Posted: Sun, May 5 6:42 AM ET (1042 GMT)
SES announced Tuesday that it will acquire Intelsat for $3.1 billion, combining two of the biggest GEO satellite operators. The companies said the deal would create a satellite operator with more than $4 billion in annual revenues and adjusted EBITDA of nearly $2 billion. The combined company would operate more than 100 GEO satellites as well as the O3b constellation in medium Earth orbit, and SES said the acquisition would optimize future investments in multi-orbit satellite fleets. SES and Intelsat had explored a merger last year but walked away from a potential deal last June. SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh said the timing was better now for an acquisition given "significant evolution" at both companies. The deal has the approval of both companies' boards, but SES does not expect it to close until the second half of 2025 because of necessary regulatory approvals.

Related Links:

•  SpaceNews article
•  Reuters article
•  Luxembourg Times article
•  Ars Technica article
•  SES press release

Posted: Sun, May 5 6:39 AM ET (1039 GMT)
A Chinese crewed spacecraft returned to Earth Tuesday. The Shenzhou-17 spacecraft undocked from the Tiangong station at 8:43 pm EDT Monday (0043 GMT Tuesday) and landed at the Dongfeng landing site in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region near Jiuquan spaceport at 5:46 am EDT (0946 GMT) Tuesday. On board Shenzhou-17 were Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin, who had been in space since October. They performed two spacewalks while on Tiangong to repair damage to solar arrays and conducted 84 experiments. The Shenzhou-17 crew was relieved by the three-person Shenzhou-18 crew that arrived at Tiangong last week.

Related Links:

•  SpaceNews article
•  Space.com article
•  Xinhua article

Cargo Dragon splashes down
Posted: Sun, May 5 6:35 AM ET (1035 GMT)
A Dragon cargo spacecraft returned to Earth early Tuesday. The Dragon splashed down off the coast from Tampa, Florida, at 1:38 am EDT (0538...

Falcon 9 launches Starlink satellites
Posted: Sun, May 5 6:33 AM ET (1033 GMT)
Falcon 9 launched a set of Starlink satellites April 28. The rocket launched at 6:08 pm EDT (2208 GMT) from Cape Canaveral and deployed...

Falcon 9 launches Galileo satellites
Posted: Sun, May 5 6:31 AM ET (1031 GMT)
A Falcon 9 launched a pair of European Galileo navigation satellites April 27. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 8:34 pm EDT (0034 GMT...