Launch

NASA's deep-space probe to an estimated US$10-quadrillion metal-rich asteroid is on its way. The Psyche mission lifted off on October 13 at 10:19 am EDT from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.

Startup Stoke Space has successfully completed a 15-second vertical launch/vertical landing test of its Hopper VTVL reusable rocket that is capable of atmospheric reentry and landing after acting as a launch vehicle second stage.

China has stolen a march on the rest of the world by successfully launching the first space rocket powered by liquid methane and oxygen. The Suzaku-2 Yao booster successfully lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China on July 12.

After 27 years and 117 missions, ESA's heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket has launched into retirement with the successful lift off of Flight VA261 on July 5, 2023 at 22:00 GMT from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana.

After years of setbacks, Virgin Galactic has completed its first commercial flight, which saw it carry 13 research payloads and three passengers from the Italian Air Force and National Research Council of Italy to the edge of space.

Better known for building and flying lightweight small and medium orbital launchers, Rocket Lab is branching out. The company has announced the successful full launch of its HASTE rocket, which is designed to boost hypersonic vehicles well past Mach 5.

Space launch company Virgin Orbit has been grounded for good after a US bankruptcy court broke it up and sold off its assets to bidders. The demise of the ambitious venture comes after a failed attempt to conduct its first mission in January.

History was made today as a private company leapfrogged ahead of NASA by launching the largest, most powerful rocket ever. At 8:36 am CDT, SpaceX's uncrewed Starship lifted off from the company's Starbase in Texas on an orbital test flight.

It was a glass half-full situation on March 22, 2023 as Relativity Space carried out the first successful launch of an almost entirely 3D-printed rocket from Launch Complex 16 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 11:23 pm EDT.

The mystery of why the first orbital mission launched from the UK fell into the sea on January 9 had some light shed on it today as Virgin Orbital announced that telemetry indicated that the second stage engine shut down prematurely.

Space startup SpinLaunch's kinetic launch system will require payloads to endure 10,000 g and speeds of 5,000 mph (8,000 km/h) and in this regard, the company may have just passed its biggest test yet.

Texan startup Firefly Aerospace has joined the growing group of orbit-capable space startups, with the successful launch of its Alpha rocket over the weekend, which saw a set of satellites deployed into low-Earth orbit.