May 9. 2026

NASA Names Brian Hughes to Launch Operations Role (Source: NASA)
NASA announced that Brian Hughes will return to the agency as senior director of launch operations, based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In this role, Hughes will provide enterprise-level leadership, strategic direction, and operational oversight for NASA’s launch infrastructure, with direct responsibility for launch operations at KSC and Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. He will work across government, industry, and local leadership to strengthen coordination among stakeholders supporting NASA’s spaceports.

Most recently, Hughes served as NASA’s chief of staff, after serving as deputy national security advisor for Strategic Communications at the White House. Hughes also served as chief administrative officer for the City of Jacksonville. NASA Watch remarked that the decades-long management of Wallops by NASA Goddard (in a blue state) will now be run out of Florida (a red state) – thus continuing the deliberate shrinkage of NASA Goddard. And while NASA HQ is not being moved out of Washington DC, some of its major functions will be moving to Florida. (5/8)

NASA Pushes Next-Gen Mars Helicopter Rotor Blades Past Mach 1 (Source: NASA)
The rotor blades that will carry NASA’s next-generation helicopters to new Martian heights broke the sound barrier during March tests at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Data from the tests, which took place in a special chamber that can simulate environmental conditions on the Red Planet, indicate that the fastest traveling part of the rotor blade, the tips, can be accelerated beyond Mach 1 without breaking apart. Data gathered from 137 test runs will enable engineers to design aircraft capable of carrying heavier payloads, including science instruments. (5/7)

Study Finds Narrow Physical Rules Limit Life as We Know It (Source: Science Daily)
Scientists may have uncovered a surprising secret behind why life exists at all. A new study suggests that the Universe’s fundamental constants — the deep physical rules that govern everything from atoms to stars — appear to sit within an incredibly narrow “sweet spot” that allows liquids to flow properly inside living cells. Life depends on movement at microscopic scales. Nutrients must travel through cells, proteins need to fold correctly, and molecules constantly diffuse through watery environments.

All of this relies on viscosity, the property that determines how easily a liquid flows. According to the researchers, the Universe appears to operate within a surprisingly narrow "bio-friendly" window where viscosity and diffusion remain suitable for life. If the constants governing physics shifted by only a few percent, liquids essential to biology could become dramatically thicker or thinner. (5/8)

Rocket Lab Rises on Strong Sales, With Neutron on Track 2026 (Sources: Bloomberg, RNZ)
Rocket Lab Corp. rose as the company touted strong demand for rocket launches and space-related services, including a contract for President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense project. The Long Beach, California-based company sold more launches in the first three months of the year than in all of 2025, with a total outstanding launch manifest of 70 missions with its backlog valued at $2.2 billion.

The company posted record revenue of $200 million in the first quarter, as demand for its launch vehicles surged. While revenue was up more than 63 percent on the same period a year earlier, the company still posted a net loss of about $45 million. (5/8)

Blue Origin Adding More Than 100 Jobs in the Huntsville Area (Source: AL.com)
Blue Origin will be hiring more than 100 people as it expands its operation in the Huntsville area. The new jobs will support the company’s thruster production. Blue Origin has grown from an initial commitment of approximately 300 jobs to well over 1,600 employees building the future of space in Alabama. (5/8)

Hanwha Expands From Defense Into Space with 'Korean SpaceX' Vision (Source: UPI)
South Korea's Hanwha Group is accelerating its expansion from defense manufacturing into aerospace and space industries as it pursues a long-term strategy to build a vertically integrated space business modeled after SpaceX. The conglomerate is strengthening localization strategies in the United States, Canada and Europe while expanding through mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures amid rising global defense demand.

Hanwha's ambitions increasingly extend beyond defense manufacturing into aerospace and satellite services. The group aims to create a comprehensive space value chain integrating launch vehicles, satellites, data and related services. Under the strategy, Hanwha Aerospace would oversee launch vehicles and aircraft engines, while Hanwha Systems would handle satellite manufacturing and satellite data services. Hanwha recently acquired a 5.09% stake in Korea Aerospace Industries, becoming its fourth-largest shareholder, and has announced plans to increase the stake to 8% within the year. (5/7)

MDA Space Reports 32% Revenue Growth in Q1 2026 (Source: SpaceQ)
MDA Space reported its first-quarter 2026 financial results on Thursday. The company experienced strong year-over-year revenue growth across its three business segments, driven by higher volumes of work on commercial satellite constellations and robotics programs. During the first quarter, MDA Space generated $464.1 million in consolidated revenues, a 32.2% increase compared to the same period in 2025. This growth was heavily driven by the Satellite Systems business area, which saw revenues rise 41.0% year-over-year to $313.1 million. (5/7)

