. Starship delivered," Huot said as he ticked off each of the Flight 10 milestones Starship nailed during the flight. "Time to go through the data. Really crazy cool to hit all those objectives today."

Editor's note: This story was updated at 9:28 p.m. EDT to include more comments from SpaceX's team on the Starship Flight 10 test flight.

The U.S Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has closed its investigation into SpaceX's Starship mission failure this spring and given the green light for Starship Flight Test 10 to proceed this weekend.

Starship Flight 9 launched on May 27 from SpaceX's Starbase manufacturing and test facility in South Texas. The mission ended with the loss of both the Super Heavy booster and the Ship upper stage. SpaceX led the probe into the mishap with oversight from the FAA and support from the U.S. Space Force, NASA and the National Transportation and Safety Board. Investigators traced the failures to separate structural issues in each of the vehicle's stages, according to a recent SpaceX statement.

In the same update, SpaceX also shared findings about the explosion that occurred on June 18, at one of Starbase's ground test sites. The incident destroyed Ship 36, the upper stage previously tapped for Starship's upcoming launch, as well as the surrounding infrastructure.

Flight 9 was the third Starship launch of 2025. On all three occasion, the upper stage failed to achieve its main mission goals. Flight 7 and Flight 8, which launched in January and March, respectively, each ended in explosions over the Atlantic Ocean that could be seen from Florida, the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos.

Starship's ninth flight began with a successful liftoff, and featured the first reuse of a Super Heavy, a vehicle known as Booster 14. The booster pulled off a clean hot-stage separation from Ship, at which point the booster navigated back toward Earth on a steeper-than-normal angle of attack.

SpaceX has successfully caught three Super Heavy boosters at Starbase using giant chopstick arms on the "Mechazilla" launch tower, but Booster 14 targeted a controlled splashdown offshore in the Gulf of Mexico, in order to push Super Heavy to its aerodynamic limits. About six minutes into flight, Super Heavy relit 12 of the 13 engines intended for its landing burn, but exploded a little more than half a mile (1 kilometer) above the gulf. SpaceX believes the increased descent forces ruptured an internal propellant line, igniting Super Heavy's liquid oxygen and methane fuels.

SpaceX says it plans to decrease the angle of attack on future flights, to reduce stress during booster descents. However, another modification the company will make to Super Heavy — though not one included for Flight 10 — will help gain some of those attack angles back. Future Super Heavy boosters will be made with redesigned grid fins, with a transition from four to three aerodynamic control surfaces that are 50% larger than those currently in use, to aid boosters' trajectories during descent and allow for some higher angles of attack.

After separating from the booster, Flight 9's upper stage, known as Ship 35, initiated its first planned engine burn. About halfway through that maneuver, however, onboard sensors detected a methane leak developing inside Starship's nosecone, SpaceX said in the recent update. Though Starship's systems were able to compensate for the change in pressure through the completion of the roughly five-minute ascent burn, the leak gradually destabilized the vehicle's attitude control and prevented the mission's planned in-space maneuvering test and deployment of dummy Starlink satellites.

Ship 35 eventually regained control, but liquid methane pooling in the forward section of the nosecone then triggered the full venting of the spacecraft's remaining fuel into space, leaving the vehicle to coast toward reentry. SpaceX said that Ship 35 "reentered Earth's atmosphere in an off-nominal attitude," after which the company lost communications with the vehicle about 46 minutes into flight.

Final telemetry was received as the spacecraft was descending over the Indian Ocean, where SpaceX had been hoping the vehicle would make a controlled splashdown. Investigators say the cause of Ship 35's issues could be traced to a failure in a gas diffuser used to pressurize the main fuel tank, which engineers were able to replicate at SpaceX's test site in McGregor, Texas. They say updated versions have since passed qualification campaigns simulating 10 times its expected service life.

Just weeks after Flight 9, another Starship upper stage — Ship 36 — was destroyed during ground testing on the stand at Starbase's Massey's site. The spacecraft exploded as it was undergoing cryogenic fuel loading in preparation for a static fire test. The "rapid unscheduled disassembly," or RUD, as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has previously referred to such mishaps, resulted in the total loss of Ship 36 and extensive damage to the surrounding infrastructure.

SpaceX traced the root cause to a composite overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV), used to store nitrogen in Starship's payload bay. The failure was caused by "undetectable or under-screened damage" to the COPV, which compromised the vehicle's structure and caused the propellant leak and subsequent explosion on the stand.

In response, SpaceX said that it has lowered the operating pressure for COPVs and added protective covers to guard the tanks during Starship assembly. SpaceX has also introduced new COPV inspection and testing procedures, including a "non-destructive evaluation method" for detecting any internal damage.

"Every lesson learned, through both flight and ground testing, continues to feed directly into designs for the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy," the SpaceX statement said.

Starship Flight 10 and Flight 11 will be the final two of the giant rocket's current design generation, "each with test objectives designed to expand the envelope on vehicle capabilities as we iterate towards fully and rapidly reusable, reliable rockets," SpaceX's update said.

The next iteration of Super Heavy and Starship will need to pick up the pace to qualify in time to fly as part of NASA's Artemis 3 moon mission. NASA selected Starship as the lunar lander for the mission, which will put astronauts on the moon for the first time since the final Apollo mission in 1972. NASA is currently targeting 2027 for the launch of Artemis 3, and Starship's recent test-flight issues are unlikely to quell ongoing concerns at the space agency that Starship's development may delay the mission further.

In a statement released on Aug. 15, the FAA says it has "accepted the findings of the SpaceX-led investigation," and confirmed no reports of injury or damage caused by the loss of both vehicles on Starship's Flight 9. "SpaceX can now proceed with Starship Flight 10 launch operations under its current license."

Liftoff of Starship Flight 10 is expected during a launch window that begins Sunday (Aug. 24) at 7:30 p.m. EDT (2330 GMT). SpaceX will stream the mission live on its website, as well as its account on X. Space.com will also carry the broadcast on our homepage, starting about 30 minutes before liftoff.

Recently, SpaceX posted photos on X of its redesigned grid fin for its Super Heavy rocket booster.

What is it?

Grid fins are lattice-style control surfaces that help steer rockets back down through the atmosphere toward their landing zones, helping to reduce the possible risk of damage or a crash.

For SpaceX, which relies on reusable spacecraft like Falcon 9 and Starship, having more controllable areas can help keep the spacecraft in better condition, allowing for more future launches.

Where is it?

This photo was taken at SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

Why is it amazing?

SpaceX has been working on the next-generation of its Super Heavy booster, which includes a new style of grid fins. In their post on X, the company mentioned that "The redesigned grid fins are 50% larger and higher strength, moving from four fins to three for vehicle control while enabling the booster to descend at higher angles of attack."

This change allows for the team to have more control during descent while allowing the booster to return to Earth from more extreme angles, improving its landing capabilities.

Want to learn more?

You can read more about SpaceX's work and its ongoing launches.

Virgin Galactic is deep into development of its new Delta Class suborbital space planes, with both research and private astronaut flights expected to commence in the fall of 2026.

Virgin Galactic is also collaborating on a feasibility study with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to look at using its mothership aircraft to launch other spacecraft at high altitude as a carrier platform.

