On the 19 June 2013 the IXV Descent and Landing System Test was successfully performed off the east coast of Sardinia, Italy, at the Poligono Interforze Salto di Quirra. (Credit: ESA/CIRA)

SARDINIA, Italy, 21 June 2013 (ESA PR) — ESA’s experimental reentry vehicle passed its milestone descent and landing test on Wednesday at the Poligono Interforze Salto di Quirra off the east coast of Sardinia in Italy.

The full-scale Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) prototype was released from an altitude of 3000 m by a helicopter, falling to gain speed to mimic a space mission before parachute deployment. The parachute slowed IXV for a safe splashdown in the sea at a speed below 7 m/s.

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Congrats to NASA's Flight Opportunities partner Up Aerospace for their successful SL-7100+ km flight from Spaceport America in NM today! — NASA (@NASA) June 21, 2013 The NASA Flight Opportunities Program’s first fully manifested flight with UP Aerospace’s SpaceLoft XL rocket was flown successfully on Friday at Spaceport America in New Mexico. The flight manifest consists of 7 payloads selected through the program.

Eric Dahlstrom, Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom and I watch as WhiteKnight and SpaceShipOne taxi down the runway on May 21, 2004. (Credit: J.R. Criswick)

Nine years.

On June 21, 2004, I stood on the flight line here in Mojave with thousands of spectators and watched history being made.

Two radical looking vehicles rolled down the runway on that bright morning and soared off into the clear blue sky. An hour later, SpaceShipOne dropped for its mothership, and Mike Melvill ignited the tiny spacecraft’s hybrid engine and rocketed to an altitude of 328,491 feet – just above the Karmen line that marks the boundary of space. Melvill had become the world’s first private astronaut.

That was nine years ago. 3,287 days.

It seems like much longer.

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HOUSTON (NanoRacks PR) — XO Markets Holdings Inc., the parent company of NanoRacks LLC and the leading commercial provider of open-source goods and services for low-earth orbit and beyond, announces the completion of a $2.6 million Series A financing.

The round was led by E-Merge, a Brussels, Belgium-based venture capital fund and included investors from California, Texas, Connecticut, Louisiana, Nebraska, New York, and DC as well as from Canada.

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I was out at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) range in the Mojave Desert on Saturday. Garvey Spacecraft Corporation launched its Prospector 18D rocket with four CubeSats built by teams in California and Florida. The goal was to test two of the CubeSats in high-altitude launch conditions before they are sent into orbit late next year aboard a Falcon 9 rocket.

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Planetary Resources hit $1 million in contributions for its Arkyd orbiting telescope today with 10 days left in the Kickstarter campaign. In an email message sent out on Wednesday night, Planetary Resources President Chris Lewicki said they’re shooting to hit $2 million in the time remaining with a little help from their friends: There’s a ton of new stuff over on our Kickstarter page, including live events next week with […]

“Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Subcommittee on Space held a hearing on the Majority’s recently released discussion draft of the NASA Authorization Act of 2013…

“Democratic Members expressed a number of concerns about the bill including that the bill cuts NASA’s overall budget while establishing new requirements and programs; it appears to change NASA’s core mission to one of supporting human spaceflight from the multi-mission approach NASA has had since its inception; the “go as we can afford to pay” requirement is inconsistent with the mandated milestones included in the legislation; the Earth science budget is cut by 1/3; there are aggressive goals such as requiring a commercial crew flight to the ISS by 2017, without any mention of safety requirements; and that there is a requirement to establish a “sustained human presence” on the Moon and Mars in spite of sequestration-level budgets.”

Read the full statement from the subcommittee’s Democratic members below.

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The NASA Flight Opportunities Program’s first fully manifested flight with UP Aerospace’s SpaceLoft system is coming up this Friday June 21. The flight manifest consists of 7 payloads selected through our program. Launch of the suborbital SpaceLoft XL rocket from Spaceport America in New Mexico is scheduled between 7-10 a.m. MST (9 a.m. to 12 p.m. EDT/6 a.m. to 9 a.m. PDT). SL7 PAYLOAD MANIFEST No. Title/ Payload No. PI/Organization […]

Marcia S. Smith at Spacepolicyonline.com reports on a House Appropriations subcommittee move that would require a deep cut in the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation’s budget: “As drafted, the bill would reduce AST from its requested level of $16.01 million to $14.16 million…AST was funded at $16.27 million for FY2012, $15.4 million in FY2013 (after adjusting for the sequester), and the FY2014 request is $16.01 million. The draft bill […]

House Space Subcommittee Chairman Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) outlined the House’s priorities in a prepared statement for today’s hear on the NASA Authorization Act of 2013. Key excerpts in italics follow, to which I have added editorial comments and emphasis,

Overall Spending Flat, Priorities the Same

“The draft bill includes a topline budget of over $16.8 billion dollars and authorizes the agency for two years. This budget is consistent with the requirements of the Budget Control Act.

“The Administration must focus on core programs such as the Space Launch System and Orion crew capsule, the International Space Station, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Commercial Crew Program.”

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