Senior NASA officials believe the Space Launch System (SLS) is unaffordable at current cost levels, making the agency’s Artemis program to return astronauts to the Moon unsustainable if nothing changes, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

Welcome to S-SPACⁱ! In this week’s edition, Intuitive Machines set a launch window for its first lunar landing mission, AST SpaceMobile raised money to fund its first five satellites, Terran Orbital reported higher second-quarter revenue, and Virgin Galactic flew tourists for the first time. Plus we’ve got second-quarter results for Astra and Momentus and the latest about Planet Labs and Rocket Labs.

Welcome to the Launch Roundup! This week, we will look at the latest launches and news from SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Firefly Aerospace, and Amazon. And, did you know that Japan is gearing up to launch the world’s fourth mission to land on the Moon this year? We’ve got the details.

Welcome to Biz Briefs! In this edition, L3Harris completed its $4.7 billion acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne, Lockheed Martin won a contract to develop a nuclear thermal powered spacecraft, NASA awarded 11 Tipping Point contracts for lunar technologies, HawkEye 360 and Impulse Space completed funding rounds, Kleos Space declared bankruptcy, and much more.

Welcome to S-SPACⁱ! In this week’s edition, Redwire won a NASA contract to develop lunar technologies, Intuitive Machines is helping to build a nuclear generator for use on the Moon, Spire Global won an ESA contract and unveiled a weather visualization tool, AST SpaceMobile opened a research and development facility in India, BigBear.ai won a US Army contract, Momentus’ accounting firm resigned, and BlackSky released images of a Chinese naval base in Cambodia.

India launched its second mission to land on the Moon on Friday, July 14, as a LVM III rocket roared off the launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre with the Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander aboard.

Welcome to S-SPACⁱ! In this week’s edition, Intuitive Machines filed to sell more stock, AST SpaceMobile raised $56.9 million selling shares, Terran Orbital received more time to build Rivada’s satellite constellation, Satellogic and OHB signed an MOU, Astra created an engine subsidiary, and Momentus canceled its annual meeting.

A software glitch and a change in destination combined to cause ispace’s commercial HAKUTO-R lunar lander to crash into the Moon last month as it attempted a soft landing on the surface on April 26, according to new details shared by the company on Thursday (May 26).

Updated on March 25 at 5:27 p.m. PDT

ispace attempt to become the first private company to land on the moon apparently fell short on Tuesday as controllers lost contact with the HAKUTO-R M1 lander during the final moments of descent.

ispace will webcast its attempt to become the first private company to land a spacecraft on the lunar surface today.

Saudi astronauts Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali AlQarni (center) are the prime astronauts for the Ax-2 mission with Mariam Fardous (left) and Ali AlGhamdi (right) as backups. (Credit: Saudi Press Agency)

Rayyanah Barnawi will make history as the first Saudi woman to travel to space when she joins countryman Ali AlQarni as part of Axiom Space’s second private mission to the International Space Station (ISS) later this year, the Saudi Press Agency announced on Sunday.