"Progress on our SpaceShips continues across all systems and structures," reports Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic. He underscores a strong financial balance sheet, "to execute our business model as we bring our SpaceShips into commercial service." Colglazier says commercial service remains planned for 2026, with both research and private astronaut flights expected in the fall next year.

Conference call

The construction of Virgin Galactic's new Delta Class space plane was reviewed during the company's second quarter 2025 business conference call on Aug. 6.

The company highlighted ongoing work on Delta Class systems and structures, such as wing assembly to be completed during the fourth quarter of this year, as well as the craft's novel "feather" assembly. The feathering system is utilized when the suborbital vehicle heads back to Earth, making it more stable during the reentry process. Construction of the Delta Class SpaceShip fuselage is expected to be completed late this year or early 2026.

Also noted in the business update was progress in a feasibility study to potentially develop a second spaceport in Italy.

Flight frequency

Final assembly of the vehicles will take place at Virgin Galactic's Delta facility near Phoenix, Arizona. The Delta Class spaceships are being built to be capable of flying eight space missions per month, with twelve times the monthly payload or customer capacity of their original spaceship, VSS Unity.

The firm explains that their next-generation vehicles will bring humans to space at an unprecedented frequency with an industry-leading cost structure.

Virgin Galactic's Mike Moses, president of Spaceline, oversees the commercial spaceflight program. A newly issued "Galactic 10" video spotlighted development milestones in moving the Delta Class SpaceShip program forward.

Space: it's no longer just for astronauts in bulky suits. In recent years, some of the world's most recognizable celebrities have strapped in and blasted off into microgravity.

From billionaires to actors to singers, the final frontier is becoming the newest playground for the rich and famous. Thanks to companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, visiting space is possible for those who can afford a seat.

But how well do you know who's gone up?

Our new quiz tests your smarts on which celebrities have taken "shooting for the stars" a little too literally.

Try it out below and see how well you score!

Crew-11 was the eleventh operational crewed mission that SpaceX has launched for NASA under the agency's Commercial Crew Program (CCP), a partnership launched in the 2010s to return astronaut launches to U.S. soil.

The mission also shows the growing popularity in public-private partnerships in spaceflight, with SpaceX's Falcon 9 reusable rocket and Crew Dragon capsule now regular fixtures on NASA's manifest.

What is it?

Bathed in a golden sunrise, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket assigned to the Crew-11 mission was poised for flight on July 31, 2025.

The Falcon 9, named after the famous "Star Wars" spacecraft the Millenium Falcon, is SpaceX's workhorse rocket, and its reusable first stage makes spaceflight more efficient and less costly. The two-stage rocket is often used to ferry Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit.

Where is it?

The rocket sits on a launch pad at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Why is it amazing?

The Crew-11 mission, with its four astronauts, is headed to the International Space Station, where the team will participate in biomedical research, Earth observation, and other studies as part of the outpost's Expedition 73 mission.

Despite the picture-perfect morning skies and a rocket stacked and ready, the first launch attempt on July 31, 2025 was scrubbed due to weather. A second attempt occurred in the late morning on Aug. 1, with a successful launch as the Falcon 9 rocket lifted off the launch pad and sent the Crew Dragon capsule Endeavour toward the ISS.

Want to learn more?

You can read more about the Crew-11 mission and the ongoing research at the ISS.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin launched a crypto billionaire and five other people to the final frontier on Sunday (Aug. 3).

The mission — known as NS-34, because it was the 34th overall flight of Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle — lifted off from the company's West Texas spaceport at 8:43 a.m. EDT (1243 GMT; 7:43 a.m. local time in West Texas).

The highest-profile NS-34 passenger was Justin Sun, a 34-year-old billionaire who founded the blockchain platform Tron. In June 2021, Sun won an auction for a seat aboard the first-ever crewed flight of New Shepard, plunking down $28 million. (He did so anonymously; we didn't learn that Sun posted the winning bid until December 2021.)

A scheduling conflict kept Sun from joining that landmark flight, which took place on July 20, 2021 — the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The passengers that day were Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk and Dutch student Oliver Daemen.

The people flying with Sun on Sunday were Arvinder (Arvi) Singh Bahal, an Indian-born American real estate investor and adventurer; Turkish businessman and photographer Gökhan Erdem; Deborah Martorell, a journalist and meteorologist from Puerto Rico; Englishman Lionel Pitchford, who has run an orphanage in Nepal for three decades; and American entrepreneur James (J.D.) Russell.

"It was an honor to see so many nations represented on our flight today,” Blue Origin's Phil Joyce, senior vice president, New Shepard, said in a postflight statement. "The view of our fragile planet from space has a unifying effect on all who witness it, and I am always eager to see how our astronauts use this experience for the benefit of Earth."

All six passengers were spaceflight rookies except Russell, who flew on Blue Origin's NS-28 mission in November 2024. You can learn more about each of them in our NS-34 "meet the crew" story.

NS-34 was the 14th human spaceflight to date for New Shepard, which consists of a rocket topped by a crew capsule. Both of these elements are reusable; the rocket comes back to Earth for a vertical, powered touchdown like those performed by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets, and the capsule lands softly under parachutes.

Each New Shepard flight lasts 10 to 12 minutes from liftoff to capsule touchdown. During this brief time, passengers get above the Kármán line — the 62-mile-high (100 kilometers) demarcation widely regarded as the point where space begins — and experience a few minutes of weightlessness.

Blue Origin has not revealed its ticket prices, so we don't how much folks usually pay for a ride. But it's safe to say that it's considerably less than Sun ponied up back in 2021.

That sum was a philanthropic contribution. according to Blue Origin.

"The proceeds from the $28 million bid benefitted 19 space-focused charities to inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEAM [science, technology, engineering, art and math] and help shape the future of life in space," the company wrote in an NS-34 mission description.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 11:20 a.m. ET to include a postflight quote from Phil Joyce.

Like many lifelong learners, astronaut Peggy Whitson says she found a way to grow her space skillset — even after 695 total days in orbit.

Peggy Whitson, the commander of Axiom Space's fourth crewed flight to the International Space Station (ISS), says she found new perspectives on visiting her off-Earth "home" by helping the three rookies who accompanied her on the Ax-4 mission last month.

Assisting the new astronauts for 2.5 weeks "reminds you of all the experiences you had when you were first up there," Whitson told Space.com in a livestreamed post-flight press conference on Friday (Aug. 1). "It's always great to relive a little bit of that first time."

Ax-4 launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on June 26. The mission concluded 19 days later with a Pacific Ocean splashdown off the coast of California on July 15.

Ax-4's SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, named "Grace," was commanded by Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and currently Axiom's director of human spaceflight. "I've been there a few days," she joked to Space.com when asked to reflect on her nearly two years of cumulative off-Earth time, which is an American record.

Among the Ax-4 rookies was pilot Shubhanshu "Shux" Shukla from India. Shukla is one of four astronauts selected for the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) first human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan, which is scheduled to fly sometime in 2027.

"The knowledge that I've gained, it spans a history of human spaceflight missions," Shukla, the first Indian astronaut to visit the ISS, said during Friday's briefing. "The success has already started showing, wherein the [Indian] kids have already started asking questions, like, 'How do we become astronauts?' and 'How do we get to be a part of this?' I think that is also a big success for this mission."

