April 6, 2025

Fram2 Astronaut Mission's West Coast Splashdown Opens New Era for SpaceX (Source: Space.com)
The West Coast is the best coast for Dragon landings, at least in SpaceX's books. The company's four-person Fram2 mission came to a successful end on Friday (April 4) with the splashdown of the Crew Dragon capsule "Resilience" off the coast of Southern California. That was a first for SpaceX, geography-wise: All 16 of its previous astronaut missions had hit the water off Florida, either in the Atlantic Ocean or in the Gulf of Mexico.

The decision was spurred by the fact that debris from Dragon's expendable trunk section had been found on terra firma on multiple occasions, even though modeling work had suggested the trunk would fully burn up during reentry to Earth's atmosphere. Moving splashdowns to the West Coast — along with jettisoning the trunk after Dragon's deorbit burn, to control the trunk's trajectory — will ensure that no debris could harm people or property, according to SpaceX; any that survives reentry will fall into the Pacific. (4/5)

SpaceX Launches 28 Starlink Satellites to Orbit From Florida's Space Coast (Source: Space.com)
SpaceX sent another big batch of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Florida on Saturday night. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying 28 Starlink craft lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. About eight minutes after launch, the rocket's first stage came back to Earth for a landing on the SpaceX drone ship "Just Read the Instructions." (4/6)

Rocket Lab’s Shot at $10b of Space Force Funds (Source: Stuff)
Kiwi space pioneer Sir Peter Beck’s Rocket Lab has had the path opened to big military contracts with the US Pentagon worth up to $10 billion, so what does it mean? The company is one of five chosen as the Pentagon looks to carry out 30 launches in the next few years.

Rocket Lab said it had been selected by the US Space Force to compete for “the Department of Defense’s highest-priority national security missions for its National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3 Lane 1 program”. The Space Force contract is valued at $5.6 billion over five years and the program plans to award a minimum of 30 missions through to 2029, with potential for an extension until 2034, according to Rocket Lab. (4/5)

New NASA Ohio License Plate to be Available Next Week (Source: Spectrum News)
Space lovers looking to showcase that passion on their vehicles are in luck. A new specialty license plate will be available for purchase starting tentatively on April 9. According to a release from the center, it features the NASA logo and the words NASA Glenn Research Center. The plate will be $10 more than a regular one. The money will not go to NASA. (4/5)