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:
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Japan is set to launch its H3 rocket for the first time and a trio of spacecraft are headed to the International Space Station (ISS) in the weeks ahead. India is also hoping the second launch of its Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) will succeed where the first failed.
(more…)Rocket Lab is scheduled to launch its Electron rocket from U.S. soil for the first time on Tuesday. The window for the launch three signal collection satellites for HawkEye 360 from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) in Virginia runs from 6-8 pm EST (23:00-01:00 UTC). The company will webcast the launch on YouTube.
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Welcome to S-SPACi.
This week BigBear.ai sells more stock, management is shaken up at three space SPACs, Momentus signs a contract with FOSSA, Planet Labs teams with NASA to mitigate global food shortages, and Virgin Orbit’s price target gets cut in half after launch failure.
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SpaceX launched its giant Falcon Heavy rocket from Florida on Sunday night to cap off a busy but failure-plagued period that saw nine launch attempts in three nations over eight days.
(more…)Virgin Orbit Launcher One 2nd stage reentry recorded by Ramón López (Stargazer Lanzarote/Red SPMN) on Jan. 9th, 2023 at 23:18 UTC from Playa Blanca, Lanzarote.

A couple of updates on the launch failures this week.
ABL Space reports that all nine E2 engines on the RS1 rocket’s first stage failed simultaneously shortly after liftoff from the Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska on Tuesday. The rocket fell back on its launch pad and exploded, resulting in significant damage but no injuries, the company said.
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