Ax-4's other first-time flyers were mission specialists. Poland's Sławosz "Suave" Uznański-Wiśniewski is a member of the European Space Agency astronaut reserve program. Tibor Kapu is a member of the Hungarian to Orbit (HUNOR) program. Both were also the first from their countries to visit the ISS.

Uznański-Wiśniewski said the ISS Expedition 73 astronauts, who have been living on the station for several months, staged a special experience for him shortly after Ax-4's arrival.

"We were getting a first tour of the station, and then I was asked to close my eyes. I was lowered into the cupola, where the NASA crew asked me to then reopen my eyes. And there it was: The first look from cupola was my first time looking back to see Earth, to see Poland … I'll never forget that moment. Earth is big, and so very blue."

Kapu said he was grateful both for his time in orbit and for the support team he has at home. "I miss my family and friends the most in the past year," he said, noting that mission debriefs mean he will not return to Hungary until mid-August.

"Obviously, there have been some rough patches; the preparation for a mission like this doesn't always only have good days. There are some harder ones as well," he continued, saying his personal connections helped him keep going. "Those are the people, exactly when you talk to them, they are the ones who give you energy."

The Ax-4 quartet accomplished 60 science experiments and technology demonstrations during their time in orbit, setting an experiment record while also performing public outreach events.

Media reports suggest that Axiom Space's next effort, called Ax-5, will launch around May or June 2026, depending on ISS scheduling. That crew has not been named; NASA does require all private ISS spaceflight missions be commanded by a retired agency astronaut, however.

One possibility could be an all-U.K. mission. In 2023, the U.K. Space Agency and Axiom signed an agreement for a potential commercially sponsored mission expected to send four U.K. astronauts aloft. Retired U.K. astronaut Tim Peake joined Axiom in 2024 as a strategic advisor, aiming to make that mission a reality.

Axiom also plans to assemble and operate its own free-flying space station as early as 2028, following up on a contract signed with NASA in 2020 as part of the agency's efforts to eventually replace the decades-old ISS complex. Axiom accelerated its station timeline by two years this past December, by altering the order of when it will launch modules to orbit.

Blue Origin's next space tourism mission will launch this weekend, if all goes according to plan.

Jeff Bezos' aerospace company announced on Wednesday (July 30) that it's targeting Sunday (Aug. 3) for the flight, which is called NS-34 because it's the 34th overall mission for Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital vehicle.

NS-34 will lift off from the company's West Texas spaceport, near the town of Van Horn, on Sunday during a window that opens at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT; 7:30 a.m. local Texas time). Blue Origin will stream the action live, starting 30 minutes before launch.

NS-34's passengers are headlined by 34-year-old crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who in June 2021 put down the winning bid — $28 million — in an auction for a seat aboard Blue Origin's first-ever human spaceflight.

Sun couldn't fly on that mission due to scheduling issues. It launched on July 20, 2021 — the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing — with Bezos, his brother Mark, aviation pioneer Wally Funk and Dutch student Oliver Daemen onboard.

Sun's five crewmates on NS-34 are real estate investor and adventurer Arvinder (Arvi) Singh Bahal, who was born in India but is now an American citizen; Turkish businessman and photographer Gökhan Erdem; Deborah Martorell, a journalist and meteorologist from Puerto Rico; Englishman Lionel Pitchford, who has run an orphanage in Kathmandu for 30 years; and American entrepreneur James (J.D.) Russell, who also flew on Blue Origin's NS-28 mission in November 2024.

Also on Wednesday, Blue Origin revealed the NS-34 mission patch, which features an element of each passenger's life story. Here's the company's explanation, which you can find on its website:

• The globe symbolizes Arvi Bahal’s passion for travel, including visiting every country in the world, and the North and South Poles. 
• The Bosphorus Strait symbolizes Gökhan Erdem’s Turkish heritage.    
• The shape of Puerto Rico symbolizes Deborah Martorell’s home. 
• Mt. Everest symbolizes Lionel Pitchford’s decades of work in Nepal. 
• The book symbolizes J.D. Russell’s foundation, founded in honor of his deceased daughter, and dedicated to supporting children’s education and assisting first responder families. 
• The banana symbolizes H.E. Justin Sun's passion for conceptual art. 
• The sun in the center symbolizes H.E. Justin Sun, Deborah Martorell’s meteorology background, and new adventures for the whole crew.

Each New Shepard mission lasts 10 to 12 minutes, from liftoff to the parachute-aided touchdown of the vehicle's capsule. (New Shepard's booster also comes back to Earth safely for refurbishment and reuse.)

Passengers experience a few minutes of weightlessness and get to see Earth against the blackness of space. We don't know what this experience costs (except in rare cases like Sun's); Blue Origin has not revealed its ticket prices.

NS-34 will be Blue Origin's 14th crewed mission to date and its fifth such flight of 2025.

From historic rocket launches to mind-bending space technology, SpaceX has revolutionized space travel. The private company has reshaped the modern space with reusable rockets, ambitious missions, and bold visions of colonizing Mars.

Since its founding, the company has achieve feats once thought impossible. Its partnership with NASA has shown the capabilities of private spaceflight, with implications in space tourism.

You've seen the rocket launches, watched the booster landings, and maybe even stayed up for a livestream or two. But are you truly a SpaceX expert, or just along for the ride? Our quiz will test your grasp of the company's accomplishments and technologies.

The European company Eos X Space has acquired Space Perspective, one its key rivals in the nascent field of stratospheric balloon tourism.

Florida-based Space Perspective has been developing a luxury balloon-borne capsule called Spaceship Neptune, which is designed to carry passengers on leisurely trips through the stratosphere for $125,000 per seat.

Space Perspective made serious progress over the years, even launching a full (though uncrewed) test flight of the first Spaceship Neptune, named Excelsior, to a maximum altitude of about 100,000 feet (30,480 meters) in September of 2024. However, the company fell upon tough times recently.

Short on cash, Space Perspective furloughed nearly its entire workforce in January and was evicted a few months later from the Florida airport that hosted several of its facilities, according to media reports.

The acquisition by Eos X Space therefore appears to be a lifeline. Space Perspective "will operate with full autonomy, under U.S. leadership and corporate structure," Eos X Space representatives said in an emailed statement on Thursday (July 24).

Space Perspective's efforts will dovetail with those of Madrid-based Eos X Space, an aerospace outfit founded in 2020 that has been working on a balloon-tourism system of its own.

"This is a historic opportunity for two former rivals to join forces and make manned space tourism a reality," Eos X Space Founder and CEO Kemel Kharbachi said in the same statement.

Eos X Space views the acquisition, the terms of which were not disclosed, as a chance to join the top echelon of space tourism providers, which currently consists of SpaceX (for orbital flights) as well as Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, both of which offer rocket-powered trips to and from suborbital space. (Balloon-borne capsules don't reach space, of course, but they do allow passengers to see the curve of our planet against the inky void.)

The move also allows Eos X Space to extend its operations and influence to the United States. The company said it will soon have two key sites in the U.S. — a spaceport at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for balloon flights and a research and development facility in California's Silicon Valley. Eventually, Eos X Space plans to move its global operational headquarters to the U.S.

"This is not just a strategic acquisition; it is a declaration of our long-term vision," Kharbachi said. "We are building a scalable, ethical and efficient space platform driven by innovation, purpose and excellence."

Four years after he paid $28 million for a spacecraft seat, Justin Sun will finally fly to the final frontier.

