Posted: Sun, Aug 16 10:57 AM ET (1457 GMT)
SpaceX set a record for the closest interval between Falcon 9 launches Saturday night. One Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 9:12 pm EDT (0112 GMT Sunday) carrying eight satellites for Globalstar. The satellites are part of a set to replenish Globalstar's low Earth orbit communications constellation that the company is proceeding with development despite being acquired by Amazon. That launch was followed at 9:50 pm EDT (0150 GMT Sunday) by another Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. That launch was for a classified Space Force mission designated USSF-366.

Related Links:

•  Spaceflight Now article
•  Space.com article
•  Orlando Sentinel article

Posted: Sun, Aug 16 10:54 AM ET (1454 GMT)
Virgin Galactic has pushed the start of commercial flights of its new suborbital spaceplane into 2027. The company said in an earnings call Wednesday that the first commercial flights of its new vehicle, previously planned for the fourth quarter of this year, will instead begin in February 2027. Virgin said the slip was caused by "hundreds of relatively small but important installation tasks" that took longer than expected to complete. The company said that despite the delay, it expects that vehicle and a second spaceplane under construction to be flying at least 10 times a month by the end of the second quarter of next year. Virgin Galactic added it also sold out a tranche of tickets it offered at $750,000 each. It will sell another batch of tickets later this year at a higher price.

Related Links:

•  SpaceNews article
•  Bloomberg News article
•  Aviation Week article

Veteran astronaut Fincke retires
Posted: Sun, Aug 16 10:53 AM ET (1453 GMT)
Veteran NASA astronaut Mike Fincke has left the agency. NASA announced Wednesday that Fincke has retired from the astronaut corps, 30 years after being selected....

Long March 7A launch fails
Posted: Sun, Aug 16 10:52 AM ET (1452 GMT)
A Chinese rocket exploded shortly after liftoff on Monday. The Long March 7A lifted off from the Wenchang spaceport at about 8 am EDT (1200...

Rocket Lab warns first Neutron launch may slip to 2027
Posted: Sun, Aug 16 10:51 AM ET (1451 GMT)
Rocket Lab warned the first launch of its Neutron rocket might be delayed to next year. In an earnings call Monday, the company said it...