Posted: Sun, Mar 15 8:30 AM ET (1230 GMT)
NASA announced Thursday it now plans to launch the Artemis 2 mission as soon as April 1. The agency concluded a flight readiness review and officials said they were ready to proceed with a launch in a window between April 1 and 6. The decision comes after completing repairs to a helium line for the Space Launch System upper stage that suffered a blockage, requiring rolling the vehicle from the pad for repairs. The vehicle is scheduled to roll back out to the pad March 19.

Related Links:

•  SpaceNews article
•  New York Times article
•  AP article
•  CBS News article
•  NASA article

Posted: Sun, Mar 15 8:28 AM ET (1228 GMT)
China conducted a pair of launches hours apart Thursday. A Long March 8A lifted off at 3:48 pm EDT (1948 GMT) from the commercial spaceport on Hainan carrying the 20th set of Guowang broadband constellation satellites. Officials did not disclose the number of satellites on the launch, but previous Long March 8A launches for Guowang carried nine satellites each. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 6:33 pm EDT (2233 GMT) and placed into orbit the Shiyan-30 03 and 04 spacecraft. Official media said the satellites will be used to test Earth observation technologies. The launches were the first in a month from China after a break for the Chinese New Year holiday.

Related Links:

•  SpaceNews article
•  Xinhua article about Long March 8A launch
•  Xinhua article about Long March 2D launch

Alpha returns to flight
Posted: Sun, Mar 15 8:24 AM ET (1224 GMT)
Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket returned to flight Wednesday evening, more than 10 months after a launch failure. The Alpha lifted off from Vandenberg Space...

NASA report highlights HLS schedule delays
Posted: Sun, Mar 15 8:19 AM ET (1219 GMT)
NASA's inspector general said that the agency's approach to Artemis lunar lander development has controlled costs but not schedule. A report this week...

Anduril to acquire ExoAnlaytic Solutions
Posted: Sun, Mar 15 8:17 AM ET (1217 GMT)
Defense technology company Anduril Industries said it is buying space surveillance company ExoAnalytic Solutions. Terms of the acquisition, announced Wednesday, were not disclosed. ExoAnalytic operates...