In June 2021, Sun — the billionaire founder of the blockchain platform Tron — won an auction for a seat aboard Blue Origin's first-ever crewed spaceflight.

That mission launched on July 20 of that year, carrying Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and three other people to and from suborbital space on the company's reusable New Shepard vehicle. Sun was not on board, however; he had to back out due to scheduling conflicts, the company said at the time.

Sun had not identified himself as the winning bidder when that flight lifted off. The big reveal came in December 2021, when the crypto billionaire went public and said he now planned to fly in 2022 with five other "space warriors."

That didn't happen, either. But Sun's long-deferred spaceflight is now just around the corner: He is officially on the manifest for NS-34, New Shepard's next human spaceflight, Blue Origin announced on Monday (July 21). The company has not yet disclosed a target launch date for the flight but is expected to do so soon.

Here's a brief profile of the 34-year-old Sun and his five NS-34 crewmates, using information provided by Blue Origin.

• Arvinder (Arvi) Singh Bahal, a real estate investor and adventurer who was born in India but is a naturalized U.S. citizen. He has visited every country in the world, as well as both the north and south poles.
• Gökhan Erdem, a Turkish businessman, photographer and space enthusiast who "dreams of one day traveling to the International Space Station and possibly even beyond," Blue Origin wrote.
• Deborah Martorell, a journalist and meteorologist from Puerto Rico who has taken a microgravity-inducing airplane flight and reported on a number of space missions, including NASA's Artemis 1 moon flight. She's also a Solar System Ambassador for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
• Lionel Pitchford, an Englishman who has long lived in Spain and traveled the world. After losing his sister and her family in a 1992 plane crash in Nepal, he founded a nonprofit in the nation devoted to helping disadvantaged children. Pitchford has also run an orphanage in Kathmandu for the last 30 years.
• James (J.D.) Russell, an entrepreneur who founded the venture capital firm Alpha Funds. He also established the Victoria Russell Foundation, a nonprofit that honors the memory of his deceased daughter by "supporting children's education and assisting the families of first responders," Blue Origin wrote. Unlike the other NS-34 passengers, Russell is not a spaceflight rookie; he flew on the NS-28 mission in November 2024.
• Justin Sun, who is worth about $8.5 billion, according to Forbes. In addition to his Tron work, Sun is the ambassador and former Permanent Representative of Grenada to the World Trade Organization and serves as an advisor to the HTX crypto exchange. "A protege of Alibaba's Jack Ma, Sun was featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine in April 2025, where he was recognized as one of the most dynamic and outspoken figures in crypto and earning the moniker 'Crypto's Billionaire Barker' for his bold approach to innovation, advocacy and industry leadership," Blue Origin wrote. Sun's winning $28 million bid for the New Shepard seat in 2021 was donated to Club for the Future, Blue Origin's education nonprofit.

NS-34 will be the 14th crewed New Shepard flight to date, and the fifth such mission of 2025. The most recent, NS-33, lifted off on June 29.

New Shepard missions fly from Blue Origin's launch site in West Texas, near the town of Van Horn. Each one lasts 10 to 12 minutes from launch to the parachute-aided touchdown of the New Shepard crew capsule. (New Shepard's rocket also comes back down to Earth for a safe landing and eventual reuse.)

New Shepard is an autonomous vehicle, so the passengers can sit back and simply enjoy the flight. That experience includes a few minutes of weightlessness and great views of Earth against the blackness of space, from an altitude of more than 62 miles (100 kilometers).

Welcome home! Four astronauts have returned to Earth following more than two weeks living aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Axiom Space's fourth crewed mission to the ISS, known as Ax-4, concluded early this morning, with the SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule "Grace" splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California at 5:32 a.m. EDT (0932 GMT; locally, 2:32 a.m. PDT). Grace undocked from the ISS yesterday (July 14) at 7:15 a.m. EDT (1115 GMT), beginning the 22-hour final leg of the crew's journey in space.

On the mission, Ax-4 commander Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut and currently Axiom's director of human spaceflight, extended her record for cumulative days spent by an American in space to 695. Whitson was joined by a trio of first-time astronauts from three different countries, none of which had ever sent a citizen to the ISS before.

Shubhanshu "Shux" Shukla, who served as Ax-4's pilot, hails from India. He is a pilot in the Indian Air Force and one of four astronauts selected for the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) first human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan, expected sometime in 2027.

Ax-4 mission specialist Sławosz "Suave" Uznański-Wiśniewski, from Poland, is a member of the European Space Agency's (ESA's) astronaut reserve program, and Tibor Kapu, a mission specialist from Hungary, is a member of HUNOR, Hungary's orbital astronaut program.

Ax-4 launched on June 26 from storied Launch Complex-39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew aboard Grace lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and docked with the space station a day later. Their mission was expected to last about two weeks but was extended by four days to achieve favorable orbital phasing during their return.

While aboard the ISS, the Ax-4 crew carried out a record number of science investigations and public outreach events. With contributions from a total of 31 different countries, Ax-4 astronauts completed more than 60 experiments and technology demonstrations  — more than any previous Axiom mission.

Ax-4's splashdown this morning followed about 22.5 hours on orbit after their departure from the ISS. After nearly a full day flying their return trajectory, the crew's final minutes before splashdown passed relatively quickly.

Grace began its atmospheric descent at approximately 5:18 a.m. EDT (0918 GMT; locally, 2:18 am PT). Having survived the char of the most unforgiving layers of Earth's upper atmosphere, the spacecraft's drogue parachutes deployed to stabilize its plummet. Shortly thereafter, the Dragon's four main chutes unfolded to slow the capsule's descent even further.

The Ax-4 spacecraft splashed down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, where it was met by the SpaceX Dragon recovery vessel "Shannon." Once safely hoisted aboard "Shannon," the Ax-4 crew will disembark Grace to begin acclimating to Earth's gravity once again.

This is only SpaceX's second West Coast crew recovery, after the Crew-9 mission to the ISS came down this past March. SpaceX has shifted permanently Pacific Ocean spacecraft recoveries to avoid possible instances of pieces of Dragon's trunk surviving atmospheric reentry and crashing back to Earth, which were reported during some Atlantic Ocean and Gulf returns.

The empty space station docking port left behind after Ax-4's undocking won't remain so for long. The next astronauts launching to the ISS are slated for liftoff no earlier than July 31. That mission, SpaceX's Crew-11, will launch a crew rotation for NASA that's expected to last between six and eight months.

The four astronauts of Axiom Space's latest private mission have concluded their stay aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Ax-4's SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule, named Grace, undocked from the ISS this morning (July 14), carrying the quartet on the last leg of the Axiom-4 (Ax-4) mission.

Undocking occurred at 7:15 a.m. EDT (1115 GMT) today. Grace safely maneuvered away from the orbital laboratory, which was the Ax-4's crew's home for the past 2.5 weeks — about half a week longer than originally expected. Grace performed a series of deorbit burns, and is on a trajectory to return to Earth around 5:30 a.m. EDT (0930 GMT), Tuesday (July 15).

Ax-4's commander is former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who is now Axiom's director of human spaceflight. "Space Station, Grace," Whitson said over the communication system as the Crew Dragon crossed out of the ISS's safety "keep-out sphere," "The Ax-4 crew wants to thank you very much for your support. You guys are amazing."

