JAPANESE H3 ROCKET FAILS DURING LAUNCH OF NAVIGATION SATELLITE - The seventh-ever mission of Japan's H3 rocket did not go according to plan. The H3 launched from Tanegashima Space Center on Sunday (Dec. 21) at 8:51 p.m. EST (0151 GMT and 10:51 a.m. local Japan time on Dec. 22), carrying a navigation satellite known as Michibiki 5, or QZS-5, aloft. "However, the second stage engine’s second ignition failed to start normally and shut down prematurely," officials with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a statement early Monay morning (Dec. 22). "As a result, QZS-5 could not be put into the planned orbit, and the launch failed."   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 23)

CHINA LAUNCHES NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY TEST SATELLITE - A Long March-5 rocket carrying a new communication technology test satellite blasts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province, Dec. 20, 2025. Launched at 8:30 p.m. (Beijing Time), the satellite has successfully entered its planned orbit. It will be mainly used to carry out multi-band and high-speed communication technology validation tests. The launch marks the 618th mission by the Long March carrier rocket series.    More
(Source: People's Daily - Dec 22)

STARSHIP SUCCESS, A PRIVATE MOON LANDING AND MORE: THE TOP 10 SPACEFLIGHT STORIES OF 2025 - 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...   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 22)

ASTRONAUTS, LAUNCH TEAMS PRACTICE ARTEMIS 2 COUNTDOWN - In a prelude to the real deal, the four astronauts of the Artemis 2 mission boarded their Orion spacecraft inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday afternoon. The three Americans and one Canadian participated in a launch day rehearsal referred to as the countdown demonstration test or CDDT. It was the first opportunity for everyone involved with the mission to be on hand and to go through the motions of the big day with the fully integrated rocket in the loop, instead of just data simulations. The test appeared to reach its conclusion with a cutoff of the simulated countdown at the T-29 seconds point at 5:51 p.m. EST (2251 UTC).   More
(Source: SpaceFlight Now - Dec 21)

NASA SHARES SPACEX CREW-12 ASSIGNMENTS FOR SPACE STATION MISSION - As part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-12 mission, four crew members from three space agencies will launch no earlier than Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, to the International Space Station for a long-duration science expedition. NASA astronauts Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively, and will be accompanied by ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Sophie Adenot and Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev, who will both serve as mission specialists. Crew-12 will join Expedition 74 crew members currently aboard the space station.   More
(Source: NASA - Dec 20)

AST SPACEMOBILE CONFIRMS 2026 LAUNCH SCHEDULE - Jennifer Manner, SVP/Regulatory Affairs at AST SpaceMobile, told a Congress Committee (the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology of the Committee on Energy & Commerce) that the satellite Direct-to-Cell business would launch between 45 and 60 of its second-generation BlueBird 2 satellites during 2026. She confirmed that the satellites were under manufacture at its two factories (in Maryland and Florida), and at the rate of six per month.   More
(Source: Advanced Television - Dec 20)

A STARLINK SATELLITE SEEMS TO HAVE EXPLODED - SpaceX says it has lost control of a Starlink satellite that’s now falling back to Earth after suffering an anomaly. The sudden loss of communications, drop in altitude, “venting of the propulsion tank,” and “release of a small number of trackable low relative velocity objects,” suggests the anomaly was some kind of explosion. SpaceX says it poses no threat to the crew of the ISS and will burn up in the atmosphere “within weeks.” This mishap comes a week after SpaceX reported a near miss with a Chinese satellite.   More
(Source: The Verge - Dec 20)

ROCKET LAB LAUNCHES 4 EXPERIMENTAL 'DISKSATS' FOR THE US MILITARY - Rocket Lab launched a new type of satellite for the U.S. Space Force early Thursday morning (Dec. 18). An Electron rocket carrying four "DiskSats" lifted off from Rocket Lab's pad on Wallops Island, Virginia on Thursday at 12:03 a.m. EST (0503 GMT). The launch, which Rocket Lab called "Don't Be Such a Square," kicked off the Space Test Program (STP)-S30 mission for the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command.   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 19)

EUROPE'S ARIANE 6 ROCKET LAUNCHES ITS 1ST PAIR OF GALILEO NAVIGATION SATELLITES - Europe's towering Ariane 6 rocket is gaining momentum in the heavy-lift launch market. The first pair of Galileo navigation satellites to launch on an Ariane 6 lifted off from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana on Wednesday (Dec. 17) at 12:01 a.m. EST (0501 GMT; 2:01 a.m. local time in Kourou). Galileo Launch 14 (L14) is sending the spacecraft pair to join 26 other active satellites in the constellation, which is Europe's equivalent to the Global Positioning System (GPS) used by the United States   More
(Source: Space.com - Dec 18)

Next