JAXA Joins Ramses Mission With H3 Launch To Asteroid (Source: Aviation Week)
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan’s space agency, has agreed to work with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the Ramses planetary defense mission. The arrangement would see Mitsubishi Heavy’s H3 rocket serve as the launcher for the probe. (5/7)

Wanted:  NASA Employees (Source: Politico)
NASA wants to turn some of its contractors into government employees — a move that stands in contrast to last year’s push by the Trump administration to gut the federal workforce. The shift, many agree, is welcome — saving NASA overhead costs and bringing core functions in-house. Isaacman is adding government workers, but he argues that he’s actually fulfilling the Trump administration’s cost-cutting mandates with the moves. So Isaacman may have successfully messaged the plan, but it may be difficult to get some contractors to take a compensation cut to move in-house. And, there are logistical hurdles too. (5/8)

Space Coast Saw Nearly 350,000 Visitors for Artemis II Launch (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Sending humans out past the moon for the first time in more than half a century enticed nearly 350,000 people to descend on the Space Coast for the Artemis II mission that launched from Kennedy Space Center. That total includes more than 90,000 out-of-county visitors for the actual launch, based on data from cell device tracking software.

Crowds crammed into parks throughout northern Brevard County to get close-up views. Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex sold out of its launch packages early on, closing the attraction to only those with special tickets on launch day. Port Canaveral’s Jetty Park also sold out in the days leading up to launch. In comparison, the week of the uncrewed Artemis I launch in November 2022 saw 226,000 visitors. (5/4)

NASA Keeps Boeing Starliner Flights in Holding Pattern in Updated Space Station Plan (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
NASA said it was still not ready to nail down Boeing Starliner’s next flight to the International Space Station as it continues to work through the problems found during its beleaguered Crew Flight Test mission in 2024. Since last year, NASA had been targeting Starliner’s return to flight as early as April 2026, but that month came and went with no clear sign on progress to work through the failures of its last mission. (5/2)

ESA Begins Developing Replacements for NASA’s Contributions to LISA (Source: European Spaceflight)
The European Space Agency has begun mitigation efforts for key elements of its LISA mission after a White House budget proposal sought, for the second year running, to eliminate most of NASA’s planned support. One of these mitigation efforts was formalised on 5 May, when ESA awarded a €26.1 million contract to Thales Alenia Space for the development of the mission’s telescopes.

ESA’s Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) consists of three spacecraft working in tandem to detect gravitational waves from significant events in the Universe, such as when two black holes collide. When ESA adopted the mission in early 2024, NASA was expected to provide several critical LISA subsystems, including laser systems, telescopes, and devices to reduce disturbances from electromagnetic charges. (5/8)

Turkish and Azerbaijani Agreement Expands Regional Satcom Service (Source: SatNews)
PROFEN, a Türkiye-based leader in satellite communication solutions, and Azercosmos, the Space Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, have signed a landmark cooperation agreement to enhance satellite capacity utilization across the EMEA region. The partnership combines PROFEN’s extensive ground segment infrastructure with Azercosmos’ robust orbital assets to address the surging demand for reliable, high-bandwidth connectivity in government, commercial, and mobility sectors. (5/7)

Planet Signs 7-Figure Enterprise Contract to Power Greece’s National Satellite Space Project (Source: Spacewatch Global)
Planet Labs Germany has entered a 2-year, 7-figure agreement with the Greek government to support the country’s National Satellite Space Project. The contract includes numerous data offerings, including near-daily medium-resolution imagery and high-resolution tasking to support a number of broad area monitoring initiatives. (5/8)

China Prepares Cargo, Crew, and Deep Space Missions, as Commercial Sector Steps Toward Reusability (Source: NSF)
China is preparing to launch both cargo and crew missions to its Tiangong space station, as a new cargo freighter is tested in low-Earth orbit and new designs are revealed to expand the orbiting outpost. Celebrating 70 years since the foundation of its space program this year, China is also advancing plans for deep space missions exploring the Moon and Mars, and is extending international involvement in the projects. As one launcher potentially retires, new commercial vehicles advance towards their own debuts, and China moves closer to attempting its first booster catch. Click here. (5/7)

The Exploration Company Fires Up Rocket Engine for Moon Lander (Source: European Spaceflight)
The Exploration Company has successfully test fired a prototype of its 15 kN Huracan rocket engine. The engine is designed to enable the company’s future lunar vehicles to land on the surface of the Moon and to be restarted for ascent and orbital rendezvous. While The Exploration Company is currently focused on delivering its Nyx Earth spacecraft, which will transport cargo to and from low Earth orbit, the company is also preparing for future variants of the vehicle, including a lunar lander. (5/7)