Her crewmates are pilot Shubhanshu "Shux" Shukla and mission specialists Sławosz "Suave" Uznański-Wiśniewski and Tibor Kapu. This was the first spaceflight for each of those three. But Ax-4 is Whitson's fifth mission to orbit and raises her current record for most cumulative days in space by an American to 695.

Grace docked to the ISS with the Ax-4 crew aboard on June 26. Their mission, Axiom's fourth to the space station, is an extension of the Houston-based company's previous crewed flights, with research and science investigations aimed at furthering understandings of the microgravity environment.

The Ax-4 crew took on more than 60 experiments and technology demonstrations with contributions from 31 different nations, as well as a number of public outreach events, breaking a record for Axiom as it continues to hone its orbital operations.

Not only was this the first spaceflight for Shux, Suave and Kapu, but they were the first citizens of their respective countries to launch on a mission to the ISS. Shux is a pilot in the Indian Air Force and is one of four astronauts selected for the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) upcoming first human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan. Suave is a Polish astronaut from the European Space Agency, and Tibor Kapu is a member of HUNOR, Hungary's orbital astronaut program.

The Ax-4 mission launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on June 26 from storied Launch Complex-39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, in Florida. The crew spent a little more than a full day catching up to the ISS, and were scheduled to remain aboard the space station for about two weeks. Their mission lasted about four days longer than expected.

Departure procedures began this morning around 4:30 a.m. EDT (0830 GMT), with the Ax-4 crew entering Grace and closing the hatch at 5:07 a.m. EDT (0907 GMT). Now, crew and Dragon are on a 22.5-hour trajectory on course to splash down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California, early Tuesday.

This will only be SpaceX's second West Coast crew recovery. The first was that of the Crew-9 ISS mission in March. SpaceX has shifted permanently to Pacific Ocean rather than Atlantic or Gulf recoveries, after instances of debris from Dragon's trunk surviving atmospheric reentry and crashing back to Earth.

The new reentry path minimizes the chances that such debris could cause damage or injury, SpaceX representatives have said.

The private Ax-4 astronaut mission will head back home to Earth on Monday morning (July 14), and you can watch the action live.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule carrying the four Ax-4 astronauts is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station (ISS) on Monday around 7:05 a.m. EDT (1105 GMT).

You'll be able to watch that milestone live via NASA, SpaceX and Axiom Space, the Houston company that organized the Ax-4 mission. Space.com will carry NASA's feed, if the agency makes it available.

NASA will begin its stream at 4:30 a.m. EDT (0830 GMT) to cover the closing of the hatches between the ISS and the Crew Dragon, which is expected around 4:55 a.m. EDT (0855 GMT).

The agency will pick up its coverage at 6:45 a.m. EDT (1045 GMT) for undocking. SpaceX and Axiom will begin their streams at this time, according to NASA.

NASA did not provide an estimated time for Ax-4's splashdown back on Earth, which will occur in the Pacific Ocean off the California coast. The agency did say, however, that Axiom will stream the mission's reentry and return on the company's website.

Ax-4 is commanded by Peggy Whitson, a former NASA astronaut who has spent more total time in space than any other American (nearly 700 days!) and now serves as Axiom's director of human spaceflight.

Her crewmates are mission pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India; Polish mission specialist Sławosz Uznański, who's a European Space Agency astronaut; and mission specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary. These three are the first people from their respective countries ever to visit the ISS.

Ax-4 launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on June 25 and arrived at the ISS a day later.

The four private astronauts have performed more than 60 scientific experiments and outreach activities during their time in orbit, which was expected to be two weeks. That was always a rough estimate, however: Dragon departure dates from the ISS are flexible, dependent on weather conditions near the splashdown site.

As its name suggests, Ax-4 is the fourth crewed ISS mission that Axiom has operated. The other three launched in April 2022, May 2023 and January 2024. All have used SpaceX hardware.

Houston-based company Axiom Space's fourth crewed mission to space is nearing its end, and its four astronauts are filling every last minute with science, amazing views of Earth and pierogis.

The crew of Axiom-4 (Ax-4) have been aboard the International Space Station (ISS) since their SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule docked there on June 26. Their days have been filled with more than 60 research experiments and outreach events, breaking an Axiom mission record for on-orbit activities.

Lucie Low, Axiom's chief scientist, spoke with the Ax-4 crew during a mission science briefing on July 5. The four astronauts discussed some of the experiments they have been working on during their time aboard the orbital laboratory.

Ax-4 is commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, who's currently Axiom's director of human spaceflight. She also holds the record for most cumulative days in space by an American, which is inching closer to 700 with each additional day she remains aboard the ISS. Before this mission, her record stood at 675. Whitson has been a helpful voice of experience as her crew navigates life in microgravity, according to Axiom.

Whitson explained to Low that the research the Ax-4 astronauts are conducting on orbit is not only helping the science community, but also the growing number of international partnerships in space. Whitson's crew includes mission pilot Shubhanshu "Shux" Shukla from India and mission specialists Sławosz "Suave" Uznański, a Polish astronaut from the European Space Agency, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary. The experiments they're conducting represent contributions from a total of 31 countries.

"Axiom-4 is a government-sponsored research mission for a global space community," Whitson said.

"I am so proud that ISRO [the Indian Space Research Organization] has been able to collaborate with national institutions all over the country," Shux told Low. "They came up with some fantastic research."

Axiom has published daily updates during the mission, describing experiment progress and highlighting outreach events that different Ax-4 crew members have taken part in, including a microalgae investigation Shux is working on to measure the affects of microgravity on the organism's biology and its potential use as an in-space resource.

Kapu boasted about Hungary's skill in dosimetry research. He has been taking part in a technology demonstration using the Rad Nano Dosimeter, a miniature device designed to be continuously worn to monitor a body's radiation exposure, carbon dioxide levels and the effects of magnetic fields. He is also cultivating radishes and peppers aboard the ISS, which he said are growing "extremely fast."

Suave told Low one of the experiments that has excited him the most is a brainwave interface device that allows someone to control a machine with only their brain — the first time such a demonstration has been conducted in space. Suave also took time alongside Whitson for another video downlink on July 6, Ax-4's flight day 12.

The pair spoke with Sonya Gavankar McKay, Axiom's director of digital strategy, from the space station's Columbus module. McKay virtually joined Whitson and Suave for a mission update and to share a quick meal.

Holding a food packet identical to one used by the Ax-4 crew in space, McKay speared her fork through a pierogi as she asked Suave how to say, "enjoy your meal," in Polish ("ciesz się posiłkiem," according to Google Translate).

Suave and Whitson, also with pierogis on their forks, let them float weightlessly in front of the camera for close-ups. "Pierogi is a very Polish dish," Suave explained, describing the cuisine as a quintessential comfort food.

He was also asked about some of his photography and the views he has captured of Earth from space. "I try to capture every moment," Suave said, adding that any free time he has, he spends by the ISS' giant cupola windows, staring back down at the planet below.

Potentially nearing the end of their scheduled two weeks in space, McKay asked Whitson how the Ax-4 had adjusted to the realities of weightlessness. Despite the crew's packed schedule, Whitson says they have managed to get the hang of things.

"What's amazing is how much the guys have really gotten their space legs," she said. "They're really getting very efficient and working much more efficiently, and they're way less stressed."

