WASHINGTON — United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) CEO reaffirmed a May 2023 flight date for the maiden flight of the company’s new rocket; SpaceX and Rocket Lab officials laid out plans for record launch years; and a Blue Origin executive said Jeff Bezos’ company might never reveal what caused one of its rockets to explode last year.

BROOMFIELD, Colo. — The battle over what – if any – government safety regulations will be formulated for people flying on Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic suborbital vehicles and the right of those passengers to sue in the event of an accident was on full display at the Next-generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) in Colorado this week.

Blue Origin is still investigating the in-flight failure of its New Shepard rocket last September that resulted in the abort of a capsule carrying a load of experiments, the system’s chief architect said on Tuesday.

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.

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.

There’s good news and bad news in the latest scientific assessment of Earth’s vital ozone layer, which helps to protect life on Earth by absorbing the Sun’s ultraviolet light.

Welcome to this week’s business roundup. In today’s edition: ClearSpace, Stell and Magnestar complete raises; World View is set to become the world’s first space SPAC; CesiumAstro acquires an UK startup; Thales Alenia Space, Spaceflight Inc., Sidus Space announce new business deals; and multiple companies make executive appointments.

KENT, Wash. (Blue Origin PR) — Today’s NS-23 launch is scrubbed due to weather. We’re continuing to track the weather in West Texas. Our next launch window for NS-23 opens tomorrow at 8:30 AM CDT / 13:30 UTC. Live webcast starts at T-20 minutes.

New Shepard’s 23^rd mission, a dedicated payloads flight, will fly 36 payloads from academia, research institutions, and students across the globe.

SEATTLE (Blue Origin PR) — On August 31, New Shepard’s 23^rd mission, a dedicated payloads flight, will fly 36 payloads from academia, research institutions, and students across the globe. The launch window opens at 8:30 AM CDT / 13:30 UTC from Launch Site One in West Texas. 

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Two Chinese companies — CAS Space and Space Transportation — are pursuing the suborbital tourism market, with the former closely copying Blue Origin’s fully reusable New Shepard vehicle and the latter developing a winged vehicle that could be adapted for hypersonic point-to-point travel between distant locations on Earth.

CAS Space, a.k.a., Guangzhou Zhongke Aerospace Exploration Technology Co., Ltd., is developing a single-stage reusable rocket that lands under its own power topped with a capsule that descends under three parachutes.