Posted: Sat, Jul 24 4:48 PM ET (2048 GMT)
Blue Origin successfully performed the first crewed launch of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle Tuesday with founder Jeff Bezos and three others on board. New Shepard lifted off from the company's West Texas site at 9:12 am EDT (1312 GMT), with the capsule reaching a peak altitude of about 107 kilometers before landing 10 minutes later. Bezos was joined on the flight by his brother Mark, Wally Funk and Oliver Daemen. Blue Origin executives said before the launch they were ready to start flying people after 15 uncrewed test flights, and saw no need to fly company employees as test astronauts first.

Related Links:

•  SpaceNews article
•  Spaceflight Now article
•  New York Times article
•  CNBC article
•  Washington Post article

Posted: Sat, Jul 24 4:39 PM ET (2039 GMT)
China launched another set of Yaogan imaging satellites. A Long March 2C rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 8:19 pm EDT Sunday (0019 GMT Monday) and placed the three Yaogan-30 satellites into orbit. A small communications satellite, Tianqi-15, was also on the launch. The launch reportedly included an attempt to recover the rocket's payload fairing.

Related Links:

•  NASASpaceFlight.com article
•  Xinhua article

Rocket Lab identifies cause of launch failure
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