Following their SpaceX Falcon 9 launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on June 25, Ax-4 is expected to remain on orbit for about two weeks. Their earliest return would be July 10, but Axiom, SpaceX and NASA have yet to confirm a date.

The crew's departure from the ISS is largely dependent on weather at their spacecraft's splashdown site in the Pacific Ocean, with some wiggle room built in to the visiting crew's stay aboard the space station in the event of a delay. The departures of both the Ax-1 and Ax-3 missions were held up nearly a week due to unfavorable weather at their splashdown zones.

Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum has threatened to file a lawsuit against SpaceX over what the leader described as "contamination" following an explosion at SpaceX's Starbase facility earlier this month.

On June 18, SpaceX was testing the upper stage of its Starship vehicle on a test stand at its Starbase site near Boca Chica Beach in Texas when Starship exploded in a dramatic fireball. SpaceX wrote on social media that there were no hazards to the surrounding communities following the explosion.

But Sheinbaum contests that claim. In a press conference held on Wednesday (June 25), the Mexican president said there is a "general review underway of the international laws that are being violated" due to the fact that "there is contamination" stemming from Starship's explosion, according to Yucatan Magazine. The Guardian reports that Sheinbaum added that her government is looking to file "the necessary lawsuits" over the alleged contamination.

SpaceX's Starbase testing and manufacturing facility is located near Boca Chica Beach. The area is at the very southeastern tip of Texas along the Rio Grande river, which divides the United States and Mexico. The Mexican city of Heroica Matamoros sits just across the border from Boca Chica and nearby Brownsville, Texas.

This isn't the first time SpaceX has been threatened with environmental lawsuits, not to mention other legal cases. A coalition of environmental groups sued the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2023, claiming the agency did not conduct proper analyses of the damage Starship could cause to the surrounding areas, which are home to protected species of birds.

In 2024, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) reported that SpaceX had violated the Clean Water Act after releasing pollutants into nearby body of waters, according to CNBC. SpaceX refuted the claims, calling the reporting "factually inaccurate."

Starship launches — and explosions — have left significant amounts of debris throughout Boca Chica Beach and surrounding areas in the past. When Starship launched on its debut flight on April 20, 2023, the rocket's 33 first-stage Raptor engines sent chunks of cement and other debris flying for miles.

Local residents described the launch as "terrifying" and compared it to an earthquake. Pieces of debris rained down in every direction, even crushing a nearby car.

That flight ended in an equally dramatic fashion when SpaceX triggered its onboard flight termination system, causing the vehicle to explode some three minutes after liftoff. Fragments of the Starship vehicle were found along shores surrounding the area in the days following the flight.

Starship's upper stage has exploded and/or crashed into the sea on eight of its nine of its test flights to date (on two launches, the company managed to return the vehicle's Super Heavy booster to Starbase, where it was caught by the 'chopstick' arms on its launch tower).

On its fifth flight in November 2023, Starship managed to make a pinpoint splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

A space capsule included on a recent SpaceX launch almost survived its decent back to Earth, so The Exploration Company is deeming their mission a "partial success".

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Transporter-14 rideshare mission June 23, sending 70 payloads from different customers into orbit. The satellites included cubesats and other spacecraft bound for low-Earth orbit, as well as two reentry capsule designed for recovery back on Earth.

The first came from Varda Space — the company's fourth "Winnebago" series spacecraft designed to test first-of-its-kind on-orbit pharmaceutical manufacturing. Its mission is still underway. The second, Tranporter-14's largest payload and the last to be released, was European spacecraft manufacturer The Exploration Company's "Mission Possible" Nyx capsule, carrying remains contributed by loved ones through Celestis Memorial Spaceflights.

Celestis offers various tiers of space memorial services that range all the way to launching remains into deep space. Their "Earth Rise" package includes launching DNA of customers' deceased loved ones (or even pets) into space and returning them to Earth. Unfortunately, their return this time around did not go as smoothly as planned.

For their 25th launch, dubbed "The Perseverance Flight", Celestis paired with The Exploration Company's Mission Possible to carry its memorial payload to space and back aboard the Nyx capsule. At least that was the plan.

Nyx performed nominally throughout its entire mission, all the way up until just minutes before its expected Pacific Ocean splashdown. "The capsule was launched successfully, powered the payloads nominally in-orbit, stabilized itself after separation with the launcher, re-entered and re-established communication after black out," the company wrote in an online update.

For any spacecraft reentering through Earth's atmosphere, a period of communication blackout occurs as intense friction with surrounding air forms a layer of superheated plasma around a vessel's hull. Following the most intense stages of falling back from orbit, communications are typically reestablished during a ship's last stretch to landing. Nyx's return, up to that point, was no different — until it was.

The Exploration Company's capsule encountered an anomaly shortly after reestablishing communications. "[Nyx] encountered an issue afterwards, based on our current best knowledge, and we lost communication a few minutes before splash down. We are still investigating the root causes and will share more information soon," the company said in their update.

Nyx's parachute failed to deploy, according to a later statement form Celestis. "The parachute system failed, resulting in the Nyx capsule impacting the Pacific Ocean and dispersing its contents at sea," they said. In short, the capsule and its contents plummeted into the drink.

"Though we currently believe that we cannot return the flight capsules, we hope families will find some peace in knowing their loved ones were part of a historic journey, launched into space, orbited Earth, and are now resting in the vastness of the Pacific, akin to a traditional and honored sea scattering," Celestis said.

The Exploration Company echoed that sentiment. "We apologize to all our clients who entrusted us with their payloads," their update reads.

Mission Possible was The Exploration Company's second foray into space, and the first for its Nyx capsule, which they are designing with the intent of transporting crew and cargo to and from LEO and beyond. And they aren't letting the snag at the end of the endeavor slow them down.

"We have been pushing boundaries in record time and cost. This partial success reflects both ambition and the inherent risks of innovation. Leveraging the technical milestones achieved yesterday and the lessons we will extract from our ongoing investigation, we will then prepare to re-fly as soon as possible," the company said.

A quartet of private astronauts have reached the space station.

Houston-based Axiom Space launched its fourth crewed mission to the International Space Station (ISS) early Wednesday (June 25), lifting off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KCS), in Florida. The mission lifted off from KSC's Launch Complex-39A at 2:31 a.m. EDT (0631 GMT).

After a particularly long orbital chase — 28 hours between launch and rendezvous — the crew's Dragon spacecraft docked with the space station Thursday morning, at 6:31 a.m. (1031 GMT).

The Ax-4 astronauts rode a brand-new SpaceX crew Dragon to orbit. As such, naming rights for the spacecraft fell to the crew, who revealed their choice shortly after launch. Their pick: Grace.

Aboard Crew Dragon Grace is former NASA astronaut and Axiom's director of human spaceflight Peggy Whitson. Whitson holds the record for cumulative days spent in space by an American. That number began climbing again following her launch Wednesday, and is counting upward from 675. Her record will reach just shy of 700 days by the time the two-week Ax-4 mission returns to Earth.

Whitson is commander for Ax-4, and is joined by a trio of international, government-sponsored crew members: Shubhanshu Shukla, from India, serving as mission pilot, Polish mission specialist Sławosz Uznański of the European Space Agency, and Tibor Kapu of Hungary, also a mission specialist. The latter three are the first from their nations to journey on a mission to the ISS.

