Posted: Sat, Jan 3 11:37 AM ET (1637 GMT)
SpaceX started the new year with the launch of an Italian imaging satellite Friday night. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 9:09 pm EST (0209 GMT Saturday) and deployed the Cosmo-SkyMed Second Generation FM3 satellite into low Earth orbit about 13 minutes later. The spacecraft is the third in a series operated by the Italian defense ministry and the Italian space agency ASI to provide radar imagery for civilian and defense applications. The launch is the first of the year for SpaceX, which performed a company record of 165 Falcon 9 launches in 2025.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  Noozhawk article
•  Space.com article

Posted: Sat, Jan 3 11:32 AM ET (1632 GMT)
The European Space Agency confirmed it was hit by a cyberattack but downplayed the severity of the incident. Hackers claimed to have accessed confidential documents, source code and other materials from ESA computer systems, posting screenshots of some of 200 gigabytes of data such as technical details about one mission in development. ESA confirmed Tuesday that there had been a data breach, but said it was limited to “a very limited number of science servers” outside of the ESA corporate network that did not contain classified data.

Related Links:

•  SpaceNews article
•  European Spaceflight article
•  Aviation Week article
•  Bloomberg News article

China closes record launch year
Posted: Sat, Jan 3 11:18 AM ET (1618 GMT)
China closed out a record launch year with the launch of a pair of technology demonstration satellites Tuesday. A Long March 7A lifted off at...

ISRO tests upgraded SSLV upper stage
Posted: Sat, Jan 3 11:15 AM ET (1615 GMT)
The Indian space agency ISRO has completed tests of an upgraded stage for a small launch vehicle. ISRO said Tuesday it performed a static-fire...

Isaacman opens door to alternatives to moving shuttle Discovery
Posted: Sat, Jan 3 11:13 AM ET (1613 GMT)
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman appeared to open the door to alternatives to moving the space shuttle Discovery from a Smithsonian museum to Houston. A provision...