by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

During the first seven months of the year, five new satellite launch vehicles from Europe, China, Russia and South Korea flew successfully for the first time. As impressive as that is, it was a mere opening act to a busy period that could see at least 20 additional launchers debut around the world.

Here are the launches scheduled for the rest of June. Tuesday, June 28 Launch Vehicle: ElectronPayload: CAPSTONELaunch Site: Mahia Peninsula, New ZealandLaunch Time: 5:55 a.m. EDT (09:55 UTC)Webcast: www.nasa.gov beginning at 5 a.m. EDT (09:00 UTC) Rocket Lab will launch NASA’s Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) lunar orbiter. The spacecraft will enter a near rectilinear halo orbit on Nov. 13 in order to test technologies […]

SRIHARIKOTA, India (ISRO PR) — India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C52 injected Earth Observation Satellite EOS-04, into an intended sun synchronous polar orbit of 529 km altitude at 06:17 hours IST on February 14, 2022 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR, Sriharikota.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

HYDERABAD, India — Small satellite launch company Skyroot Aerospace reports that it has raised $4.5 million in bridge funding as part of its Series B fund-raising round.

Early Google investor Ram Shriram led the bridge round through his venture capital firm Sherpalo Ventures. Wami Capital co-led the funding round with former Google executive Amit Singhal and existing investor and former WhatsApp chief business officer Neeraj Arora, Indian media report.

SRIHARIKOTA, India (ISRO PR) — Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-F10 (GSLV-F10) will launch Earth Observation Satellite, EOS-03 from the Second Launch Pad of Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch is tentatively scheduled at 0543 Hrs IST [0013 UTC] on Thursday, Aug. 12 [08:13 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Aug. 11], subject to weather conditions. EOS-03 is a state-of-the-art agile Earth observation satellite which will be placed in a Geosynchronous […]

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, India’s growing space program managed only two domestic launches last year as it was forced to delay the Gaganyaan human spaceflight program and several other high profile projects.

However, India was able to move forward last year on a sweeping commercialization of its state-controlled space industry designed to make the country internationally competitive.

SpaceX dominated, China surged and Russia had another clean sheet as American astronauts flew from U.S. soil again in a year of firsts.

First in a series

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was a very busy launch year with a number of firsts in both human and robotic exploration. A total of 114 orbital launches were attempted, with 104 successes and 10 failures. It was the same number of launches that were conducted in 2018, with that year seeing 111 successes, two failures and one partial failure.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

There were 27 orbital launch attempts with 26 successes and one failure during the first quarter of 2021. The United States accounted for nearly half the total with 13 launches behind nine flights by SpaceX.

SRIHARIKOTA, India (ISRO PR) — India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C51 successfully launched Amazonia-1 along with 18 co-passenger satellites today (February 28, 2021) from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.

SRIHARIKOTA, India (ISRO PR) — PSLV-C51, which is the 53rd mission of PSLV, will launch Amazonia-1 of Brazil as primary satellite and 18 Co-passenger satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota. The launch is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 28 at 1024 IST [0454 UTC/11:54 p.m. on Feb. 27], subject to weather conditions.

Watch live from 0950 IST [0420 UTC/11:20 p.m. on Feb. 27] onwards here.