Crew Dragon Grace docked with the zenith (space-facing) port on the station's Harmony module. Hatches between spacecraft and ISS were opened at 8:14 a.m. EDT (1214 GMT), with the station's current crew awaiting the ingress of the Ax-4 astronauts for a short welcome ceremony.

"With your arrival right now, there are 11 astronauts from six countries, and all of us are here in order to advance human space exploration and scientific research, symbolizing international cooperation. So from this moment, you are also a part of Expedition 73," said Exp. 73 commander JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi during opening remarks. "Welcome aboard," he added, before handing off the microphone to his new crewmates as they received their astronaut wings.

"We're looking forward to getting a lot of work done with you guys, and I really appreciate all the support you provided for to us in advance of actually even getting here," Whitson said in response.

"I'm very, very confident that the next 14 days are going to be amazing, advancing science and research and working together," said Shukla, mentioning that the view so far had surpassed his expectations.

"This is an ultimate scientific laboratory where we come to do science, to test the technologies of our countries, to do technology demonstrations and science outreach that I can't wait to do for the for the next two weeks, and we will all try to do our best representing our countries," Uznański said as he was handed the microphone.

Finally, as his wings were clipped to his jumpsuit, "I really feel that this is the best crew that you could join. It really feels great to be part of Expedition 73," said Kapu. "I'm 100% sure that this is going to be awesome."

The Ax-4 astronauts will spend about 14 days aboard the orbiting lab, completing a record number of science investigations and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) outreach events. In total, they have over 60 experiments to undertake — more than any previous Axiom mission to date.

The crew's return date is largely dependent on weather at Dragon's splashdown zone in the Pacific Ocean. It will be SpaceX's second West Coast crew recovery, following a shift from Atlantic Ocean or Gulf recoveries due to the potential for spacecraft debris surviving atmospheric reentry and crashing back to Earth.

The next astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS) will have a very international flavor — literally.

That flight — known as Ax-4, because it's the fourth crewed trip to the ISS by Houston company Axiom Space — lifted off on Wednesday morning (June 11) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Space Coast.

Ax-4 is carrying four people from four different nations to the orbiting lab, so the mission's larder is quite diverse.

For example, Ax-4 pilot Shubhanshu Shukla is bringing up some delicacies from his native India, including a variety of sweets.

During a press conference on June 3, Shukla said he's carrying mango nectar to the orbiting lab, as well as moong dal halwa and carrot halwa. (Halwa is a sweet dish made by roasting lentils, wheat or flour in ghee, then boiling that mixture in sugary milk.)

"Some of them are my favorites, and I am so happy to be able to carry them, share it with my colleagues and also the astronauts who are on the station right now," Shukla said.

Ax-4 mission specialist Tibor Kapu of Hungary said he has packed some "space chocolate," which was provided by Stuhmer, a company from his native land.

"They modified one of their traditional models of chocolate, basically to comply with NASA rules," Kapu said during the press conference. "So we are extremely happy to fly that, because for us it, it brings tradition and innovation together."

Also going up are several spicy, paprika-like Hungarian pastes, he added.

"I'm extremely happy about those as well, because we tend to eat less salty foods on the International Space Station, because it actually contributes to bone loss," Kapu said.

"So, because of that, astronauts tend to like, you know, spicy, and those [pastes] are really spicy," he added. "We had also the chance to try this out in quarantine. And let me just tell you, we have so many coworkers here who found these excellent, and they just love it."

Fellow mission specialist Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski of Poland, a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut, put together an entire menu for Ax-4. Polish chef and restaurateur Mateusz Gessler helped in this endeavor, as did Lyofood, a family-run Polish company with freeze-drying expertise.

That menu features pierogi, the famous Polish stuffed dumplings, as well as "tomato soup with noodles, Polish 'leczo' stew with buckwheat, and apple crumble for dessert," ESA officials said in a statement.

"I wanted a truly Polish menu that I could share with my fellow astronauts," Uznański-Wiśniewski said in the same statement. "Food brings psychological comfort, and I instantly thought it would be worth taking some Polish delicacies into orbit."

The fourth Ax-4 crewmember is commander Peggy Whitson, a record-setting former NASA astronaut who currently serves as Axiom's director of human spaceflight. She didn't discuss her food choices during the June 3 press conference (though she did seem enthusiastic about Kapu's spicy Hungarian pastes).

Ax-4 is historic; it will mark the first time that anyone from India, Hungary or Poland has lived on board the ISS. The mission is flying to the orbiting lab in a brand-new SpaceX Dragon and will spend about two weeks up there, during which time the crew will conduct about 60 different scientific experiments.

The crew of Houston-based Axiom Space's next launch to the space station is back on the board.

Axiom's fourth astronaut mission (Ax-4) to the International Space Station (ISS) has a new launch date. The crew of four will liftoff aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket no earlier than June 25, NASA announced Monday evening (June 23).

Liftoff is scheduled for 2:31 a.m. EDT (0631 GMT) from Launch Complex-39A, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, in Florida.. The launch had been indefinitely delayed last week due to a leak detected aboard the ISS. No update was given about that leak in NASA's announcement of the new launch date.

The leak in the station's Zvezda module isn't new, but a change in the pressure data that measures the leak's severity prompted NASA and Axiom to postpone the Ax-4 launch until safety could be assured.

The Ax-4 crew consists of former NASA astronaut and Axiom's director of human spaceflight Peggy Whitson. Whitson will serve as mission commander to Shubhanshu Shukla of India, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland, and Tibor Kapu, from Hungary. All three will be the first astronauts from their respecitve nations to launch on a mission to the ISS.

The mission is expected to last two weeks. While aboard the orbiting lab, the Ax-4 crew will conduct more science experiments and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) outreach events than any previous Axiom mission — more than 60 in total.

If all stays on schedule with Wednesday's early morning launch, the crew's Dragon spacecraft is scheduled to dock with the ISS at approximately 7:00 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT) Thursday, June 26. A livestream of the launch and rendezvous will be lived stream on Space.com.

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

This was the ninth test flight for the rocket, and the third catastrophic failure in a row, just this year.

Is this what we should expect from the very ship some are counting on to take humans further than we’ve ever been in the solar system? Or does this failure point to deeper concerns within the broader program?

A decade of development

The Starship program from Elon Musk’s space technology company, SpaceX, has been in development for more than a decade now and has undergone many iterations in its overall design and goals.

The Starship concept is based upon the SpaceX Raptor engines to be used in a multistage system. In a multistage rocket system, there are often two or three separate blocks with their own engine and fuel reserves. These are particularly important for leaving Earth’s orbit and travelling to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

With Starship, the key factor is the ability to land and reuse vast amounts of the rocket stages again and again. The company’s Falcon 9 vehicles, which used this model, were fantastically successful.

Initial tests of Starship began in 2018 with two low-altitude flights showing early success. Subsequent flights have faced numerous challenges with now four complete failures, two partial failures and three successes overall.

Just two days ago, during the latest failed attempt, I watched alongside more than 200 other space industry experts at the Australian Space Summit in Sydney. Broadcast live on a giant screen, the launch generated an excited buzz – which soon turned to reserved murmurs.

Of course, designing and launching rockets is hard, and failures are to be expected. However, a third catastrophic failure within six months demands a pause for reflection.

