Intuitive Machines’ (NAS: LUNR) stock is now worth nearly four times what it was when it began trading on Nasdaq on Tuesday. The stock debuted at $10, then soared to a high of $47.02 on Friday. It’s currently trading at $38.49.

Iridium Communications reported net income of $8.7 million on record total revenue of $721.0 million in 2022. Revenue was up by 17% over 2021, a year in which the company suffered a net loss of $9.3 billion.

Virgin Orbit has said that a dislodged fuel filter caused the failure of a LauncherOne flight with nine payloads aboard last month. According to the company’s update:

Virgin Galactic’s stock soared 13.5% on Wednesday as the company’s WhiteKnightTwo mothership took to the skies for the first time in more than 15 months. The stock rose by $0.71 from its close on Tuesday to close today at $6.01 as news of the flight test from the Mojave Air and Space Port at Rutan Field in California spread on social media.

Welcome this week’s S-SPACⁱ.

Intuitive Machines (NAS: LUNR) debuted on the NASDAQ exchange on Tuesday after the company received only a fraction of the amount it had planned to raise by merging with the Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

NASA & DARPA Team to Demonstrate Nuclear Engine

NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are teaming to conduct a demonstration of a nuclear thermal rocket engine in space that could be three times more efficient than conventional chemical propulsion.

Two crew spacecraft (one of them empty) will launch to the International Space Station (ISS) in the weeks ahead as Russia deals with coolant leaks on two vehicles already docked at the orbital facility. Japan is also scheduled to launch its new H3 rocket on its maiden flight.

Blue Origin Wins NASA Launch Contract

Blue Origin has won a $20 million contract to launch NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission to Mars in late 2024 aboard the company’s as-yet not flown New Glenn rocket.

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.

Welcome to our newest feature, SpaceTech Briefs. Today we’ll look at some of the things NASA is doing these days.

NASA Looks to Open Suborbital Flights to Researchers

While NASA has been happy to provide funding for microgravity experiments and technology demonstrations on suborbital flights by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, it has drawn the line at funding its own personnel to fly along with their payloads. That could soon change, however.

SpaceX test fired 31 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy rocket in a major test of the company’s Starlink super-heavy booster program. The test was a key milestone toward an orbit flight test that could take place in March.

This is turning out to be a particularly busy year for flights to the moon, with commercial companies and universities taking leading roles. Let’s look at the status of spacecraft that are at, headed for, or being prepared for launch to our nearest celestial neighbor.