November 14, 2025

Blue Origin Aces ESCAPADE Launch and New Glenn Landing (Source: Space.com)
Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket successfully launched an interplanetary mission on its second-ever flight — and aced an epic landing at sea. The mission lifted off from LC-36 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The flight continued as planned, with main engine cutoff and stage separation occurring about three minutes after liftoff. The rocket's second stage continued onward to deliver ESCAPADE toward Mars, while New Glenn's first stage began a series of deceleration burns to land on the recovery ship "Jacklyn," which was waiting about 375 miles downrange. (11/13)

China's TSS Crew Members Return to Earth After Debris Damage Scare (Source: Space News)
The crew of China’s Shenzhou-20 mission returned to Earth Friday on the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft. The Shenzhou-21 return module touched down at 3:40 a.m. Eastern in the Dongfeng landing area in Inner Mongolia, close to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The crew of Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie returned after spending more than 200 days on the Tiangong space station.

They were set to return on the Shenzhou-20 spacecraft that delivered them to Tiangong in April but Chinese officials said they deemed that spacecraft unsafe after finding a minor crack in a window, which they said was likely caused by space debris. The return of the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft appears to leave the Shenzhou-21 crew aboard Tiangong with no lifeboat in the case of an emergency in the short term. An uncrewed Shenzhou-22 spacecraft will launch to the station to serve as that contingency at a date yet to be announced. (11/14)

IonQ to Acquire Skyloom (Source: Space News)
Quantum computing firm IonQ is expanding its space presence with the acquisition of Skyloom. IonQ announced this week that it is buying Skyloom, a Colorado-based provider of space-based optical communications terminals, for an undisclosed sum. Skyloom develops optical data transport links that enable high-bandwidth data transfer between satellites and ground stations. Its terminals have been deployed on U.S. military satellites produced by York Space Systems. Earlier this year, IonQ acquired radar imaging satellite company Capella Space as part of its efforts to develop a global, secure quantum network. (11/14)

Kuiper is Now Amazon Leo (Source: Space News)
Amazon is changing the name of its low Earth orbit broadband constellation. The company said Thursday that Project Kuiper would now be known as Amazon Leo, and its Kuiper Government Solutions division is now called Leo for Government. Amazon said the rebrand is a simple nod to the orbit where it has deployed 153 of more than 3,200 proposed satellites so far, whereas Project Kuiper was a reference to the Kuiper Belt of objects in the outer solar system. (11/14)

Firefly Aims for Defense Business with SciTec Acquisition (Source: Space News)
Firefly Aerospace plans to make deeper inroads into the defense market with its acquisition of SciTec. In an earnings call this week, Firefly highlighted the company’s alignment with the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative and repeatedly cited the strategic value of the $855 million SciTec deal, which closed recently. Firefly CEO Jason Kim called SciTec a “force multiplier” that strengthens Firefly’s ability to compete for complex defense programs, particularly in space-based missile warning and domain awareness. The company expects opportunities ranging from interceptor testing to hypersonic target launches. (11/14)

Virgin Galactic on Track for New Spaceplane Missions in 2026 (Source: Space News)
Virgin Galactic says it is still on track to begin commercial service with a new spaceplane next year. The company said in an earnings call Thursday that it expects to begin test flights of its first Delta-class suborbital vehicle in the third quarter, with commercial research flights starting in the fourth quarter. Private astronaut missions will begin six to eight weeks after the start of research flights, and Virgin expects to fly most of its backlog of customers in 2027. (11/14)

Canada's SBQuantum to Provide Magnetometer for Space Application Testing (Source: Space News)
Canadian company SBQuantum won an ESA contract to provide a quantum magnetometer. The 800,000 euro ($932,000) contract announced this week covers work to upgrade a quantum diamond magnetometer delivered to ESA for testing and evaluation in 2024. The new version of the sensor will be customized to meet ESA requirements for sensitivity and accuracy. Quantum diamond magnetometers promise greater sensitivity than traditional space-based magnetometers for Earth observation applications. (11/14)

India's Chandrayaan-3 Propulsion Module Returns to Cislunar Space (Source: India Today)
Part of an Indian lunar spacecraft has returned to the vicinity of the moon. The propulsion module for the Chandrayaan-3 lander mission maneuvered out of lunar orbit in October 2023, moving into cislunar space where it was subject to the influences of the Earth and moon. The Indian space agency ISRO said the spacecraft returned to the vicinity of the moon earlier this month, flying within a few thousand kilometers of the lunar surface on Nov. 6 and again Nov. 11. ISRO said the flybys provided “valuable insights” on spacecraft operations, although it was not clear if the flybys were intentional. (11/14)

Lopsided Supernova (Source: Science News)
The initial phases of a supernova explosion may have been lopsided. Astronomers took data of the first hours of a supernova in April 2024 in a nearby galaxy, offering their best look at the shape of the blast wave before it was disrupted by material surrounding the star. The data showed that the blast was not spherical but rather elongated, looking like an olive. That lends support to models where the blast wave is created by neutrinos that heat the upper layers of the star in an irregular pattern, which can create an elongated, rather than spherical, blast wave. (11/14)

Two Launches in One Day, and Neither a Falcon 9 (Source: SPACErePORT)
Thursday afternoon was a happy time for Blue Origin with its successful launch, landing, and payload deployment for NASA's ESCAPADE mission to Mars. This begins an exciting new chapter for launch operations at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, with hopes for a busy manifest of NASA, DoD, and commercial launches.

Later Thursday night brought another success with ULA's latest Atlas 5 mission, carrying the ViaSat-3 commercial communications satellite. This launch brings ULA 11 missions closer to the Atlas rocket's retirement, with Vulcan set to become the company's next workhorse launcher.

The doubleheader was also an accomplishment for the Space Force's Eastern Range, which demonstrated again it can support same-day launches...and not just of tried-and-true Falcon 9s. This was even more significant because it came on the heels of a weeks-long government shutdown that was beginning to take a toll on spaceport operations. (11/13)

Vaya Space Opens Vaya Advanced Machining (Source: Vaya Space)
Space Coast-based launch startup Vaya Space will open Vaya Advanced Machining during a grand opening event on Dec. 3 in Cocoa, Florida. Their facility will support precision machining for aerospace and defense customers. (11/13)