On this particular test flight, as Starship positioned itself for atmospheric reentry, one of its 13 engines failed to ignite. Shortly after, a booster appeared to explode, leading to a complete loss of control. The rocket ultimately broke apart over the Indian Ocean, which tonnes of debris will now call home.

Polluting Earth in pursuit of space

We don’t know the exact financial cost of each test flight. But Musk has previously said it is about US$50–100 million.

The exact environmental cost of the Starship program – and its repeated failures – is even harder to quantify.

For example, a failed test flight in 2023 left the town of Port Isabel, Texas, which is located beside the launch site, shaking and covered in a thick cloud of dirt. Debris from the exploded rocket smashed cars. Residents told the New York Times they were terrified. They also had to clean up the mess from the flight.

Then, in September 2024, SpaceX was fined by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for 14 separate incidents since 2022 where the launch facilities discharged polluted water into Texas waterways. Musk denied these claims.

That same month, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a fine of US$633,009 in civil penalties should be issued to SpaceX. This was on the grounds of using an unapproved launch control room and other violations during 2023. Musk denied these claims too and threatened to countersue the FAA for “regulatory overreach”.

It’s unclear if this suit was ever filed.

Two other failed launches in January and March this year also rained rocket debris over the Caribbean, and disrupted hundreds of commercial flights, including 80 which needed to be diverted and more than 400 requiring delayed takeoff to ensure they were entering safe air space.

Success of different space programs

Until last year, the FAA allowed SpaceX to try up to five Starship launches a year. This month, the figure was increased to 25.

A lot can go wrong during a launch of a vehicle to space. And there is a long way to go until we can properly judge whether Starship successfully meets its mission goals.

We can, however, look at past programs to understand typical success rates seen across different rocketry programs.

The Saturn V rocket, the workhorse of the Apollo era, had a total of 13 launches, with only one partial failure. It underwent three full ground tests before flight.

SpaceX’s own Falcon 9 rocket, has had more than 478 successful launches, only two in flight failures, one partial failure and one pre-flight destruction.

The Antares rocket, by Orbital Sciences Corporation (later Orbital ATK and Northrop Grumman) launched a total of 18 times, with one failure.

The Soyuz rocket, originally a Soviet expendable carrier rocket designed in the 1960s, launched a total of 32 times, with two failures.

No sign of caution

Of course, we can’t fairly compare all other rockets with the Starship. Its goals are certainly novel as a reusable heavy-class rocket.

But this latest failure does raise some questions. Will the Starship program ever see success – and if so when? And what are the limits of our tolerance as a society to the pollution of Earth in the pursuit of the goal to space?

For a rocketry program that’s moving so fast, developing novel and complex technology, and experiencing several repeated failures, many people might expect caution from now on. Musk, however, has other plans.

Shortly after the most recent Starship failure, he announced on X (formerly Twitter), that the next test flights would occur at a faster pace: one every three to four weeks.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Celestis has been a pioneering force in space-burial services since 1994.

The Houston-based company has sent the DNA and other remains of loved ones, pets and celebrities into outer space on a series of missions using a variety of rockets, including United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan Centaur.

Such vehicles have carried the cremated remains and/or DNA samples of a number of "Star Trek" legends, including Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley, Gene Roddenberry and his wife Majel Barrett Roddenberry and James "Scotty" Doohan. Celestis has also helped fly "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" visual effects legend Douglas Trumbull and the symbolic remains of four former U.S. presidents: George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, aboard last year's deep-space "Enterprise Flight."

Now, Celestis has announced that it has entered into a new launch services collaboration with European spacecraft manufacturer The Exploration Company (TEC).

TEC will host a special Celestis Memorial Spaceflight payload on its upcoming "Mission Possible" flight, which is slated to blast off atop a Falcon 9 rocket on SpaceX's Transporter 14 rideshare mission on Monday (June 23) at 5:18 p.m. EDT (2118 GMT) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The Perseverance Flight will carry over 150 flight capsules containing cremated remains and DNA samples from customers around the globe.

It will be TEC’s second demonstrator prior to the inaugural mission of its Nyx Earth orbital launch vehicle, which is scheduled to lift off and dock with the International Space Station sometime in 2028. Mission Possible will mark the first time that a TEC spacecraft hauls customer payloads to orbit.

According to Celestis, Perseverance will reach low Earth orbit and complete two or three circuits of our planet before reentering the atmosphere. The memorial capsules will then splash down in the Pacific Ocean, to be recovered and returned to clients as cherished keepsakes. This will be Celestis' 12th such "Earth Rise" flight, and its 25th space mission overall.

"Celestis is pleased to offer a new type of Earth Rise mission, thanks to The Exploration Company," Charles Chafer, the company's co-founder and CEO, said in a statement. "Our participants' capsules will orbit the Earth and return via the Mission Possible capsule, creating a spectacular liftoff and recovery experience."

Celestis will also be creating history, making three-year-old Matteo Barth the youngest German (and youngest European overall) to send his DNA into space. Inside TEC's Mission Possible capsule, the child will symbolically join Dieter Barth, his late grandfather, when they’re launched, in honor of the older man's lifelong interest in space and exploration.

Editor's note: This article was updated on June 22 at 5:10 p.m. EDT to note the change of launch dates to Monday, June 23, 2025.

The crew members of Axiom-4 are stuck in a holding pattern inside their astronaut quarantine, as a leak persists in of of the space station's Russian modules.

Houston-based Axiom Space was set to launch its fourth astronaut mission (Ax-4) with SpaceX last week, but the mission is being postponed again due to an air leak detected in Russia's Zvezda module of the International Space Station (ISS). The mission was originally slated for June 11, and has been pushed down the calendar three times now, due to the issues aboard the ISS.

The leak in Zvezda isn't new, but a recent pressure change within the module is prompting NASA and Axiom to hold off on the Ax-4 launch until they are sure it poses no danger to the incoming crew. "Following the most-recent repair, pressure in the transfer tunnel has been stable. Previously, pressure in this area would have dropped. This could indicate the small leaks have been sealed," NASA wrote in a June 14 update. Now, the Ax-4 mission has been delayed indefinitely, while NASA continues evaluating the situation up in low-Earth orbit.

"Because of the space station's interconnected and interdependent systems, NASA wants to ensure the station is ready for additional crew members, and the agency is taking the time necessary to review data," NASA said in an update yesterday (June 19).

"NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX appreciate the historic nature of this mission for the nations of India, Poland, and Hungary, as well as the world," NASA added in the post.

Ax-4 is commanded by Axiom's director of human spaceflight and former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson. Joining her are Shubhanshu Shukla of India, Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski from Poland, and Tibor Kapu, from Hungary. The three will be the first astronauts from each of their nations to launch on a mission to the ISS.

The quartet will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, aboard a brand-new Crew Dragon spacecraft. When the new launch date is announced, the mission will liftoff from Launch Complex-39A, at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, in Florida.

Their mission is scheduled to last about two weeks, during which the Ax-4 crew will carry out more than 60 research experiments and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) outreach events  — a record number of science for an Axiom mission.

Each of Axiom's crewed missions grow the company's experience in orbit, and their understanding of how best to operate in microgravity. In the future, Axiom plans to launch its own module to the ISS, which will eventually grow in its components and undock from the orbital lab to become its own independent space station.